From Disruption to Resilience: Adaptive Strategies in Big Science Organizations During a Global Pandemic

Abstract

This qualitative study grounded in phronetic iterative analysis examines how big science organizations adapted to the COVID-19 pandemic while sustaining their scientific missions. Using the communication theory of resilience (CTR) as a guiding framework, infused with the literature on high-reliability organizations (HRO), the analysis draws from 56 semi-structured interviews across three phases (2020–2023) to identify 10 adaptive strategies linked to four of CTR’s five core processes. The fifth—affirming identity anchors—did not surface as an explicit strategy but operated implicitly, suggesting that when organizational identity aligns with crisis demands, explicit identity work may be unnecessary. Flexibility emerged as a central meta-process that shaped how strategies were implemented in context. Key strategies included adjusting work expectations, focusing on outcomes over time/place, and leveraging peer networks. This study contributes to CTR and HRO scholarship by emphasizing the contextual, communicative, and identity-sensitive nature of adaptive resilience during systemic disruption.