312 OctoberDecember  2009

From a blame culture to a just culture

in health care
Naresh Khatri
Gordon D. Brown
Lanis L. Hicks

Background: A prevailing blame culture in health care has been suggested as a major source of an unacceptably
high number of medical errors. A just culture has emerged as an imperative for improving the quality and
safety of patient care. However, health care organizations are finding it hard to move from a culture of blame
to a just culture.
Purpose: We argue that moving from a blame culture to a just culture requires a comprehensive understanding
of organizational attributes or antecedents that cause blame or just cultures. Health care organizations need
to build organizational capacity in the form of human resource (HR) management capabilities to achieve a
just culture.
Methodology: This is a conceptual article. Health care management literature was reviewed with twin objectives:
(a) to ascertain if a consistent pattern existed in organizational attributes that lead to either blame or just
cultures and (2) to find out ways to reform a blame culture.
Conclusions: On the basis of the review of related literature, we conclude that (a) a blame culture is more likely to
occur in health care organizations that rely predominantly on hierarchical, compliance-based functional
management systems; (b) a just or learning culture is more likely to occur in health organizations that elicit
greater employee involvement in decision making; and (c) human resource management capabilities play an
important role in moving from a blame culture to a just culture.
Practice Implications: Organizational culture or human resource management practices play a critical role in the
health care delivery process. Health care organizations need to develop a culture that harnesses the ideas and
ingenuity of health care professional by employing a commitment-based management philosophy rather than
strangling them by overregulating their behaviors using a control-based philosophy. They cannot simply wish
away the deeply entrenched culture of blame nor can they outsource their way out of it. Health care
organizations need to build internal human resource management capabilities to bring about the necessary
changes in their culture and management systems and to become learning organizations.

T
he aim of this article is twofold. First, it identifies culture is inherent in hierarchical, functional structures
a set of organizational attributes that perpetuate that are ubiquitous in health care organizations and if
a blame culture and those that foster a just cul- work systems based on greater involvement of health
ture in health care. Specifically, it explores if the blame care employees or professionals promote a just culture.

Key words: blame culture, human resource capabilities, just safety culture, organizational learning, psychological safety

Naresh Khatri, PhD, is Associate Professor, Health Management and Informatics, University of Missouri School of Medicine, Columbia.
E-mail: KhatriN@health.missouri.edu.
Gordon D. Brown, PhD, is Professor, Health Management and Informatics, University of Missouri School of Medicine, Columbia.
Lanis L. Hicks, PhD, is Professor, Health Management and Informatics, University of Missouri School of Medicine, Columbia.
Health Care Manage Rev, 2009, 34(4), 312-322
Copyright A 2009 Wolters Kluwer Health | Lippincott Williams & Wilkins

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From a Blame Culture to a Just Culture in Health Care 313

