Organizational Improvement Despite Crisis: Best Practices, Organizational Influences, and Unintended Consequences

Authors:

Keywords: organizational efficiency, decision-making impacts, best practices, university administration, and diversity

Abstract: Crises, like the COVID-19 pandemic, result in health, financial, and other challenges that require immediate organizational action. Our study looks at the impact of decision making during the pandemic, within colleges and universities, to limit financial exposure while continuing to educate students. Utilizing grounded theory, data was collected through 24 informant interviews. The informants hold leadership and decision-making positions ranging from Associate Deans through University Presidents. The data includes small, medium, and larger universities and representation for Historically Black Colleges and Universities. Our PDW will showcase our framework connecting crisis responses with outcomes and share best practices in technology, staffing, data analytics, and teaching. We will identify the unintentional consequences that contribute negatively towards culture, engagement, and stability. We also must highlight crisis responses found to influence equity, inclusivity, and accessibility relating to educational disparities and access to learnings/living spaces. The purpose of this PDW is to share these positive and negative findings and utilize an open discussion to let participants share decision-making stressors and opportunities, administratively problem-solve together, and creating acknowledgment for complex decision-making despite pressures to react during crisis.