The term resilience is one of those words whose approach can be expanded from a personal point of view, to be applied in an organization, since it has a lot to do with the existence of an encouraging response when there is a time of crisis, in this article the objective is to review what this concept, what form elements and one importance of being applied by himself and his practice time with the company.
Evolution of Resilience to its current meaning
It is a reality that human beings are involved in a world where there are global problems, from hunger, poverty, violations of human rights, political conflicts, to one of the greatest social negatives, that is, crime; The news is the order of the day and it is easier to communicate each of these adverse situations and therefore it is more conducive for the human being to be subjected to stress, however, despite this context there is a human capacity that counteracts this type of problems, that is, Resilience.
The beginnings of resilience are given by the studies carried out by Werner and Smith in a practical experiment of observing a population of children who were not in problems and how it is that through the years of development they had made decisions and personal attributes that have brought their lives to a positive or negative point (Muñoz-Silva, 2012) it was said that thirty percent of this population of children had the appropriate conditions to be able to face the problems, through the following hypothesis:
- Biological variables, genetic conditions transmitted from parents to children. The importance of having an adult as their guardian, this to support them in all circumstances.
However, after these results, several researchers were given the task of investigating with their studies the criteria and measures involved in this field, in its principles it was considered that resilience had to be seen as a phenomenon of special subjects, this description was made by characters like Masten and Coastsworth.
In the late 1970s, Michael Rutter continued to study children who apparently had the ability to be invulnerable to misery, because there was an ability to recover without consequences that will present trauma (Gutierrez, 2009). Luthar, one of the most important exponents in this area of psychological studies of resilience, mentions that the main factors that make it up are solid relationships with others, starting from the early stages of human development, that is, first, with parents. And in the nineties an idea began to be conceived that the person is positive, but aware of the adversities of daily life and the repercussions that may exist in the face of this, they are also part of the 2 experiencing emotional pain, removing the misconception that resilient people are not insensitive.
Research generations
The research generated around Resilience (Puerta, 2012) can be classified into two stages, for which they are defined through:
- First generation, with the focus aimed at the "individualistic geneticist" and research in favor of genetic characteristics, these make possible the development of resilience in children and adolescents. Second generation, in 1999 new studies are carried out, but now since point of view of "international-ecological" and now the meaning of resilience is given to a dynamic process within which the environment and the subject mutually influence each other in a reciprocal relationship that allows the person to adapt and function appropriately despite adversity.
Citing María Teresa Fiorentino, a researcher in this field mentions: "Resilience, understood as the ability to resist suffering and to overcome mental trauma", the author also mentions that Grotberg affirms that resilience has been recognized as a contribution to the promotion mental health and that early childhood is an excellent time to start promoting it; the important thing is to detect and analyze the variables that allow us to be enriched in the face of adversity (Fiorentino, 2008).
Resilience Concept
The etymology of the word Resilience comes from the English term "resilience", which expresses the ability of a material to regain its original shape after being subjected to high pressure. In this sense, it is the amount of energy stored by a material when pressure forces it to reduce its volume, and is expressed in joules per cubic meter (Nemeth & Hollnagel, 2016).
From the point of view of the sciences specialized in human behavior, the concept around Resilience is used to designate the capacity that allows people to leave transformed and enriched when facing adverse situations (Fiorentino, 2008).
The researcher Grotberg affirms that it is about the ability of the human being to face the adversities of life, overcome them and, even, be transformed by them.
Vanistendael talks about two elements: resistance in the face of destruction; that is, the ability to protect one's integrity under pressure and, on the other hand, the ability to forge positive life behavior despite difficult circumstances.
Defining Resilience, Rutter argues that resilience has been characterized as a set of social processes that make it possible to have a healthy life in an unhealthy environment. These processes are carried out over time, giving fortunate combinations between the child's attributes and her family, social and cultural environment; It is a process that characterizes a complex social system, at a certain point in time.
Another definition that Suárez Ojeda proposes is that resilience means a combination of factors that allow a child, a human being, to face and overcome life's problems and adversities, and build on them.
