In reverse outcome tight control, controlees’ behavior is correctly aligned with tight controls, but this results in harm to the project. Using the lens of mindfulness, our case study of a construction project reveals why mindless enactment of controls leads to reverse outcome tight control—controllers replace project feedback with feedback from controls. When a project has both unknown unknowns and tight control, controlees respond to tight controls instead of to unknown unknowns. Controlees behave as controllers expect, leading controllers to be unaware of brewing problems. One solution is “unprocess”—deliberately seeking information outside of standard project routines.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.