Organizational resilience to create competitive companies

Today's organizations are using the principle of resilience to face the challenges of the changing environment in which they develop their activities, sudden changes affect productivity, sales, finances and above all quality. The above problems if not fixed will contribute to customer dissatisfaction resulting in a loss of the market.

Resilience is a word of Latin origin and comes from the word resilio which means to jump upwards, this term has been used for several years and its first uses were carried out in physics.

A few years ago, Resilience was not a topic that was discussed in organizations, due more than anything to the fact that it is a terminology that was rather addressed in physics, civil engineering or even ecology.

However, the ability of individuals to solve problems that arise and have the ability to not only face them but overcome them and learn from them was brought to organizations with the aim of creating the necessary conditions for them to use the principles of Resilience and so they can solve conflicts.

At present, administrators must be prepared to face the instability of the markets and must in turn be able to take advantage of the challenges because this is one of the advantages proposed by Organizational Resilience, that is why organizations must focus on turn these challenges into development opportunities for the company.

Organizational resilience

Resilience gives the organization the opportunity to use certain methods that must be applied with the direction of the resilient leader who together with directors, executives and all employees of the organization will implement a strategic plan coordinating the activities to be carried out with the objectives of the organization.

The word resilience is defined as: “the capacity of an individual to react and recover from negative events” (Garmezy, 1991).

Another definition of the word states that resilience "is a dynamic process that encompasses positive adaptation within the context of significant adversity." (Luthar & Cicchetti D., 2000)

Resilience is a word of Latin origin and comes from the word resilio that means to jump upwards, this term has been used for several years and its first uses were carried out in physics when it was found that the materials that had been subjected Deformations can return to their initial condition, recovering all their conditions after being subjected to high pressure.

On the other hand, the term has also been rooted in psychology, such is the case of researchers, including Rutter and Cyrulnick, who in the 70s using the bases of Resilience in physics, began to use the word to indicate that people They are capable of developing skills to assimilate tragic events, facing and overcoming negative consequences and from these they become stronger, acquiring a positive attitude, recovering balance and increasing their self-esteem.

Resilience in the organization

Organizational Resilience is considered as the capacity of an institution to be able to challenge the changes that arise in a surprising way and that generate crises.

The prevention of negative events that cause crises and make companies vulnerable, the environment of organizations contributes to making them more susceptible due to imminent globalization.

Prepare to prevent negative results and their proliferation over time: this because there is a lot of competition today and the more companies leave the market the more they enter it, this challenge must be addressed by the organization to be better.

Having the structure for after being victorious, the company must have the power to recover from the negative consequences that the previous events would have left, so they can apply actions that aim to recover strength and efficiency after the losing streak.

Problems can occur in all areas of a company such as finance, production, sales, etc. This often leads to the loss of the market.

Organizations must also foresee the possible scenarios that could occur in the near future and how these would affect it. In this way, internal and external organizational learning is achieved.

Importance of Resilience in organizations

Because companies are increasingly unpredictable, external events have a greater impact on them, if companies respond late to these changes, the stability of the company is put at risk.

There are several phenomena that must be considered by managers in their strategic planning:

Faster and more multifaceted change: today's companies are being affected by changes in their political and social context, environmental changes: global warming, the greenhouse effect, etc. they are posing a latent threat to companies.

Large-scale mergers and acquisitions: the world's companies exert great influence, there are some that even concentrate their productive and economic resources and even exceed GDP from some countries.

Faster career transactions: people within companies adapt less and less, which is why there are frequent rotations and changes in professional careers, likewise People tend to change their roles within the organization and can work in several companies compared to previous years.

Unprecedented advances in information technologies: new technologies create new channels of communication, thus also modifying consumer behaviors and creating new ways of connecting them.

Take action regarding organizational Resilience: the key to developing Resilience in the organization is to make adaptation and recovery capacities intrinsic, so it becomes self-organized in the way it operates.

Design of resilient systems: an adequate mechanism to develop Resilience is to take a systemic approach that conceives Resilience as a property of the organization and not as a goal (Marcos & Macaulay, 2008).

Organizations and the development of Resilience

Organizations contribute to the individual development of Resilience provided that people:

They can practice judgment, discretion, and imagination. Have the ability to make mistakes and overcome them. Have the opportunity to have the example of someone else who shows you these behaviors.

Resilient work teams

The dynamics for developing Resilience in groups are the same as for developing it individually. The work teams that focus on improving their learning and their knowledge respond better to the challenges of the environment since the accumulated learning, the variety of its members, their experiences and their skills favor the improvement in their organizational Resilience.

In companies, Resilience is the result of recognizing competencies as the capacities to be alert and to combine resources strategically.

“By being alert, an organization prepares to:

foresee problems and escalate them before they get out of control and while potential solutions exist Identify new opportunities and make organizational arrangements to take advantage of them Recombine the resources available increases the diversity of tools that allow to deal effectively with situations that arise present, whether they are advantageous or not.Adapting to the conditions of the environment favors the production of effective responses to various events, whether favorable or not.Resilience is a dynamic and flexible mechanism that enables and enables adaptation, hence its potential to account, equally, for crises or opportunities. " (Bravo, 2012)

Today's people and organizations are in constant contact with reality, face it with courage and make sense of the signals of the environment instead of being surprised by it.

These difficulties make resilient companies capable of adapting to achieve optimal solutions, adaptability and agility of response are the main weapons of Resilience.

The little house of Resilience

A very important condition to know how resilient organizations are is to know them very well, there are potential elements within organizations that are necessary for building Resilience.

One of the most used tools is the Vanistendael house, which was initially known as a communication tool to clearly present some elements that contribute to Resilience, this tool has had variations and is used as a qualitative model to identify resilient elements.

Little House of Resilience

Foundations: refers to the basic elements that a company needs to survive .

Subsoil: allows you to establish how close the relationship is between the company and its stakeholders.

First floor: it is to give a meaning to the company based on the mission, vision, objectives and establishes the true business of the organization.

Second floor: promotes an internal analysis of the company in different areas.

Sense of belonging: measures how willing are employees to fight for the company.

Skills: establishes what the company is really good for and what it isn't.

Work environment: analyze conflicts, and how happy the workers are.

Entretecho: analyze how open the company is to explore new fields, and evolve . (Sánchez, 2013)

Conclusion:

Today's companies must take the challenges of the environment as a way to improve their skills and thus generate greater competitiveness. Resilience is the concept focused on making the best of adversity and achieving better, stronger and more successful companies.

Thesis proposal: Resilience an analysis of the impact on organizations in Mexico and the challenge that its implementation entails.

Bibliographic references

Bravo, O. (March 1, 2012). Extraordinary organizations. Obtained from Extraordinary Organizations:

Garmezy, N. (1991). Resilience in children´s adaptation negative life events ans stressed. Pediatric Annals, 459-466.

Luthar, S., & Cicchetti D., B. (2000). The construct of resilience. a critical evaluation and guidelines for future work. Child development, 71, 573-575.

Marcos, J., & Macaulay, S. (November 26, 2008). Manufacturing Obtained from Manufacturing:

Sánchez, PL (2013). ORGANIZATIONAL RESILIENCE: An approximation. Degree work.

Villamar, FH (2015). Resilience: its application in the business sector. Contributions to the economy.

Gross domestic product

Download the original file