The Field Guide › Paper

Learning from Mistakes Is Easier Said Than Done: Group and Organizational Influences on the Detection and Correction of Human Error

Edmondson · Team Learning · The Journal of Applied Behavioral Science · 1996 · Paywalled

The hospital study that preceded and motivated the 1999 paper. Produced the famous paradoxical finding: better-performing nursing teams reported higher error rates — not because they made more mistakes, but because psychological safety made them willing to discuss them. Established that error reporting is a measure of safety culture, not error frequency.

Connected concepts (18)

• Psychological Conditions of Personal Engagement and Disengagement at Work (paper)
• Psychological Safety and Learning Behavior in Work Teams (paper)
• Organizational Errors: Directions for Future Research (paper)
• Organizing for High Reliability: Processes of Collective Mindfulness (paper)
• Psychological Safety: A Meta-Analytic Review and Extension (paper)
• Human Error: Models and Management (paper)
• Managing the Risk of Learning: Psychological Safety in Work Teams (paper)
• Methodological Fit in Management Field Research (paper)
• Speaking Up in the Operating Room: How Team Leaders Promote Learning in Interdisciplinary Action Teams (paper)
• The Safety Organizing Scale: Development and Validation of a Behavioral Measure of Safety Culture in Hospital Nursing Units (paper)
• Blametropism
• Errors in Organizations: An Integrative Review via Level of Analysis, Temporal Dynamism, and Priority Lenses (paper)
• Just Culture
• Learning from Error
• Reflections: Voice and Silence in Workplace Conversations (paper)
• Watermelon Effect
• The Lived Experience of Accountability: A Phenomenological Study in Maritime Safety (paper)
• You Can't Fix a Secret