Natural disasters, terror attacks, and fiscal crisis have increased curiosity about how some organizations get stretched to the breaking point but bounce back and recover. Janet Denhardt and Robert Denhardt refer to resilience as the capacity to recognize and manage challenges in a manner that leaves the organization more flexible and better able to adapt to future challenges. As interest in organizational resilience rose, researchers found that “it is actually the practice of everyday resilience in responding to those thousands of daily stresses and disjunctures that may best equip organizations to also handle catastrophic and unexpected challenges to their health…” Organizational resilience forces managers to building the capacity to adapt.

This article is supporting documentation for the Alliance for Innovation Navigating the Fiscal Crisis white paper.