A Literature Review of Organizational Resilience

Abstract

Under the conditions of VUCA（volatility, uncertainty, complexity, ambiguity）, organizational resilience is a vital ability as well as a salient process to transform a crisis into an opportunity. Based upon a systematic review of most recent publications, this paper offers a more holistic picture of organizational resilience concerning six dimensions, including its definition, antecedent, moderator, process, mechanism, and outcome. Based on a selected set of 21 key journal papers, we develop a more holistic and dynamic definition of organizational resilience, which includes two key dimensions, i.e., bouncing back and bouncing forward; further, three types of organizational resilience are identified: bouncing back, bouncing back plus implicit bouncing forward, and bouncing back plus explicit bouncing forward. We specify the third type（bouncing back plus explicit bouncing forward）as the highest-level organizational resilience to help companies both survive and thrive. We then classify three categories of adversity as the antecedents to organizational resilience, i.e., weak, moderate, and strong adversities. Weak adversities call for more quick bouncing-back capacity to return to its normal state for a company, while moderate and strong adversities require not only bouncing-back capacity to recover and survive but also bouncing-forward capacity to learn and improve in the disruptive environment. For the moderators of organizational resilience, we identify two general types as soft capability and hard capabilities. Soft capabilities are cognitive and emotional capability on individual level and group level and social relation building capability on organizational level, while hard capabilities contain resource storage, organizational framework and strategy. The two sets of capabilities are largely indispensable and often complementary to help organizations become anti-fragile as the most resilient. Regarding the process and mechanism, we differentiate between three stages, i.e., pre-adversity, mid-adversity, and post-adversity, and also different resources and capabilities required at each stage. At the pre-stage, a company should construct and strengthen preparedness and readiness in organizational structure, strategy and resources; at the mid-stage, a company should implement adjustment flexibly and apply creative bricolage; at the post-stage, a company can recover, learn and improve, where adaptability and learning are vital capabilities. Finally, we present the positive outcomes brought about by organizational resilience, and we also point out the potential topics for further research in organizational resilience. In this review paper, we seek to provide core insights into the holistic and dynamic processes and mechanisms of resilience, especially the effect on short-term survival and long-term growth, from the perspective of dynamic capability and the lens of yin-yang balancing. The above six dimensions constitute the building blocks of a new theoretical framework. This paper has the potential to help organizations manage adversity, not only bouncing back to survive but also bouncing forward to thrive with critical insights into how to engage in the research and practice of organizational resilience from the indigenous perspective in the special context of China.