How can Organisations Survive in an Increasingly Changing Business Environment?

Abstract: In a rapidly changing business environment, organisations need to find new ways to manage unpredictability to survive. The COVID-19 pandemic has made it apparent that organisations across industries can be vulnerable and exposed to crisis. Therefore, this thesis aims to research how organisations can manage crises in a changing world and become more receptive to change, to provide valuable knowledge for academics and managers across industries. To fulfil this purpose, we have chosen to conduct a case study on the travel company TUI Nordic. The organisation was chosen because of its extensive experiences within crisis and change management. Empirical data was gathered by interviews with managers at TUI Nordic. In order to analyse the collected data a change management framework was developed for this research. The framework consists of the four phases of crisis management integrated with five established change management models, these are Lewin’s change management model, Kotter’s eight-step process for leading change, PWC and Strategy&’s ten principles of leading change, the ADKAR change management model and the Nudge theory. We found that in order to survive in, and manage, frequently occurring crises in an ever- changing world, organisations should, to a certain extent, rely on change management literature. The change management literature provides valuable insights regarding steps when managing change, the value of focusing on the individual in the change process and the importance of actively engaging employees in the transformation. Furthermore, organisations should rely on a guiding coalition with a top-down approach when managing change in crises. Nonetheless, existing literature does not discuss the influences of people and organisational culture on change management. As presented in the analysis, organisational culture seems to affect an organisation’s ability to manage crises and change and should therefore be considered. Moreover, how a crisis is framed within an organisation seems to be an additional critical factor for managing crises and change. In conclusion, future studies are recommended to further research the relationship between organisational culture and crisis management in order to understand how certain characteristics of organisational culture might affect an organisation’s ability to manage change and crises.