Roads to Resilience

Interestingly, when the pilot of the aircraft that had avoided the hole heard of the problem, he realised that he had made a mistake by not reporting the damaged taxi-way. Soon afterwards, he wrote an article in the organisation’s magazine openly admitting his mistake in not reporting the problem and about the need for everyone to be vigilant, open, learn, and adapt processes and behaviours. It is a reflection of the Virgin Atlantic culture that the pilot could be open about the shortcomings in his actions and that he wanted others to benefit and learn from his experience 2 . The no-blame culture is driven from the top. “ We engender very much a forward-looking, proactive and open culture where, when we are talking about risk, safety and security, it is not about blaming someone. It is always about learning and what we can do to prevent the event happening again. It is always about the event first, not the individual” (Chief Operating Officer, Virgin Atlantic). Similarly at Zurich Insurance, “it’s got to start at the top of the organisation, with the language showing that we are more interested in how we learn and move forward than it is about actually holding an individual accountable” (CEO UK General Insurance, Zurich). All the case study organisations have gone about building strong external relationships. The managers at ODA developed a real sense of commitment and purpose internally and then took the time to extend this through to their suppliers, contractors and other business partners. Many organisations deliver some of their direct customer- facing services through suppliers as only when strong and seamless relationships exist will the customer receive the service that matches their expectations of that brand. Relationships and networks are fundamentally important to reputation and the delivery of the strategy of the organisation.

Business structure In general, the case studies indicate that the development of strong internal and external

relationships and networks can be enhanced by flatter organisations, more cross-functional collaboration and self-organising teams. These structures allow faster and more open communication and improve risk management co-operation, as an IHG manager commented: “I believe in the flat structure, everyone can come and see everybody. I don’t believe in hierarchies, as they get in the way” (GM Holiday Inn, IHG). One of the findings of the research is that flatter organisations facilitate better communication and those with complex organisational structures need to introduce specific procedures to avoid the risk information ‘glass ceiling’ that results in board risk blindness. Another organisation that changed its structure is Jaguar Land Rover. Designing, developing, engineering, manufacturing, marketing and selling luxury vehicles are specialist activities, traditionally organised by function. However, at Jaguar Land Rover, activities are strongly integrated across functions and management levels. One reason is that the end product, a luxury vehicle, is technically complicated. Design choices in one area can have negative consequences in others and so these inter- dependencies need to be understood. This requires the frequent coming together of functions and management levels to make decisions to ensure the end product functions as designed and complies with various standards, as well as meeting customer expectations in a competitive market. Taking a new vehicle to market costs hundreds of millions of pounds and can take several years. If late-stage design changes are required, the challenge is to manage the cost, schedule and product quality to minimise disruption to other development projects and production schedules. Jaguar Land Rover deals with these challenges by having structures in place that facilitate cross-functional decision-making and rapid communication up and across the organisation, as well as a portfolio approach to risk management and resilience.

2 This example was presented by Virgin Atlantic at the workshop held at Cranfield School of Management on 11 July 2013.

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Roads to Resilience: Building dynamic approaches to risk to achieve future success