The purpose of this module is to explore how organisations of all types respond in an environment of risk and uncertainty. No organisation is immune to crises, and so we examine what successful crisis management looks like in terms of minimizing the impact of disruptive events. The module follows the lifecycle of a crisis and discusses pre-crisis conditions, the trigger of the crisis, the response to the crisis itself, and what happens post-crisis in terms of recovery, resilience, learning and change. Blending theory and practice, the learning process is facilitated through critical examination of contemporary and historical case studies, examples, and discussion questions in the analysis of real-world crisis management challenges. While managing in a crisis is important, it is perhaps even more important to recognise that competitive advantage comes from those organisations who can embrace these challenges and leverage them to transform.
Learning Outcomes
By the end of the module students should be able to:
Critically appraise traditional, deterministic risk management approaches and their problems in organisational settings.
Critically evaluate the causes of crisis at the individual, group, and systemic levels, identifying and appraising a range of intervention strategies that may be required to manage crisis in today’s complex workplaces.
Explain the fundamental concepts of organisational resilience, creative thinking and problem solving.
Demonstrate how organisations can be encouraged to become more resilient, and/or manage internal resources and capabilities in more ethical, sustainable and responsible ways.
Critically analyse change and crisis related organisational emotions—conscious and unconscious—that can undermine the success of leadership efforts. Select, apply and evaluate the appropriate concepts and tools in the analysis of a crisis management case study and identify lessons learned that can be applied to other organizational environments.