Another from the “Reason files”. I present this more as a historical view (even though this rev of the book is only from 2017), rather than as a perspective I necessarily agree with, or not.
Here in the Human Contribution, Jim talks about rule-related behaviour and “violations” (I really dislike that word … but will maintain it here for ease of summary).
One perspective, he says, starts with the premise that “neither compliance nor violating is intrinsically good or bad – it all depends on context” (p60). He relates rule-following to psychological reward, with people trying to achieve their goals.
He provides 12 varieties of rule-related behaviour – attached.
Something I find interesting about Jim’s work are the sometimes fairly stark perspectives he can hold. On the one hand, he’s always been a strong proponent of understanding system/organisational influences and better work design.
On the other hand, at times it seems like he can be inconsistent with personal agency of workers, boiling some sometimes complex contextual conditions down to personal satisfaction of rule following.
Also wording like violations or “perpetrators”, is something I personally struggle with – but I see that as my own limitation & biases rather than his.
Ref: Reason, J. (2017). The human contribution: unsafe acts, accidents and heroic recoveries. CRC Press.
Link to the LinkedIn post: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/benhutchinson2_another-from-the-reason-files-i-present-activity-7038638380301107201-j132?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop
SafetyInsights.org 
3 thoughts on “12 varieties of rule-following behaviour”