Sense-making the aftermath of crises: the emergence of adaptive and transformative resilience amid conflicting institutional logics

Purpose The purpose of the study was to make sense of the role of human resource (HR) leaders in crisis management and in creating a resilient workplace amid conflicting institutional logics. The study also unearths the outcomes of crisis management from the different crisis response strategies implemented by HR leaders to build organizational resilience by managing conflicting institutional logics. Design/methodology/approach We conducted a qualitative study among HR leaders from the service and manufacturing industries in India (n = 26). Data collected through semi-structured interviews were analysed using Gioia’s methodology, which focuses on providing a structured approach to developing a grounded model and presenting the findings in a convincing narrative. Findings The findings based on data analysis yielded three aggregate dimensions that helped provide reasons for HR leaders to have acted in particular ways in bringing about institutional change through effective crisis management. The aggregate dimensions include managing conflicting institutional logics during the crisis, synergizing institutional logics for adaptive resilience and balancing institutional logics for transformative resilience. Originality/value This study makes two key contributions to the existing literature. First, we contribute to the institutional theory by examining various crisis response strategies that HR leaders adopt in bringing about institutional change amidst conflicting logics emanating from different stakeholders. Second, the study findings highlight the principles of adaptive resilience that manage opposing tensions between exploiting existing knowledge and exploring new changes and transformative resilience that reconfigures the core values and underlying beliefs that fundamentally challenge the existing system.