What is meant by normalization of deviance?
Normalization of deviance is a term used by the American sociologist Diane Vaughan to describe the process in which deviance from correct or proper behavior becomes normalized in a corporate culture.
What causes normalization of deviance?
Normalization of deviance is a concept developed by the American sociologist Diane Vaughan. She developed this theory when looking at where conflicts, mistakes, and disasters find their roots. She holds that the source of these phenomena lies in the environments in which they occur.
What is normalizing in aviation?
It is a sad commentary on our profession that we have had to adopt the phrase “Normalization of Deviance” as our own. It refers to when pilots deviate from Standard Operating Procedures so often that their SOP-less practice becomes the new norm.
What is the end result of a normalization of deviance?
Social normalization of deviance means that people within the organization become so much accustomed to a deviant behavior that they don’t consider it as deviant, despite the fact that they far exceed their own rules for the elementary safety. People grow more accustomed to the deviant behavior the more it occurs.
What is an example of normalization of deviance?
If you’ve worked a job, attended school, driven a car, or even just grew up with a guardian, you’ve most likely experienced normalization of deviance. It happens when your boss tells you to do one thing but all your coworkers do something else and your boss expects you to do the same as them.
What is meant by normalization of deviance how is it related to the Challenger explosion?
Normalization of deviance is a term first coined by sociologist Diane Vaughan when reviewing the Challenger disaster. Vaughan describes this phenomenon as occurring when people within an organization become so insensitive to deviant practice that it no longer feels wrong.
What is the normalization of deviance?
The normalization of deviance is the incremental change to standards we once thought inviolate, turning actions once thought to be unacceptable into the new norm. The path to normalizing deviance can be paved by the lack of proper training, an experience-based ego, or expertise-based over-confidence.
How do pilots become trapped in the normalization of deviance?
Objective-Based Normalization of Deviance — The primary way a highly professional pilot can be trapped into the normalization of deviance is to be ensnared by the pressure of having to achieve hard-to-achieve objectives, such as making a schedule work despite unexpected weather.
How can we prevent deviance in the workplace?
Inviting an experienced outside pilot observe crews on operational trips can help identify weak points and encourage tighter compliance with SOPs. The normalization of deviance is like a cancer, both on the individual basis and for the group as a whole. The individual is unlikely to realize he or she has been inflicted until it is too late.
What are the effects of lower management levels on flight departments?
Lower management levels had accepted an increasing level of deviance that upper levels may not have allowed. A flight department can suffer the same ill effects of this de facto secrecy. Pilots could make decisions based on incomplete information or a misunderstanding of organizational goa ls.
