Organizing in Times of Crisis: The Case of Covid-19

Objectives & Content

The worldwide spread of the COVID-19 virus continues to pose a grand social challenge. Surely threatening the health of the world’s population and causing a large-scale social and economic disruption, it is one of the greatest worldwide crises since World War II and a humanitarian disaster for humankind around the globe. Drawing on classic and contemporary organization theory, this seminar aims to illuminate many pressing questions surrounding the ongoing pandemic, such as how supply chains can be organized to ensure adequate supplies of health material, the strengths and difficulties of open science approaches to the development of vaccines, or organizational capabilities for quickly and adequately responding to crisis situations like the ongoing pandemic.

The seminar comprises 12 topical sessions, each dealing with a particular aspect of the COVID-19 crisis in relation to different theories of organization and organizing. It is a collaborative effort of organizational scholars from different Austrian and German universities that have expertise in researching grand challenges, different forms of organizing, and crisis management. For each topic, a short introductory lecture and a set of core and background readings in addition to links to topical newspaper articles are provided online.

Forms of Teaching & Learning

Bachelor Seminar

Frequency

Winter semester

Further information

See OPAL