First, we must understand the many ways in which the word resilience is utilized. With this in mind, perspective, or context, is important. Therefore, the following ideas and definitions are offered to highlight the variety of ways in which resilience has been described by others (in alphabetical order):
âą Community Perspective: One of the most important community resilience factors is âfostering community cohesion and supportâ (Berger, 2016, p. 5). Berger continues by explaining that âcommunity cohesion, sense of belonging, as well as trust in the government and local leadership, predicts the probability of developing stress-related symptomatology following exposure to political violence,â and that âan important factor⊠is the communityâs ability to create a shared meaningful narrative that allows that traumatized community to transform a traumatic experience into a renewal and rebuilding storyâ (p. 6). Furthermore, as Shaw, McClean, Taylor, Swartout, and Querna note, âThe full utility of resilience is often not realized when only conceptualized at the individual level, without attention to its role at the community or system level in trying to promote well-being through research or interventionâ (2016, p. 35).
âą Cultural Perspective: Dr. Panter-Brick describes, âFor me, what makes some families more resilient than others is their ability to hang on to a sense of hope that gives meaning and order to suffering in life and helps to articulate a coherent narrative to link the future to the past and present. That hope or âmeaning-makingâ is the essence of a cultural perspective on resilience (Panter-Brick & Eggerman, 2012)â (Southwick, Bonanno, Masten, Panter-Brick, & Yehuda, 2014, p. 6).
âą Ecological Perspective: C.S. Holling, Canadian ecologist, argues that there are two different ways to look at natural systemsâas either stable or as resilient. This perspective implies that resilience is inherently linked to change. Holling refers to the view of systems termed resilience as âa measure of the persistence of systems and of their ability to absorb change and disturbance and still maintain the same relationship between populations or state variablesâ (Rodin, 2014, p. 48).
âą Economic Perspective: Rose and Liao (2005) described economic resilience as the âinherent ability and adaptive response that enables firms and regions to avoid maximum potential lossesâ (p. 76).
âą Emotional Resilience: Jane McGonigal, game designer, outlined four types of resilience during her 2012 TED talk, one of which was emotional resilience. In a blog post, Howe Wallace, Chief Executive Officer of PalletOne, expanded upon the concept of emotional resilience by explaining that individuals who are emotionally resilient âengage in regular reflection on things beautiful, fanciful, visionaryâ (2015, para. 3). Furthermore, âEmotional resilience exercises our capability to imagine, dream, plan, and create. It fortifies the soul. Emotional resilience allows us to find positive things even when circumstances stay grimâ (para. 3).
âą Engineering Perspective: Youn, Hu, and Wang (2011) describe engineering resilience as âthe degree of a passive survival rate (or reliability) plus a proactive survival rate (or restoration). Mathematically, the resilience measure can be defined as the addition of reliability and restorationâŠâ (p. 101011â3).
âą Mental Resilience: Wallace (2015) describes mental resilience by stating, âYou are mentally resilient if you test your brain. Do puzzles. Play board games. Try new hobbies. Read new books. Stay engaged in work. Grow a garden. In short, mentally resilient folks stay challengedâ (para. 3).
âą Organizational Perspective: The resilience of an organization can be defined as the inherent ability to keep or recover the steady state, thereby allowing it to continue normal operations after a disruptive event or in the presence of continuous stress (Sheffi, 2005, as cited in Hosseini, Barker, & Ramirez-Marquez, 2016, p. 48). Others have defined organizational resilience as âthe maintenance of positive adjustment under challenging conditions such that the organization emerges from those conditions strengthened and more resourcefulâ (Vogus & Sutcliffe, 2007, p. 3418) or âto convey the properties of being adapted to the requirements of the environment, or otherwise being able to manage the variability of challenging circumstances the environment throws upâ (McDonald, 2010, p. 156). Sheffi further defined resilience for companies as âthe companyâs ability to, and speed at which they can, return to their normal performance level (e.g., inventory, capacity, service rate) [followed by a] disruptive eventâ (as cited in Hosseini et al., 2016, p. 48). Furthermore, âa resilient organization is a hopeful system because hope is a confidence grounded in a realistic appraisal of the challenges in oneâs environment and oneâs capabilities for navigating around them (Groopman, 2004). Hope helps insulate from the vagaries of unexpected events by instilling a belief in the value of constantly updating and refining oneâs appraisal of the environment and in the organizationâs ability to use this knowledge effectively in the face of unexpected eventsâ (Vogus & Sutcliffe, 2007, p. 3420).
âą Physical Resilience: McGonigal (2012) and Wallace (2015) also discussed the physica...