Enhancing Organizational Resiliency

In this chapter, the authors describe the lessons learned in responding to the various effects of the COVID-19 event that occurred from January 2020 through January 2021 on the ability of faculty to deliver quality, college-level education coursework to the students of the Department of Public Administration at the National University of Mongolia. The experiences are related in terms of the initial shock to the educational process created by the COVID-19 pandemic and how the department enhanced its organizational resilience in response to the challenges posed by the COVID-19 disturbance. The authors provide a summary of the responses made as well as lessons learned. The lessons learned may be used by other organizations of higher learning to navigate stressful conditions while building resiliency and adaptive capacity.

Establishing the Foundations to Measure Organizational Agility for Military Organizations

There is an ongoing demand for organizations to become more agile in order to prosper amongst their competitors. Many military organizations have declared a renewed focus towards organizational agility. The goal of this research is to isolate the variables needed to measure organizational agility (OA) in military organizations, allowing for the future development of a suitable method to measure OA without the need to interact with outside organizations. This article begins by providing a suitable and formal definition of organizational agility by exploring and analyzing relevant scholarly literature on the subject. Related terms, such as organizational resiliency, flexibility, robustness, versatility, and adaptability are also explored to examine their definition boundaries and any overlapping areas. Existing methods to measure organizational agility are examined and summarized, and the current limitations to their application are highlighted. Previous studies to find characteristics associated with organizational agility were also examined, and an initial set of 88 organizational agility characteristics was built. Since these included possible redundant or overlapping characteristics, the Q-sort method was employed to discover, analyze, and eliminate redundant items from the dataset, ultimately resulting in 64 unique characteristics. The result is a suitable definition for organization agility applicable to military organizations and a list of potential associated characteristics that summarizes related research to date. This groundwork establishes the foundation to conduct a multi-organization study to further refine the characteristic list and ultimately develop a method to measure organizational agility.

Improving business resilience through organizational embeddedness in CSR

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to introduce the concept of embeddedness, highlight its connection with corporate social responsibility (CSR) strategies, and argue for its importance in securing and strengthening organizational resiliency. Design/methodology/approach Embeddedness and CSR are both well-researched topics but have been typically addressed on separate literature streams. The paper draws upon this diverse literature to introduce a conceptual framework for embeddedness in CSR. Findings The paper illustrates the importance of embeddedness and how it can enhance existing CSR strategies. A strongly embedded organization becomes deeply rooted on its socio-economic and natural environments, thus setting a symbiotic relationship that extends beyond any narrowly defined business purposes. Strong embeddedness has the potential to increase and further expand any CSR-related benefits while shielding the firm from economic downturns and thus increasing its resilience. Originality/value The paper builds upon CSR literature by incorporating the concept of embeddedness and then proposing how such an approach can strengthen an organization and increase its resilience.

Survey assessment of organizational resiliency potential of a group of Seveso organizations in Turkey

Organizational resilience is vital for long-term value creation in organizations, as they continuously face many obstacles due to fast evolving, complex, and uncertain environments. Resilience is also important for managing hazmat and oil spill risks, given the expected increase in frequency and magnitude of natural disasters due to climatic extremes. Organizations with higher resiliency potential are more likely to manage these challenges effectively. Recently developing literature indicates that development of dynamic capabilities, which are different from ordinary capabilities, leads to greater organizational resiliency potential. This study assesses organizational resiliency potential of a group of Seveso organizations in Turkey via a 5-point Likert-type-scale survey designed toward measuring four important dimensions of dynamic capabilities including anticipation capabilities, adaptive culture, networking capabilities, and organizational learning. Cluster analysis of survey results revealed that there are significant differences in organizational resiliency potential among organizations, as evidenced by the distance plot. While participating organizations have scored relatively high resiliency potentials, there are areas that need improvement including increasing anticipation and networking capabilities and strengthening employee engagement to further enhance resilience of organizations. In the second phase of the study, the effect of three factors on organizational resiliency potential that includes socioeconomic level and earthquake risk of the region that the organization is located, and Seveso Directive status of the organization were assessed. While organizational resiliency potential scores among groups of organizations that fall under different categories for these three factors did not show any statistically significant difference, follow-up focused interview revealed that respondents believed there may be differences in resiliency potential. Both survey and follow-up focused interview assessments showed the complexity and multiple aspects involved in developing adequate organizational resiliency potential. Organizational resiliency potential research is still in its infancy and both theoretical and technical sides of the equation requires further development.

