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Managing Pandemics—Demands, Resources, and Effective Behaviors Within Crisis Management Teams
Author(s) -
Thielsch Meinald T.,
Röseler Stefan,
Kirsch Julia,
Lamers Christoph,
Hertel Guido
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
applied psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.497
H-Index - 88
eISSN - 1464-0597
pISSN - 0269-994X
DOI - 10.1111/apps.12303
Subject(s) - teamwork , pandemic , crisis management , work (physics) , business , multidisciplinary approach , process management , structuring , covid-19 , knowledge management , public relations , computer science , risk analysis (engineering) , political science , engineering , infectious disease (medical specialty) , disease , medicine , mechanical engineering , finance , pathology , law
Pandemics, such as the COVID‐19 crisis, are very complex emergencies that can neither be handled by individuals nor by any single municipality, organization or even country alone. Such situations require multidisciplinary crisis management teams (CMTs) at different administrative levels. However, most existing CMTs are trained for rather local and temporary emergencies but not for international and long‐lasting crises. Moreover, CMT members in a pandemic face additional demands due to unknown characteristics of the disease and a highly volatile environment. To support and ensure the effectiveness of CMTs, we need to understand how CMT members can successfully cope with these multiple demands. Connecting teamwork research with the job demands and resources approach as starting framework, we conducted structured interviews and critical incident analyses with 144 members of various CMTs during the COVID‐19 pandemic. Content analyses revealed both perceived demands as well as perceived resources in CMTs. Moreover, structuring work processes, open, precise and regular communication, and anticipatory, goal‐oriented and fast problem solving were described as particularly effective behaviors in CMTs. We illustrate our findings in an integrated model and derive practical recommendations for the work and future training of CMTs.