From Individual to Organizational Resilience, A Case Study Review

Major disasters, both natural and human-made, pose sometimes insurmountable problems for unprepared or under-prepared organizations. In this capstone I explore and develop ideas about how individuals are able to affect organizational dynamics, within a complex context of change, in order to facilitate the mechanism of resilience. I employ the enriching information from a review of literature and my Organizational Dynamics classes. I use case studies of Sandler O’Neill’s response to the World Trade Center tragedy and the development of the Oregon Resilience Plan to identify a systemic approach to understanding the complexity of current organizational environments and the power of organizations’ dexterities. Further studies are needed to transfer theoretical resilience into practice, thereby developing organizations’ ability to change in such a way that becoming a new entity may be not only valuable but also affordable.