An Overview of Organizational Resilience in Research and Strategy: Implications for the Future of Work

Abstract

Prior literature on organizational resilience has been predominantly rooted in the perspective of “bouncing back,” in which scholars across different disciplines have explored resilience resources and capabilities in isolation. However, when faced with persistent threats, bringing a system back to its prior equilibrium can make it more vulnerable as each successive threat possibly weakens the efficiency of the resilience mechanisms identified concerning a previous threat. This insight provides an overview of the state-of-the-art research on organizational resilience and suggests that resilience in organizations demonstrates a Permeating Boundaryless Capability (PBC), enabling organizations to reflect, re-energize and re-organize multiple response paths across space and time from micro to macro levels. Furthermore, this insight argues that Complexity Theory, as the emerging paradigm, offers an alternative view for understanding complex causes and interactions that contribute to organizational resilience. Implications for the future of work in research and practice are discussed.