摘要：In complex situations with risks of critical irreversibility, decisionmakers
must be able to take action quickly but also appropriately,
especially in response to unexpected events. In these situations, “the first
error in the trial-and-error-learning will also be the last trial” (Weick &
Sutcliffe, 2011: 20). This paper assesses the contribution of the meta rule
concept, defined as the conditions to respect to maintain the integrity of the
organization in an unexpected situation. Our design tests the relevance of
two conceptual approaches: high reliability organizations (HRO) and
sensemaking approaches. The main proposal of this research is to
highlight that, for a decision-maker, understanding a situation through meta
rules at key times limits the risk of information overload by facilitating an
overall understanding of the situation. It becomes possible to make
decisions quickly, if necessary, using new robust and reliable strategies.
Using a quantitative study of the behaviors of a warship bridge team
composed of cadets in the French Naval Academy, the authors tested
various situations that young officers have to manage. The results
highlighted that meta rules play a positive mediating effect between rules
and reliability and between interactions and reliability. With the use of meta
rules, the overall reliability level is higher when employing an HRO
approach than when using a sensemaking approach.
关键词：reliability; meta rules; decision;making; French Naval
Academy; complexity
