published_or_final_version / Public Administration / Master / Master of Social Sciences

Our aim is to investigate and evaluate the efficiency of crisis management in European aviation, and to recommend enhancements. To fulfill this, we mapped the current crisis management plans and created a fictive scenario where a cyber-attack shut down the power at five of the major airports in Europe. Air traffic in Europe was reconstructed to a chosen day; the 16th of September 2013, and the reconstructed traffic situation was used in the scenario. We also created a model, for the purpose of showing the effect of a cut in time for the steps in the crisis management plan may have on the traffic waiting to depart at the closed airports. When using these means, we could implement the crisis management plans on the fictive scenario and make changes to the plans for a new implementation. The existing crisis management plans were compared to the modified plans made by us, and it was found that usage of a common platform for the different stakeholders involved in the crisis could improve the efficiency of the crisis management.

Dödsfall, arbetsplatsolyckor, hot och våld. Alla är de exempel på kriser som inträffar på svenska företag varje år. Dessa händelser ställer krav på att företagen har en organisation och struktur för att klara av att hantera kriserna och för att minska verkningarna av dem. Krishantering är ett samlingsbegrepp för hur man systematiskt arbetar för att minska krisens omfattning, både före, under och efter att den har inträffat. Syftet med att använda krishantering är att företagen skall kunna förebygga att allvarliga händelser inträffar och att hantera dem på ett effektivt sätt.   Ungefär sju av tio svenska företag har idag etablerad krisberedskap som gör att de klarar av att hantera kriser och olyckor, men lagstiftningen ställer krav att alla företag skall planera och organisera krisstöd och krishantering oavsett verksamhetsområde och bransch. Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka hur chefer i privata företag beskriver krishantering inom sina verksamheter och hur man ser på prioritering av krishanteringen. Studien undersöker även huruvida det anses viktigt med utbildning för att skapa förutsättningar för att bedriva ett gott krishanteringsarbete. Totalt har fyra stycken kvalitativa intervjuer genomförts med chefer i privata företag och organisationer. Intervjuerna har sedan analyserats utifrån innehållsanalys med meningsbärande enheter, koder, kategorier samt underkategorier.  Resultatet i studien påvisar stora skillnader mellan större och mindre företag, där de större företagen har etablerade krisorganisationer med rutiner och arbetssätt som gör att de på ett effektivt sätt kan hantera allvarliga händelser. De mindre företagen saknar krisberedskap helt och hållet och saknar många gånger information och kunskap om hur de skall tolka och applicera lagtext på området.

Thesis (M.P.A.)--University of Hong Kong, 1999. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 86-88).

Thesis (M.P.A.)--University of Hong Kong, 1999. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 86-88). Also available in print.

Abstract  Background The Covid-19 pandemic caused numerous restrictions to the public and businesses, forcing various industries to operate within the limitations of the pandemic. Although businesses have experienced crises before, the Covid-19 crisis was an unpredictable and unavoidable crisis. In Sweden, the event industry was heavily impacted by the restrictions and required businesses to adapt their operations to the changing environment. This research will examine the consequences of the crisis focusing on organizations operating within the conference, congress, event, and restaurant (CCER) industry, and how they responded to these consequences.   Purpose The purpose of this study is to explore how decision-makers managed the Covid-19 pandemic, the process of adapting their organization to survive in an unpredictable and changing environment, and how their work processes changed to be able to operate within the limits of the pandemic.   Method and Data This research is a qualitative study with an exploratory approach using an abductive research method. Semi-structured interviews were held with eight participants from seven different medium-sized organizations within Sweden.   Conclusion The findings from this research suggests a need for adaptation, creativity, digitalization, increased communication and collaboration both internally and externally, as well as a restructuring of the organization. This implies the need for changed work processes, alternative business operations, as well as openness and a creative mindset.

BACKGROUND: Organizations are not prepared for crisis and are vulnerable to disruptive changes. SMEs, and organizations in general, are key elements of our society and need to learn how to be resilient, in order to be sustainable. A case study was used to explore key organizational resilience factors to overcome a business crisis.OBJECTIVE: Explore through the theoretical lense of organizational resilience, how the studied SME was lead and organized during crisis towards a sustainable business outcome. With the aim to present learnings and recommendations for organizational resilience and sustainability.THE CASE: Business crisis, generated by a fire, consumed 90% of the production plant of an SME (Small and Medium-sized Enterprise) in Colombia. This SME (Susi Bakery) managed to recover completely from the crisis in 7 months. Different perspectives of the stakeholders across the bakery’s network were analyzed to understand the strategy of this SME, to overcome the crisis and be resilient.METHODS: Single case-exploratory case study, with in-depth semi-structured interviews to different stakeholders across the Bakery’s network. A theoretical framework in organizational resilience was built and used to answer the research questions: What are the factors that make the analyzed SME (Susi Bakery) a resilient organization? What moved key stakeholders towards engaging the recovery of the business crisis? The analysis of the collected data is based on phenomenography, since stakeholders present different subjective perceptions.THEORETICAL CONTRIBUTION: Organizational resilience’ theory explored through the case of an SME in Colombia.CONCLUSIONS: Resilience strengthens the capabilities to adapt and see disruptive changes as opportunities. Organizations can learn to be resilient through the development of resilient business models' and their enabling factors. Currently, 11 enabling factors for organizational resilience can be found in resilient business models theory: Adaptability and innovation, Motivation, Diversity, Collective efficacy, Effective communication, Loosening of control, Sustained relationships, Minimize layoffs, Financial slack, Competence and Acceptance. 3 Additional enabling factors were found in this case: Leadership, Reciprocity and Reputation. There is a research gap regarding the relations and causalities of the resilient enabling factors, and the relationship between organizational resilience and business crisis management.

