At present, the company’s willingness to change quickly and adapt to the market requirements has become crucial in corporate culture. There are several critical points in building an effective organizational structure that can quickly adapt to the market situation. One of them is error culture, which affects the company’s performance. Rupert et al. (2019) examine the correlation between diversity and team learning regarding faultline teams and cross-categorized ones. Therefore, it is necessary to analyze the general ideas and concepts presented in the research from the perspective of error culture.
Error culture mitigates the diversity during the team learning; however, it is applicable only for faultline but not for cross-categorized teams. The results also vary depending on the character of error culture: error management culture, allowing team members to discuss error actively, and error prevention culture, focusing on preventing errors (Rupert et al., 2019). According to Rupert et al. (2019), the latter contributes to a better decision-making process over time compared to error management culture. The explanation is that the learning process negatively affects the teams’ ability to make accurate decisions (Rupert et al., 2019). Thus, error management culture may inhibit the team learning outcome, while error prevention culture may improve the learning outcomes.
Due to increasing virtual teams, inclusive communication becomes essential. Error culture is a part of this concept, providing the ability to create an environment where employees are not afraid to present their ideas and ask questions. Rupert et al. (2019) found that error management is more effective in faultline teams than cross-categorization. For this, completely different methods and approaches are required instead of focusing on results. Error management supports the goal of team building, expected to discuss ways to accomplish the task and the appropriateness of choosing the adopted approach.
The article indeed promotes team collaboration; still, it has some limitations regarding the character of error culture. For instance, the implication of the error management approach is beneficial in diminishing social categorization (Rupert et al., 2019). Moreover, it should be adopted in faultline teams to enhance effective dialogue patterns and learning processes (Rupert et al., 2019). Nevertheless, the impact is debatable as such type of error culture negatively impacts the short-term performance (Rupert et al., 2019). This leads to the assumption that error prevention is helpful in corporate culture when the emphasis is made on results and accurate performance. As a shortcoming, communication and team learning may suffer. Furthermore, the results do not reveal that increased trust or personal ownership might result in reduced responsibility and negative team culture. On the contrary, error culture can be seen as a way of making employees more responsible for their actions.
A specific impact of the research is defined in terms of practical implications on the workplace. For example, concerning faultline teams, team learning and inclusive communication should be stimulated by managers by facilitating the process of sharing error knowledge (Rupert et al., 2019). According to Rupert et al. (2019, p. 717), it can be achieved through “specific training programs on error management or by sharing best error handling practices.” Employees from different departments can get together and analyze their mistakes, discuss how the situation can be improved, then share whether they managed to fix problems or not. Through such actions, employees will be able to expand their knowledge and their colleagues’ learning from past errors.
Thus, error culture contributes to corporate culture as employees stop being afraid of mistakes – they see that everyone can face some challenges during the work process. The error management and error prevention approaches are different; consequently, the choice of a specific culture depends on the organization’s priorities. Hence, the discussion should remain constructive so that workers can get an incentive for further work, receiving ideas and practical recommendations for solving the problem.
Reference
Rupert, J., Homan, A. C., Jehn, K. A., & Blomme, R. J. (2019). Diversity composition and team learning: The moderating role of error culture. Group Decision and Negotiation, 28(4), 695-722. Web.