Second, it proposes that human resource (HR) manage- clinical quality. Similarly, Khatri, Baveja, et al. (2006)
ment capabilities play an important role in a health care noted that about two thirds or more of all medical errors
organizations transition from a blame culture to a just were related to nontechnical cultural factors. Nembhard
culture. Developing the right culture at the clinical level and Edmondson (2006) reported that 70% to 80% of
is a complex and arduous task and may require organi- medical errors had nothing to do with technical factors
zational capacity in the form of HR capabilities, among but were related to interactions within the health care
other organizational capabilities, to accomplish it. team, and Lingard et al. (2002) found numerous errors
This article is organized into four broad sections. In related to interpersonal rather than technical aspects of
the first section, we highlight the importance of orga- the operating rooms functioning.
nizational factors in health care delivery process along Despite the importance of organizational issues in
with identification of gaps in the current literature on medical errors, most health care institutions do not seem
patient safety. We then provide definitions of blame and to think organizationally (Ramanujam & Rousseau,
just cultures. This is followed by a discussion of a set or 2006). The prevailing notion within health care orga-
pattern in organizational antecedents of blame and just nizations is that caregivers act as they do because of
cultures in health care organizations. In the last section, personal motives and skills and that the organization or
we suggest that HR capabilities are crucial in creating a management plays little or no role in either caregiver
just culture in health care organizations. behavior or patient outcomes (Khatri, Baveja, et al.,
2006; Ramanujam & Rousseau, 2006). Consequently,
Importance of Organizational Factors most health care management interventions are iso-
in Health Care Delivery lated, dealing with specific clinical and operational set-
tings, and fail to utilize organizational practices of
We note three main gaps in the existing patient safety known effectiveness, from socialization, coordination,
research related to organizational factors that this article and communication to leadership development and or-
specifically addresses: (a) lack of adequate research ganizational learning (Edworthy, Hignett, Hellier, &
examining the role of cultural factors in affecting medi- Stubbs, 2006).
cal errors and quality of care; (b) lack of a comprehen- A prevailing blame culture in health care has been
sive framework linking cultural factors to quality of care suggested as a major factor for an unacceptably high
because initiatives undertaken to improve patient safety number of medical errors (Cook, Guttmannova, &
and quality of care tend to be piecemeal, having only a Joyner, 2004; Institute of Medicine [IOM], 2001). A just
limited effect; and (c) although a good diagnosis or culture has emerged as an imperative for improving the
description of the factors contributing to medical errors quality and safety of patient care (Pronovost et al., 2003;
now exists, there is a dearth of effective prescriptions to Sorra & Nieva, 2004). Research studies showed that
move from a blame culture to a just culture. We propose employing quality improvement techniques and isolated
that the next frontier of research on patient safety is training programs has limited ability to promote a just
to make major advances in prescribing effective solu- culture throughout the health care enterprise (Cook
tions by developing broad organizational capabilities et al., 2004; IOM, 2001; Pronovost et al., 2003). This
and strategies for establishing just cultures. We elaborate article explores a set of organizational attributes that
on these purported contributions of the article in the perpetuate a culture of blame and also those that are
following paragraphs. necessary for instituting a just culture. An understand-
ing of the attributes of blame and just cultures would
Critical Role of Organizational and enable health care organizations to develop a com-
Cultural Factors in Patient Safety prehensive intervention strategy to implement a just
culture (Scott-Cawiezell et al., 2006).
The need to implement effective healthcare organizing
has become as pressing as the need to implement med- Need for a Comprehensive Framework
ical breakthroughs (Ramanujam & Rousseau, 2006,
p. 824). In fact, an emerging stream of research suggests An IOM (2004) report suggests that piecemeal ap-
that nontechnical medical errors are more prevalent proaches to patient safety will not be successful; rather,
than are technical errors in the health care delivery bundles of changes are needed if we want to take patient
process (Catchpole et al., 2006; Khatri, Baveja, Boren, safety seriously. Similar sentiment has been expressed by
& Mammo, 2006; Lingard et al., 2002; Nembhard & other scholars. For example, Frankel, Gandhi, and Bates
Edmonson, 2006). For example, Catchpole et al. (2006) (2003) noted that combined tools that address cultural
in their study of pediatric cardiac surgeries found that change and leadership and specific components of care
errors related to cultural and organizational failures were delivery would be most successful. Etchells, ONeill, and
the most frequently encountered single type of threat to Bernstein (2003) recommended that the commitment

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314 Health Care Management REVIEW OctoberDecember  2009

