Publication Type
Journal Article
Version
submittedVersion
Publication Date
9-2006
Abstract
The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, affected the U.S. airline industry more than almost any other industry. Certain airlines emerged successful and demonstrated remarkable resilience while others languished. This investigation identifies reasons why some airline companies recovered successfully after the attacks while others struggled. Evidence is provided that layoffs after the crisis, although intended to foster recovery, instead inhibited recovery throughout the 4 years after the crisis. But, layoffs after the crisis were strongly correlated with lack of financial reserves and lack of a viable business model prior to the crisis. Digging deeper, the authors find that having a viable business model itself depended on the development and preservation of relational reserves over time. Our model shows that the maintenance of adequate financial reserves enables the preservation of relational reserves and vice versa, contributing to organizational resilience in times of crisis.
Keywords
resilience, layoffs, relational reserves, financial reserves, crisis, airline industry
Discipline
Industrial and Organizational Psychology | Work, Economy and Organizations
Research Areas
Psychology
Publication
Journal of Applied Behavioral Science
Volume
42
Issue
3
First Page
300
Last Page
329
ISSN
0021-8863
Identifier
10.1177/0021886306286466
Publisher
SAGE
Citation
Gittell, Jody H., Cameron, Kim, Lim, Sandy, & Rivas, Victor.(2006). Relationships, Layoffs, and Organizational Resilience: Airline Industry Responses to September 11. Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, 42(3), 300-329.
Available at: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/soss_research/123
Copyright Owner and License
Authors
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-Share Alike 4.0 International License.
Additional URL
https://doi.org/10.1177/0021886306286466
Included in
Industrial and Organizational Psychology Commons, Work, Economy and Organizations Commons