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Can managers prepare their organisations for the unexpected and unforeseeable? The purpose of this paper is to argue that organisations that endure and survive a serious disruption to homeostasis may as a consequence be better equipped to survive further and more devastating attacks.

This hypothesis is based on a naturally occurring biological survival mechanism termed hormesis. Hormesis describes a controversial biological phenomenon where the organism overcompensates and adaptation occurs after exposure to low doses of toxins. Hormesis protects the organism against subsequent repeat exposure to more lethal doses.

Hormetic effects may occur in an organisation just as it does in a biological entity following exposure to a life‐threatening disruption, inoculating it against potentially more lethal recurrences. Disruption in an organisational context may include negative environmental impacts, incidences of management incompetence, or consequences of competitive hostilities. It is argued that lessons can be applied from examples of biological hormesis, particularly lessons related to the hormetic recovery stages of overcompensation and adaptation as part of an evolutionary survival mechanism for organisations.

Organisational hormesis may have the potential to produce growth and advancement that would not normally occur under ordinary circumstances. Hormesis demonstrates more than a step in an organisational learning process as it conveys an adaptive response designed to prevent future disruptions. Hormesis is a healing process with foresight, “designed” with the intent of increasing organisational fitness within a rapidly changing environment. It has been “designed” with the knowledge that the environment may yet dispense an even greater challenge, still to be met. In this respect the hormetic process defies evolutionary dogma which claims that evolutionary processes are blind that evolution can only react to and compensate for past pressure rather than being able to predict and prepare for future threats. After recovery from disruption, managers may, for cost cutting and other expedient purposes, cease recovery or restructuring activities. This action may unwittingly interfere with the hormetic overcompensation stage, thereby interfering with evolutionary adaptation processes. As a consequence, the organisation's ability to repel more severe disruptions may be compromised. Some firms are prematurely liquidated or downsized before they can develop hormetic response mechanisms. As demonstrated by the Xerox example, liquidation in 2000 would have been a catastrophic mistake.

Provides a post‐mortem examination searching for possible explanations for organisational phenomena that have as yet been adequately explained.

The purpose of this study is to identify organisational homeostasis factors in the context of healthcare organisations and to develop a conceptual model for green transformation.

The organisational homeostasis factors were determined by review of literature study and the opinions of healthcare experts. Scheduled interviews and closed-ended questionnaires are employed to collect data for this research. This study employed “TISM methodology” and “MICMAC analysis” to better comprehend how the components interact with one another and prioritise them based on their driving and dependence power.

This study identified 10 factors of organisational homeostasis in healthcare organisation. Recognition of interdependence, hormesis, strategic coalignment, consciousness on dependence of healthcare resources and cybernetic principle of regulations are the driving or key factors of this study.

The study's primary focus was on the organisational homeostasis factors in healthcare organisations. The methodological approach and structural model are used in a healthcare organisation; in the future, these approaches can be applied to other industries as well.

The key drivers of organisational homeostasis and the identified factors will be better comprehended and understood by academic and important stakeholders in healthcare organisations. Prioritizing the factors helps the policymakers to comprehend the organisational homeostasis for green transformation in healthcare.

In this study, the TISM and MICMAC analysis for healthcare is proposed as an innovative approach to address the organisational homeostasis concept in the context of green transformation in healthcare organisations.

In the past many scientists have published papers on hormesis, on molecular stress responses, and on the similia principle in homoeopathy. Very few, however, have stressed a common base of interdependence of these fields. Reviews the most important of these studies to demonstrate their evolution and their mutual importance. Furthermore, a multidisciplinary approach is chosen to demonstrate research into the beneficial effects of subharmful doses of toxicants administered in suboptimal conditions (such as in stressed or injured organisms and cells).

The quantification of the effects of low‐level radiation is based mainly upon epidemiological studies. Recent reassessment of the data from Japanese survivors of the effects of radiation from Second World War bombing and from ankylosing spondylitis patients reveals an increased risk of leukaemia from low level exposures. The implications for the health of radiation workers and the management of the nuclear power industry are important. There is controversy over possible hormetic effects. A true hormetic effect has to be seen to affect the whole person. Although there is evidence at the cellular level that low‐level radiation may enhance the body′s immune system, this is not sufficient to justify widespread scientific support. This is particularly since the speculation on the effects of low‐level radiation and the connection with the occurrence of leukaemia is creating concern. The increases in the incidence of disease and the pattern of distribution remain difficult to explain while the task of translating the evidence from individual cases proves increasingly difficult in the context of varied types of radiation and the properties of particular radionuclides.

The purpose of this paper is to elucidate best approaches for facility radon management in a resource-limited environment such as a public university. Radon exposures are believed to be a risk factor for lung cancer. However, the degree to which typical indoor radon levels within settings such as the university campus contribute to lung cancer risk is controversial. The authors sought to develop a risk-balancing approach to safe and cost-efficient facility radon management.

The authors collected pilot monitoring data to determine radon activity levels at a large public university within a projected high-radon region of the southeastern USA, then reviewed scientific literature, trade literature and regulatory guidance to determine radon risk knowledge and best practices for mitigation. From this body of data and information, the authors determined the safest and most resource-effective means for campus radon management.

The developed program for comprehensive radon management included guidance on building selection for most effective use of monitoring, tiered response and mitigation strategies based on radon activity levels and faculty, staff and student education.

The radon management strategies might not be generalizable to facilities with usage patterns that differ from a public university, and should be extrapolated with caution.