Osborn also considers resilience as a generic concept that refers to a wide range of risk factors and their relationship to the results of the competition. It can be the product of a conjunction between environmental factors and temperament, and a type of cognitive ability that some children have even when they are very young.
Lösel says that resilience is the effective coping with severely stressful and cumulative life events and circumstances.
Through these different definitions of resilience, a concise idea is forged that it is given as a state in dynamic process with factors that can be constructed, developed and promoted; It manifests itself with the potentialization of the competences and resources that the human being has to promote a positive environment of himself first and after the environment, for the generation of solutions to the problems and perspectives of control in life, resilience must be promoted through the stimulation of capacities in order to promote the integrity of the individual's life.
According to Fiorentino, the concept of resilience implies a set of skills and attitudes that promote a process of adaptation and successful transformation despite risks and adversity and in recent years, various researchers have focused on determining the factors that influence successful coping with stress.
In the article published by Eneida Puerta called "Paths to Resilience" he mentions that its definitions should focus on:
- The individual, capacity, quality, mentalities, universal characteristic, protective shield, etc. In the process, emphasize the interaction that exists between personal capacities and the environment, in the result, focusing on overcoming adversity.
Characteristics of a resilient person
The Wolin spouses stated in their studies that resilience is made up of seven foundations:
- Insight, ability to observe internally and externally, ask questions and respond to oneself Autonomy, set limits with problems in order to avoid isolating oneself from the context Interrelation and relationship, personal ties with other people Creativity, create clear goals Within the lack of control Initiative, demanding oneself to test oneself. Humor, finding the positive and funny side to problems. Ethics, committing to values before others.
With all of the elements mentioned above, it can be said that resilience is the capacity that each person has to overcome, more objectively, what is called internal strength.
In the article “Resilience: definition, characteristics and usefulness of the concept, it says that the relational pattern refers to the characteristics of the roles and relationships that influence resilience. This pattern includes both the intrinsic and extrinsic aspects defined as the value of the close relationship of trust and a broad social network. Also, at an intrinsic level, make sense of experiences, have skills in identifying and relating to positive role models, and have the willingness to look for someone to trust. Likewise, in having a deep trust in relationships and the development of personal intimacy (Iglesias, 2006).
Aspects that promote Resilience
In order to promote Resilience, there are internal and external factors that help to manifest an adequate development so that this capacity can be present in the life of the human being:
Next, the circumstances that are potential to be resilient are defined by Fernández D'Adam:
- Affectionate relationships, sensitivity, understanding, respect and interest promote a sense of security and trust among people. Realistic expectations, according to people's abilities and motivations, focus on strengths, not on defects or problems, promote health and well-being of the subjects. Opportunities for community participation, encourage them to assume their own and collective responsibilities for the benefit of the community.
Organizational resilience
The changing world and the crises that afflict human beings also directly affect organizations exclusively because it is reflected in areas of the market and the economy, organizations are obliged to obtain different solutions in search of different dispositions to pursue well-being. The deterioration in terms of quality of life, work stress, personal and family sacrifice (Stephens, Heaphy, Carmeli, Spreitzer, & Dutton, 2013) make the environment have obstacles and it is a challenge to act according to the behaviors and processes to generate positive results.
The use of the term resilience can also be applied in organizations, which is why it carries the meaning of the word with the multidisciplinary approach, the authors mention that:
César Medina in his writing "Resilience and its employment in organizations" makes a study on the approach that various authors give to resilience in organizations:
Within this disciplinary field, it is used as a way to designate the recovery capacity of organizations in the event of an unexpected event, it can also be considered as a trigger for forecasting actions or as an essential part of a strategic process. Resilience in the organization can be defined as the capacity of a system to absorb changes, which are seen as a series of sudden crises (Medina Salgado, 2012).
Meaning of Organizational Resilience
Through the formulation of different approaches in the organization regarding resilience, different authors have developed the concepts in this business dynamic:
Westrum says that resilience is seen as the ability to avoid the negative consequences of an event that has already occurred; also, as the ability to prevent some situation with negative consequences exacerbated over time and, finally, it is assumed as the ability to recover after having faced the negative consequences of an event.
