Managing change in the aftermath of extreme events: Professional Development Workshop

We know that, in the aftermath of accidents, crises, disasters, and other extreme events, implementing changes that would reduce the probability of recurrence can be problematic. But we don’t have a good understanding of why that should be so, or of the implications for post-event management. The field of crisis studies thus offers unique opportunities for theoretical understanding and organizational practice to inform and enrich each other. Indeed, reducing the incidence and impact of extreme events depends on this link. This workshop will give researchers and practitioners a vehicle for exploring the relationships between causality (why did that happen?), agenda (what can we do to prevent this in future?), and process (how can we implement those changes?). The change agenda depends on understanding causality; change implementation depends on knowledge of the organizational context affected by an extreme event; the impact of previous changes must be considered in exploring the causality of recent events. Different disciplines and research traditions have made significant contributions in each of those domains which, although closely intertwined, are not well integrated. With a novel presentation and exploration model, this workshop will engage participants in a structured and creative dialogue, focused on selected empirical case materials. The discussion sequence will focus in turn on issues of causality, change agenda, and implementation process, using visual presentation tools, rather than adopt a conventional descriptive case-by-case approach. The aim is to develop novel insights into the causality-agenda-process constellation, in the pursuit of systematically integrated theory, and effective post-crisis management practice