Routines Implementation: a Complex Task in the Leader’s Agenda

The problem of routines implementation is addressed. Building on the recent developments in routines ontology, a theory of routines heterogeneity is proposed. Useful descriptors are proposed to establish a new taxonomy for the routines. Sequential variety and performance feedback ambiguity, as routine-level properties, can be significant antecedents of the implementation success. In particular, the process of safety routines implementation is analyzed. We argue that safety procedures, having the characters of “managerial routines”, need a distributed leadership model to be successfully implemented. A case study implementation of a leadership model is presented as the ideal context for further research.