Pandemic COVID-19, the High-Reliability Organization (HRO), and the Ecology of Fear
Daved van Stralen, Thomas Mercer
Abstract
COVID-19 has changed the social, financial, and political environments for healthcare. Healthcare organizations have abruptly changed operations for a new environment due to pervasive threats to the organization, patients, and healthcare professionals. While the direct, infectious presence of COVID-19 as a threat would seem to cause the greatest stress to the healthcare system, perhaps the absence of the threat may cause more severe and wide-ranging problems. Ecological studies demonstrate a greater decrease in prey populations from the predator’s absence due to an “ecology of fear.” By analogy, organizations share these trait responses and can develop an organizational culture of stress or stress. HRO describes functional traits for effective operations in environments of severe threat.