Building organizational resilience in a context of transformation: Insights from an exploratory qualitative study

Abstract

Research on organizational resilience often examines external consulting, change management, stakeholder engagement, and ergonomic maturity separately, leaving their interactions within organizational transformation processes insufficiently explored. This study investigates how these dimensions interact in the development of organizational resilience. It draws on twenty-two semi-structured interviews conducted in France with external consultants supporting organizational transformations, particularly within multinational client firms. Adopting a modified positivist stance and an abductive research logic, the study combines open and axial coding with constant comparison. The findings identify five complementary mechanisms: strategic mediation by external consultants, collaborative solution development, regulation of the pace of change, stakeholder mobilization, and adaptation to institutional and political constraints. The study provides an integrated understanding of organizational resilience as a collective adaptation process shaped by the interaction between change management practices, relational dynamics, and organizational characteristics. By examining consultants' experiences and perceptions, it contributes to explaining how external interventions and internal organizational dynamics jointly shape resilience-building processes under conditions of uncertainty.

JEL Classification : M10 ; M12 ; M16.

Paper Type: Empirical Research Article: Exploratory Qualitative Study.