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  • Open Access
  • © 2019

Exploring Resilience

A Scientific Journey from Practice to Theory

  • Explores different approaches for operationalization of resilience across scientific disciplines and system levels
  • Creates a theoretical foundation for a resilience framework across scientific disciplines and system levels
  • Develops suggestions and inspiration for the research community and practitioners in high-risk industries
  • Presents chapters from leading international authors representing different research disciplines and practical fields

Part of the book series: SpringerBriefs in Applied Sciences and Technology (BRIEFSAPPLSCIENCES)

Part of the book sub series: SpringerBriefs in Safety Management (BRIEFSSM)

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Table of contents (15 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-vi
  2. Exploring Resilience – An Introduction

    • Siri Wiig, Babette Fahlbruch
    Pages 1-5Open Access
  3. Resilience, Reliability, Safety: Multilevel Research Challenges

    • Jean-Christophe Le Coze
    Pages 7-13Open Access
  4. Resilience Engineering as a Quality Improvement Method in Healthcare

    • Janet E. Anderson, A. J. Ross, J. Back, M. Duncan, P. Jaye
    Pages 25-31Open Access
  5. Resilience and Essential Public Infrastructure

    • Michael Baram
    Pages 33-40Open Access
  6. Human Performance, Levels of Service and System Resilience

    • Miltos Kyriakidis, Vinh N. Dang
    Pages 41-49Open Access
  7. Leadership in Resilient Organizations

    • Gudela Grote
    Pages 59-67Open Access
  8. Modelling the Influence of Safety Management Tools on Resilience

    • Teemu Reiman, Kaupo Viitanen
    Pages 69-77Open Access
  9. Resilient Characteristics as Described in Empirical Studies on Health Care

    • Siv Hilde Berg, Karina Aase
    Pages 79-87Open Access
  10. Resilience in Healthcare: A Modified Stakeholder Analysis

    • Mary Chambers, Marianne Storm
    Pages 113-119Open Access
  11. Resilience: From Practice to Theory and Back Again

    • Carl Macrae, Siri Wiig
    Pages 121-128Open Access

About this book

Resilience has become an important topic on the safety research agenda and in organizational practice. Most empirical work on resilience has been descriptive, identifying characteristics of work and organizing activity which allow organizations to cope with unexpected situations. Fewer studies have developed testable models and theories that can be used to support interventions aiming to increase resilience and improve safety. In addition, the absent integration of different system levels from individuals, teams, organizations, regulatory bodies, and policy level in theory and practice imply that mechanisms through which resilience is linked across complex systems are not yet well understood. Scientific efforts have been made to develop constructs and models that present relationships; however, these cannot be characterized as sufficient for theory building. There is a need for taking a broader look at resilience practices as a foundation for developing a theoretical framework that canhelp improve safety in complex systems.

This book does not advocate for one definition or one field of research when talking about resilience; it does not assume that the use of resilience concepts is necessarily positive for safety. We encourage a broad approach, seeking inspiration across different scientific and practical domains for the purpose of further developing resilience at a theoretical and an operational level of relevance for different high-risk industries. The aim of the book is twofold:

1. To explore different approaches for operationalization of resilience across scientific disciplines and system levels.

2. To create a theoretical foundation for a resilience framework across scientific disciplines and system levels.

By presenting chapters from leading international authors representing different research disciplines and practical fields we develop suggestions and inspiration for the research community and practitioners in high-risk industries.



This book is Open Access under a CC-BY licence. 

Editors and Affiliations

  • Faculty of Health Sciences, SHARE-Centre for Resilience in Healthcare, University of Stavanger, Stavanger, Norway

    Siri Wiig

  • TÜV Nord EnSys GmbH & Co. KG, Berlin, Germany

    Babette Fahlbruch

Bibliographic Information

Buy it now

Buying options

Softcover Book USD 59.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Other ways to access