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Teamwork as an Essential Component of High‐Reliability Organizations
Author(s) -
Baker David P.,
Day Rachel,
Salas Eduardo
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
health services research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.706
H-Index - 121
eISSN - 1475-6773
pISSN - 0017-9124
DOI - 10.1111/j.1475-6773.2006.00566.x
Subject(s) - teamwork , reliability (semiconductor) , component (thermodynamics) , health care , team composition , process management , computer science , risk analysis (engineering) , knowledge management , business , political science , physics , quantum mechanics , power (physics) , law , thermodynamics
Organizations are increasingly becoming dynamic and unstable. This evolution has given rise to greater reliance on teams and increased complexity in terms of team composition, skills required, and degree of risk involved. High‐reliability organizations (HROs) are those that exist in such hazardous environments where the consequences of errors are high, but the occurrence of error is extremely low. In this article, we argue that teamwork is an essential component of achieving high reliability particularly in health care organizations. We describe the fundamental characteristics of teams, review strategies in team training, demonstrate the criticality of teamwork in HROs and finally, identify specific challenges the health care community must address to improve teamwork and enhance reliability.