Better than before : the resilient organization in crisis mode

Purpose: The paper aims to adopt a strategic view of organizational survival and argue that preparedness, responsiveness, adaptability and learning abilities constitute organizational drivers of resilience and provide a new direction on crisis management. Design/methodology/approach: As a conceptual and literature exploration, the methodological focus is to combine various concepts within a unified model for resilience. Findings: The proposed conceptual model highlights the need for strategic reconfigurations toward the construction of a resilience culture and the development of a supporting social capital in organizations. It also portrays organizational survival and sustainability as being dependent on strategic characteristics rather than on the managerial ability to handle situations and manage crisis. Research limitations/implications: In this paper, implications, methodological concerns in the study of resilience and further research directions have been presented. Practical implications: The paper approaches a new way of thinking about crises and provides a set of cultural and organizational characteristics that would increase resilience and crisis management abilities. Originality/value: While organizations are nowadays more than ever affected by disruptions and crises, their inherent ability and strategies to protect their sustainability have been undertheorized. This paper aims at contributing to a growing and fruitful discussion.