What is it about?
Unpredictable and uncontrollable external pressures are increasingly impacting business strategies. Situations such as the 2020 COVID crisis are examples of such. The case study uses the COVID scenario as an example of how such an event would impact a business and poses questions about how management would need to respond in situaitons of complete uncertainty.
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Why is it important?
Under the COVID-19 regime, numerous changes have been forced on the world population. Concepts which were optional, such as virtual work, are now mandatory. As time progresses the impact of forced change is starting to be felt. This case was written a few months into South Africa's lock-down phase, and opens the door to questions about what the long-term impact of forced and sustained change, particularly on social norms, could look like.
Perspectives
The case was written from the perspective of the author, who experienced the lock-down first-hand, both as a change agent within the organisation, and as a recipient of change. It is particularly interesting to observe how change is effected and impacts people differently when they have absolutely no choice but to adapt, and how this impact adapts over time. It is also worth considering how tools such as the technologies which have been used during this crisis, might never have been considered inappropriate under more flexible conditions, but have been found to create longer term side-effects and consequenses which might not have been researched should COVID not have manifested.
Adrian Van Eeden
University of Pretoria
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: All of the people, all of the time: click on the link to join the meeting, Emerald Emerging Markets Case Studies, July 2020, Emerald,
DOI: 10.1108/eemcs-06-2020-0239.
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