The socio‐organizational and human dynamics of resilience in a hospital: The case of the COVID‐19 crisis

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to analyze COVID‐19 crisis management from the perspective of organizational resilience. An empirical study was conducted from April to June 2020 in one French hospital in Paris. The study focused on the organizational changes implied by the ‘all COVID‐19 strategy’, the success factors facilitating the organizational resilience, and the difficulty factors. We show that organizational resilience in this case was based on a link between the anticipation and adaptation processes. This capacity for resilience can also be organized using an original structure that connects strategic decisions with the reality on the ground, takes account of the demands and constraints of operational actors, and offers them the necessary support. The description and analysis of real work carried out by operational actors illustrates the contribution made by expertize to organizational resilience, and the social dynamics of the adaptation process. Finally, the emotional aspects, rarely featured in the literature, are highlighted as an intrinsic element of a crisis. The results will provide evidence to help better understand crisis management and feedback to strengthen the management of future crises.