XIX WOA – 2018 – Roma

Organizations are more and more called to tackle a number of shocks and unpredictable events that influence their actions and performance. Unexpected and sudden exogenous changes such as natural (e.g. earthquakes, tsunamis, hurricanes) as well as man-made disasters (e.g. terrorism, cyberattacks) are increasingly affecting structures, processes and behaviors that organizations design and manage for routine and day-by-day activities. Other major unpredicted disturbances might be related to rapid evolution of market conditions as well as to unexpected consequences of innovative initiatives in organizations. Even activities such as the adoption of new technologies or the implementation of restructuring interventions may often give rise to unexpected consequences that may challenge actions and tasks routinely performed in organizations. The impact of such disturbances may vary a lot. Some organizations have been shown to be more sensitive to shocks, showing rigidities and a generalized inertia to unexpected events. Others are instead more capable to adapt and react. Some organizations are even able to take profit from challenging, new environmental scenarios and change conditions. Resiliency – generically defined as the capacity of a system to resist to disturbances as well as to the speed of return or recovery to its pre-shock state – is of quintessential importance for modern organizations.

The theme of this workshop aims to bring to attention questions about how organizations manage unexpected and sudden changes and shocks. Despite the abundance of studies on this topic, we know little about models (organizational structures), skills and behaviors (people), practices and routines (processes) that enable resiliency in organizations. The workshop welcomes conceptual, empirical and methodological contributions, either in the form of papers or projects, which tackle the theme of resiliency in organizations. Workshop contributions may refer to one or more of the following research areas/tracks: organization, people and processes.

Comitato Scientifico

• Paola Adinolfi (Università degli Studi di Salerno)
• Massimo Bergami (Università di Bologna)
• Domenico Bodega (Università Cattolica Sacro Cuore)
• Mariacristina Bonti (Università di Pisa)
• Americo Cicchetti (Università Cattolica Sacro Cuore)
• Anna Comacchio (Università Ca’ Foscari Venezia)
• Stefano Consiglio (Università Federico II di Napoli)
• Paolo Gubitta (Università di Padova)
• Raimondo Ingrassia (Università degli studi di Palermo)
• Massimo Magni (Milano Bocconi)
• Daniele Mascia (Università di Bologna)
• Andrea Prencipe (Università Luiss Guido Carli)
• Cecilia Rossignoli (Università degli Studi di Verona)
• Luca Solari (Università degli Studi di Milano)

Comitato Organizzatore Locale

• Federica Morandi
• Valentina Iacopino
• Irene Gabutti
• Luca Giorgio

Tracks

Organizational Models

This track includes papers which may further discussion on issues related mainly to organization theory, micro- and macro-organizational design.

Particularly relevant areas of interest are, but may not be limited to, the following topics:

• Organizational and environmental factors affecting organizational change and design
• The influence of unpredictable events in organizational structures
• The emergence of new types of organizations
• Work design strategies in response of dramatic changes
• The emergence of network forms to cope with change
• The role of organizational creativity and innovation to cope with exogenous changes

People

This track welcomes papers on theory and practice in the fields of organizational behavior (OB) and human resource management (HRM), which are devoted to investigate the behaviors of individuals and groups within organizations. Specific value will be devoted to those papers describing how these topics encourage/discourage organizational resiliency.

The track welcomes contributions addressing, but not limited to, topics such as:

• Personality
• Motivation at work and attitude toward the change
• Organizational and individual decision making models
• Group/team dynamics and processes
• power and politics
• Identity and commitment toward the change
• Emotion and affection toward organizational change
• Emerging human resource practices
• Workforce diversity
• Reward systems
• Job satisfaction
• Leadership styles

Processes

This track concerns those papers discussing the topic of process organizing. It particularly encourages contributions focusing on the planning, management, and implementation of organizational change, in terms of processes, knowledge systems and organizational learning. It welcomes papers related to, but not limited to, the following topics:

• Knowledge management and organizational learning;
• Organizational learning strategies during organizational change;
• Opportunity and limits of hyper-social organizations;
• The role of social media in the dissemination of information about the change;
• Management of big data;
• The role of ICT