Organisational Resilience: Navigating Paradoxical Tensions

225 Pages·2022·16.01 MB·English

by  Elmar Kutsch

Organisational Resilience
This book provides a guide to navigating the paradoxical tensions of o rganisational
resilience and presents a framework to aid individuals and businesses to become
more open-minded, flexible, and mindful in managing the unexpected.
The book offers the reader pragmatic and insightful means to achieve a ‘state’
of organisational resilience, making use of current research data that shows how
managers anticipate and respond to actual and near-miss incidents. Grounded
in the day-to-day reality of managers, the goal of this book is to offer a unique
theoretical framework as a platform for practical application for the improvement
of organisational outcomes. It provides insights into ten key capabilities that
enable the reader to set up a successful program of organisational resilience,
taking a cross-cutting approach and focusing on implementation while having
solid foundations in theory.
This is an ideal book for advanced students and executive education courses
in risk management, crisis management, and business continuity, as well as
thoughtful practitioners.
Dr Elmar Kutsch is Associate Professor in Risk Management at Cranfield
University, School of Management, UK.

Organisational
Resilience
Navigating Paradoxical Tensions
Elmar Kutsch
Designed cover image: © Getty Images
First published 2023
by Routledge
4 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2023 Elmar Kutsch
The right of Elmar Kutsch to be identified as author of this work has been
asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs
and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or
utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now
known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in
any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing
from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or
registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation
without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN: 978-0-367-53732-6
ISBN: 978-0-367-53731-9
ISBN: 978-1-003-08311-5
DOI: 10.4324/9781003083115
Typeset in Times New Roman
by codeMantra
Contents
List of figures viii
List of tables xi
List of boxes xii
Foreword xiii
1 Towards a paradox mindset 1
In pursuit of reliable performance 1
Reliable performance through mindful organising 6
Exploring paradoxes 8
The high-reliability professional as a paradox navigator 18
Navigating paradoxes 23
2 C larifying aims, objectives, or outcomes; and
engaging with stakeholders 31
Centripetal wisdom 32
Centrifugal wisdom 35
Clarifying and engaging – Revisiting the development of the
Bell-Boeing V-22 Osprey 42
Towards a paradox mindset 46
3 Heeding warnings or risks 49
Centripetal wisdom 51
Centrifugal wisdom 53
Heeding – Revisiting the demise of Kodak 61
Towards a paradox mindset 65
v
4 Simplifying problems, solutions, or responses 67
Contents
Centripetal wisdom 69
Centrifugal wisdom 74
Simplifying - Revisiting the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster 80
Towards a paradox mindset 84
5 Following procedures, processes, or policies 87
Centripetal wisdom 88
Centrifugal wisdom 93
Following - Revisiting the Chernobyl disaster 99
Towards a paradox mindset 104
6 Influencing responses, actions, or solutions 106
Centripetal wisdom 108
Centrifugal wisdom 111
Influencing - Revisiting the Airbus A380 development 116
Towards a paradox mindset 120
7 Aligning responses 122
Centripetal wisdom 123
Centrifugal wisdom 129
Aligning - Revisiting the Volkswagen emission scandal 132
Towards a paradox mindset 136
8 Communicating with others 139
Centripetal wisdom 140
Centrifugal wisdom 144
Communicating - Revisiting the Bhopal gas tragedy 151
Towards a paradox mindset 155
9 Deferring to others 157
Centripetal wisdom 158
Centripetal wisdom 162
Deferring - Revisiting the Black Death 166
Towards a paradox mindset 170
vi
10 Accessing resources 172
Contents
Centripetal wisdom 173
Centrifugal wisdom 177
Accessing - Revisiting the Afghanistan war 182
Towards a paradox mindset 186
11 Mindful organising through paradoxical thinking 188
Navigating the roads to resilience 188
The lure of just-this-way and just-for-now leadership 189
The need for just-in-case and just-in-time leadership 192
Just-in-time reconstruction of managing near-misses and accidents 196
Establishing a culture of mindful, paradoxical organising 199
We, as high-reliability professionals 201
Index 205
vii
Figures
1.1 Bow-tie 2
1.2 Just-this-way (following) 4
1.3 Just-for-now (following) 5
1.4 Construct polarity 11
1.5 Reconstruction and reconfiguration 19
1.6 Just-in-case (following) 20
1.7 Just-in-time (following) 23
1.8 A map 24
1.9 A compass 24
1.10 Navigating through a construct system of simultaneous
bipolar opposites 25
2.1 Making sense of stakeholder expectations 31
2.2 Centripetal and centrifugal forces (clarifying and engaging) 32
2.3 Cancelling out stakeholder expectations 33
2.4 The requirements analysis process 34
2.5 An organisation–stakeholder fit framework for relational
behaviours 37
2.6 Influence/power, interest stakeholder matrix 40
2.7 Power/dynamism stakeholder matrix 41
2.8 Benefits mapping 41
2.9 Just-this-way and just-for-now polarities (clarifying and engaging) 43
2.10 Just-in-case way and just-in-time polarities (clarifying and engaging) 45
3.1 Foresight through retrospection 49
3.2 Centripetal and centrifugal forces (heeding) 50
3.3 Principle steps in risk management 52
3.4 Heeding beyond the risk horizon 56
3.5 Principal process of scenario planning 58
3.6 Principal process of the Delphi technique 59
3.7 Principal process of horizon scanning 60
viii 3.8 A pre-mortem 60
3.9 Just-this-way and just-for-now polarity (heeding) 62
Figures
3.10 Just-in case way and just-in-time polarity (heeding) 63
4.1 Simplifying 67
4.2 Centripetal and centrifugal forces (simplifying) 68
4.3 Risk assessment 70
4.4 Risk matrix 70
4.5 Fishbone diagram 71
4.6 An example of a bow-tie 77
4.7 Four ways of seeing 78
4.8 Socratic questioning 79
4.9 Socratic questioning (continued) 80
4.10 Just-this-way and just-for-now polarity (simplifying) 82
4.11 Just-in-case and just-in-time polarity (simplifying) 83
5.1 Freedom to act 87
5.2 Centripetal and centrifugal forces (following) 88
5.3 Compliance in collective decision-making 90
5.4 Checklist 91
5.5 Risk control 91
5.6 Zones of rule/routine appropriation 97
5.7 Fostering business improvisation 98
5.8 Just-this-way and just-for-now polarity (following) 101
5.9 Just-in-case and just-in-time polarity (following) 102
6.1 Internal and external locus of control 106
6.2 Centripetal and centrifugal forces (influencing) 107
6.3 Escalation process 109
6.4 Empowerment process 114
6.5 A decision tree for determining culpability for unsafe acts
(Reason, 1997, p. 209) 115
6.6 Just-this-way and just-for-now polarity (influencing) 117
6.7 Just-in-case and just-in-time polarity (influencing) 118
7.1 Complexity in decision-making 122
7.2 Centripetal and centrifugal forces (aligning) 123
7.3 Zooming-in 125
7.4 Aligning as a checklist approach 126
7.5 Zooming-in, zooming-out 130
7.6 Alignment of us to others 132
7.7 Just-this-way and just-for-now polarity (aligning) 134
7.8 Just-this-way and just-for-now polarity (aligning) 135
8.1 Coding and decoding in communication 139
8.2 Centripetal and centrifugal forces (communicating) 140
8.3 A typical communication plan 142 ix