Resilience Through Adaptation: Examining the Interplay Between Adaptive Capacity and Organizational Resilience in Public Sector Organizations

Abstract

Adaptive capacity is also emerging as a significant factor defining organizational resilience, especially among the bodies in the government sector working in unpredictable and scarcity-prone conditions.This paper forms a part of the doctoral dissertation and is aimed at investigating the conceptual and functional interconnectivity between the notion of adaptive capacity and organizational resilience with reference to the Punjab Agriculture & Meat Company (PAMCO), which is a prime state-owned Agri-livestock enterprise in Pakistan. Based on a comprehensive analysis of scholarly literature, governance (institutional) reports, and structures, the paper has shown that there are five other key dimensions, including governance structures, leadership adaptive capacity, mechanisms of innovation, learning of institutions, and coordination among stakeholders, which form the basis of resilience-building activities. As emphasized in the study, an adaptive capacity can be used to enable public organizations to predict, absorb and respond to internal and external shocks without jeopardizing their strategic goals through institutional anchoring. The argument combines theory with policy/practice guidelines, providing a flexible approach to the reform of organizations of the same structure in the developing countries. With a clear understanding of the constraints that exist with regard to narrative synthesis, the paper nevertheless offers new conceptual clarity and sector-specific recommendations, which add up to the debate on the topics of the approach to public administration and organizational theory and as well as development policy. It is envisaged that research in the future will be conducted to carry out an empirical or cross-sectoral study with each and integrate it with digital government models to enhance resilience-driven reforms within the governance of the public sector.