In a global context marked by multiple crises (climatic, economic, geopolitical, technological...), organizations today evolve in an ambiguous, turbulent, and uncertain environment. The profound and sometimes irreversible transformations organizations face challenge traditional modes of organization, governance, and value creation (Howard-Grenville et al., 2014).
Thus, organizational performance can no longer be thought of independently of the ability to adapt and transform. Organizations, whether public, private, or NGOs... are forced to rethink their managerial innovation strategies and accelerate their transition towards more agile management aimed at strengthening their resilience capacity in the face of, on the one hand, multidimensional transformations (Autissier, 2013) and, on the other hand, polycrisis situations (Alberts, 2011).
In this context, resilience and agility emerge as fundamental strategic capabilities, enabling respectively the absorption of shocks and the rapid reconfiguration of resources and organizational models (Teece et al., 2016; Duchek, 2020). These notions appear as central analytical frameworks to understand the ability of organizations to absorb disturbances, apprehend crises, and reconfigure their resources to maintain their performance in unstable environments (Sutcliffe & Vogus, 2003; Vogus & Sutcliffe, 2007).
The literature review defines organizational resilience as the ability of an organization to anticipate, resist, and overcome major circumstances (Lengnick-Hall et al., 2011; Duchek, 2020) and maintain a positive adjustment in the face of difficult conditions. Agility, on the other hand, refers to an organization's ability to apprehend and act quickly in response to changes in its environment, through adjustment mechanisms and strategic orientation (Teece, Peteraf, & Leih, 2016). Agile management is thus considered a social process that fosters collaboration and interaction between human capital and its environment (Whitworth & Biddle, 2007). The regulation of individual behaviors is an essential lever to sustainably maintain the resilience, agility, and reliability of organizational structures (Hollnagel, Journé, & Laroche, 2009).
At the same time, sustainable transformation redefines the very criteria of organizational performance by integrating environmental, social, and governance (ESG) dimensions. It is not limited to technical adjustments but involves profound changes in business models, governance systems, and measurement and control mechanisms (Geels, 2002; Christensen et al., 2021). However, these transformations take place in specific institutional and societal contexts, where organizational dynamics are closely linked to public policies, regulatory frameworks, and equity issues.
Thus, the analysis of organizational resilience and agility requires an integrated approach based on triple interdependence:
- Organizational transformations, linked to managerial innovations and dynamic capabilities;
- Institutional transformations, which structure incentives and governance modes (North, 1990; DiMaggio & Powell, 1983);
- Societal dimensions, notably issues of inclusion, inequality, and territorial cohesion (Bapuji et al., 2020).
In the Moroccan context, this interdependence takes on a particular dimension. The country faces simultaneous challenges of climate transition, institutional modernization, and social inclusion. International diagnostics highlight both the resilience of the Moroccan economy and the need for structural reforms to support sustainable and inclusive growth, particularly regarding climate risk management, the digital transformation of the state, and the reduction of territorial inequalities (World Bank, 2022; IMF, 2024; OECD, 2025).
In this framework, organizational resilience cannot be considered independently of institutional capacities and equity conditions. Social protection reforms, digitalization policies for public services, and territorial development strategies illustrate the need to articulate economic efficiency, social inclusion, and sustainable governance (CESE, 2024; HCP, 2025).
However, these transformations are accompanied by structuring tensions: between resilience and agility, performance and sustainability, innovation and regulation, or digitalization and equity. These tensions reflect the non-linear nature of transformation trajectories and highlight the need to move beyond fragmented disciplinary approaches in favor of integrated and multi-level analyses.
In this perspective, this edition of the ITO’26 conference aims to mobilize various disciplines of management sciences, economics, law... to explore the mechanisms, conditions, and limits of organizational resilience and agility in the era of sustainable transformation, paying particular attention to the specificities of emerging economies including Morocco.
BIBLIOGRAPHY AND REFERENCES
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