Table Of ContentBUILDING RESILIENCE FOR SUCCESS
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BUILDING
RESILIENCE
FOR SUCCESS
A Resource for Managers and
Organizations
Cary L. Cooper
Professor of Organizational Psychology and Health,
Lancaster University, England
Jill Flint-Taylor
Director, Rusando Ltd, UK
and
Michael Pearn
Founder & CEO, Pearn Consulting LLC, San Francisco, US
© Cary L. Cooper, Jill Flint-Taylor and Michael Pearn 2013
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2013 978-0-230-36128-7
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in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
First published 2013 by
PALGRAVE MACMILLAN
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ISBN 978-1-349-34830-5 ISBN 978-1-137-36783-9 (eBook)
DOI 10.1057/9781137367839
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CONTENTS
List of Tables and Figures v ii
Introduction—Setting the Scene 1
PART 1 UNDERSTANDING RESILIENCE
Chapter 1 “ The Individual”—A Framework for
Understanding Personal Resilience 1 3
Chapter 2 “ The Individual + The Situation”—Personal
Resilience at Work 4 8
Chapter 3 R esilience-Building over the Years—From
Remedial to Performance-Enhancing 7 2
PART 2 BUILDING RESILIENCE
Chapter 4 W hat Individuals Can Do to Build
Their Resilience 9 5
Chapter 5 W hat Individuals Can Do: Strengthening the
Four Personal Resilience Resources 1 15
Chapter 6 O rganizational Approaches:
The Individual at Work 1 45
Chapter 7 O rganizational Interventions: The Workplace
Situation 1 64
PART 3 THE FUTURE OF RESILIENCE AND ITS ROLE IN
ACHIEVING WIDER ORGANIZATIONAL OBJECTIVES
Chapter 8 R esilience-Building: Implications for Employers 1 93
v
CONTENTS
Appendix I: A Short Guide to Using This Book 2 06
Appendix II: Creating an Individual Resilience Plan 2 09
Appendix III: Core topics for Resilience-Building 2 13
Notes 215
Index 227
vi
LIST OF TABLES AND
FIGURES
Tables
1.1 E xamples of individual characteristics found to be associated with
resilience 18
1.2 S ome FFM traits associated with self-confidence 38
1.3 S ome of the best-performing measures of resilience in adults,
as evaluated by Gill Windle and her colleagues in 2011 44
1.4 S ome measures of resilience developed specifically with workplace
challenges in mind 45
Figures
1.1 F ramework for understanding employees’ resilience to
workplace pressures 20
1.2 O verview of the “OCEAN” Five-Factor Model of personality 23
1.3 A lbert Ellis’ ABC model 33
1.4 T he three dimensions of explanatory style 35
1.5 T he most positive and most negative explanatory styles for success 3 5
1.6 T he most positive and most negative explanatory styles for failure 3 6
1.7 B uilding resilience: the four personal resilience resources
(showing relationship with the common personal attribute themes
from resilience research) 41
2.1 H ow on-the-job experiences can help to build personal resilience 4 8
2.2 S ummary of the ASSET framework for measuring sources of pressure
and support in the workplace 49
2.3 T he ASSET factors—examples of negative pressure 53
vii
LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES
2.4 T he ASSET factors—examples of positive pressure 56
2.5 T he ASSET factors—examples of support 58
2.6 H ow the Green Accounts team see their situation—the factors
topping up and draining their well-being reservoir 63
2.7 H ow Sarah’s character strengths relate to the four
resilience resources 64
2.8 H ow Xiu Bo’s character strengths relate to the four
resilience resources 65
2.9 H ow Raj’s character strengths relate to the four
resilience resources 67
2.10 H ow Daniel’s character strengths relate to the four
resilience resources 69
3.1 C ommon representation of the Yerkes–Dodson law 85
3.2 M ain findings on the effects of demand, support, and
control, Dollard et al. 2000 86
3.3 F low chart showing the direction of the impact of
leader’s personality on well-being and performance outcomes 89
3.4 T he ASSET factors as sources of workplace pressure and
support—example Work Relationships 90
4.1 P ositive and negative lenses 101
5.1 B uilding resilience: the four personal resilience resources 116
7.1 F ramework for understanding employees’ resilience to
workplace pressures 165
viii
INTRODUCTION—SETTING THE
SCENE
THE MEANING OF RESILIENCE AND
THE PURPOSE OF OUR BOOK
The focus of this book is on building individual resilience—also
known as psychological, emotional, or personal resilience. We use
these terms interchangeably throughout, so what do we mean by
them? The most straightforward, if somewhat narrow, answer is that
this kind of resilience is being able to bounce back from setbacks
and to stay effective in the face of tough demands and difficult cir-
cumstances. Expanding on this, our definition goes beyond recovery
from stressful or potentially stressful events, to include the sustain-
ability of that recovery and the lasting benefit—the strength that
builds through coping well with such situations. 1 The capability that
is developed in this way applies to coping with everyday problems
and challenges—the need for individual resilience is by no means
restricted to extreme circumstances or heroic acts.
Our purpose has been to put together a resource on which managers,
human resource specialists, learning and development professionals,
and others can draw to commission, design, deliver, and evaluate
workplace resilience-building interventions. We describe and discuss
many different approaches, findings, and practical applications and
we share our own experiences, suggestions, and recommendations.
It is not our intention to provide a prescriptive self-help guide or
trainer’s manual, but rather to offer a broad base of knowledge, ideas,
and solutions that can be mined in various ways to meet different
needs and organizational circumstances.
Firstly, in Part 1, we review developments in the field over the
past twenty years or so, with reference to both research and prac-
tice. Based on this foundation of theory, evidence and experience we
present a two-part framework that can be used to structure and facil-
itate resilience development within organizations. The style of P art 1
1
C.L. Cooper et al., Building Resilience for Success
© Cary L. Cooper, Jill Flint-Taylor and Michael Pearn 2013
