Organisational Report

The Organizational Resilience ‘Tension Quadrant’

5. Thinking on Organizational Resilience has been split between behaviours that are defensive (stopping bad things happen) and those that are progressive (making good things happen), as well as between behaviours that are consistent and those that are flexible . These four viewpoints form an integral part of a framework, which we have termed the Organizational Resilience ‘Tension Quadrant’ (Figure 2).

PROGRESSIVE (Achieving results)

PERFORMANCE OPTIMIZATION

ADAPTIVE INNOVATION

Improving and exploiting

Imagining and creating

CONSISTENCY (Goals, processes, routines)

FLEXIBILITY (Ideas, views, actions)

PREVENTATIVE CONTROL

MINDFUL ACTION

Monitoring and complying

Noticing and responding

DEFENSIVE (Protecting results)

Figure 2: The Organizational Resilience ‘Tension Quadrant’

The differences between these perspectives and behaviours have been the source of much disagreement and misunderstanding. It is hardly surprising that leaders seeking to enhance Organizational Resilience receive conflicting guidance. More recently, a new, fifth strand of thinking on Organizational Resilience has emerged that integrates, balances and seeks fit (fitness for purpose). Put simply, senior leaders must manage the tensions between the four approaches if organizations are to be truly resilient – and this requires paradoxical thinking. 6. Paradoxical thinking. Organizational Resilience is achieved by balancing preventative control, mindful action, performance optimization and adaptive innovation, and managing the tensions inherent in these distinct perspectives.

Key learning point: There are two core

drivers of Organizational Resilience – defensive and progressive – and there are two core perspectives on how resilience can be achieved – consistency and flexibility. Where these have not yet been integrated into a holistic framework, integration, balance and fit (for purpose) are essential. This requires paradoxical thinking.

The different perspectives and behaviours are discussed in more detail in the following sections.

Preventative control: defensive and consistent Society expects organizations and critical infrastructures to be safe, secure and dependable, and that industry, government, regulators and service-deliverers have appropriate and continually improving capabilities to ensure this. Major disruptive events rarely occur spontaneously (Perrow, 1984). Small problems and errors, which

10

Organizational Resilience | BSI and Cranfield School of Management