It’s Modelling the Micro-Foundations of the Audit Society: Organizations and the Logic of the Audit Trail by Michael Power. This paper gets us thinking about why organizations do audits in the first place seeing as it has been proven to often decrease the efficiency of the actual process being audited. We discuss the negatives as well as the positives of audits - which both help explain why audits continue to be such a big part of safety management in organizations. Topics:
What kinds of audits are happening Why is the number of audits increasing? Why do we keep doing audits when they seemingly do not help productivity. Academia and publication metrics The audit society The foundations of an audit trail The process model of an audit trail The problem with audit trails. Going from push to pull when audits are initiated Why is it easier for some organizations to adopt auditing processes than others? Displacement from goals to methods Audits help different organizations line up their way of thinking Practical takeaways