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”…we care about the small people” Komplexa organisationer, man-made risk och ansvarsutkrävande - En studie av den mediala debatten om BP-olyckan

Zryd, Maria LU (2011) STVK01 20111
Department of Political Science
Abstract
Who is to be held accountable for catastrophes that are characterized by man-made risk, i.e. risk derived from the very human technological development? Using theories about man-made risk and accountability in complex organizations, I argue that it is of crucial importance to examine the societal roles and activities of complex organizations in order to find an answer to that question. In today’s society, activities comprising man-made risk - such as oil drilling - are managed by complex organizations distinguished by the problem of many hands i.e. the difficulty to ascertain who is responsible for decisions taken within an organization.

The purpose of this thesis is to examine how the issue of accountability in complex risk-managing... (More)
Who is to be held accountable for catastrophes that are characterized by man-made risk, i.e. risk derived from the very human technological development? Using theories about man-made risk and accountability in complex organizations, I argue that it is of crucial importance to examine the societal roles and activities of complex organizations in order to find an answer to that question. In today’s society, activities comprising man-made risk - such as oil drilling - are managed by complex organizations distinguished by the problem of many hands i.e. the difficulty to ascertain who is responsible for decisions taken within an organization.

The purpose of this thesis is to examine how the issue of accountability in complex risk-managing organizations is pictured in the media, and the case examined is the BP oil spill. By accomplishing a conceptual analysis using ideal types, I examine whether a proper discussion on accountability is apparent in the American newspapers The New York Times and The Times-Picayune. The analysis shows that explicit discussions on accountability are rarely expressed in the empirical material, and that there is a silence when it comes to the relation between man-made risk, complex organizations and accountability. (Less)
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author
Zryd, Maria LU
supervisor
organization
course
STVK01 20111
year
type
M2 - Bachelor Degree
subject
keywords
medial debatt, man-made risk, komplexa organisationer, idéanalys, BP-olyckan, ansvarsutkrävande
language
Swedish
id
1968615
date added to LUP
2011-06-20 14:28:24
date last changed
2011-06-20 14:28:24
@misc{1968615,
  abstract     = {{Who is to be held accountable for catastrophes that are characterized by man-made risk, i.e. risk derived from the very human technological development? Using theories about man-made risk and accountability in complex organizations, I argue that it is of crucial importance to examine the societal roles and activities of complex organizations in order to find an answer to that question. In today’s society, activities comprising man-made risk - such as oil drilling - are managed by complex organizations distinguished by the problem of many hands i.e. the difficulty to ascertain who is responsible for decisions taken within an organization. 

The purpose of this thesis is to examine how the issue of accountability in complex risk-managing organizations is pictured in the media, and the case examined is the BP oil spill. By accomplishing a conceptual analysis using ideal types, I examine whether a proper discussion on accountability is apparent in the American newspapers The New York Times and The Times-Picayune. The analysis shows that explicit discussions on accountability are rarely expressed in the empirical material, and that there is a silence when it comes to the relation between man-made risk, complex organizations and accountability.}},
  author       = {{Zryd, Maria}},
  language     = {{swe}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{”…we care about the small people” Komplexa organisationer, man-made risk och ansvarsutkrävande - En studie av den mediala debatten om BP-olyckan}},
  year         = {{2011}},
}