RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Learning from samples of one or fewer
JF Quality and Safety in Health Care
JO Qual Saf Health Care
FD BMJ Publishing Group Ltd
SP 465
OP 471
DO 10.1136/qhc.12.6.465
VO 12
IS 6
A1 J G March
A1 L S Sproull
A1 M Tamuz
YR 2003
UL http://qualitysafety.bmj.com/content/12/6/465.abstract
AB Organizations learn from experience. Sometimes, however, history is not generous with experience. We explore how organizations convert infrequent events into interpretations of history, and how they balance the need to achieve agreement on interpretations with the need to interpret history correctly. We ask what methods are used, what problems are involved, and what improvements might be made. Although the methods we observe are not guaranteed to lead to consistent agreement on interpretations, valid knowledge, improved organizational performance, or organizational survival, they provide possible insights into the possibilities for and problems of learning from fragments of history.