Document Type : Original Article (Mixed)
Authors
1 Ph.D. Student in HRM, University of Islamic Azad, Tehran, Iran
2 Professor in HRM, University of Shahid Beheshti, Tehran, Iran
3 Assistant Professor in HRM, University of Islamic Azad, Tehran, Iran
Abstract
The purpose of the research is to design a model of resilience in government organizations of Kermanshah province. The research method is qualitative-quantitative. This research is developmental-applicative in terms of purpose, and descriptive-survey in terms of data collection. The statistical population of the research includes government managers who have at least 10 years of experience. In order to sample; purposeful sampling method in the qualitative part was used, and in the quantitative part based on the number of extracted components, the number of samples was determined to be 396 people and the cluster method was used for sampling. In order to analyze the data, the coding method was used in the qualitative part and the structural equation model method was used in the quantitative part by PLS software. The results indicate that the causal factors include; individual, group and organizational factors. Also, the environmental platform includes; the role of the government, political and economic factors, and electronic platforms. The consequences also indicate the continuity and progress of the organization. The results of the structural equations also showed that the resilience model has a favorable fit in government organizations.
Extended abstract
Introduction
Organizational resilience is a subcategory of positive organization and today, despite the attention to the term resilience and its vastly uses in various fields, there is a limited theoretical and practical understanding of this concept in its evaluation and measurement in relation to organizational resilience (Rafiyan et al, 2011). Resilience has been studied in many different fields, including management, security, ecology, psychology, disaster management, organization management, engineering, etc., but there is no definition acceptable in any field (Bergström et al., 2015). Resilience in the organizational field is not an exception to this rule. Researchers such as Alblas & Jayaram (2015), Alblas & Jayaram (2015), Chand & Loosemore (2016), and Hu et al, (2018) have considered organizational resilience as the ability to deal with changes, internal and external risks and impulses, and some such as Linnenluecke & Griffiths (2010), Alexiou (2014), and Ortiz & Bansal (2015) have defined resilience as a capacity to deal with changes, risk and impulses, and some others have considered it as an essential asset for the organization when it faces a risk (Ruiz-Martin et al, 2018). Rai et al, (2021) have considered organizational resilience as a way to deal with successive environmental crises. Organizations try to prepare themselves for all kinds of crises in advance and without fear by planning and making necessary preparations against all kinds of crises.
Resilience means developing new competencies and broad capabilities to sustain momentum by creating new opportunities. Also, in this definition, resilience is considered as success due to the ability to invest in challenges and unexpected changes. According to another definition, resilience is the ability of a person or organization to quickly design and implement positive adaptive movements coordinated with an emergency situation, in such a way as to bear little pressure. Others define it as an essential asset for the organization when it faces a risk (Ruiz-Martin et al, 2018). Therefore, the concept of organizational resilience includes resistance, compromise and adaptation as the main assets and refers to shock absorption, reorganization and learning, etc. as the main capacities. Resilient organizations are also organizations that are able to deal with unforeseen shocks such as financial crises and globalization of competition, etc., and in some cases, it makes the organization prosper. In fact, resilience can be considered a necessity in recent centuries. Today's societies are increasingly facing emergency and crisis situations that challenge social and economic stability, and they rely on the services and employment provided by organizations to achieve resilience, because organizational resilience and societies' resilience are two sides of the same coin, and this means that if organizations are not ready to respond to emergencies and crises, then societies will not be ready either (Stephenson, 2010). Resilient organizations are organizations that can overcome crises with low costs due to their preparation and planning and high flexibility. All organizations should consider resilience against threats and environmental changes as one of their important and strategic goals and consider achieving this important goal. Therefore, the present research, with regard to the earthquake that happened in some cities of Kermanshah province in 2016 and caused a lot of money and lives (about 2,000 dead and 10,000 injured), seeks to, by designing a model of resilience in the government organizations of this province, help to increase their strength and readiness, which will reduce the amount of damages to the lowest possible level in the repetition of such events. The main question of the current research is: what are the characteristics of the model of resilience in government organizations of Kermanshah province?
