Making sense of a mess: “doing” resilience in the vortex of a crisis
Purpose The purpose of the paper is to investigate how human resource professionals (HRPs), in a variety of organizations, responded to the crisis brought about by the event of COVID-19. In particular, it aims to show how organizations, across all sectors, in Western Australia responded with urgenc...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
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| Format: | Journal Article |
| Published: |
Emerald
2022
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/88720 |
| _version_ | 1848765072469393408 |
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| author | Aitken-Fox, Eileen Coffey, Jane Dayaram, Kantha Fitzgerald, Scott McKenna, Stephen Tian, Amy |
| author_facet | Aitken-Fox, Eileen Coffey, Jane Dayaram, Kantha Fitzgerald, Scott McKenna, Stephen Tian, Amy |
| author_sort | Aitken-Fox, Eileen |
| building | Curtin Institutional Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | Purpose
The purpose of the paper is to investigate how human resource professionals (HRPs), in a variety of organizations, responded to the crisis brought about by the event of COVID-19. In particular, it aims to show how organizations, across all sectors, in Western Australia responded with urgency and flexibility to the crisis and showed “resilience in practice”.
Design/methodology/approach
The study is based on 136 questionnaire responses, 32 interviews and 25 managerial narratives. The mixed qualitative methodology was designed to enable an investigation of the impact of COVID-19 and the response of HRPs.
Findings
HRPs have responded with agility and flexibility to the impact of COVID-19. They have done so through extensive trial and error, sometimes succeeding, sometimes failing. They have not simply activated a preconceived continuity plan.
Research limitations/implications
The research indicates that resilience is an ongoing accomplishment of organizations and the people in them. The objective was description rather than prescription, and the research does not offer solutions to future pandemic-like situations.
Practical implications
The research suggests that, given the impact of COVID-19 on organizations, HR practices, processes and policies will need to be thoroughly reconsidered for relevance in the post-COVID world. Possible future directions are highlighted.
Originality/value
The research considers the actions of HRPs as they responded to a global crisis as the crisis unfolded. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T11:29:26Z |
| format | Journal Article |
| id | curtin-20.500.11937-88720 |
| institution | Curtin University Malaysia |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T11:29:26Z |
| publishDate | 2022 |
| publisher | Emerald |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | curtin-20.500.11937-887202022-06-20T09:01:55Z Making sense of a mess: “doing” resilience in the vortex of a crisis Aitken-Fox, Eileen Coffey, Jane Dayaram, Kantha Fitzgerald, Scott McKenna, Stephen Tian, Amy Quantitative Qualitative Resilience HR professionals Actor–network theory COVID-19 1503 - Business and Management 3505 - Human resources and industrial relations Purpose The purpose of the paper is to investigate how human resource professionals (HRPs), in a variety of organizations, responded to the crisis brought about by the event of COVID-19. In particular, it aims to show how organizations, across all sectors, in Western Australia responded with urgency and flexibility to the crisis and showed “resilience in practice”. Design/methodology/approach The study is based on 136 questionnaire responses, 32 interviews and 25 managerial narratives. The mixed qualitative methodology was designed to enable an investigation of the impact of COVID-19 and the response of HRPs. Findings HRPs have responded with agility and flexibility to the impact of COVID-19. They have done so through extensive trial and error, sometimes succeeding, sometimes failing. They have not simply activated a preconceived continuity plan. Research limitations/implications The research indicates that resilience is an ongoing accomplishment of organizations and the people in them. The objective was description rather than prescription, and the research does not offer solutions to future pandemic-like situations. Practical implications The research suggests that, given the impact of COVID-19 on organizations, HR practices, processes and policies will need to be thoroughly reconsidered for relevance in the post-COVID world. Possible future directions are highlighted. Originality/value The research considers the actions of HRPs as they responded to a global crisis as the crisis unfolded. 2022 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/88720 10.1108/PR-12-2021-0869 Emerald fulltext |
| spellingShingle | Quantitative Qualitative Resilience HR professionals Actor–network theory COVID-19 1503 - Business and Management 3505 - Human resources and industrial relations Aitken-Fox, Eileen Coffey, Jane Dayaram, Kantha Fitzgerald, Scott McKenna, Stephen Tian, Amy Making sense of a mess: “doing” resilience in the vortex of a crisis |
| title | Making sense of a mess: “doing” resilience in the vortex of a crisis |
| title_full | Making sense of a mess: “doing” resilience in the vortex of a crisis |
| title_fullStr | Making sense of a mess: “doing” resilience in the vortex of a crisis |
| title_full_unstemmed | Making sense of a mess: “doing” resilience in the vortex of a crisis |
| title_short | Making sense of a mess: “doing” resilience in the vortex of a crisis |
| title_sort | making sense of a mess: “doing” resilience in the vortex of a crisis |
| topic | Quantitative Qualitative Resilience HR professionals Actor–network theory COVID-19 1503 - Business and Management 3505 - Human resources and industrial relations |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/88720 |