The Need to Reconcile Concepts that Characterize Systems Withstanding Threats

Desirable system performance in the face of threats and disruptions has been characterized by various management concepts. Through semi-structured interviews with editors of journals in the fields of emergency response and systems management, a literature review, and professional judgment, we identified nine related and often interchangeably-used system performance concepts: adaptability, agility, reliability, resilience, resistance, robustness, safety, security, and sustainability. We analysed expert responses and reviewed the linguistic definitions and mathematical framing of these concepts to understand their applications. We found a lack of consensus on their usage between interview subjects, but using a mathematical framing enriched the linguistic definitions and enabled formulating comparative visualizations and system-specific definitions for the concepts. We propose a conceptual framing to relate the concepts for management purposes. A better understanding of these concepts will allow system planners to pursue management strategies best suited to their unique system dynamics and specific objectives of 'goodness' that all these concepts bring.
Comment: under review in Risk Analysis