Theoretical framework
The word resilience was presented for the first time by Holling in 1973 in a study titled resilience and stability of ecological systems. Then this term has been used for various other forms of resilience such as individual, organizational, supply chain, etc. If we consider people as a part of societies, resilience depends on societies and is not limited to social relations and social structure. One way to create resilience is to support people to create favorable social relations through technical resilience interventions. These interventions can include the development of services, the use of resources in communities, and the creation of new social and operational values for them. The origins and meaning of resilience as a scientific concept is ambiguous (Friend & Moench, 2013). The concept of resilience is used everywhere in both physical and social sciences. However, it has different meanings at different times. In recent years, resilience has become more common in both scientific and political discourses (Meerow & Newell, 2015). In fact, there are many meanings and concepts for resilience, there are wide definitions and interpretations of resilience, many of which are taken from the academic community of ecological systems. Originally, resilience is related to hazard studies, materials science and environmental studies, and also is a concept that has been used freely and enthusiastically by a wide range of policy makers, practitioners and academic researchers in the last decade. Although the actual meaning associated with this term varies accordingly, there are actually a large number of conceptual frameworks for resilience that are increasing day by day, reflecting its complex and multidimensional nature (Breetzke & Pearson, 2017).
In relation to organizational resilience, it can be acknowledged that this category is a subcategory of positive organization, but today, even with attention to the term resilience and its many uses in various fields, especially in relation to organizational resilience, there is a limited theoretical and practical understanding of this concept in its evaluation, measurement or creation (Rafiyan, 2011). In general, two views have been mentioned in relation to organizational resilience, one of which defines resilience as the ability to return to the normal situation in the face of adversity, conflict, failure or positive events, and the other includes the development of new capabilities and the ability to expand simultaneously or even create new opportunities. Vogest also acknowledges that a resilient organization is considered to be able to maintain positive settings under challenging conditions (Hillmann & Guenther, 2021). Therefore, resilience is a necessity to respond to threats and also to adapt positively in the face of challenging conditions, accept opportunities, and provide sustainable performance (Duchek, 2020).
Methodology
The current research is developmental-applicative in terms of its purpose, and descriptive-survey in terms of data collection according to the nature of the research. In order to collect data in the qualitative part, in-depth semi-structured interviews were used, which were selected through purposeful and snowball sampling. The statistical population of the research included managers who are in government organizations of Kermanshah province and had at least 10 years of experience. The statistical population of quantitative section is a small part of the employees of the government organizations of Kermanshah province, whose number is 5641 people. Sampling in the quantitative section is 5 to 15 times the number of observed or apparent components (Homan, 2017). Considering that 33 primary components have been extracted, at least 190 questionnaires should have been distributed. The sampling method in this research was cluster. As a result, 400 questionnaires were distributed, of which 396 were usable.
Discussion and Results
The researcher analyzes the data in depth and presents them in the form of Strauss & Corbin theory (2008), and the main purpose of the research is to understand the situation. In this research process, after determining the core category, other categories are drawn in the form of a paradigmatic pattern around the core category. By using selective coding, the relationship between the categories has been identified and the conceptual model has been presented in an integrated manner. After making sure that there is a reasonable correlation and relationship between the observations and the related local variables, it is time for another important analysis, through which the statistical hypotheses of the current research will be investigated. In this part, the overview of the research model was examined first, and then each hypothesis was investigated separately.
As it is clear in the previous figures, the value of t among the causal conditions, the central phenomenon, the consequences and the environmental background is higher than 1.96, which indicates the significance of the relationships between them. This shows that the model extracted in government organizations of Kermanshah is a suitable model. Also, the coefficients between the mentioned factors are all positive. Therefore, it is positive and direct between them. Also, in Table 13, the estimated coefficients and explained variance of the research variables are reported.
Conclusion
The purpose of this research is to study resilience in government organizations of Kermanshah province. Therefore, while examining the concept of resilience; antecedents, environmental background and consequences of organizational resilience have been identified and a model of resilience has been presented in government organizations of Kermanshah province. After designing the research model, a number of interviewees were asked to express their opinions regarding the presented model so that required corrections can be made if necessary. The findings of the research were evaluated and reviewed by five university professors and three PhD. students, and necessary corrections were made while receiving opinions. In the following, explanations are given about each of the factors of the model. Based on the research model, "organizational resilience" as a central category based on the causal conditions of "individual, group and organizational factors" and taking into account the role of the government, economic and political factors and electronic platforms as a pattern is realized and leads to the creation of continuity in the organization and the progress of the organization. The research findings are in line with the results of Ruiz-Martin et al, (2018) and Lengnick-Hall et al, (2011).
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