Mission improbable : using fantasy documents to tame disaster / Lee Clarke.

By:

Clarke, Lee Ben

Material type: Text

TextPublication details: Chicago : University of Chicago Press, 1999.Description: xii, 217 p. ; 24 cmISBN:

0226109410 (alk. paper)
0226109429 (pbk. : alk. paper)

Subject(s):

DDC classification:

363.347 21

LOC classification:

HV551.2 .C53 1999

Other classification:

50.17

Online resources:

Contents:

1. Some Functions of Planning -- 2. Fantasy Documents -- 3. Planning and the C-Shibboleths -- 4. Apparent Affinities: Normalizing Danger through Simile -- 5. Authority and Audience in Accepting Risk -- 6. Organizations, Symbols, Publics.

Summary: How does the U.S. Post Office plan to deliver mail after atomic Armageddon? How do oil industry executives intend to collect 10 million gallons of oil spilled in the Gulf of Alaska? How do regulators try to convince people that everyone can be evacuated from congested Long Island after a nuclear power plant destroys itself? Lee Clarke enters the world of managers and experts to find out how governments and corporations plan for massive disaster when they have no clue as to how to go about it. He argues that managers create plans that are "fantasy documents," rhetorical tools that are used to convince audiences that experts are in charge and that all is well. Provocative and written for a general audience, Mission Improbable makes the case that society would be safer, smarter, and fairer if organizations would admit their limitations.

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Holdings
Item type	Current library	Collection	Call number	Status	Date due	Barcode
Books	Australian Emergency Management Library	BOOK	363.347 MIS (Browse shelf(Opens below))	Checked out	12/31/2024	011777317

Includes bibliographical references (p. 189-201) and index.

How does the U.S. Post Office plan to deliver mail after atomic Armageddon? How do oil industry executives intend to collect 10 million gallons of oil spilled in the Gulf of Alaska? How do regulators try to convince people that everyone can be evacuated from congested Long Island after a nuclear power plant destroys itself? Lee Clarke enters the world of managers and experts to find out how governments and corporations plan for massive disaster when they have no clue as to how to go about it. He argues that managers create plans that are "fantasy documents," rhetorical tools that are used to convince audiences that experts are in charge and that all is well. Provocative and written for a general audience, Mission Improbable makes the case that society would be safer, smarter, and fairer if organizations would admit their limitations.

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