Sutcliffe and Vogus say that resilience refers to the achievement and maintenance of a motivational adaptation in adverse situations. It is a process that allows organizations, as well as the individuals and groups that comprise it, to avoid non-adaptive tendencies and to deal positively with the unexpected
Minolli talks about resilience in companies that are capable of absorbing changes and ruptures, both internal and external, without affecting their profitability and even developing such flexibility that, through rapid adaptation processes, they manage to obtain extra benefits, whether pecuniary or intangible, derived from adverse and unforeseen circumstances.
Marcos and Maculay say it is the organizational ability to anticipate key events related to emerging trends, constantly adapt to change, and recover quickly after disasters and crises.
Hamell and Välikangas, the development of organizational resilience in a turbulent and unstable environment with the current one, the only competitive advantage that organizations have is their ability to reinvent the business model before circumstances force them to do so.
Salanova states that when it is resilient, the company is able to quickly take advantage and anticipate opportunities or threats; Opportunities are exploited because the organization is alert and action-oriented and, instead of addressing opportunities through analysis and observations, takes action.
So through each of the previous definitions, organizational resilience is defined by (Medina Salgado, 2012):
- The ability to prevent the occurrence of negative consequences. 7 The ability to prevent the negative consequences from worsening over time The ability to recover from the negative consequences of an event.
Organizational Resilience Theory
With certified studies to understand organizational resilience so that in the face of the adverse context the company can continue to survive. Assuming that resilience in companies is the ability to respond quickly to uncertainty, therefore, resilience is a state of the organization produced by managing uncertainty within a complex adaptive system. An indicator of this state is found in an organization with a huge adaptive capacity (Dahms, 2010).
The following theories have been conducive to sustaining organizational resilience:
Organizational learning theory
The principles of this theory are based on the fact that it is through the learning capacity that the survival of organizations in the future takes place, it can be specified in the term of establishing competitive advantage. Kuchinke mentions that from the theoretical approach it is a fundamental mechanism by which organizations, as open systems, interact with their environment, process information and adapt to changing external and internal conditions.
It is that the company must strengthen the adaptability of developing learning to respond to changes and the hostile environment with a distinctive seal that makes it different from current organizations, to preserve its future.
Ecological theory
They will be the tools for the company to take precautions to the problems that can bequeath to its environment, it is necessary to know the environment in which it operates, since there is a business-environment dynamic and vice versa. According to the theory of ecology, organizations are configured as systems that have the flexibility to adapt to changing circumstances and find new balances during and after the crisis (Adger, 2000). The environment is decisive to know what are the probable elements that could be positive or negative for the company, while resilience acts as a shield that helps the organization adapt to these changes produced in the external environment.
Characteristics of a resilient organization
The elements that a resilient company contains must be those capable of responding to a specific condition that is in constant change, so this type of organization is characterized by having the potential to apply survival techniques projected into the future.
The resilience of an organization is linked indirectly or directly with the resilience of other organizations that include customers, suppliers, government agents, and even the business competition (Medina Salgado, 2012).
Its degree and interest in applying resilience depending on the changes in which it is involved will depend on the specifications of the organization, in turn, the skills that will make it competent in the hostile environment that exists today. They are the strongest and the ones that will prevail.
McManus studies say that the organizations with the highest degree of resilience to change are those with the following characteristics:
- They have an organizational ethos of constant effort aimed at generating greater resistance to catastrophes. They present a good knowledge of the situation, the threats and opportunities faced by the organization, through active monitoring of the strong and weak signals from the context. They have a strong commitment to proactively identify and manage key vulnerabilities. They have a culture that promotes their adaptation, agility and innovation capacities within the organization.
Other factors that are being a watershed in organizations, it is the essence, it is what makes the company work in a particular way, it can be called know-how, it cannot be revealed to other organizations, since if it would not be conducive for some other market competitor to copy it and with the smallest detail to change it to make it their own; in turn, they must provide added value over all the others, something that differentiates the organization.
Companies must also have precise and fast actions, the term
Disruption has begun to sound in organizations that seek innovation so as not to give up.
