组织的制度化如何影响组织对危机事件的意义建构——评《应对危机的不确定性》

How the Institutionalization of Organizations Affects Crisis Incidents——Comment on "A Response to the Uncertainty of Crises"

危机应对策略选择作为危机管理的重要研究领域一直备受关注,中国危机管理学界的优秀青年学者吕孝礼博士在组织意义建构理论与制度理论的基础上,运用过程追踪和比较研究方法,以美国四类组织应对危机不确定性为理论验证来源,提出了制度化的危机意义建构理论,以此来探讨组织的制度化水平是否对组织应对危机不确定性的策略选择有影响,以及制度化是如何作用于组织在危机应对的决策过程中的等问题。研究发现,不论是高制度化水平的组织还是低制度化水平的组织,在危机发生的初始阶段都倾向于选择依据规制的应对策略。在高制度化的组织中,即使这种选择在后期被证明是失败的,在后期策略转变中也依旧具有延续性。危机发生所造成的情势突变并非会引发意义建构的转换,但可以和组织的制度化水平共同影响组织应对策略的转换。总体来说,本书研究基础扎实,观点新颖,时效性较强,对于危机管理的制度化思考与危机应对策略选择之间的关系研究有着突出的理论贡献。

Crisis-response strategy is a robust area in the field of crisis-management research. Dr. Xiaoli Lv, an excellent young Chinese scholar on crisis-management research,has formulated and applied a model of organizational construction and system theory to a crisis situation based on theanalytical techniques of process tracingand comparative research in four large U. S. organizations that face high uncertainties to illustrate whether the institutional level affects the selection of an organizational crisis-response strategy to cope with crisis uncertainties, and how the institutionalization will affect the decision-making process in terms of coping with crisis situations. The findings reveal that during the initial stage of a crisis both highly institutionalized organizations and organizations with a low institutional level tend to choose a coping strategy based on the regulations. Highly institutionalized organizations persist in their selected strategies even after experiencing failure. A sudden change of circumstances caused by the crisis will not necessarily lead to the construction of meaning. However, the institutionalization of the organization can affect the transformation of the organization’s coping strategies. Overall, Prof. Lv’s research on how to manage uncertainty in crisis situations is timely and profound, bridging the gap between institutional thinking and decision-making in crisis-response strategies.