TY  - JOUR
PY  - 1991//
TI  - Shaken, but alive: organizational behavior in the wake of catastrophic events
JO  - Industrial crisis quarterly
A1  - Powell, T. C.
SP  - 271
EP  - 291
VL  - 5
IS  - 4
N2  - When faced with survival-threatening catastrophic events, organizations are often advised to adopt radical, frame-breaking changes. However, evidence suggests threatened organizations tend to do exactly the reverse: they are rigid and detached, relying on existing strategies, routines and resources to pull them through, and then -- if they survive -- coping with problems once the threat has passed. This article explores the parallels between organizational crisis behavior and individual behavior in the wake of traumatic events, as described in the clinical theory of "post-traumatic stress disorder" (PTSD). Using Manville Corporation's asbestos crisis to illustrate the theory, it is proposed that environmental catastrophes produce trauma by contradicting and invalidating strongly held organizational paradigms, or "world views". Although radical changes may be needed to rebuild organizational world views, trauma-related rigidity and detachment preclude such changes, making survival doubly problematic. As an alternative to radical change, the article proposes "behavioral self-blame" as a realistic intermediate solution for threatened organizations, and discusses the implications of this solution for researchers, practitioners and organizational change-agents.<p />
LA  - 
SN  - 0921-8106
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/108602669100500403
ID  - ref1
ER  -