Business continuity as an adaptive social process
by Carmit Rapaport, Alan Kirschenbaum
International Journal of Emergency Management (IJEM), Vol. 5, No. 3/4, 2008

Abstract: We argue that 'business continuity' is primarily a social rather than an economic process. By examining the actual behaviour of both managers and employees in work organisations during a crisis, we were able to better predict the organisation's preparedness and ability to cope with disasters. This argument is based on evidence from a study completed during the 2006 Katyusha rocket bombardment of northern Israel and included 13 work organisations. The results point out that organisational response to a disaster includes a process of adaptation to new and changing conditions. On the one hand, the organisations' managers react according to their values, culture and past experience. The day-to-day operations, however, are maintained as employees adapt their own behaviour to the changing demands of the situation. The analysis further showed that although plans, drills and emergency guidance are important to determine the desirable performance behaviours during the emergency, it was employees' adaptive behaviours that contributed to maintaining business operations. These adaptive work behaviours depended on a series of socially related predictors such as their past experience, family and community attitudes and social networks at the workplace. Overall, the evidence demonstrates that successful business continuity is best predicted by a series of social processes and depends primarily among employees' ability to adapt to dynamic emergency situations.

Online publication date: Tue, 12-May-2009

The full text of this article is only available to individual subscribers or to users at subscribing institutions.

 
Existing subscribers:
Go to Inderscience Online Journals to access the Full Text of this article.

Pay per view:
If you are not a subscriber and you just want to read the full contents of this article, buy online access here.

Complimentary Subscribers, Editors or Members of the Editorial Board of the International Journal of Emergency Management (IJEM):
Login with your Inderscience username and password:

Username:        Password:          Forgotten your password?

Want to subscribe?
A subscription gives you complete access to all articles in the current issue, as well as to all articles in the previous three years (where applicable). See our Orders page to subscribe.

If you still need assistance, please email subs@inderscience.com