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Disaster Recovery in Workplace Organizations

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Lifespan Perspectives on Natural Disasters

Abstract

Not only do large-scale disasters disrupt the personal lives of individuals, they also disrupt work lives and workplaces.  Much has been written about organizational changes associated with common occurrences, like leadership transitions, competitive adaptations, and mergers and acquisitions.  Less is known about how people and workplaces cope with and recover from extraordinary circumstances, like the Hurricane Katrina disaster.  This chapter discusses features of catastrophic disaster recovery that distinguish it from traditional approaches to organizational change and describes the recovery processes of organizational workplaces and individual employees in response to Hurricane Katrina.  Scientific and practical implications for workplace recovery and rebuilding in the wake of disaster are discussed.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Industrial sectors within a disaster-affected region show different degrees of vulnerability (Ewing & Kruse, 2003); however, the ability to regain stability after a disaster is largely dependent upon the magnitude of the disaster to infrastructure and natural resources in the affected area (Rose & Lim, 2002).

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  1. Department of Psychology, Louisiana State University, 70803-55501, Baton Rouge, LA, USA

    Tracey E. Rizzuto

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    Rizzuto, T.E. (2009). Disaster Recovery in Workplace Organizations. In: Cherry, K. (eds) Lifespan Perspectives on Natural Disasters. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-0393-8_13

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