to improve patient safety should be demonstrated by the development of a safety culture has been suggested to be
entire health care delivery organization led by senior piecemeal, spotty, and too slow (Etchells et al.,
management. Fogarty and McKeon (2006) argued that 2003; Pace, 2007). Farley et al. (2009), in their recent
the deficiencies at the organizational level affect the study of adverse-event-reporting practices in U.S. hos-
psychological well-being of hospital employees, and dis- pitals, concluded that the blame culture is the norm in
tressed employees are more likely to engage in substan- majority of the hospitals. Specifically, they reported
dard work practices that ultimately endanger patients that only 32% of hospitals have established environ-
under their care. ments that support reporting, only 13% have broad staff
The current models on safety climate or culture are involvement in reporting adverse events, and only 21%
circular in that they do not articulate any explanatory of the hospitals fully distribute and consider summary
mechanisms between safety culture or climate and safety reports on identified events.
behaviors (Flin, 2007; Khatri, Halbesleben, Petroski, & Despite considerable effort devoted to medical errors
Meyer, 2007). In general, there is a lack of theoretical since the publication of the IOM reports, most of the
specificity about how perceptions of safety climate in articles in the literature still largely describe the prob-
health care are actually related to worker safety be- lem rather than present effective solutions (Stryer,
haviors and patient and worker safety outcomes. The 2004; Kirk, 2005). In general, many good descrip-
competing value framework, a commonly used frame- tions of factors contributing to medical errors now exist
work in previous research, has limitations. For example, (Flin, 2007). Health care managers and practitioners do
Meterko, Mohr, and Young (2004) and Scott, Vojir, recognize the need for moving from a culture of blame to
Jones, and Moore (2005) did not find a clear pattern of a culture of safety, but the real challenge facing them
four cultures as theorized in the model. In fact, Meterko has been to implement such cultures (Flin, 2007; Stryer,
et al. ended up comparing only two of the four cultural 2004). Bagnara and Tartaglia (2007) identified three
typesteamwork and bureaucratic, which are quite important areas for patient safety research: work de-
similar to the two alternative management approaches sign, HR management, and cultural and organizational
of control-based and commitment-based management change. We think that the next frontier of the safety
proposed by Khatri, Baveja, et al. (2006) that form the research is to make major advances in how to transform
basis of this article. The two types of management the traditional health care cultures. To succeed, we
approaches suggested by Khatri et al. nicely juxtaposed propose that an organization has to build capacity in the
on two types of culturesculture of blame and culture form of HR capabilities, among other organizational
of safety. Further strength of the model of Khatri et al. is capabilities (Hammer, 2007; Khatri, 2006). HR capa-
that it articulates explicitly the causal chain linking bilities would enable an organization to move from a
management approach to clinical outcomes via affecting blame culture to a just culture via enabling successful
employee behaviors, as shown in Figure 1. implementation of an appropriate regimen of HR prac-
tices (Khatri, 2006; Khatri, Baveja, et al., 2006). The
Urgency for Effective Prescriptions current HR practices in health care organizations in-
volve traditional personnel management that are far
The improvement in patient safety requires dramatic removed from the quality improvement interventions
shifts in traditional organizational cultures because the in health care delivery process.
prevalent culture of blame has been suggested as a nec-
essary precursor of so many safety problems (IOM, 2001;
Definitions of Blame and Just Cultures
Khatri et al., 2007; Schutz, Counte, & Meurer, 2007).
Although some progress has been made in fostering safe
cultures in isolated clinical settings, there is a long way Blame Culture
to go until a culture of safety is the norm throughout the
health care institution (IOM, 2004; Stryer, 2004). The A culture of blame is a set of norms and attitudes within
an organization characterized by an unwillingness to take
risks or accept responsibility for mistakes because of a fear
Figure 1 of criticism or management admonishment. This culture
cultivates distrust and fear, and people blame each other
The causal chain from management approach to avoid being reprimanded or put down, resulting in no
to clinical outcomes new ideas or personal initiative because people do not
want to risk being wrong. It needs to be noted here that an
organization does not purposefully choose a blame cul-
ture, but rather, such a culture evolves out of a bureau-
cratic management style that is highly rule-oriented,

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From a Blame Culture to a Just Culture in Health Care 315

compliance-driven, and focused on assigning blame or literature on organizational learning. An organization

accountability to individuals even for system-level failures. with a greater ability to learn from incidents is likely
There are few things more demoralizing than a blame to have fewer incidents having an adverse affect on
culture. It forces people to protect themselves by un- patients than an organization with lesser ability to learn.
necessary paperwork, currying favor, or shifting blame For every adverse event that affects the patient, there
taking attention away from the patient care and hindering may be hundreds of potential incidents and lower se-
continuous improvement. Whereas individuals who are verity incidents that have little or no effect on patients.
usually good at office politics thrive in such a culture, More effective organizational learning from these poten-
honest and hardworking individuals feel helpless and tial and lower severity incidents could lead to system
frustrated. improvements that will reduce the risk of adverse events
Silence is the predominant response in health care (Cooke, Dunscombe, & Lee, 2007). In other words,
organizations to performance problems, near misses, or from an organizational learning perspective, a just safety
other deviations from desired practices, particularly culture can be defined as an organizations ability to
when the actor responsible for the error is from a high- identify, report, and investigate incidents and to take
status professional group (Detert & Edmondson, 2007; corrective actions that improve the patient care system
Nembhard & Edmondson, 2006; Ramanujam & Rousseau, and reduce the risk of reoccurrence. Cooke et al. (2007),
2006; Tangirala & Ramanujam, 2008). For example, in their study of a cancer center, found that problems
medical residents are reluctant to question senior physi- inherent in management practices and organizational
cians, and nurses hesitate to directly challenge a physicians systems rather than willingness of the staff to report were
medication order they believe as incorrect. Employee major barriers to instituting an effective incident learn-
silence is the noncommunication resulting from a conscious ing system. Further, the lack of follow-up on reported
decision of employees to hold back seemingly important incidents and allocation of insufficient resources to in-
information, including suggestions, concerns, or questions cident investigations hampered organizational learning.
(Tangirala & Ramanujam, 2008). Detert and Edmondson Kirk, Parker, Claridge, Esmail, and Marshall (2007)
(2007) reported pervasive barriers to the expression of described the basic features of a just safety culture to
improvement ideas by organizational employees. Up and include organizations overall commitment to quality, un-
down the hierarchy, people were afraid to speak up with inhibited reporting and identification of adverse events,
apparently helpful, pro-organizational content. The authors quick and thorough investigation of patient safety in-
noted that employees are failing to provide ideas or input cidents, extensive formal and informal communication
not because they are checked out and just do not and information sharing of safety issues, organizational
care but because of fear. The authors lamented that not learning after a patient safety incident, staff training and
only organizations fail to capitalize on much untapped education in patient safety, and team working around
knowledge, but employees too feel genuinely hurt and safety issues.
frustrated about their silence and go through increased stress
and experience psychological and physiological problems Organizational Antecedents of Blame
(Tangirala & Ramanujam, 2008). and Just Cultures

