Integrating key personnel management and functional flexibility into business continuity management: A conceptual model from a dynamic capabilities perspective

Abstract

This article conceptually examines how strategic human resource management and business continuity management can be integrated through key personnel management and functional flexibility. Rather than a systematic literature review or an empirical analysis, the study employs a selective and critical narrative synthesis of work on business continuity, dynamic capabilities, strategic human resource management, succession planning, and organizational resilience. The sensing, seizing, and transforming dimensions of dynamic capabilities are linked, respectively, to identifying key-person risks, redeploying human resources through cognitive and technical flexibility, and embedding crisis-related learning in human resource practices. Three theoretical propositions are derived from this mapping. The proposed model suggests that reducing dependence on single incumbents, cross-training, secondary role descriptions, and employee empowerment may support business continuity. FEMA's employment pathways are used not as an official three-part classification but as a practical reference for an organizational adaptation comprising a full-time core staff, a trained on-call reserve pool, and fixed-term or specialist support. Because the model has not been empirically tested, the proposed relationships should be understood as testable propositions for future research rather than causal findings.