The "normalization of deviance" is a gradual process where unacceptable practices become standard because they are repeated without immediate catastrophic consequences, driven by human rationalization ...

To some extent, many organizations, if not all, suffer from some form of performance deviation. This can manifest itself in any goal or standard against which organizations may measure themselves.

“When the sociologist Diane Vaughan came up with the term ‘the normalization of deviance,’ she was referring to NASA administrators’ disregard of the flaw that caused the Challenger space shuttle to ...