Course directors :<\/p>\n
Wenzel Matiaske , Helmut-Schmidt University, Germany
\nSimon Jebsen , University of Southern Denmark, Denmark
\nFlorian Schramm , University of Hamburg, Germany
\nCarsten Schr\u00f6der , FU Berlin, Germany
\nCourse description:<\/p>\n
Call for Papers<\/p>\n
In view of the polycrisis in the economy, society and the environment, resilience is the new magic word, and not only in organisational sciences. However, this is by no means new territory for organisational theory. Instead, the problem of adaptation and contingency in the (organisational) environment has been one of, if not the central issue in organisational theory for more than half a century. Flat hierarchies, decentralisation and the organisation of networks and value c hains are just as much part of old and new research catalogues as strategic planning, the creation of redundancy and the management of innovation. Finally, Karl Weick\u2019s groundbreaking work on high-security organisations, which brought the management of the unexpected to the forefront of attention, should also be mentioned.<\/p>\n
Conceptually, organisational theory is therefore not unprepared. However, it is necessary to examine which of the concepts are still viable, what further and new developments the theory has to offer, and which gaps need to be closed. In the context of permacrisis conditions \u2013 climate stress, geopolitical instability, demographic shifts, technological disruption, and legitimacy crises \u2013 it becomes essential to ask how organisations and social systems adapt, transform, and sometimes fail.<\/p>\n
Above all, however, there is also the empirical question of the extent to which organisations could not only be resilient in theory, but also (are able to) manage risks, uncertainty and the unexpected in practice. We particularly invite work that interrogates the tensions between resilience discourse and resilience reality, including performative uses of resilience, its managerialisation, and potential unintended consequences. In this context, it will be necessary to take into account, both
\ntheoretically and empirically, that functional failure in societies under stress not only endangers organisations, but also social (sub)systems and calls into question the legitimacy of organisational society as a whole.<\/p>\n
Against this background, we want to present and discuss topics such as<\/p>\n
\u2022 Social and organisational resilience
\n\u2022 Resilience of value chains and networks
\n\u2022 Managing the unexpected
\n\u2022 Security and precaution
\n\u2022 Disaster control
\n\u2022 Cyber security
\n\u2022 Resilience and social inequality
\n\u2022 Digital infrastructures, AI-driven vulnerabilities, and systemic risk
\n\u2022 Institutional trust, legitimacy, and the politics of resilience
\n\u2022 Resilience narratives, framing, and sensemaking<\/p>\n
The list of keywords is by no means exhaustive; it serves as an invitation for theoretical, conceptual, and empirical contributions across sociology, management studies, public administration, economics, psychology and related disciplines.<\/p>\n
Deadline
\nContributors to the seminar at the IUC Dubrovnik submit an extended abstract (1,000 \u2013 1,500words) by 15 February 2026 electronically via email to Rebekka Hensen (rebekka.hensen@hsuhh.de). Feedback will be provided by 28 February 2026. Subsequently, the peer-reviewed full papers are planned for publication in a special issue of Management Revue (IF: 1.7, CS: 1.0). Further information will be provided in the seminar.
\nWe look forward to receiving your contribution and welcoming you to the seminar, even if it is(only) as a discussant.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n