Management of Extreme Situations

Conclusion

C.1. Toward a dialogue with extremists! (Gilles Garel)

I am not an “extremist”, i.e., I am not an extreme expert. Even if had the incredible (extreme?) chance to participate in a polar expedition in 2007 experiencing exploration alongside Pascal Lièvre (as expedition leader), Géraldine Rix-Lièvre and Pascal Croset and to analyze this experience a posteriori (Garel and Lièvre 2010), my use of the word “extreme” remains mainly comparable and metaphorical. Cerisy’s fruitful long discussion time allowed “non-extremists” to meet and confront “extremists”. As a result, we discovered, in reading this book, contributions from reflexive experts, researchers or practitioners, who have made the extreme a management category with its own properties. The extreme is a regime of action in itself. In this collective book, we discover indirect entries into the extreme. The extreme then becomes the qualifier for situations that were first defined differently, for example, by unusual or disruptive innovation, or by high-risk situations in organizations seeking reliability and control.

From this point of view, the contributions summarized here in terms of organization, group dynamics, knowledge management or meanings have virtues for researchers and practitioners who do not use the term extreme but who are confronted with situations where the contributions of extreme situation management are relevant. In open innovation, the manager of an innovative project facing a logistical challenge ...