Assessment of the Capacity of Organizational Resilience in Controlling Secondary Drought Crisis Emphasizing Organizational Learning as a Mediator: A Case Study of Municipalities in Isfahan, Iran

Environmental hazards caused by climate change and urban life prevailing practices have had a much greater impact in recent years than in the past. Aquatic ecosystems are not immune to such threats and their consequences, such as droughts and the emergence of interconnected crises. Since crisis studies are interdisciplinary, the organizational capacity of decision-making entities in urban areas plays a vital role in controlling these complex environmental changes. Therefore, this study aims to investigate organizational resilience as a guiding perspective in the crisis management process emphasizing organizational learning from crisis experience. The objective is to assess the organizational resilience capacity of public and official organizations in Isfahan, Iran, regarding the risks of the drought crisis.

This study proposes applying the Delphi method, the Bulls-eye method, and Gray relational analysis based on previous theoretical studies. The analysis begins by entering the initial weight of the Delphi method into the algorithm of this integrated method of weighing the values of uncertain indicators, followed by Gray relational analysis to describe the classification of official and public organizations in Isfahan, Iran. The statistical population consists of experts and professionals active in crisis management in the municipalities of Isfahan. The data of the Gray relational analysis decision matrix were obtained from a valid and structured questionnaire (Cronbach’s alpha=0.79) administered to a sample of 70 individuals with the Delphi method examining the quality of decisions by municipal experts from the 15 districts of Isfahan, who were purposefully selected for sampling. The municipalities were prioritized based on relative organizational resilience capacity.

The three indicators of investment, specification of roles, and organizational stability showed the highest weight, while the indicators of learning from previous crisis experiences, reconstruction planning, emergency services, and risk insurance coverage had in order the lowest weights. Organizational resilience of studied districts can be defined in three levels: 1) municipalities of districts 6, 5, 8, and 12 had the highest capacity; districts 2, 11, 9, 14, 15, and 4 showed weaknesses in their organizational indicators; and 3) districts 1, 3, 7, 10, and 13 were intermediate between the previous two levels.

Considering that a larger number of areas in Isfahan showed low levels of organizational resilience, the status of organizational resilience in public and formal organizations in Isfahan does not report favorable conditions among the research indicators. Therefore, more attention is required to improve the aforementioned organizational indicators to achieve organizational learning from crisis conditions. Awareness of the level of organizational resilience helps to promote organizational learning, improves the crisis management process, and helps planners and managers to perform better in critical situations.