Every organization is confronted with errors. Most errors are corrected easily, but some may lead to negative consequences. Organizations often focus on error prevention as a single strategy for dealing with errors. Our review suggests that error prevention needs to be supplemented by error management--an approach directed at effectively dealing with errors after they have occurred, with the goal of minimizing negative and maximizing positive error consequences (examples of the latter are learning and innovations). After defining errors and related concepts, we review research on error-related processes affected by error management (error detection, damage control). Empirical evidence on positive effects of error management in individuals and organizations is then discussed, along with emotional, motivational, cognitive, and behavioral pathways of these effects. Learning from errors is central, but like other positive consequences, learning occurs under certain circumstances--one being the development of a mind-set of acceptance of human error.

In error management training, participants are explicitly encouraged to make errors and learn from them. Error management training has frequently been shown to lead to better performance than conventional trainings that adopt an error avoidant approach. The present study investigated self-regulatory processes mediating this effect. Fifty-five volunteer students learned a computer program under 1 of 3 conditions: error avoidant training, error management training, or error management training supplemented with a metacognitive module. As predicted, both forms of error management training led to better transfer performance than did error avoidant training (d ϭ 0.75). Mediation hypotheses were fully supported: Emotion control and metacognitive activity (from verbal protocols) mediated performance differences. These findings highlight the potential of promoting self-regulatory processing during training.

Error management training (EMT) is a training method that involves active exploration as well as explicit encouragement for learners to make errors during training and to learn from them. Past evaluation studies, which compared skill-based training outcomes of EMT with those of proceduralized erroravoidant training or of exploratory training without error encouragement, have yielded considerable variation in effect sizes. The present meta-analysis compiles the results of the existing studies and seeks to explain this variation. Although the mean effect of EMT across all 24 identified studies (N = 2,183) was positive and significant (Cohen's d = 0.44), there were several moderators. Moderator analyses showed effect sizes to be larger (a) for posttraining transfer (d = 0.56) than for within-training performance and (b) for performance tasks that were structurally distinct (adaptive transfer; d = 0.80) than for tasks that were similar to training (analogical transfer). In addition, both active exploration and error encouragement were identified as effective elements in EMT. Results suggest that EMT may be better suited than error-avoidant training methods for promotion of transfer to novel tasks.

Error management training explicitly allows participants to make errors. We examined the effects of error management instructions ("rules of thumb" designed to reduce the negative emotional effects of errors), goal orientation (learning goal, prove goal, and avoidance goal orientations) and attribute x treatment interactions on performance. A randomized experiment with 87 participants consisting of 3 training procedures for learning to work with a computer program was conducted: (a) error training with error management instructions, (b) error training without error management instructions; and (c) a group that was prevented from making errors. Results showed that shortand medium-term performance (near and far transfer) was superior for participants of the error training that included error management instructions, compared with the two other training conditions. Thus, error management instructions were crucial for the high performance effects of error training. Prove and avoidance goal orientation interacted with training conditions. Errors appear in nearly every learning process because of insufficient knowledge and skills. Moreover, errors appear not just as a result of too little knowledge but also as a consequence of inappropriate goals and plans, interruptions during the action process, and inaccurate interpretation of system feedback