Institutional Reflexivity: The Missing Capability in High Reliability and Resilient Organizations

Germanwings Flight 9525 (GW9525) was lost in the French Alps in 2015 when, a co-pilot committed suicide killing in the process 150 passengers and crew. We analyze events to show that this is not a case of sensemaking collapse, typical of analyses of crises incidents in the existing literature. We introduce a lapse in reflexivity and argue that GW9525 could be classified as a loss of judgment incident and not a loss of control often accounted as the single biggest cause of airline fatalities. We combine ideas from the literatures on High Reliability and Resilient Organizations and the associated sensemaking capabilities to propose institutional reflexivity as a new capability supporting reliability and resilience. We extend hitherto accounts of reflexivity as a capacity of individual actors and groups drawing attention to practical judgments that serve the common good. Practical judgments – phronesis - go beyond the application of existing knowledge and associated rules and routines which may prove to be no longer sufficient to safeguard against crisis. Thus, reflexivity as an institutional capability extends beyond the actors experiencing directly the crisis, but also those who may be holding vital knowledge that could prevent a crisis. We present evidence from GW9525 to illustrate the lack of reflexivity at multiple levels institutionally and highlight the importance of two practices that can support developing institutional reflexivity namely; a) practising engaging with tensions and professional dilemmas and b) realizing moments when breaking out of current rules and routines may prevent crisis.