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Organizational Resilience | BSI and Cranfield School of Management
Key learning point:
Organizational Resilience
involves changing before
the cost of not changing
becomes too great.
This requires learning
to do new things by
changing underlying
values and assumptions,
creative problem solving,
innovation and learning.
Adaptive innovation: at its best and signs of weakness
At its best
Signs of weakness
Productive tension disrupts existing patterns and
generates a search for new possibilities
Entrenched thinking; People often resist even
acknowledging adaptive challenges
Creative thinking and problem solving by people
drawing on multiple perspectives and taking risks
in a safe environment
Lack of diversity of people and outlooks;
nonconforming voices are ignored; people are too
frightened to try something new
Collective strategic action with rich interactions
coalition formation, negotiation and compromise
Silos; people refer to “them” and “us”; resources or
ideas aren’t shared
Systems-wide changes across borders and
boundaries; multidimensional and fundamental
changes
Quick fixes; local changes; reinventing the wheel;
change is resource intensive and slow - the search
for solutions goes on
Organizational Resilience – finding fit, managing
tensions and avoiding erosion
Senior leaders need to manage the tensions between these four approaches
if organizations are to be truly resilient. We suggest that the shape of the
Organizational Resilience Tension Quadrant (Figure 3) will depend on the nature of
organization, its operations, and the industry, particularly level of uncertainty and
industry clock speed (rate of technological, regulatory and market change). We tend
to find, for example, that organizations with high potential for accidents, such as
energy production, transport, mining, and construction, are often weighted toward
the preventative control (defensive consistent) quadrant. It should be noted that
a preoccupation with one particular dimension could create blind spots that can
impair Organizational Resilience.
ABILITY TO
ANTICIPATE, PREPARE
FOR, AND RESPOND
AND ADAPT TO
INCREMENTAL
CHANGE AND
SUDDEN
DISRUPTIONS
Integration, balance and fit
(for purpose) are essential
FLEXIBILITY
(Ideas, views,
actions)
PROGRESSIVE
(Achieving results)
DEFENSIVE
(Protecting results)
CONSISTENCY
(Goals, processes,
routines)
ADAPTIVE INNOVATION
Imagining and creating
MINDFUL ACTION
Noticing and responding
PREVENTATIVE CONTROL
Monitoring and complying
PERFORMANCE OPTIMIZATION
Improving and exploiting
Figure 3: Organizational Resilience Tension Quadrant: blending defensive and progressive thinking