Title

Relationships, Layoffs, and Organizational Resilience: Airline Industry Responses to September 11

Publication Type

Journal Article

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

Additional URL

http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0021886306286466

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