Studies on the causes of technological disasters have pointed out the existence of common patterns that lead to disasters. The patterns present the characteristics of most organizations. About the organizational setting, there are perception and belief rigidities. This feature has been associated with the complex nature of organizations which dictate a fixed way of doing things in order to achieve the core goals. As such, employees do not have a general consideration of happenings in the organization. The second feature of organizations is the decoy phenomenon; this is manifested by the failure to consider a particular danger. For instance, the action taken to deal with the problem may be destroyed by other events that center on the same issue. It is important to note that organizations are made of systems and solutions to the failures should be based on an inclusive process.
However, many organizations have features of exclusivity characterized by a dismissive culture that disregards complaints either from within or outside. For instance, there is a common belief in many organizations that they know better about internal operations and hazards than outsiders.
Besides, there are cases of communication and information handling difficulties that lead to ambiguities, and hence, create an environment for incubating the disaster. The other characterization is tight work schedules based on strategic goals which culminate in performance pressures that in turn foster myopia in the leaders. The leaders focus on one aspect of delivering value to the organization and forget other important processes such as safety. Small failures start to pile up and later lead to catastrophe as the systems become overwhelmed by the overlooked breakdowns. Also, organizations are unable to predict disasters due to the complex work culture that focuses on organizational goals.