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COVID‐19 and the UK water sector: Exploring organizational responses through a resilience framework
Author(s) -
Lawson Elizabeth,
Bunney Sarah,
Cotterill Sarah,
Farmani Raziyeh,
MelvilleShreeve Peter,
Butler David
Publication year - 2022
Publication title -
water and environment journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.437
H-Index - 37
eISSN - 1747-6593
pISSN - 1747-6585
DOI - 10.1111/wej.12737
Subject(s) - resilience (materials science) , scale (ratio) , water sector , psychological resilience , covid-19 , business , pandemic , environmental resource management , organizational change , public relations , process management , knowledge management , environmental planning , engineering , water supply , political science , economics , environmental science , geography , psychology , computer science , environmental engineering , psychotherapist , pathology , thermodynamics , medicine , physics , cartography , disease , infectious disease (medical specialty)
The unprecedented scale and impact of the COVID‐19 pandemic have required organizations to adapt all facets of their operations. The impact on the UK water sector extends beyond engineering and treatment processes, with social, economic and environmental consequences. Semi‐structured interviews were conducted with executives from 10 UK water companies to investigate the organizational response to the pandemic, and how their response impacted operational delivery. The Safe and SuRe framework was used to structure interview questions and analysis. Emergent themes of changes to customer behaviour, changes to operational practices and industry collaboration were mapped onto the framework and a ripple effect map developed. Lessons learnt highlight a failure to adequately prepare for the scale of the threat, the success of sector‐level collaboration and a need to embrace new ways of working.