Measuring the organizational resilience of critical infrastructure providers: A New Zealand case study

Modern societies are becoming increasingly dependent on critical infrastructure services. This dependence is not only on the technology used in infrastructures, but also on the organizations that manage the infrastructures. Initiatives that assess infrastructure resilience often concentrate on strengthening the physical infrastructure through robustness and redundancy. Few studies recognize the important role of critical infrastructure providers. This study presents a method for assessing the organizational resilience of critical infrastructure providers. The method is demonstrated using data from a group of critical infrastructure providers in New Zealand. The application of the Benchmark Resilience Tool developed by Resilient Organisations reveals that the surveyed organizations are strong in effective partnerships, but are weak in breaking silos and in conducting stress testing plans. The results also indicate that senior managers have much more positive views of the resilience of their organizations compared with other staff members.