GRA 6848 Crisis Management - Preparedness and Response

GRA 6848 Crisis Management - Preparedness and Response

Course code: 
GRA 6848
Department: 
Accounting and Operations Management
Credits: 
6
Course coordinator: 
Marianne Jahre
Course name in Norwegian: 
Crisis Management - Preparedness and Response
Product category: 
Master
Portfolio: 
MSc Summer Courses
Semester: 
2021 Spring
Active status: 
Active
Level of study: 
Master
Teaching language: 
English
Course type: 
One semester
Introduction

This is a summer course for summer 2021. The course description is tentative.

Maximum 60 students

Organizations inevitably face adversity and unanticipated events that threaten lives, human well-being, functioning and performance. Crisis management is an interdisciplinary research field that seeks to understand and guide how organizations can prepare for and respond to such events. This field draws from numerous disciplines including strategy, organizational behavior and leadership, business continuity and supply chain research, and is sometimes referred to as disaster and/or risk management. The field is more important than ever. The outbreak of COVID-19 - declared a Public Health Emergency of International Concern on 30 January 2020 https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019/events-as-they-happen), demonstrates global vulnerability and lack of preparedness. In general, political instability and climate change are among the drivers that increase the number of manmade and natural disasters, including global epidemics, affecting an increasing number of people by creating human suffering, political instability as well as economic damage. The overall aim of this course is to provide students with tools, knowledge and understanding that enable them to work with developing and implementing sustainable disaster preparedness and response in various contexts. In particular, the course relates to United Nations Sustainable Development Goals number 3, 9, 16 and 17. The course is cross-disciplinary and covers both national and international contexts.

Learning outcomes - Knowledge

The candidate ...

  • has advanced knowledge about crisis management from current research  
  • has knowledge of key frameworks, terminology and tools in the crisis management field, including approaches to both preparing for and responding to crisis
  • can relate crisis management to questions of resilience, human strengthening and compassion
  • has knowledge of key stakeholders and traditional vs. new approaches in the crisis management field, particularly as it is integrated with leadership, resilience, communication and operations
  • has knowledge of issue management frameworks in organizations
Learning outcomes - Skills

The candidate ...

  • can analyze and deal critically with various sources of information and use them to discuss and analyze practical problems and cases related to preparing for and responding to crisis events
  • can suggest approaches to crisis management that not only deals with adversity but sees crisis as involving new opportunities for learning, strategy and human growth
  • can carry out an independent, limited study in accordance with applicable norms for research ethics
  • understands frameworks for effective communication with management, teams and other involved stakeholders
  • can develop effective digital communication strategies to apply during and after a crisis
  • can apply key frameworks, terminology and tools on practical problems and cases
General Competence

The candidate ...

  • can communicate efficiently with other actors involved in crisis management
  • can contribute to new thinking in crisis preparedness and response, including looking for positive framings and growth opportunities
  • can critically assess and discriminate between consultant recipes and popular science approaches to crisis management
  • know where to go for additional scholarly resources
  • can plan for effective crisis management across cultures
Course content
  • Overview of Crisis Management: Preparedness and response
  • Positive Organizational Leadership in crises
  • Crisis Communication: Before and during
  • Operations and Supply Chain Management: Logistics Preparedness and Response

COVID-19 response and preparedness in Norway and elsewhere will be a core in the course.

Teaching and learning activities
  • Combination of webinars, student assignments/discussions with use of break-out rooms, etc. 36 hours in total divided over week 1:
    • Introduction
    • Leadership
    • Communications
    • Operations/SCM
    • COVID-19 in other countries, game, and summary.
  • Individual hand-ins: quizzes, multiple choice, game
  • Groups of 3 (4): Poster hand-in
  • Feedback on poster
  • Same groups of 3 (4): Term paper hand-in.
Software tools
No specified computer-based tools are required.
Additional information

This is a highly interactive digital course. Students are expected to participate in all sessions week 1 with their video on.  CAP: Maximum 60 students from MSc in Business, MSc in Leadership and Organisational Psychology, and MSc in Strategic Marketing Management, or international students from abroad.

Qualifications

All courses in the Masters programme will assume that students have fulfilled the admission requirements for the programme. In addition, courses in second, third and/or fourth semester can have specific prerequisites and will assume that students have followed normal study progression. For double degree and exchange students, please note that equivalent courses are accepted.

Assessments
Assessments
Exam category: 
Submission
Form of assessment: 
Written submission
Weight: 
50
Grouping: 
Individual
Duration: 
3 Week(s)
Comment: 
Games, simulations, and lab experiments.
The students will do different pieces of work in itslearning during the course. At the end of the course there will be one written submission documenting these activities.
Exam code: 
GRA68481
Grading scale: 
Pass/fail
Resit: 
Examination when next scheduled course
Exam category: 
Submission
Form of assessment: 
Written submission
Weight: 
50
Grouping: 
Group (3 - 4)
Duration: 
3 Week(s)
Comment: 
Term paper including poster.
Exam code: 
GRA68482
Grading scale: 
Pass/fail
Resit: 
Examination when next scheduled course
Type of Assessment: 
Ordinary examination
All exams must be passed to get a grade in this course.
Total weight: 
100
Student workload
ActivityDurationComment
Webinar
24 Hour(s)
Digital resources
  • Test with automatic feedback
12 Hour(s)
Student's own work with learning resources
54 Hour(s)
Submission(s)
70 Hour(s)
Sum workload: 
160

A course of 1 ECTS credit corresponds to a workload of 26-30 hours. Therefore a course of 6 ECTS credits corresponds to a workload of at least 160 hours.