Just Safety Culture In the following section, we develop arguments based on

two chief premises. The first premise is that sustained
An environment supportive of open dialogue to facili- improvement in quality and safety has more to do with
tate safer practices is often referred to as a just culture or a culture than with improvement techniques and isolated
just safety culture (Scott-Cawiezell et al., 2006). Scholars training programs and interventions. As Cohen, Eustis,
also term just culture by another name, psychological and Gribbins (2003, p. 334) rightly noted, Profound
safety. Psychological safety means a supportive work cultural change is the first prerequisite for achieving
unit in which members believe that they can question major improvements in patient safety. The second pre-
existing practices, express concerns or dissent, and ad- mise is that organizational culture cannot evolve piece-
mit mistakes without suffering ridicule or punishment meal but needs an overall organizational approach backed
(Tucker, Nembhard, & Edmondson, 2007). by an HR department that has the necessary capabilities
The early formulations of a just safety culture were a to implement a set of consistent HR practices appropriate
clear improvement over the notion of blame culture, but for propagating the new and desired form of culture. Our
they, while giving some leeway to individuals, were still discussions revolve around two alternative management
premised on accountability and bureaucratic controls philosophies of control-based and commitment-based
(see Beyea, 2004; Frankel, Leonard, & Denham, 2006). management. We argue that the blame culture is more
Instead of bureaucratic controls, we believe that a just rampant in the control-based management and that the
safety culture should include recent developments in the just culture is more widespread in the commitment-based

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316 Health Care Management REVIEW OctoberDecember  2009

management. This discussion is then followed by the The management practices and systems of the
elaboration of our assertion that organizations need to commitment-based organization reflect its basic assump-
build organizational capacity in the form of HR capa- tions about human motivation. Structure of such an
bilities to transition successfully from a blame culture to organization is relatively flat, and communication and
a just culture. information sharing are extensive and take place in all
directions. There is greater prevalence of teams, coop-
Two Alternative Management eration, and employee involvement. Employees enjoy
Philosophies greater autonomy and responsibility, and the goals of the
management and employees show greater alignment as
Although each health care organization is likely to have employees and management work together.
its own unique management philosophy, broadly, health
care organizations can be thought of falling along a Control-Based Management:
continuum, one end of which signifies control and the Blame Culture
other end signifies commitment (Eaton, 2000; Khatri,
Baveja, et al., 2006; Khatri et al., 2007; McGregor, 1985; The basic assumptions and underlying management prac-
Truss, Gratton, Hope-Hailey, McGovern, & Stiles, 1997; tices in the control-based approach are not inconse-
Vestal, Fralicx, & Spreier, 1997). Each management quential; they impact employee behavior. For example,
philosophy, control based or commitment based, results employees in the control-based environment follow in-
in a different but a consistent set of management prac- structions or orders from above and do just what they
tices. For example, narrowly defined jobs, use of time are told. They have a sense of indifference toward or
clocks and overtime, specification of rigid quality in- disengagement from work. If implemented well, a control-
dicators, and prescription of required training programs based approach may achieve a satisfactory level of
are common practices used in a control-based manage- performance, but it cannot achieve the high level needed
ment. On the other hand, broader jobs, flat organizational for a just culture. If not managed effectively, this ap-
structure, greater employee participation, and teamwork proach is likely to lead to low employee morale and
and cooperation are common in a commitment-based a climate of mistrust. Employees do not like to take re-
management. Each management philosophy and resul- sponsibility and feel a sense of frustration and helpless-
tant practices then generate a coherent pattern of em- ness. Employee turnover and absenteeism are generally
ployee behaviors that may either undermine or encourage high, with a low utilization of human capacity.
patient safety. The ubiquity of control-based management in health
The control-based model assumes that people are in- care organizations seems to be a major source of the
capable of self-regulating their behaviors, and they need culture of blame existing in them (Khatri, Baveja,
constant guidance, reward, and discipline from manage- et al., 2006; Khatri et al., 2007; Scott et al., 2005;
ment. Consistent with this assumption, the natural Scott-Cawiezell, Jones, Moore, & Vojir, 2004; Scott-
emphasis of the control-based management is on moni- Cawiezell et al., 2006). The control-based management
toring employee behavior closely via a variety of control does not allow much learning to take place in the health
mechanisms. The basic assumptions of the control-based care delivery process and sets in motion a vicious cycle
model get manifested in HR management practices and in which greater incidence of medical errors leads
organizational structures. For example, in a control- to greater control and regulation of employee beha-
based organization, hierarchy is tall and communication viors, further strengthening the blame culture and finger
is quite anemic, mostly topdown. The focus of em- pointing.
ployee behaviors is on compliance with procedures, The control-based management style leads to low mo-
instructions, and orders from the top. tivation and generates negative emotional energy. Ac-
The commitment-based management, on the other cording to Khatri, Baveja, et al. (2006) and OReilly and
hand, has two underlying assumptions: (a) People are Pfeffer (2000), the control-based model is designed to
capable of self-discipline, and given the opportunity and prevent undesirable actions and behaviors from a small
developmental experiences, they would like to seek fraction of employees, about 5% or so. In so doing, it
responsibility and exercise initiative, and (b) people unintentionally imposes constraints on the initiative,
work best when they are fully committed to the creativity, and morale of the other 95% of employees.
organization, and they commit to the organization when Counterproductive hierarchical communication pat-
they are trusted and allowed to work autonomously. The terns resulting from status differences in control-based
commitment-based approach relies on creating an envi- management are reported to be responsible for many
ronment that encourages the exercise of initiative, inge- medical errors (Nembhard & Edmondson, 2006). Physi-
nuity, and self-direction on the part of employees in cians have been shown to have ignored important
achieving organizational goals. information communicated by nurses, and nurses also

