In the age of knowledge, organizations survive and thrive only when they learn. All too often, when organizations are confronted with novel or changing situations, the process of learning breaks down and the result is catastrophic. In Organizational Resilience: How Learning Sustains Organizations in Crisis, Disaster, and Breakdown, D. Christopher Kayes explains why all organizational leaders should be concerned about learning and the dire consequences that may ensue if they are not.Kayes draws on the foundational ideas of philosopher John Dewey, then connects this philosophy to contemporary studies on learning, management, and organizations. Through a wide range of examples from the realms of government, finance, engineering, healthcare, and commercial air travel, he describes how learning can help organizations weather crises and outlines specific ways that leaders can learn from their experience.The first comprehensive review of how learning sustains organizations in challenging times, Organizational Resilience is essential reading for crisis managers, disaster-recovery team leaders, continuity-of-operations planning professionals, emergency-management professionals, and leaders at all levels who want their organizations to thrive.

PrefaceIntroduction: Learning as the Source of ResiliencePart I: Experience as the Source of Learning in OrganizationsChapter 1: Learning from ExperienceChapter 2: The Structure of Learning in OrganizationsChapter 3: Learning versus Performance in the Air France Flight 447 DisasterPart II: The Breakdown of LearningChapter 4: A Review of Failure in OrganizationsChapter 5: From Failure to the Breakdown of LearningChapter 6: How Optimism and Positive Thinking Can Limit LearningChapter 7: Goal Setting as an Unlikely Threat to LearningChapter 8: Experience and Decision MakingPart III: Building Resilience through LearningChapter 9: Case Study: Learning From the Search for Weapons of Mass Destructionin IraqChapter 10: Revisiting the Universal Dilemma of Learning in Policy, Government, and Organizational CultureChapter 11: Building Learning in OrganizationsReferencesIndex