What went wrong? A special report

We read the daily papers mostly to find out what has gone wrong, and presumably to learn from the mistakes, faults, and problems or others - or, at the very least, to feel good about not being personally involved. At the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, in a seminar labeled “Failure of Human Systems,” the not very surprising conclusion was drawn (among others) that a failure is often considered as shameful, as something to be suppressed, particularly if the failure is construed by the participants as a personal rather than as a project failure. Thus, it is understandable that many individuals who do “make the papers” are not happy about it.