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From a Blame Culture to a Just Culture in Health Care 317

withheld relevant information for diagnosis and treatment ments are not fully supported and are not the ones that
from physicians. If a leader takes an authoritative, un- bring to light the major failures in health care delivery
supportive, or defensive stance, team members are more (Walshe & Shortell, 2004). Several safety scholars
likely to feel that speaking up in the team is unsafe (Garbutt et al., 2008; Khatri, Baveja, et al., 2006; Plews-
(Nembhard & Edmondson, 2006). Ogan et al., 2004; Walshe & Shortell, 2004) pointed out
The management systems premised on control are that these departments fail to enlist physicians or clini-
inadequate to meet the challenge posed by the nature of cians and frequently managers. For example, Garbutt
health care delivery process. Although the dynamic et al. (2008), in their survey of physicians, debunked
nature of health care delivery process requires flexibility, the conventional wisdom that physicians are reluctant
teamwork, and cooperation from employees, the bu- partners in reporting errors. The authors found that the
reaucracy inherent in the control-based management problem was not related to physicians unwillingness to
results in system inflexibility and undermines teamwork report an adverse event but to inadequacies and lack of
and collaboration (Newton, Davidson, Halcomb, & follow-up in current reporting systems. Moreover, the
Denniss, 2007). A large number of potential haz- traditional quality assurance model monitors specific
ards within the diagnostic process in health care (test aspects of care retrospectively and addresses problems on
ordering, sample collection, sample delivery, and results an individual basis rather than on a system level and
dissemination) exist that contribute to delays in the minimizes input from staff directly involved in deliver-
process. Most of these potential hazards occur across the ing patient care (Scott-Cawiezell et al., 2006). One can
boundaries of different units or departments (Edworthy make a persuasive argument that the traditional quality
et al., 2006). The environment in which the health assurance model is inherently flawed in that it assumes
care delivery takes place is usually dynamic, involving that the key issues of patient safety and quality of care
numerous patients and providers, significant task time can be managed by a separate department. Given the
pressures, and multiple sources of information (Schultz, centrality of quality and safety of patient care to the
Carayon, Hundt, & Springman, 2007). The collabora- health care delivery process, we think that the quality
tive nature of the process stems from the involvement of and safety have to be built into the entire system.
a wide array of practitioners, who each gather and
contribute information about patients. However, many Commitment-Based Management:
of these providers, hampered by the control-based Just Culture
management practices, experience difficulties in obtain-
ing the information necessary to safely and efficiently The basic assumptions of the commitment-based approach
proceed with health care intervention. Information is and resultant HR practices impact employee behaviors.
often delayed or missing and, therefore, not available Employees show greater initiative, are more innovative,
when needed. This often results in providers having to and go beyond their defined job responsibility. They are
spend considerable time tracking down certain patient actively engaged and committed to their work and to the
information. Even in cases where information appears organization. Morale is high, and employees feel a sense of
available, providers find late and inadequate or incom- empowerment. Employees take pride in the organizations
plete communication to be significant performance mission, and their turnover is low.
barriers. There has been considerable exploration of The commitment-based management is essential in
the power of connecting disparate units involved in the creating a just culture (Khatri, Baveja, et al., 2006;
clinical work process with an electronic information Khatri et al., 2007). It is conducive to a culture of safety
system as a solution to the problem of communication. via two beneficial effects: the learning effect and the
Although electronic information systems provide a tech- motivation effect. In the learning effect, the commitment-
nical solution to the problem, it is increasingly clear that based management increases learning from mistakes
there needs to be an increased sense of collaboration and by inducing a virtuous cycle in which organizational
unity among professionals, departments, and organiza- members report all the medical errors and search ex-
tions involved in assuring quality and safety in a work tensively for their causes in an open and trusting en-
process (Brown, Stone, & Patrick, 2005). vironment, which is not dependent upon and operates
The quality and safety of patient care in a control- without interference from management. Motivational
based management approach are typically sought by effect generates high motivation in the workforce and
creating a separate quality assurance department. In fact, harnesses immense energy emanating from the positive
most quality assurance departments may have been emotions it fosters. Thus, it enhances quality of care and
created to suggest to regulators and the larger public that patient safety by improving the morale of the workforce.
the organization is taking the necessary steps to reduce In the commitment-based management, self-directed
medical errors (Khatri, Baveja, et al., 2006). Unfortu- and highly energized employees exercise their best effort
nately, in most health care organizations, these depart- to provide high-quality patient care.

