What is organizational resilience?

In organizations today, well-known terms and concepts are handled, such as, organize, plan, distribute, etc. However, when comparisons or analogies are made, in which the company is seen as a whole, and is compared with some other element to identify some qualities or characteristics, it may be that there are strange or unknown terms for anyone. Among these concepts, mention can be made of a specific one, resilience, but in order to better understand and analyze this characteristic that can be found within an organization, it is necessary to know what the meaning of this word is, and how they can be present within any type of company or industry.

E l Resiliency term.

According to the dictionary of the Royal Spanish Academy, resilience can be defined as:

1. “Ability to adapt a living being to a disturbing agent or an adverse state or situation.” “Ability of a material, mechanism or system to recover its initial state when the disturbance to which it had been subjected has ceased”.

This concept applies differently in each type of person, since it will not be the same for a child as for an older adult, or for a woman than for a man.

Much has to do with the experiences that have been acquired over the years, and with the training that each person has, in a certain way, also depends on their academic training or work experience, since these factors make the training of the The character of a person may vary in terms of facing a negative situation or a problem that affects their physical and mental well-being.

With this in mind, it can be determined that a company can present a situation very similar to that suffered by a living being or some material or system, in which the organization can be faced with a negative element or a problem., that may disturb or affect any factor related to its production, capacity, work systems, etc. However, the company must have the ability to overcome such situations, and return to its initial state of well-being or even more, of continuous improvement.

Without a doubt, it is necessary in order to survive in the world of work, that companies and people have the ability or dexterity to overcome any type of problematic situation that may arise, and with it, maintain quality standards and efficiency they have.

It is logical to think that certain organizations have specific characteristics which allow them to be more resilient than others, this at the end of the day, will determine which companies or people can arrive faster or easier, to achieve a victory or to have one or more defeats or failures.

This concept also has to do with the ability of the company to be able to adapt to change, that is, to maintain a concept of improvement and updating that allows it to be able to effectively and efficiently satisfy the demands that the market demands of it, a market changing, highly demanding and that is increasingly surrounded by the technologies that are emerging in the world, which allows you to be informed and know exactly the type of service you expect to receive, or the characteristics of the product you wish to purchase.

Change is natural, it is an effect that occurs in any area of ​​life, both for a person and for a company, needs change, contact with the outside world becomes different and problems go away. presenting are increasingly difficult to face or become more complicated to solve, and that is why this concept encompasses both the physical or material factors that may occur, as well as the psychological aspect that influences each person or organization differently.

Another definition that can be had of this term is the ability to avoid the negative consequences of an event that already took place at some point in the life of an individual or an organization or, citing Westrum, can be defined as: The ability to recover after having faced the negative consequences of an event. (Westrum, 2006)

In the field of psychology, mention can be made of the words of Alfonso Oramas Gross, who mentions that in recent years a new concept has been introduced in this branch, called resilience, which in general refers to capacity For some people to adapt in a positive way once an adverse situation or significant trauma has been encountered at a certain point in their lives.

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Professor César Medina mentions that the word resilience comes from the English term resilience, which refers to: The ability of a material to regain its original shape after being subjected to high pressure. (Medina Salgado César, 2012).

So once the definition and scope of this term have been established, and all the approaches that can be given to it, and the comparative question arises around a company, industry or trade, what does resilience mean for an organization like these? What are the factors or characteristics that should be studied in organizational resilience? How does it affect the degree of being a resilient company or not?

Organizational resilience is responsible for studying and analyzing the ability of different types of companies to overcome or overcome circumstances that are not favorable, which in turn generate changes in their normal development.

There are some authors who refer to this relatively new term, based on studies that have been carried out from the entry of this word into the business world.

"Organizational Resilience is the ability of an organization to absorb shocks and deep impacts without losing the ability to fulfill its mission" (Sampedro, 2009)

"Ability to dynamically reinvent business models and strategies as circumstances change" (Hamel and Välikangas, 2003)

Thinking about the way in which resilience is applied in a company or organization, three points can be highlighted that make a difference in terms of how it is applied to a person or individual:

1. The ability of the company to prevent the occurrence of negative situations along with their consequences The ability of the organization to prevent the consequences of negative events from worsening over time The ability of the industry or company to recover from the negative consequences of an event that has already taken place

And it is that for a person perhaps, it is more difficult to foresee some negative event that may happen at a given moment, and that may generate consequences that must be overcome, but in a company, there are studies, strategies and systems with which to seek anticipate and minimize negative events that may occur, and that may alter the normal way of working that one has.