Selected leadership demographics as predictors of continuity planning

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present the findings that describe any correlations between leadership demographic characteristics with that of the levels of business continuity (BC) and disaster recovery (DR) planning by surveying the academic department's continuity planners at two major research universities in Southern California. Design/methodology/approach – The research methodology was a quantitative method utilizing a correlational research design (logistic regression). Survey data from a self-reporting web-based survey were analyzed. Findings – Analysis of five leadership demographic characteristics and four covariates reveals one statistically significant predictor of resiliency planning. Furthermore, close to one-quarter of the academic departments were found to have no BC or DR plan. Conversely, having a budget for resiliency planning was not found to be a significant predictor of resiliency planning. Research limitations/implications – This study was specifically limited to continuity planners within two major, public, academic research institutions within Southern California. This allows for an in-depth understanding of a specific contingency planning phenomenon: geographically bounded public, research-oriented, higher education institutions. This study could provide a framework for administrative leaders in academic settings to assess their organizations’ capacity for recovery from an unexpected business disruption. This study could assist university administration in identifying personnel to lead resiliency planning within the institution. Practical implications – The research indicates that educational institutions lack in organizational resiliency planning. This study could provide a framework for administrative leaders in academic settings to assess their organizations’ capacity for recovery from an unexpected business disruption. Originality/value – While there is much literature on the separate topics of leadership in an academic environment and contingency planning, no study exists that attempts to observe any correlations between these concepts.

(P1-24) Future Weapons of Mass Destruction: Preparing For Emerging Threats

IntroductionCivilian Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) training involves preparing for threats well-known to the military since World War II. Present and future developments in Chemical-Biological (CB) research have resulted in new potential agents, modes of action, and methods of delivery. Chemical-Biological defense training should include these new agents and anticipate contact with previously unknown ones. The natural response to an unknown threat is fear and panic, out of proportion to the actual threat. Specific training in management of new pathogens and toxidromes should be incorporated into existing preparedness regimes. Leadership skills that address uncertainty and inspire constructive responses will increase resiliency.MethodsLiterature ReviewResultsRecent and Future CB Agents: (1) 4th Generation AchE inhibitors: Novichoks, Substance 33, etc.; (2) Genetically enhanced bacteria and engineered chimeric diseases; (3) Modified viral diseases: Variola, Influenza, filoviruses, flaviviruses, arenaviruses; (4) Bacteriophage induced diseases; (5) Agents targeting specific racial or genetic groups; (6) Mid-spectrum agents; (6) Bioregulators: Substance P, vasopressin, enkephalin, etc.; (7) Novel toxins: tetrodotoxin, SEB, saxitoxin, etc.; (8) Hallucinogens and incapacitants (LSD, DMT, carfentanyl, cis-fluoro-ohmefentanyl); (9) Prions and infectious nucleic acids Delivery: (1) New delivery methods: micro- and nano-robots modeled on insects (MEMS systems), microencapsulation; (2) Directed Energy Weapons Mitigation: (1) Development of systems for identifying and dealing with unknown agents and symptoms; (2) Hazard Identification, Risk Estimation, Risk Reduction Strategies, Residual Risk Evaluation and Monitoring, Mitigation and Recovery Leadership skills needed during uncertainty: Sense making, Visioning, Relating, Inventing.ConclusionsPreparing for events without training for new and novel CB agents leaves us unprepared. Incorporating modern science with leadership skills will lessen the impact of future CB release and improve organizational resiliency. The main mistake people make is that they fear current problems more than future ones. Carl von Clausewitz Chance favors the prepared mind. Louis Pasteur.