Employees Perception of Organizational Crises and Their Reactions to Them - A Norwegian Organizational Case Study.

Organizational sensemaking is crucial for resource planning and crisis management since facing complex strategic problems that exceed their capacity and ability, such as crises, forces organizations to engage in inter-organizational collaboration, which leads to obtaining individual and diverse perspectives to comprehend the issues and find solutions. This online qualitative survey study examines how Norwegian Sea Rescue Society employees perceived the concept of an organizational crisis and how they sensed their co-workers react to it. The scope was the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, a global event affecting all countries and organizations and responding similarly globally. Data were collected during the Fall of 2020. The instrument of choice was the Internal Crisis Management and Crisis Communication survey (ICMCC). The results showed that the overall sample strongly believed in their organization's overall resilience level. However, a somewhat vague understanding of roles and responsibilities in a crisis where detected, together with some signs of informal communication, rumor spreading, misunderstanding, frustration, and insecurity. This study contributes to the academic field of organizational research, hence crisis management and sensemaking, and could be valuable to managers and decision-makers across sectors. Increased knowledge about how employees react to a crisis may help optimize internal crisis management planning and utilize robust mitigation and response strategies.

Impact of Virtual Disaster Collaboration Exercises on Disaster Leadership at Hospitals in Saudi Arabia

This study measured the impact of virtual three-level collaboration (3LC) exercises on participants’ perceived levels of collaboration, learning, and utility (CLU) at hospitals in the southern region of Saudi Arabia. Our 3LC exercise is a tabletop training tool used to facilitate disaster education and document CLU. This model enables the practitioner to acquire new knowledge and promotes active learning. An English version of the CLU scale, the validated Swedish survey tool, was applied to 100 healthcare managers or leaders in various positions at both the operational and tactical levels after conducting the 3LC exercises. The response rate was 100%, although not all questions were answered in some cases. The results show that most participants strongly agreed that the exercises focused on collaboration (r2 = 0.767) and that they had acquired new knowledge during the exercises. There was a statistically significant association between participation in the collaboration exercises and perceived learning (r2 = 0.793), as well as between perceived learning and utility (r2 = 0.811). The collaboration exercises enhance the perceived effects of CLU. They also improve the ability of participants to adapt situational strategies to achieve a safer society. Although exercises were conducted virtually, they were well received by the participants and achieved a value M = 4.4 CLU score, which opens up new dimensions in collaboration simulation exercises.

Nurses’ Readiness for Emergencies and Public Health Challenges—The Case of Saudi Arabia

This study was aimed at assessing the readiness of 200 emergency nurses in the southern part of Saudi Arabia in the management of public health emergencies, major incidents, and disasters by using quantitative research through a self-reporting validated questionnaire containing 10 different dimensions. All registered nurses working in emergency departments who were willing to participate, of all ages and gender groups, were included. Nurses who were not present during the study period because of vacation or maternity leave, nurses at the managerial level, and nursing aides were excluded. The participating nurses reported good knowledge in almost all investigated aspects of the theoretical dimensions of emergency management. However, they revealed perceived weaknesses in practical dimensions of emergency management and difficulties in assessing their own efforts. There was a significant correlation between qualification and the dimensions of emergency preparedness, epidemiology and surveillance, isolation and quarantine and critical resources, which indicates a need for strengthening their practical contribution as well as their theoretical knowledge. Educational initiatives combining theoretical and practical aspects of emergency management may provide an opportunity to examine nurses’ knowledge, skills, and abilities continuously in an environment with no harm to patients.