Building Organizational Resilience Through Organizational Learning: A Systematic Review

Maria Sydnes,Lise L Evenseth,Anne H Gausdal

doi:10.3389/fcomm.2022.837386

Maria Sydnes, Lise L Evenseth + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3389/fcomm.2022.837386

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Abstract

With organizational environments becoming increasingly complex and volatile, the concept of “organizational resilience” has become the “new normal”. Organizational resilience is a complex and multidimensional concept which builds on the myriad of capabilities that an organization develops during its lifecycle. As learning is an inherent and essential part of these developments, it has become a central theme in literature on organizational resilience. Although organizational resilience and organizational learning are inherently interrelated, little is known of the dynamics of effective learning that may enhance organizational resilience. This study explores how to achieve organizational learning that can serve to promote organizational resilience. Our aim is to contribute to a more comprehensive knowledge of the relation between organizational resilience and organizational learning. We present the results of a systematic literature review to assess how organizational learning may make organizations more resilient. As both organizational resilience and organizational learning are topics of practical importance, our study offers a specifically targeted investigation of this relation. We examine the relevant literature on organizational learning and resilience, identifying core themes and the connection between the two concepts. Further, we provide a detailed description of data collection and analysis. Data were analyzed thematically using the qualitative research software NVivo. Our review covered 41 empirical, 12 conceptual and 6 literature review articles, all indicating learning as mainly linked to adaptation capabilities. However, we find that learning is connected to all three stages of resilience that organizations need to develop resilience: anticipation, coping, and adaptation. Effective learning depends upon appropriate management of experiential learning, on a systemic approach to learning, on the organizational ability to unlearn, and on the existence of the context that facilitates organizational learning.

Highlights

With organizational environments becoming more and more complex and volatile, the concept of “organizational resilience” (OR) has become increasingly significant for practice and research
More work is needed on how organizations can improve their learning abilities, as learning is essential for organizations to evolve from one resilience stage to another
OR can be learned, so effective learning can serve as a critical driver for building OR

Summary

Introduction

With organizational environments becoming more and more complex and volatile, the concept of “organizational resilience” (OR) has become increasingly significant for practice and research. OR is here understood as the organization’s “ability to anticipate potential threats, to cope effectively with adverse events, and to adapt to changing conditions” Anticipation, coping, and adaptation represent three stages of OR. The literature indicates that OR is an essential organizational meta-capability for the success of modern organizations (Parsons, 2010; Näswall et al, 2013; Britt et al, 2016; Suryaningtyas et al, 2019). OR has become the “new normal” (Linnenluecke, 2017) regarding organizational survival as well as recovery and successful re-emergence after disruptions. OR is still an emerging field (Ma et al, 2018)—and a key question that remains unanswered is how to achieve it (Boin and Lodge, 2016; Chen R. et al, 2021)

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