Copyright @ 2009 Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. Unauthorized reproduction of this article is prohibited.
318 Health Care Management REVIEW OctoberDecember  2009

Honest, open, and ethical dealings and real-time in- sician medical group in Minneapolis-St. Paul to deter-
formation sharing across levels in a commitment-based mine the organizational and cultural attributes related
organization (Vogus & Welbourne, 2003) build trust in to achieving high quality of care. The authors found
the organization and strengthen system transparency, that the medical group made little use of standing
defined as a willingness of providers and patients to orders. Instead, it relied on extensive involvement of all
openly and comfortably express their concerns about staff to bring together information that would prompt
the delivery of care in a manner that identifies flaws the clinical action. The work environment was very
and leads to their elimination, mitigation, or appro- egalitarian. Teamwork was an early goal in the groups
priate management (Frankel et al., 2003). Trust and history and fostered using many mechanismsequal pay
transparency are necessary for triggering an important for the physicians, a common office area at each site for
mechanism of mindfulness, a heightened organizational all clinicians, careful selection of new clinicians who
awareness toward safety issues (Weick & Sutcliffe, 2003). fit the team model, mentoring and extended orienta-
Mindfulness has been suggested as a critical process in tion, and extensive involvement and communication.
high-reliability organizations that overcome hubris and The management practices and culture were strength-
casualness about safety issues. ened by hiring a new administrative leader with such
Scott-Cawiezell et al. (2006), based on their study of interests. Many features of the medical group suggest
32 Colorado nursing homes, suggested that trust is a that the group employed management practices consis-
critical element of creating a just culture and reported tent with a commitment-based management philosophy.
that the interplay of three critical organizational attri-
butes of communication, teamwork, and leadership Role of HR in Organizational Change
results in a just culture through open, accurate, and and Learning
timely information that flows up and down in the orga-
nization, sense of connectedness among staff members, The dependence of organizational improvement on cul-
and supportive leadership that articulates expectations. ture change is due to the fact that, when the values,
The authors noted, however, that most nursing homes orientations, and goals stay constanteven when pro-
still function under the traditional quality assurance cedures and strategies are alteredthe organization
model, which relies on the premises underlying the returns quickly to status quo (Cameron & Quinn, 1999).
control-based management. Without an alteration of the fundamental values, norms,
The quality and safety issues in commitment-based and expectations of the organization, change remains
management permeate the entire organization and are superficial and short-lived in duration. Furthermore,
not relegated to a separate department or carried out in failed attempts to change, unfortunately, frequently pro-
isolated clinical or other work settings. For example, duce cynicism, frustration, loss of trust, and deteriora-
Plews-Ogan et al. (2004) reported a 20-fold increase in tion in morale among organizational members.
reporting of adverse events and near misses over a period Evidence linking the blame culture to poor quality
of 12 months after a traditional quality reporting system and safety of patient care has accumulated over the
was replaced with an organization-wide, clinician-based years, and interventions to modify the culture are
voluntary reporting system. required before attempting to change clinical systems
Usually, leadership is aware of less than 5% of the and processes (Scott-Cawiezell et al., 2004; Vestal et al.,
errors in their system, and the staff members know all of 1997). Changing the culture so that people believe
them (Scott-Cawiezell et al., 2006). Managers need to that speaking up is expected and desired requires fairly
hear from the people in the organization who are closest far-reaching indications of commitment to change and
to work, closest to the patientsthat is, from those who making fundamental changes to how people get eval-
are in the best position to recognize problems and have uated and rewarded (Detert & Edmondson, 2007). The
new ideas. Two beliefs are essential preconditions for improvement in communication, teamwork, and lead-
the free expression of upward voice: First, the belief that ership is necessary for there to be organizational capacity
one is not putting oneself at significant risk of personal to create and sustain a just culture (Scott-Cawiezell
harm (e.g., embarrassment, criticism, or loss of material et al., 2006).
resources) and, second, the belief that one is not wasting Organizational capacity can be defined as its ability
ones time in speaking up (Detert & Edmondson, 2007). to modify existing practices, care processes, and organi-
In short, voice must be seen as both safe and worth- zational attributes (Scott et al., 2005). This capacity to
while. Such a voice is suppressed in a control-based create and sustain improvement is antecedent to an
organization but encouraged in a commitment-based organization becoming mindful of the safety practices
organization. within their organizations. Health care organizations are
Solberg, Hroscikoski, Sperl-Hillen, Harper, and increasingly seeking to improve their capacity to learn
Crabtree (2006) investigated an exemplary family phy- by better utilizing the knowledge and ideas of people