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As in any characteristic that can be analyzed within a company, there will always be degrees to which they are fulfilled in each of them, for example, there may be organizations that are not very productive, moderately productive, or highly productive. Similarly, when thinking about resilience, it is necessary to identify the degree to which this characteristic is reflected in the actions that are implemented within the organization.

It is necessary to understand that this characteristic is not a static condition in companies, and can vary depending on the crisis or difficulties that arise and the consequences that may be generated due to them. It can also be noted that in the case of companies, resilience can also be affected by other types of external organizations, but which in turn are in contact with them, such as clients, suppliers, competitors, unions, authorities. government, etc. And one of the relationships that can affect the most is the one you have with your staff, with each of the workers, who, in the end, are the ones who make the decisions that will be followed in order to overcome an unfavorable situation.

In this way, the resilience of an organization is directly related to that of its sector, and the solidity of the system in the nation. For this reason, when we talk about a resilient company, we are actually talking about an organization that has an entire inventory of strategic capabilities, with which it can react quickly, flexibly and agilely to an adverse situation.

McManus et al. (2007) mentions that there are certain characteristics that allow the power to react to an adverse situation, or to act correctly to avoid that a negative event has consequences of high impact on people or individuals, and depending on the degree to which these characteristics are had, it will be the flexibility and speed with which the organization will be able to respond.

1. It has an organizational ethos based on constant effort with the purpose of generating a sufficiently large resistance to any type of serious negative situation. It has a fairly broad knowledge of the situation in which it finds itself, what are the possible threats that arise, and what are its areas of opportunity, through active monitoring of the signals that come from the context in which it operates.

1. They have a strong commitment to proactively identifying and managing pain points.

1. They have an organizational culture that enables them to promote adaptation, innovation and flexibility capacities in any work area.

It is always necessary for an organization to keep in mind the vulnerabilities it has, because depending on this, it is how actions or programs can be implemented that can help prevent accidents or situations that may put the stability of safety, production or well-being at risk. of the company and its workers. That is why, with good reason, they tend to make large investments in the creation of systems that allow rapid recovery after facing some type of negative situation that could put at risk the trust that customers and suppliers have in the company.

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This concept of resilience is a quality that goes hand in hand with tools and sciences that allow the company to go through a situation of chaos, and even more, to go out into a new reality in which decisions are made and what is learned is learned. more than possible of that situation in search of not being repeated and minimizing the consequences that may arise. In this context, organizations are currently conducting different studies that can bring them closer to the concept of resilience, in search of some keys to anticipate and overcome moments of crisis to achieve a greater degree of effectiveness (Bozz Allen, 2004: 1- 4). There are some examples of related sciences that are present in any work area of ​​a company, such as anthropology, ergonomics, linguistics,psychiatry and psychology among others. And in order to better understand this term referred to, the social sciences mainly define two moments in which it is divided:

1. The transit of the problematic or negative situation, that is, the ability to overcome the critical moment of the situation, there are some occasions in which an organization is not able to bear the situation which can lead to an obvious failure.

1. Through a process of adaptation and reconstruction, one can see the exit towards a new reality that supposes the stability again of the organization or of the people. And with regard to negative situations there is also a classification, with which you can act according to the problem that arises and you can follow certain specific steps in the use of a tool or system. This classification is mainly composed of three classes of situations:

• Natural disasters

• Accidents

• Intentional attacks.

Undoubtedly, in a company or organization, together with its staff, there are not the same steps to follow or the strategies used to overcome a work accident or a flood or earthquake, just as it is not the same when it occurs. some type of human loss than a material loss or of some equipment or machine. According to Sheffi (2007: 65), eight steps can be defined in which the transit of a disruption develops, whatever the kind of problematic situation and generally speaking, because as mentioned above, each type of problem, It involves different actions or steps to follow, however, the following stages can be found in common denominator:

• The preparation.

• The problem event or the risk situation.

• The first answer.

• The delay on impact.

• The total impact, or consequences of the problem situation.

• Preparing for recovery.

• The recuperation.

• The long-term impact or consequences.

Each of these stages has different aspects that are necessary to consider, and that allow to solve effectively, any type of disruption:

1. Preparation: Undoubtedly, in each company security measures are adopted that allow it and its workers to avoid any type of risky situation that could lead to an event of chaos, depending on the type of organization and the operations carried out, They are the strategies and tools that are used to be able to foresee any disruption, for example, the use of personal protective equipment, the correct signaling of safeguard areas, emergency exits, the constant practice of drills of risk situations, etc. The disruptive event: It is the exact moment when some unfortunate event occurs, a collapse, a chaos. It can occur in different forms and levels, a flood, a tornado, the loss of a client, legal problems, a union that has called for a strike, the lack of raw materials,the failure of some machine, etc. There are situations that are more critical than others, that is, something like “the perfect storm” can be presented, such a chaotic event that even endangers the existence of the company, along with all the elements that are in it. of work, economic movements, construction of infrastructure and elements that depend on their existence.

