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The capacity of organizations of all types and sizes to face unexpected and unpredictable events is vital for survival and growth. Resilience is a desirable human characteristic. Individuals who can bounce back in stressful situations, setbacks, and failures in their lives are the ones with the characteristic of resilient. Resilient employees have a greater capacity to perform their job tasks and are better suited to adapt to adverse conditions. Knowing the effectiveness of organization-initiated support interventions in building resilience create opportunities to respond much better and emerge stronger in the world, which is volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous. The COVID-19 pandemic was such an unexpected and unpredictable event, which tested the capacity of organizations and their employees. During the lockdown periods for the pandemic, organizations had to introduce several support interventions that supposed to help in getting the work done from employees, who were working from home. Although not necessarily targeted to enhance employee resilience, the present study argues that organization-initiated support interventions introduced to mitigate hindrances of the lockdown could have increased employee resilience. Accordingly, the present study investigated organization-initiated support interventions introduced during the state-regulated lockdown that could have increased employee resilience. The findings provide an assessment of organization-initiated support interventions and their effects in building employee resilience.

Purpose – The study aims to investigate organization interventions experienced by employees during the lockdown for Coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19), and the effect of these organization interventions on hope. Design/methodology/approach – The respondents for the study were employees in full-time white-collar or professional job positions; they performed their job roles by way of work from home (WFH) in Sri Lanka during the COVID-19 lockdown. Structural equation modelling was used to analyse the data. Findings – Results showed that employees maintained high levels of hope while working from home. The study identified four organization interventions that (a) promote collaborative and coordinated work, (b) promote meaningful goals and a sense of social support, (c) alleviate psychological strain and (d) assist in maintaining physical health. These four organization interventions increased hope during the COVID-19 lockdown while working from home. Originality/value – The literature calls for research on intervention studies explaining the promotion of hope. The present study was built on the theories of positive organizational behaviour, conservation of resources theory and hope theory. The findings support that these three traditional theories have lasting theoretical resonance in explaining present-day phenomena with unique applications.

OVERVIEW: R&D support groups make essential contributions to the process of innovation and can help speed time-to-market, yet the role they play is often overlooked or undervalued relative to that of their internal customer groups. When status differences interfere with collaboration and their flow of knowledge between support groups and their customers, process efficiency and effectiveness can suffer. It is therefore important for organizations to understand the relationships between support groups and their customers, and to determine whether or not they are working as equals in carrying out their shared work process. Social network analysis can be used to describe the relationships between support groups and their customers in term of the amount and direction of interaction that takes place between them, and can highlight those areas where interactions are out of balance and more collaborative partnerships need to be formed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]