The secret of organisation success: A revision on organisational and team resilience

Abstract

Purpose – The concept of the “resilient organisation” has gained popularity as a concept that might aid organizations survive and thrive in difficult or volatile economic times. Knowing which factors may contribute to building organizational and team resilience is one of the questions that still remain unsolved. The purpose of this paper is to examine and review different conceptualisations of this emergent topic in the management literature, taking into account the common features of resilience capacity in organizations and teams. Design/methodology/approach – To examine the literature on resilience, the authors will focus on team resilience. The authors depart from the psychological-behavioral approach to study resilience and instead take a multilevel perspective (i.e. taking into account organizational and team factors). Findings – From a psychological-behavioral point of view the authors posit that there is a lack of research on which factors build team resilience. This review clarifies and relates independent and isolated studies on resilience taking into account the resources both at team and organizational level (i.e. collective efficacy, transformational leadership, teamwork, organizational practices) that build team resilience capacity. Research limitations/implications – Taking into account this review, future studies should analyze empirically the relationship between these factors that build up team resilience. Practical implications – With this review the authors try to provide guidance as to which aspects of the organization both research and practitioners should focus on. Originality/value – In sum, this literature review examines organizational and team factors that may build team resilience from a psychological-behavioral perspective, taking into account the multilevel view.