Resilience as a Service: Strategic Management Framework for Engineering Organizational Robustness and Resilience

The concept of industrial sustainability and resilience determines the ability of a system to adapt, thrive, and maintain function in dynamic and challenging environments. It is a proactive system capability that allows systems and the system’s entities to confront and resolve contradictions through adaptation, continuous improvement, and innovation. It is a sociotechnical safety concept that reduces the impact of hazardous events through preparedness, coordination, and technological interventions in conjunction with ongoing processes of renewal, change, and innovation, characterized by agility, flexibility, and the design and development of distinct capabilities.

The Anatol-App makes use of the Strategic Management Framework for Engineering Organizational Robustness and Resilience (SMFRR; Maurer (2020)). As presented in the above figure (source: Maurer, 2020), the SMFRR is structured around four interconnected levels: resource, operational, tactical, and strategic. Each level is designed to address organizational dynamics, risks, uncertainties, and crises more effectively. At the resource level, resource engineering focuses on optimizing of core assets. At the operational level, responsiveness capability engineering enhances the organization's ability to adapt to changes and disruptions. The tactical level employs cognitive capability engineering to drive continuous improvement and innovation. Finally, dynamic capability engineering at the strategic level ensures the organization's long-term evolution and adaptability. This framework integrates these levels to implement proactive strategies and processes that build robustness, resilience, and innovation throughout the organization.

System & resource engineering: VRIN resources

The core of the Strategic Management Framework for Engineering of Organizational Robustness and Resilience (SMFRR) is derived from the Alter’s Work System Theory and its resource components. It provides a static, resource-based view on systems and consists of nine resources that every system has. The resources participants, information, technology and processes & activities form the inner core of the work system framework. Resources products/services, customer, strategy, environment and infrastructure are complementary but form the SMFRR on resource-level. The main goal on resource-level is to transform and develop these resources into those that are valuable, rare, difficult to imitate, and not easily to be substituted (VRIN).

System adaption and renewal: responsiveness capabilities

The objective at the operational level is to design and develop capabilities that enhance system responsiveness: the system's competence for adaption and renewal. This level is closely linked to the concept of Risk Management and Redundancy, Business Continuity Management, and Reliability Engineering. It aims to strengthen the system's ability to manage unexpected events, implement actions to maintain accident-free operations, anticipate potential failures, avoid oversimplification, remain sensitive to ongoing operations, and foster a deeper commitment to organizational robustness and resilience. The focus at this level is on proactive safety and security processes, risk management strategies, and anticipation mechanisms. It encompasses business continuity management and planning, as well as system (re)engineering, which involves the simultaneous and sequential development of prevention, response, and recovery processes.

System innovation: cognitive capabilities

The objective at the tactical level is to develop cognitive capabilities that enhance the organization's ability to interact effectively with its environment. This involves fostering cognitive processes that improve coordination, cooperation, and communication across political, economic, social, technological, environmental, and legal contexts. The tactical level also focuses on both exploring and utilizing information and knowledge from the system's environment. (Internal and external) Information and knowledge are considered as meta-resources that allows organizations to acquire new insights, develop new skills, and effectively use resources (individual and network). Cognitive capabilities such as communication, learning, training, and education support sensemaking and promote effective system management and leadership.

System evolution: dynamic capabilities

The strategic level is based on the Dynamic Capability framework (David Teece) and focuses on identifying and capitalizing on opportunities while managing and transforming threats into new opportunities. This level supports the strategic evolution of the system through both incremental and radical innovations, impacting the entire system and its individual resource elements (e.g., transforming resources into valuable, rare, inimitable, and non-substitutable (VRIN) resources). It also involves adapting underlying routines and best practices to align with changing environments. Dynamic capabilities also support the tactical and operational levels by enabling the adaptation of processes such as business continuity management, scenario planning, and knowledge management, as well as renewing tactical and operational capabilities. The application of dynamic capabilities of sensing, seizing, and the management of challenges and threats fosters the development of the system as a whole, including establishing a culture that embraces internal and external opportunities.