High-Reliability Organizing (HRO), Decision Making, the OODA Loop, and COVID-19

Organizations do not make decisions; people do. The entropy of any system moves toward disorder of its elements and the corruption of information as it is transmitted. This flux creates uncertainty. As we gain additional information, we find that the property of monotonicity from classical logic and scientific reasoning does not allow us to change our conclusions. We must engage with these situations without a developed plan or even without a plan. Reciprocal decision-making describes how we act, observe the response to our action, and how that response guides our next action. Decision-making with reciprocal feedback keeps the operator close to events, generates information, identifies relevance, and gives meaning to information. This is an active method for generating information, creating structure, and identifying the boundaries of performance. John Boyd's OODA loop is a cycle for rapid, real-time interactive hypothesis development and testing. This is not decision-making independent of others or the organization. The Orient function of Boyd's OODA loop integrates the individual, situation, and organization through culture.