Navigating the adaptive cycle: an approach to managing the resilience of social systems

Abstract

ABSTRACT. The concept of resilience continues to crescendo since the 1990s, touching on multiple fields with multiple interpretations and uses. Here, we start from its origins in systems ecology, framing the resilience concept explicitly in the adaptive cycle with the observation that resilient systems are ones that successfully navigate all stages of growth, development, collapse, and reorientation of this cycle. The model is explored in terms of the traps and pathologies that hinder this successful navigation, particularly when applied to socioeconomic organizations and decision-management situations. For example, for continuous function over the adaptive life cycle, a system needs activation energy or resources to grow, followed by adequate structure and complexity to maintain maturity. Implementation of crisis plans may avert collapse, but during catastrophe, the ability to improvise and re-orient will allow the system to emerge along a new cycle. We review the capacities, competencies, and cultures needed by these organizations, specifically, identifying that the needed resources are often cultivated in earlier stages, thus requiring consideration of the entire life cycle for success.

Advancing Empirical Approaches to the Concept of Resilience: A Critical Examination of Panarchy, Ecological Information, and Statistical Evidence

“…What training and preparation are needed to be able to cope with unexpected shocks? In this vein, improvisation, learning, and emergent leadership become critical [16]. Without adaptability, such questions become irrelevant as a system, including all of its subsystems, that is unable to return to normal conditions when faced with a stress fails to survive and function.…”

Towards Integrating Political Ecology into Resilience-Based Management

“…An organization's or institution's ability to learn from the past is important in making management decisions that allow for change and adaptation. The complex adaptive system will never return to the precise structure and function as before a disturbance, but instead will renew, regenerate, and reorganize [16,21].…”

“…Generally, resilience is associated with the systems' ability to recover from a disturbance [16]. Walker and Salt [14] explain the system as a ball in a basin.…”

“…Resilience is often considered a 'boundary' concept that helps to integrate the natural and social aspects of sustainability [15]. Resilience thinking has now become popularized within a wide variety of academic disciplines as well as development organizations [16].…”

“…The desired outcome of resilience management is to achieve a system that will provide continued sustainability of the economy, society, and natural resources [19]. A prominent aspect of the resilience approach to understanding and managing social-ecological systems is the complex adaptive cycle [16,20,21]. The adaptive cycle explains how the overall system adapts to change and uncertainty and exploits opportunities for growth [20].…”