Building the resilient firm: The new challenge to EHS organizations

Allenby, Braden; Roitz, Joseph

doi:10.1002/tqem.20078

Cited by 11 publications

(8 citation statements)

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“…It is also suggested that resilient organisations should build planning teams typically including members from all functional areas as well as suppliers and key outsourcing providers to manage vulnerabilities in turbulent times (Tompkins 2007). In resilience terms, these findings are in direct contrast to the characteristics of resilient organisations where a key feature of resilience is that any change should be proactive against a well thought out and prepared plan (Doe 1994, Bell 2002, Hamel and Valikangas 2003, Allenby and Roitz 2005, Sheffi 2005, Seville et al 2006, de Vries and Shields 2009. It therefore appears that what SME managers do to manage change is serving to undermine their resilience.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 66%

Change process: a key enabler for building resilient SMEs

Ates

Bititci

2011

International Journal of Production Research

278

224

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Resilience is seen as a key organisational capability for sustainability in the current turbulent environment. At the same time, for organisations to be more sustainable and resilient, the delivery of innovative responses to the market through continuous change and improvement is necessary. If small and medium enterprises (SMEs) account for over 70% of the world's production, and there is a growing mandate to create sustainable SMEs, then instilling, developing and implementing change capabilities is paramount in making progress towards sustainability and resilience. Therefore, this article aims to demonstrate that change management process capability is fundamental to creating resilience in SMEs. This study is based on a multiple case study methodology through semi-structured, face-to-face interviews with 232 senior managers in 37 manufacturing SMEs across Europe. This article demonstrates that sustainability and resilience in SMEs will be enhanced by (1) ability to embrace organisational and people dimensions as well as operational aspects of change management, and (2) paying attention to long-term planning and external communication to drive change proactively. This article builds a bridge between the theoretical starting point, the results of empirical research and the usability of the presented findings in practice in order to contribute to the development of more resilient SMEs.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 66%

Change process: a key enabler for building resilient SMEs

Ates

Bititci

2011

International Journal of Production Research

278

224

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“…Impacts of weather extremes can lead to large-scale disasters if organizations across sectors and related communities incur physical damage, losses and/or disruption of their routine functioning and are unable to cope with the event effectively (Kreps, 1984). Recent weather extremes such as the 2011 Queensland floods, the 2010 floods in China and Pakistan, the 2010 drought and wildfires in Russia, the 2009 Victorian Bushfires or hurricanes Ike andKatrina in 2008 and2005, respectively, have focused attention on the human and economic costs of weatherrelated disasters and on the challenge for organizations to deal with their impact (Allenby & Roitz, 2005). The 2010 Russian drought and wildfires, for instance, wiped out significant parts of Russia's grain production; the corresponding grain shortage and temporary export ban had an impact on international wheat prices.…”

Section: E Xtreme Weather Events Can Create Significant Abrupt Changementioning

confidence: 99%

“…The distribution of resources, such as the protection of personnel, a decentralized workforce, the physical dispersion of assets and back-up facilities for data, can make organizations less sensitive to the localized impact of an external discontinuity (Allenby & Fink, 2005;Allenby & Roitz, 2005). For instance, researchers have suggested that the sensitivity of the European energy distribution sector to extreme weather events (such as the European heat wave in 2003) could be reduced by enhancing the interconnectedness of the distribution network and by introducing more local micro-grids (Arnell et al, 2005).…”

Section: Sensitivitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Extreme Weather Events and the Critical Importance of Anticipatory Adaptation and Organizational Resilience in Responding to Impacts

2011

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Growing scientific evidence suggests that more frequent and severe weather extremes such as heat waves, hurricanes, flooding and droughts will have an increasing impact on organizations, industries and entire economies. These findings call for the development of theoretical and practical frameworks to strengthen the capacity of organizations to respond to such impacts. Yet despite the need to understand what is required to build anticipatory adaptation and organizational resilience to expected impacts, the organizational theory literature offers only limited insights. This paper proposes a comprehensive conceptual framework of organizational adaptation and resilience to extreme weather events for addressing the effects of ecological discontinuities in organizational research and strategic decision-making. Implications and suggestions for future research are offered.

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“…Research findings suggest that certain structural characteristics of organizations-for example, the physical dispersion of assets or a decentralized workforce-make them less sensitive to the impact of external discontinuities (Allenby & Fink, 2005;Allenby & Roitz, 2005). Such structural characteristics have received much attention in the domain of computer and IT system analysis (e.g., Najjar & Gaudiot, 1990), where researchers have studied the resilience of networks (defined as the ability of a network to provide and maintain an acceptable level of availability and service in the face of faults and disruptions to normal operations).…”

Section: Collapse: Avoiding and Minimizing Effects From Extreme Weather Eventsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Beyond Adaptation: Resilience for Business in Light of Climate Change and Weather Extremes

2010

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Scientific findings forecast that one of the major consequences of human-induced climate change and global warming is a greater occurrence of extreme weather events with potentially catastrophic effects for organizations, industries, and society. Current management and adaptation approaches typically focus on economic factors of competition, such as technology and innovation. Although offering useful insights, these approaches are potentially ill equipped to deal with any increases in drastic changes in the natural environment. This article argues that discussions on organizational adaptation need to be broadened and that new conceptual and practical approaches are needed to incorporate the effects of climate change and a greater occurrence of weather extremes into corporate strategy and decision making. The authors advance the notion that a resilience framework might provide insights into dealing with new types of environmental change. They contend that by developing resilience, organizations can develop resources and capabilities to avoid or minimize organizational collapse and to reorganize in light of discontinuities associated with climate change and weather extremes. Implications for organizational practice and research are discussed.

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Building the resilient firm: The new challenge to EHS organizations

Cited by 11 publications

References 0 publications

Change process: a key enabler for building resilient SMEs

Change process: a key enabler for building resilient SMEs

Extreme Weather Events and the Critical Importance of Anticipatory Adaptation and Organizational Resilience in Responding to Impacts

Beyond Adaptation: Resilience for Business in Light of Climate Change and Weather Extremes

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