Covid-19 krisen har påverkat hela världen på flera olika sätt däribland organisationer och HR-utövare. Syftet med studien var att få en fördjupad förståelse för de utmaningar HR-utövare upplevt i samband med Covid-19 krisen och deras upplevelse av hur tidigare erfarenheter och organisatorisk krisberedskap påverkat utmaningarna. Covid-19 krisen skapade en unik möjlighet att undersöka HR i förhållande till krissituationer. Studien genomfördes med nio HR-utövare från en och samma region, som helt eller delvis arbetade med strategiska HR-frågor. För att samla in empiri tillämpades en kvalitativ metod där semistrukturerade intervjuer genomfördes, intervjuerna analyserades genom en tematisk analys där fyra övergripande teman med tillhörande subteman utformades. Resultatet visade på utmaningar i att ställa om och ha ett kristänk, kommunicera och sprida information, säkerställa en god arbetsmiljö, bibehålla effektivitet, hantera ovisshet och oro samt att se till att organisationen var bemannade trots ökade sjuktal. Resultatet visade även att erfarenheter och organisationens krisberedskap på något sätt hade påverkat respondenternas upplevelser av vilka utmaningar de sett och för hur de hanterats. Teori och tidigare forskning som presenterats har lagt fokus på krisberedskap, krishantering och HRs roll vid krisarbete. Tidigare forskning om HR-utövares upplevelser av utmaningar kopplat till krissituationer har däremot inte gått att finna, därmed kan studiens resultat ha bidragit till nya perspektiv inom området. Slutsatserna som dras är att tidigare erfarenheter och krisberedskap kan ha betydelse för hur HR-utövare upplevt utmaningarna i Covid-19 krisen och att utmaningar kan vara svåra att undvika trots att förberedelse och erfarenhet finns. / The Covid-19 crisis has affected the world in many different ways, including organizations and HR practitioners. The purpose of the study was to gain a deeper understanding of the challenges that HR practitioners experienced in relation to the Covid-19 crisis and their experience of how previous experiences and crisis preparedness may have affected the challenges. The Covid-19 crisis created a unique opportunity to examine HR in relation to crisis situations. The study was conducted with nine HR practitioners in the same region, who worked entirely or partly with strategic HR issues. To gather empirical data, a qualitative method was used in which semi-structured interviews were conducted, the interviews were analyzed through a thematic analysis in which four overall themes and related subthemes were designed. The results showed challenges regarding adapting and having a crisis attitude, communicate and disseminating information, ensuring and providing a good working environment, maintaining efficiency, managing uncertainty and concerns, and ensuring that the organization was staffed despite increasing sick leave rates. The results also showed that experiences and the organization's crisis preparedness in some way hade affected the challenges the respondents saw and how they were handled. Theory and previous research that has been presented have focused on crisis preparedness, crisis management and HR's role in crisis work. Previous research on HR practitioners' experiences of challenges linked to crisis situations have not been found, the result of the study may therefore have given new perspectives to the field. The conclusions that can be drawn is that past experiences and crisis preparedness can have an impact on the challenges that arised in the Covid-19 crisis and that challenges are difficult to avoid for HR practitioners despite preparation and experience.

Crisis management is a technique that has existed within organizations worldwide and is dictated by the response of leaders’ actions. In a classroom, the teacher can be referred to as an ‘educational leader’. With an emphasized work setting of the classroom, different leadership responses can be examined in a comparative analysis. The focus of this thesis is to explore the effect of intercultural experience when higher education leaders are dealing with crisis management within their classrooms. This exploratory study adopts a qualitative analysis with the help of deductive approach and critical realism philosophy. The primary source of this study is the interviews with professors from a Swedish University, both from local and international programs. By using intercultural crises challenges, crisis scenarios in a higher educational setting were created. These themes are ethnocentrism, scandal/misinterpretation, and culture shock. These scenarios were used in the interview process to understand how different program leaders manage the crises. Additionally, the findings of this study show that intercultural experience of higher educational leaders plays a role in how they are managing a crisis within a classroom setting.

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