Copyright @ 2009 Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. Unauthorized reproduction of this article is prohibited.
From a Blame Culture to a Just Culture in Health Care 319

(Detert & Edmondson, 2007). Unfortunately, they are organizational behavior, HR, HR development, and
struggling in their efforts to do so and are not quite sure organizational development, under one umbrella. Ac-
how to proceed. Most of them have not built any orga- cording to the authors, the unfolding of four key trends in
nizational capacity to be able to overhaul their cul- employment indicates a clear convergence and the birth
tures (Khatri, 2006; Scott et al., 2005). Consequently, of a new 21st century HR: (a) increased centrality of peo-
they are making piecemeal efforts, either trying to ple to organizational success; (b) focus on whole systems
find best practices from other health care organizations and integrated solutions (synergies/complementarities
or relying on outsourcing to achieve the needed trans- in HR practices); (c) strategic alignment of HR and its
formation (Khatri, 2006; Khatri, Wells, McKune, & impact on organizational performance; and (d) the crucial
Brewer, 2006). However, health care organizations re- role of HR in managing organizational culture, change,
quire a substantial adaptation of practice to context, and learning.
making the best practice approach inadequate, and Knowledge-intensive, high-contact services, such as
possibly even counterproductive (Khatri, 2006; Tucker health care organizations, have high levels of commu-
et al., 2007). nication time between customers and service employees,
Tucker et al. (2007) studied two types of organiza- intimacy of communication, and richness of information
tional processes in the successful implementation of exchanged during contact (Goldstein, 2003). Greater
new practices: learn-what and learn-how. Learn-what is a employee knowledge and skills are needed in such
bundle of activities that seek to identify best practices and services because unpredictability during the service en-
involves identifying existing knowledge. Learn-how counter creates a need for employees who can make
refers to a bundle of activities aimed at discovering the continuous and multiple nonprogrammed decisions. Em-
underlying science of a better practice so as to operation- ployees need the ability and authority to achieve re-
alize the practice in a target organization. It requires sults for customers (Heskett, Sasser, & Schlesinger,
innovation, experimentation, and collaborative problem 1997, p. 29). Such organizations should focus on de-
solving and occurs more frequently in supportive orga- velopment of work systems, training programs, and
nizational contexts. The authors found that learn-how services for employee well-being as a means to improve
rather than learn-what plays a central role in implemen- employee productivity and satisfaction rather than
tation success. Learn-how activities are more complex, as a direct means to improve customer satisfaction
however, and not all organizations can implement (Goldstein, 2003).
them effectively. Learn-how activities require internal In view of the ever-evolving organizational forms,
organizational capacity for successful implementation as HR capabilities should be treated as core organizational
they cannot be easily copied from others or outsourced capabilities. There are five key dimensions of HR capa-
(Khatri, 2006; Novak & Stern, 2007; Tucker et al., 2007). bilities (Khatri, 2006). First, the chief executive has to
We noted above that the control-based management have a full comprehension of the key role that HR plays
creates a dynamic in which a blame culture flourishes. in knowledge-based and service-oriented health care
Similarly, a commitment-based approach creates an ap- organizations. Simply being supportive and providing
propriate environment for a just culture. Thus, to be able resources is not sufficient. In view of the fact that salary
to move from a culture of blame to a just culture requires and wages constitute somewhere between 60% and 85%
that an organization first examines its management prac- of the operating budget in a typical health care orga-
tices. If management practices and systems that hinder nization, the people issues have to be as central as
quality and safety of patient care are diagnosed, the financial and other key operating issues in a chief exe-
organization will need to implement learn-how processes cutives agenda. The second dimension of HR capa-
consistent with a just culture to make the needed bilities pertains to the status of HR in the organization;
changes. HR function cannot be relegated to secondary role. HR
We believe that the HR function has to play a central activities permeate the entire organization, and thus
role in managing organizational culture, change, and HR department cannot be located far from the action,
learning in health care organizations (Khatri, 2006; in a deserted part of the organization. The third di-
Khatri, Wells, et al., 2006; Vestal et al., 1997). To be able mension of HR capabilities consists of a visionary and
to perform such a difficult and complex task as moving professional head of HR function. For example, Khatri,
an organization from a blame culture to a just culture Wells, et al. (2006) reported that health care organi-
requires an HR function of the organization to have HR zations that hired a visionary and technically competent
capabilities; the old HR as a bastion of bureaucratic, HR director with experience in other service industries
command-and-control style must be eliminated (Khatri, were able to make great strides in changing their
2006; Vestal et al., 1997). Ruona and Gibson (2004) cultures. These organizations were also able to compre-
argued that HR in the 21st century is emerging as a meta- hend more clearly the link between people management
profession that can accommodate multiple fields, such as practices and clinical outcomes. Fourth, in view of the

