Masaryk University
Faculty of Economics and Administration
Eva Born
Brno, 2019
Towards organizational resilience: Development
of skills for coping with the unexpected
Habilitation Thesis
The complete habilitation thesis is not publicly accessible for the following reason:
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Abstract
A sensemaking perspective is taken to developing a model of resilient action in situations where
established rules or behavioral routines are either not available or misleading. The model
suggests that an ‘action space’ must be created by stabilizing the action system and expanding
options for action. The model is based on qualitative research in the Austrian military on cases
of resilient field action. It is proposed that different types of drill combined with the acquisition
of background knowledge are essential for organizational resilience, management of
unexpected situations, and the explanation of success, leading to controlled reproducibility of
typical problem solutions. As an antecedent for installing the action space, exaptation of drilled
procedures is explored, which is the transfer of procedures to serve novel requirements, leading
to properties that contribute to recovery from shock in critical situations through innovation.
For this, the impacts of different communication styles and cultural awareness are described.
In conclusion, strictly applying rules does not lead to resilient action in unknown or unexpected
situations. A corrective understanding and reflective use of rules and routines are causally
related to the ability to deal with surprise, thus supporting organizations' resilience and longterm
success.
Keywords
Organizational resilience, coping with the unexpected, skills development, expertise, military