Advances in Organization and International Management I, Winterterm 2020/21
Organizational responses to the crisis – precarities, sensemaking, consequences
Lecturer: Markus Tümpel
Please sign in via OPAL, starting at October 12, 20.00:
https://bildungsportal.sachsen.de/opal/auth/RepositoryEntry/26657718281
!!Please sign up for a topic as well!!
Introduction: Tuesday, 20 October 2020, 13:45 - 15:15, online (more info tba)
Seminar: weekly, Tuesdays, 13:45 - 15:15, online webroom
Content: While the global pandemic has put many in crisis mode, the responses are multifaceted. This applies not only to political levels and countries, but also to personal coping and behaviour as well as to organizational structures.
This global development in a socially, politically, and economically connected world may represent a new magnitude. In fact, research on crises and how to deal with them has a long tradition, not only in organizational science.
In the seminar we want to focus on some key texts on this subject and, thus, also reflect the current situation. By doing so, we are going to concentrate on the following questions: Who is managing the crisis and how? How does sensemaking take place and for what consequences? Which management strategies emerge and how do they work out?
The seminar will be held in English and online via “BigBlueButton”. Each student has to do an individual presentation (in groups of two or three) in a webroom online. Students are asked to comment the basic texts in a detailed and critically manner and to challenge them with findings from further studies. Moreover, each group has to integrate at least one example (e.g., a case study) or to apply the theoretical input to the current COVID‑19 pandemic and the crisis resulting from it.
Requirements: All participants are obliged to read and discuss the texts provided on a regular basis! In order to prepare your presentation, please choose one of the topics provided on OPAL and sign up for it. In preparation of your presentation a consultation of each group is also obligatory and has to be arranged and realized one week in advance at latest! Further information will be provided at the opening session on October 20.
Grading: Weighting 1: Individual presentation in two- or three-party groups including the case study; plus, discussion with supervisor and course members, overall participation, and performance in online plenum discussions.
Weighting 2: Term paper, word count: 6.000 - 8.000 (including references)
Students taking part in the “Erasmus” program have to pass an oral exam instead of writing a term paper!
Furthermore, each participant is asked to write a brief summary (maximum one page) of one of the texts provided (not the one you have already chosen for the presentation!). This brief summary should include a figure that illustrates the theory or basic idea the text deals with. The short paper has to be sent via e-mail one weak in advance at the latest.
Number of Credits: 5 ECTS
Preliminary schedule
|
Session / date |
topic (group size) |
text |
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20/10/2020 |
Introduction and topic assignment
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|
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03/11/2020 |
Famous disasters I (3 students max) |
Shrivastava, Paul (1994): Technological and organizational roots of industrial crises: Lessons from Exxon Valdez and Bhopal. In: Technological Forecasting and Social Change 45 (3), S. 237–253. DOI: 10.1016/0040-1625(94)90048-5 . |
|
10/11/2020 |
Famous disasters II – even more examples (3 students max) |
Baum, Andrew; Fleming, Raymond; Davidson, Laura M. (1983): Natural Disaster and Technological Catastrophe. In: Environment and Behavior 15 (3), S. 333–354. DOI: 10.1177/0013916583153004 . |
|
17/11/2020 |
Famous disasters III – managerial failures, again (2 students max) |
Farazmand, Ali (2007): Learning from the Katrina Crisis: A Global and International Perspective with Implications for Future Crisis Management. In: Public Administration Review 67, S. 149–159. DOI: 10.1111/j.1540-6210.2007.00824.x . |
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24/11/2020 |
‘The crisis manager’ (2 students max) |
Lalonde, Carole (2004): In Search of Archetypes in Crisis Management. In: J Contingencies & Crisis Man 12 (2), S. 76–88. DOI: 10.1111/j.0966-0879.2004.00437.x . |
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01/12/2020 |
Another kind of freakshow – impression management (3 students max) |
Allen, Myria Watkins; Caillouet, Rachel H. (1994): Legitimation endeavors: Impression management strategies used by an organization in crisis. In: Communication Monographs 61 (1), S. 44–62. DOI: 10.1080/03637759409376322 . |
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08/12/2020 |
Sensemaking in crisis conditions (3 students max) |
Weick, Karl E. (1988): ENACTED SENSEMAKING IN CRISIS SITUATIONS [1]. In: J Management Studies 25 (4), S. 305–317. DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-6486.1988.tb00039.x . |
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15/12/2020 |
Self-organization in times of crises (3 students max) |
Simsa, Ruth; Rameder, Paul; Aghamanoukjan, Anahid; Totter, Marion (2019): Spontaneous Volunteering in Social Crises: Self-Organization and Coordination. In: Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly 48, S. 103-122. DOI: 10.1177/0899764018785472 . |
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05/01/2021 |
Prevention from what? Some kind of outlook. (3 students max) |
Boin, Arjen (2004): Lessons from Crisis Research. In: Int Studies Review 6 (1), S. 165–194. DOI: 10.1111/j.1521-9488.2004.393_2.x . |