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320 Health Care Management REVIEW OctoberDecember  2009

new roles such as organizational change and learning believe that, if the control-based model is executed well,
that HR has to undertake, HR employees have to be it would result in at least satisfactory organizational
professionally educated and trained. Perhaps managing performance, if not in an extraordinary organizational
people has become far more complex than managing performance. Moreover, a well-executed control-based
accounts. Thus, if accountants are hired based on their management is likely to lead to higher organizational
technical education in accounting, HR employees must performance than a poorly executed commitment-based
be hired based on their thorough and deep knowledge management. However, we believe that, if both approaches
and training in behavioral sciences. Not any organiza- are implemented equally well, the commitment-based ap-
tional employee can be assigned to the HR department. proach will surpass the control-based approach quite signifi-
The well-educated and trained HR employees can cantly. Second, it is hard to find health care organizations
develop highly effective HR tools such as selection that ideally fit either of the two approaches. We have
instruments, training programs, appropriate compensa- presented our arguments for ideal types for the sake of
tion strategies, and just and fair performance manage- developing clearer and more coherent arguments. The
ment systems. On the other hand, it is unfair to expect reality is far more complex, which it always is. Most of
that clinicians such as nurse administrators can fully health care organizations use mixed practices, although
grasp the subtlety and ever-increasing complexity of currently they rely preponderantly on control-based
HR function. Finally, the HR function is highly data strategies. We can think of health care organizations to fall
intensive. Managing it well calls for a computerized along a continuum of control-based and commitment-based
strategic HR information system. Such a system in the management. The third and last caveat is that commit-
hands of a visionary HR director and highly trained HR ment-based management does not mean that there is no
employees would turn management of HR programs and control used in an organization; rather, control is achieved
practices into science, making them far more effective. through creating a commitment in people (Khatri, Baveja,
et al., 2006). An organization with control-based approach
is likely to appear calm and under control on the surface, but
Implications and Conclusion it may be simmering with resentment underneath. On the
other hand, an organization using a commitment-based
The rampant blame culture in health care is a major approach may appear chaotic on the surface, but its seeming
source of medical errors and poor quality of patient care. chaos is a reflection of the unleashed energy in its people.
We believe that a blame culture is natural in hierar- In our jest for developing persuasive arguments in
chical, control-based management systems currently favor of HR capabilities, we may have overemphasized
ubiquitous in health care organizations. Thus, to move their importance in managing organizational culture,
from a blame culture to a just culture, health care or- change, and learning. Presently, there are only a handful
ganizations first need to move away from an overly of health care organizations that have developed HR
compliance-driven, regulated management system to a capabilities, as discussed in this article. However, based
commitment-based management system that encourages on our interactions with managers in health care orga-
employee participation and involvement in decision nizations and an understanding of health care manage-
making. However, changing a deeply entrenched system ment literature, we find ever-growing realization that
is far easier said than done. We propose that health organizational factors including HR play a crucial role in
care organizations need to develop organizational capa- health care delivery process. We are hopeful that in
bilities in HR function to do so. The deep-seated cul- years to come many health care organizations will
tural problem in health care cannot be wished away or become a model of excellent HR management.
outsourced. Health care organizations have tried quick
and temporary fixes in their culture and systems over
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