1. The first response: After the negative event, the chaos or the problem has been passed, in the case of a physical incident, the first to react are the immediate response teams, that is, firefighters, policemen, paramedics, civil protection teams or rescue brigades. The length of time that this phase will last depends directly on the type of event that has occurred, it varies the time in which a fire can be put out, a damaged machine can be fixed, an agreement with the union can be reached or a relationship with a supplier can be restored. or a customer. In the event that it is a work or technological problem, the first response should focus on avoiding physical damage or personal injury. This stage sometimes involves stopping the production lines, to carry out a detailed inspection,that allows to find or rule out possible breakdowns or failures that may arise from the main problematic event.

1. The delay in the impact: Depending on the type of disruption, it is the time in which all the impact is felt or reflected, that it may cause within the company, because sometimes it is immediately, such as, the failure of a machine, or the physical damage in a worker, and in some other occasions it suffers even when a certain period of time has passed. It is also reflected by the type of response that was given in the previous stage, with which the effects that the problem may cause can be minimized.

1. The total impact: In this period, the effects and total consequences of the disruption are reflected, and again several depending on the type that it is, since sometimes it is reflected in some monetary or production cost, but in some others, it is they present total disqualification of production, or damages even to third parties that may end due to the temporary or definitive closure of the company.

1. Preparing the recovery: In this stage it is presented immediately or in parallel with the first response, the strategy to follow or the actions that will be put into practice, to compensate the damage caused by the negative situation.

1. Recovery: At this time, all the necessary resources are used to return to stability within the organization, reestablish production, satisfy the needs or demands of suppliers and customers, meet the demands and needs of workers, etc. This is necessary to place it first in the priorities of the company, since the resources that are used sometimes tend to exceed those that were budgeted, such as the hiring of temporary personnel, the payment of overtime to workers, carrying out joint work agreements with other companies or allocate an important part of the budget that the company has.

1. The long-term impact: Generally in organizations, the time to fully recover from the effects and consequences of a negative situation is long. But if the problem affects any of the bases on which the company operates, such as its reliability, its prestige or its image, the impact that is generated will have a very long duration and will be difficult to amend.

C on c l u s i o n es .

Problems, chaos, negative situations will always be present in the life of any person, individual, company or organization, because although it is sought to have a zero accident rate, the nature of man allows errors that can trigger a series of events that can end in a disruptive event. Also, there are occasions in which natural phenomena can significantly damage buildings, furniture, machinery or infrastructures, and cannot be controlled by man.

Another aspect that can generate problems or discomfort is the psychological aspect, since each person "is a world" and their way of perceiving things can be very different from another person, even if they develop in similar places and have lives Similar.

Therefore, although the problems surround everyone, you must always take into account the term, resilience, the ability to overcome this type of situation and move forward. Whether in the personal, work or academic sphere, for each person or company, it is necessary to have the necessary tools to be able to overcome difficulties and try to recover well-being as soon as possible.

For an individual it is important to satisfy their needs and have the different aspects of their life in harmony, and for a company the importance lies in being able to fulfill its proposed objectives and achieve one or more successes together.

A g r a d ec i m i e n t o s .

Special thanks to the Technological Institute of Orizaba, to Professor Dr. Fernando Aguirre y Hernández, who teaches the subject of Fundamentals of Administrative Engineering, for all the knowledge he shares with his students and to the Master in Administrative Engineering that promotes the culture of learning. As well as to thank CONACYT for the support provided and for the areas of opportunity that it generates, with its different programs, to the Postgraduate students.

P r opu is t a thesis.

Planning a system that allows knowing the degree of resilience of a local company.

B i b li og r a f í a .

Rodríguez Franco Luis Gerardo. (2016, March 5). Organizational Resilience and Resilience Concept. Retrieved from http://www.gestiopolis.com/concept- resilience-resilience -organizational /

Cesar Medina Salgado. (June, 2012). Resilience and its use in organizations. Management and Strategy, No. 41, 29-39.

Fersen Harold León Villamar. (2015). RESILIENCE: ITS APPLICATION IN THE BUSINESS SECTOR. 12/11/2014, from Magazine: CE Contributions to the Economy Website:

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