As water systems are likely to experience mounting challenges managing for climate variability and extremes as well as a changing climate, there is increasing interest in what motivates systems to implement adaptive measures. While extreme events have been hypothesized to stimulate organization change and act as “windows of opportunity” and “pacemakers” driving toward adaptation, they do not always seem to do so. We therefore sought to understand the responses and motivations for organizational behavior in the wake of two significant droughts across five smaller water systems in Western Colorado, USA. We conducted interviews and focus groups across these systems to understand whether and why significant droughts in 2002 and 2012 prompted adaptive change. Results indicate that systems did not uniformly decide to change their policies in the wake of drought, and even well-prepared systems were driven to change policies by other pressures, such as peer-system pressure and political pressure from residents. We find that organizational worldviews were important mediators of how the experience of drought manifest, or not, in organizational changes. These findings have implications for assumptions about what might drive organizational learning and change among water managers for climate adaptation in the future.

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极端气候的经历如何激发水资源管理者的适应

由于水系统在管理气候变率和极端事件以及不断变化的气候方面可能会遇到越来越多的挑战，因此人们对激励系统实施适应性措施的因素越来越感兴趣。虽然有人假设极端事件会刺激组织变革并充当推动适应的“机会之窗”和“领跑者”，但它们似乎并不总是如此。因此，我们试图了解在美国西科罗拉多州五个较小的水系统发生两次重大干旱后组织行为的反应和动机。我们在这些系统中进行了访谈和焦点小组，以了解 2002 年和 2012 年的重大干旱是否以及为何引发了适应性变化。结果表明，在干旱之后，系统并没有统一决定改变政策，即使是准备充分的系统也会因其他压力而改变政策，例如来自同级系统的压力和来自居民的政治压力。我们发现组织世界观是干旱经历如何在组织变革中表现或不表现的重要中介。这些发现对关于什么可能推动水资源管理者在未来气候适应方面的组织学习和变革的假设具有影响。在组织变革中。这些发现对关于什么可能推动水资源管理者在未来气候适应方面的组织学习和变革的假设具有影响。在组织变革中。这些发现对关于什么可能推动水资源管理者在未来气候适应方面的组织学习和变革的假设具有影响。