ABSTRACT
Mutual support and backup may be thought of as an individual and team-based skill requiring team members to work together, and brace each other to avoid failure, while maintaining a reserve or substitute capacity for action, particularly in the face of stress, change, or hazardous conditions. One way to help smooth the transition is to assure employees at all levels that assertiveness is a component of mutual support and backup, which is designed to help the organization and protect employees, not to remove anyone's authority. Formal policies are the backing employees need to justify their assertive actions, so organizations should design mutual support and backup policies that encourage employees to speak up when injury or harm could occur and to challenge incorrect information when it could impact successful job accomplishment. Caving into excessive production pressure without assessing safety impacts, yet expecting team members to exercise mutual support and backup policies, is an easy way to lose the respect of employees.
