Adaptation in a University of Applied Sciences during the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

This research investigates how activities operated during the time of COVID-19 pandemic inside an international program in a Finnish University of Applied Sciences and how the organization adapted to the changes caused by the pandemic. Specifically, this research investigates the experiences of staff from the organization and their opinions on how the crisis was managed and addressed. One of the important groups experiencing the effects were students of the organizations and the research will be examining how this group was supported at the time of the crisis. This research addresses an identified gap in the literature where decision makers ability to communicate in a time of uncertainty to stakeholders of the organizations. Foundation is prefaced to the re- search by literature review and data collection was conducted in qualitative method by semi-structured interviews from staff of the organizations. Staff members were from different roles of the organization such as administration, support team and lecturers. In practice, this research gives organizations the opportunity to see how operations could be advanced in times of crisis. Feedback from the staff is important and should be considered when developing the organization's functions. The framework of the research creates an overview of topics that are important for research, these topics are related to crisis management, innovation, crisis management in organizations, crisis management in education, online environment in work and learning, and lastly leadership. Findings from the study indicated that the organization was following instructions given by the Finnish government in the time of crisis and the adaptation from the viewpoint of the staff was seen as mostly successful. Point of development that was brought up during the interviews with the staff members was a lack of additional communication in the times of COVID-19 pandemic.