Advantages of Resilience
Although resilience was born with a scientific point of view applied to materials and later to human studies, society and the development of it, today it is a concept that is easy to apply in the company, this encourages the enrichment of multidisciplinary way. By stating some of the advantages of Resilience based on the article "Resilience: another perspective of social and personal experiences within the company", a new source of knowledge and practice is provided to understand and face certain processes or events in business life:
- Organizational and cultural change processes. Purchase, sale and merger processes. Market adaptation processes. Staff reduction or reassignment processes.
Quoting Nonaka, he says that an organization is seen from this sociological perspective, since very similar to a person it can have a collective sense of identity and a fundamental purpose. This in the company is what amounts to self-knowledge in the person, a shared understanding of what the company represents, where it is going, the type of world in which it can live and, most importantly, make it a reality.
The application of Resilience in organizations
The problems that affect business life are of different kinds, through uncertainty and in an unattractive scenario, it is where the company seeks to face the crisis.
According to Sheffi, the model of a profile encrypted in the hypothetical development of a disruption is divided into eight stages:
- Preparation, to avoid future conflicts The disruptive event, the moment when an unexpected event happens The first response, how the unexpected event should be handled The delay in impact, has to do with the time in which the event affects.The total impact, immediately. Preparing recovery, redirecting to achieve organizational goals. Recovery, repairing the damage suffered. Long-term impact, prolonged duration.
Resilience in the future of organizations
The concept of Resilience is already attractive for organizations, it has a foundation in society and is constantly investigated to be adapted to different unexpected events within the company, it is being forged to be applied as an analysis tool in social groups.
The organizational literature has created various analogies to understand its dynamics, the author Ricardo Vega quotes Castañeda saying that the most important are (Vega Zambrano, 2012):
The biological figure, which conceives organizations as living beings that grow, develop and survive in an environment.
The sociological figure, which visualizes organizations as miniature societies.
Psychological figure, which assigns behavioral and cognitive properties such as learning to organizations.
Resilience applied in organizations is an issue that still needs to be worked on to be more precisely adjusted to the problems that the company faces, therefore, according to Isabella Meneghel, the following recommendations are suggested that Resilience needs (Meneghel, Salanova, & Martínez, 2013):
Confirmation through Organizational Resilience studies
With the aim that the knowledge applied in organizations ceases to be empirical and can have a more theoretical structure through models that justify the results of the application of resilience, the measurable variables of what resilience has changed in the company.
Personal characteristics of the members of the organization
If resilience has to do with psychological aspects in humans, then definitely the ability to adapt to changes and find solutions in the midst of crises, must be an important factor in the members of the organization, since the company is consolidated by the staff working on it. Altogether each of the capabilities of staff may be decisive for the company to face 11 changes.
Location of factors in organizational resilience
What are those elements that enable the individual to contribute to the organization so that resilience is developed, what activities are appropriate to motivate the generation of this capacity and under what conditions are they indicated to promote the taking of actions in the face of changes that affect the organization.
Levels of resilience in the organization
The levels of resilience that the organization embraces, that is: individual, collective and, consequently, organizational. Establish the dynamics that each one entails and the way they are related, comparing them one by one.
Changes in resilience time
With the variables that help resilience spread, it is necessary to see how they can be given feedback after being affected by the time factor in the search for positive results for the company.
Conclusions
Resilience is one of those capacities that every human being must be aware of having in his life, it helps to stand out from those crises that torment at the least indicated moment; The human could not have developed precisely in the most suitable conditions but it is with this ability that an alternative is found to overcome the problems of the era in which modern man is living, a time of changes caused by different factors where there are no alternatives to forget being competent. It is interesting to see how psychological studies have yielded palpable results that people who have this ability called resilience are prone to overcoming afflictions.
Regarding resilience in business life, it can be said that organizations that possess this characteristic are those that are capable of absorbing internal and external changes and crises, without affecting the organization in any way, but instead become flexible due to adaptation. to changes in unexpected situations. Organizations are composed of human beings and it will always be a study factor, in turn, if the members that make up the company are individuals who have the capacity for resilience, there will be a consequence for the resilience of the organization, there is a dynamic that determines the influence of the human being. 12
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