Multiple Identities in High Reliability Organizations: A Case Study

It is generally accepted that consensus about the features of the “high reliability” identity allow organizations performing hazardous activities to act in an error-free manner. This work challenges this assumption, providing evidence of multiple identities in a High Reliability Organization. We conducted an inductive case study in a large oil and gas producer, whose top executives emphasized safety as a central and distinctive feature of the company. Our analysis was based on extensive data: presentations, interviews, observation, and conversations. The results permit us to describe two organizational identities of safety on offshore oil platforms: “controlling” and “caring.” We found that managers and workers interpreted safety both as imposing “strict sanctions” and possessing “meaningful value.” They expressed the organizational identity through varying forms of antinomies: authoritative versus respectful interactions and resisting versus adapting actions. These dynamics of identity help us better understand the organizational process of “becoming” highly reliable.