In the Face of Adversity – Conceptual and Empirical Studies on Team and Organizational Resilience

In this cumulative dissertation, the resilience of organizational actors is explored through four independent essays. The focus is on investigating why certain organizations and teams are better equipped to handle adversities than others. At the outset of the project, a comprehensive literature review on current research in the field of organizational resilience was conducted. This review enabled the authors to identify the so-called "Building Blocks" of organizational resilience, which provide essential theoretical insights that differentiate resilient organizations from their less resilient counterparts. Building on these findings, another article delved into the thus far sparsely researched literature on team resilience. A qualitative-empirical analysis of teamwork and resilience under extreme conditions revealed that the collective management of negative emotions is of paramount importance. It is particularly noteworthy that the management of emotions primarily occurs through the often unconscious, embodied actions as a "professional" team member. Without a profound knowledge of their own profession and the associated actions, teams cannot demonstrate their resilience. Based on the results of the second essay, a third contribution examined the multi-level relationships between individual and collective emotional experiences within a team. Conceptually, it discussed how individual emotional experiences can potentially negatively affect the team and what countermeasures the team can take. In the final article, another qualitative-empirical study was conducted, analyzing the events of the 1972 Andes disaster. From the perspective of project management literature, the importance of immediately establishing agency for the resilience of so-called Impromptu Teams was emphasized. Establishing this agency enables team members to shape the contextual conditions in such a way that they can continuously cope with challenges. In summary, this doctoral project offers a contemporary understanding of the resilience of organizational actors, highlighting in particular the role of emotions—a prominently discussed topic in current literature—and addressing it comprehensively.