This information is for reference purposes only. It was current when produced and may now be outdated. Archive material is no longer maintained, and some links may not work. Persons with disabilities having difficulty accessing this information should contact us at: https://info.ahrq.gov. Let us know the nature of the problem, the Web address of what you want, and your contact information.
Please go to www.ahrq.gov for current information.
The Concept of Slack
- Tight coupling and high complexity (versus loose coupling and low complexity) are more accident prone.
- Perrow, 1984, Normal Accidents
- Also known as "slack", i.e., usual procedures work less well when there is less slack in the system, because the system loses its resilience to additional interruptions.
- Rudolph and Repenning, 2002
Notes:
Tight coupling refers to highly interdependent processes (I think)
Previous Slide Contents Next Slide 
5600 Fishers Lane Rockville, MD 20857