This paper shows how building managers can address indoor radon in a manner that maximizes both safety and cost-efficiency.

This paper fulfills a need for evidence-based and prudent approaches to radon management for campuses with mixed residential, educational and occupational contexts and limited resources.

To explore the value and the case for designing antifragile socio-technical information systems (IS) in an era of big data, moving beyond traditional notions of IS design towards systems that can leverage uncertainty for gains.

A design science research (DSR) approach was adopted, comprising four stages, including problem identification and solutions definition, conceptual artifact or socio-technical system design, preliminary evaluation, and communication and knowledge capture.

A conceptual socio-technical artifact that identifies antecedents to antifragile IS design. When operationalised, the antecedents may produce the desired antifragile outcome. The antecedents are categorised as value propositions, design decisions and system capabilities.

This research is conceptual in nature, applied and evaluated in a single big data analytics case study in Facebook-Cambridge Analytica. Future research should empirically validate across a range of real-world big data contexts, beyond the presented case study.

Uncertainty generally results in socio-technical system failures, impacting individuals, organisations and communities. Conversely, antifragile IS can respond favourably to the shocks and stressors brought forth by periods of elevated uncertainty.

Antifragile IS can drive socio-technical systems to respond favourably to uncertainty and stressors. Typically, these socio-technical systems are large, complex structures, with increased connectivity and the requirement to generate, process, analyse and use large datasets. When these systems fail, it affects individuals, organisations and communities.

Existing IS design methodologies and frameworks largely ignore antifragility as a possible designable outcome. Extant research is limited to abstract architectural design, and approaches based on the proposition of principles. This research contributes to knowledge of antifragile IS design, by deriving a conceptual artifact or socio-technical system based on antecedent-outcome relationships that leverage uncertainty towards performance gains.

Discusses the radioactive gas radon, highlighting various methods of experimentation carried out in order to assess the actual health risk associated with the gas. Explores the means of eliminating indoor radon. Suggests that there is a lack of evidence of any ill effects caused by low doses of any kind of ionizing radiation.

The criticality of mechanical plant to construction activity is well accepted within the literature; however, the supply chain mechanisms by which that demand is satisfied, are much less documented or understood. The purpose of this paper is to address this theoretical gap by: describing Construction Plant Supply Chain (CPSC) evolvement; identifying with present sector difficulties; discussing solutions to those difficulties; and considering the role of innovation within CPSC (historically and for the future).

A mixed‐method research, i.e. qualitative and preliminary, including literature review, case study inquiry of an established multi‐purpose CPSC player, and open question survey of a limited sample of CPSC stakeholders has been employed in this study. Inductive data analysis via textual interrogation is undertaken.

In reaction to market forces and business challenges, CPSC evolution demonstrated innovative change from former contractor‐held plant fleets to predominantly private sector “external” supply chains. Of late, CPSC challenges have intensified, given its intrinsic relationship to a depressed UK (and global) economy, dependency on capital investment, and the need for sustained demand. Suggestions to encounter present challenges have been made and a difficult medium‐term future signified.

As a preliminary study, generalisation of findings should be viewed in a limited context; however, given the dearth of research in this subject, the findings make novel contribution to the CPSC literature while signposting fertile avenues for future and more comprehensive research.

No previous research in this specific field has been identified.

The paper explores and characterizes antifragility in simple inventory systems exposed to demand variability, providing the initial inroads to operationalizing antifragility in the context of inventory management. Antifragility refers to the feature of a system that can benefit from uncertainty, rather than suffer from it. The paper expands the concept of inventory beyond that of risk mitigation and towards one of enabling antifragility.

The study employs analytical and simulation modelling of an inventory system with two classes of demand. To separate the influence of factors, a simple inventory policy with a range of fixed order quantities is modelled, allowing for the identification of antifragile regions in an experimental space.

Outputs uncover a variety of performance outcomes, ranging from settings where additional inventory yields no benefit, to areas where additional inventory results in increasing normalized profit with increasing uncertainty, demonstrating antifragility. In between these regions, increases in normalized profit are bounded, and confined to specific regions.

This research expands academic understanding of inventory as a vehicle to achieving antifragile outcomes. Although this paper does not solve for an optimal policy as typical inventory research does, it instead characterizes the antifragile outcomes within simple inventory systems. Further research should be carried out to investigate antifragility in settings of greater complexity and design ordering policies leveraging inventory towards a gain from uncertainty.

Typically, inventory is used to buffer against uncertainty, and, with a given amount of inventory, the performance is expected to degrade with increasing variability. In this paper, the authors demonstrate that certain levels of additional inventory can result in antifragility and increase profitability as uncertainty increases, extending beyond traditional conceptualizations of inventory and uncertainty.

Empirical research into designing antifragile outcomes is limited, with very few examples of increasing performance with increases in uncertainty. This article presents an initial empirical exploration of how additional inventory can result in antifragility.

This study aims to examine the effects of participating in physical activities on female college graduates' starting salaries. We used an instrumental variable (IV) approach to address the possible endogeneity problem. By using the Taiwan Higher Education Dataset, we discovered that participating in physical activities during college increased an individual's earnings by 3.06%. The significant positive effect of physical activity on salary demonstrated in this study is consistent with that in other relevant studies. This study also discovered that both the intensity and the persistence of participation in physical activities affected salary outcomes. Individuals earned 0.17%–2.41% more if they exercised for an additional hour per week, suggesting the importance of the intensity of participation in physical activities. In addition, persistent participation in physical activities was associated with a 3.08% higher salary.