Undergraduate Course: Crisis Management for Organisations (BUST10162)
Course Outline
| School | Business School |
College | College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 10 (Year 3 Undergraduate) |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | A crisis is low probability, negative impact event that may be without apparent cause or set response, but that needs to be resolved quickly to mitigate impact (Crandall et al., 2021). A crisis is something that will affect almost every business and organisation. This course provides a foundation for tomorrow's organisational leaders to deal with dynamic crises that could threaten their businesses. Strategic Management is not a prerequisite but is highly recommended.
This course will cover
- Critical thought
- Crisis management frameworks
- Sources of Crises
- HRM and Strategic approaches to crisis management
- Crisis communication
- Ethics and more...
Using a mix of lecture, workbook, workshops, and live simulation of a dynamic crisis events, this course seeks to prepare students to recognise and respond to crisis in their organisations not only as they happen, but to think critically and evaluate "what could happen" to identify and eliminate or plan for a response.
WARNING: These sessions will discuss crisis events that have occurred in business, how they happened and what could have been done to prevent them or mitigate their effects. While not every crisis results in injury or loss of life, images, descriptions, and contents could be disturbing for some students.
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| Course description |
Building on concepts introduced in The Psychology of Business, The Business of Edinburgh, Human Resource Management, and Strategic Management, Crisis Management for Organisations seeks to provide third- and fourth-year students with an introduction to crisis management. The course aims to provide students with a basic understanding of the theory and framework underpinning crisis management with the goal of creating an appreciation for the effects of a crises on organisations and methods for recognising and mitigating them.
The course will be delivered over ten weeks and will consist of lectures, workshops, and a workbook. Learning aims include, crisis identification, crisis mitigation, the importance of communication, crisis ethics, organisational strategy and crises, and organisational learning.
The course is designed to give students a broad understanding of crisis management from an organisational perspective thus facilitating their understanding and promoting critical thought. While many aspects of crisis management could be considered strategic, the wider effects of a crisis can dramatically impact the economic, psychological, sociological, administrative, and human relations systems in an organisation. For this reason, the course is positioned in the Organisational Studies department.
Learning Aims
1. Be able to understand and articulate the types and sources of organisational crises.
2. Understand the theories and frameworks underpinning crisis management.
3. Recognise and respond with a critical evaluation of a crisis situation and their team's response to it.
Outline Content
1. Frameworks and theory.
2. The crisis management landscape
3. Sources of Crises
4. HRM and Crisis Management
5. Crisis Management Plans and Teams
6. The crossover between Strategic Management and Crises
7. Taking Action when a crisis happens
8. HRM and Crisis communication
9. Ethics in crisis management
10. Debrief and unpack your crisis
The highlight of the course is a 2 hour (minimum) wide game involving student teams of 5-6 who will take part in a dynamic, real-time crisis and be required to respond to the events as they happen. This event will be used as the foundation for the end of term paper.
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | It is RECOMMENDED that students also take
Strategic Management (CMSE10002)
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| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | Strategic Management CMSE10002 is not a prerequisite but is highly recommended. |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | Strategic Management CMSE10002 is not a prerequisite but is highly recommended. |
| High Demand Course? |
Yes |
Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2024/25, Available to all students (SV1)
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Quota: 120 |
| Course Start |
Semester 2 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Lecture Hours 20,
Seminar/Tutorial Hours 3,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
173 )
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
100 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
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| Additional Information (Assessment) |
40% Coursework - Case Study Analysis (individual) - Assesses course learning outcomes 1,2,3,4
60% Coursework - Essay (individual) - Assesses all course learning outcomes |
| Feedback |
Formative - Students will receive constant feedback on their skills development within the seminars.
Summative - Students will receive detailed feedback on their coursework in verbal and written form.
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| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Understand and critically evaluate the causes and effects of crises and how they impact organisations.
- Demonstrate critical thinking in the evaluation of organisational crises and apply appropriate skills and critical approaches necessary to recognise crises sources before they happen.
- Demonstrate an understanding of basic crisis management and risk mitigation from the standpoint of HRM and Strategic mid-level/front-line management roles.
- Demonstrate critical writing skills, and tools and techniques of critical thinking and event analysis, through the completion of a case-based mid-term essay and a final reflective essay based on their team¿s performance in the crisis game.
- Reflect on their learning experience within a group context, and ways in which they have developed over the course and the wider transition into university.
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Learning Resources
| Crandall, William Rick; Parnell, John A.; Spillan, John E., Crisis Management: Leading in the New Strategy Landscape (Fourth Edition), Independently Published, 2021 |
Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Not entered |
| Keywords | Crisis management,human resource management,strategy,organisational behaviour |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Mr Brad Cotton
Tel:
Email: bcotton@exseed.ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Ms Morgan Wilson
Tel:
Email: mwilso26@ed.ac.uk |
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