Abstract

BARLACH, Lisete; LIMONGI-FRANCA, Ana Cristina  and  MALVEZZI, Sigmar. The concept of resilience applied to work in organizations. Interam. j. psychol. [online]. 2008, vol.42, n.1, pp. 101-112. ISSN 0034-9690.

Resilience is a concept that has been used to explain psychosocial phenomena referred to individuals, groups or organizations that surpass or transcend adverse situations. In this study, the use of the concept of resilience as a theoretical referential in the field of Psychology of Work is discussed through: a) content analysis of two recent films - Frida and Life is Beautiful - as illustrations of the concept of psychological resilience and b) qualitative analysis of verbal narratives of executives who face tense situations at the interfaces of their jobs, personal lives and the demands of further education. The results of this study point out that, within the context of human labor in organizations, the resilience concept offers consistent explanation of the mobilization of psychosocial resources as means for the coping with radical ruptures and steady tensions - typical contingencies of the modern world. The analyses allowed the conclusion that the transformation of crises into opportunities is a must in adverse environments, and that the development of resilience can be the differential element between facing the situation (leading to psychological growth), and feeling like victim of it, in similar situations of organizational pressure. Resilience seems to be associated to self knowledge, religiosity and art. Thus, the comprehension of the interface person-pressure-subjectivity-work and the concept of resilience are essential to understanding the surpassing of human adversities within organizations.

Keywords : Psychological resilience; Human work; Organizations.

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