The Geography of Strain: Organizational Resilience as a Function of Intergroup Relations

Abstract

Organizational resilience is an organization’s ability to absorb strain and preserve or
\nimprove functioning, despite the presence of adversity. In existing scholarship there is
\nthe implicit assumption that organizations experience and respond holistically to acute
\nforms of adversity. We challenge this assumption by theorizing about how adversity can
\ncreate differential strain, affecting parts of an organization rather than the whole. We
\nargue that relations among those parts fundamentally shape organizational resilience.
\nWe develop a theoretical model that maps how the differentiated emergence of strain in
\nfocal parts of an organization triggers the movements of adjoining parts to provide or
\nwithhold resources necessary for the focal parts to adapt effectively. Drawing on core
\nprinciples of theories about intergroup relations, we theorize about three specific
\npathways—integration, disavowal, and reclamation—by which responses of adjoining
\nparts to focal part strain shape organizational resilience. We further theorize about
\ninfluences on whether and when adjoining parts are likely to select different pathways.
\nThe resulting theory reveals how the social processes among parts of organizations
\ninfluence member responses to adversity and, ultimately, organizational resilience. We
\nconclude by noting the implications for organizational resilience theory, research, and
\npractice.