University Course: Managing Change and Crisis Reflection Report

This report presents a student's reflection on a course focused on managing change and crisis, highlighting the importance of group activities and individual learning. The student analyzes two group reflection assignments. The first assignment explores the student's experience within the group, emphasizing the development of essential knowledge in crisis management. The report covers the learning from Fraher's book and the case studies like Exxon Valdez, and the works of Kayes (2004) and Watkins and Bazerman (2003). The report also includes the use of educational videos, case studies such as Jetblue and Hillsborough, and the impact of emotions on crisis and change. The second assignment analyzes the group work on the Hillsborough football disaster and the Bhopal plant disaster, comparing the effectiveness of group dynamics and the impact of prior knowledge on learning outcomes, and the student's role in each group. The student reflects on communication, leadership, and the critical role of group interaction in understanding crisis management theories and real-world applications.

Running head: MANAGING CHANGE AND CRISIS
MANAGING CHANGE AND CRISIS
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Assignment 1: Group Reflection Individual Journal
The group part of the learning activity was an essential part for me in the course. It
helped me to develop essential learning in regards to the subject of change and crisis
management. Crisis management through effective implementation of the change process was an
important part of the entire course. I gained essential knowledge of crisis, how it can hit the
various organizations and how it can be pose to be a serious challenge for any organization. The
first group activity I engaged in was learning some of the important chapters of the book
“Thinking through Crisis” written by Fraher. This was on day 1 of the first week that focused on
the definition of crisis. The week was an important week as it initiated the entire process of the
group learning. I was very interested in knowing my fellow students and their views on the
learning that was to be done. I was able to know my fellow students and their learning oriented
outlook. This further helps to understand essentially the concept of crisis.
Moving forward the next module was for week 2 and related to understanding Crisis
management. In this week the group activities were more critical than the previous week. The
activities of the week focused on the Exxon Valdez case. The group study helped me to form
more critical ideas of how organizations respond to crisis and change. The group activity helped
in making the concepts clearer. In this case I would not have been able to understand the learning
better without interacting effectively within the group. In this week the group activity was also
focused towards learning the works of important writers such as Kayes (2004) and Watkins and
Bazerman (2003). I got to understand the wider concepts that are related to crisis management.
More importantly I was able to more freely analyze the relationship that exist between crisis
management and change management.

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The week 3 group activities were concerned with the better understanding and evaluation
of the various theories related to crisis management. The group helped me in my endeavor to
gain further knowledge concerning the theories that were related to crisis. I understood through
proper interactions with my group mates that crisis was very much a part of individual as well as
organizational life. I was able to effectively communicate with my group mates to ultimately
ensure that proper understandings of the theories were generated.
The week 4 activities were based on watching some educational videos related to the
learning, reading some more important notes and developing better class interactions. This group
helped me to effectively bond with the group members. I developed a more compact learning of
the various factors that affect crisis management in a given organization. There were some more
case studies like the Jetblue case and the Hillsborough. Rethinking the resistance process helped
me to develop learning based on essential interactions with the other group members.
The week 5 activities were related to emotions, crisis and change. These activities helped
me to develop essential understandings of the several crucial dimensions that affect crisis and
change. Through effective intervention in the group process I was able to develop thorough ideas
of the emotional factors. In this week there was also the Hillsborough group work activity. This
activity provided groups with the task of evaluating the Hillsborough disaster. The group helped
me to learn about disasters and how they can be avoided. The learning I developed was
The week 6 activities were related to the crisis communication. The group activities
focused on how individuals within the group are able to communicate with each other’s and
outsiders during any such situation of crisis. I understood that communication was very
important in times of crisis and it increases if effectively done within a group. The group helped

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me to learn more about communication processes. Subsequently, I was able to greatly develop
my own communicational values. I believe communication binds the entire crisis management
process together. Hence it is important to effectively understand its value and use it towards
establishing better relationships.
The week 7 was related to the leadership management concerning crisis management.
The group activity helped me to understand the various forms of toxic leadership. The group
members actually gave examples of real life toxic leaders that were unable to handle crisis
situations properly. This was helpful in forming essential understanding of the leadership roles
that are important and the leadership roles that were toxic in regards to crisis management.
The last phase was the revision and final paper. The group process was important at this
stage to understand about the entire module. In all the entire process helped me to become a
better more focused learner.
Assignment 2: Group Reflection Paper
Activity 1
The group work in week 5 focused on gaining a general idea in relation to the study of
crisis and its relationship with various emotional factors. There were some readings that needed
to be completed. However, the greater part of the group activity was dedicated to the
understanding of the processes that affect the various crisis events. The event selected was the
Hillsborough football disaster. The group was to engage in analysis and evaluation of the disaster
that struck the event. This group activity was one of the best in the module as the particular
group that I was part of was very enthusiastic. The task could have been differently approached
if the people involved were unaware of football matches and the disasters that can strike.

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Luckily, most of the group members were well aware of football and the various issues that arise
within football stadiums. Hence, the group activity became very fruitful in its outcome. The
members of the group were able to actually connect their knowledge of the Hillsborough disaster
with that of crisis management. The activity helped to clear significant confusions that were
related to the study of crisis management in the light of major disasters. I was also able to freely
interact within the group. Each of the group members were very supportive. The group was
effective in its research and actually was able to link all the essential concepts connected with
crisis and crisis management with the significant knowledge that was gathered through the study
of the disaster. This group activity actually turned out to be an effective one. All the members
including me participated in the group learning. The emotional contexts that are connected with
the crisis that affect various areas were significantly discussed. The factors of emotions, crisis
and changed were researched effectively through the creation of various sub-groups to study the
situations.
Activity 2
This was a group activity that took place in the week 3 of the module. The subject for this
week was introduction to the theory of study of crisis. The case study for this week was the
Bhopal plant disaster. Although the group member mostly remained the same the main issue in
this week’s group activity arose due to the fact that there were 2-3 members that did not have
enough knowledge of the subject to actively participate in the group activities. The main problem
was that the activities were not properly aligned with all the group members. These two or three
group members proved to be hindrance because they already had large gaps in understanding the
subject matters from week 1 and week 2. This created significant misunderstandings during the
group interactions and the learning process. Many of the members were also not aware of what

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exactly the Bhopal plant disaster was. Moreover, the disaster occurred due to the leak of harmful
chemicals. The group was set with the task of evaluating the harmful nature of the chemicals that
caused the incident and find out how it could have been controlled. The major problem the group
faced in regards to the same was that some of the members did not understood the nature of
chemicals. Many of the members were confused in regards to how the availability of deadly
chemicals actually caused the event. This made the group learning process challenging than
before. The students lost their enthusiasm half way into the group activity and started to
participate less in the group learning exercises. It was only due to the presence of some of the
more interested and knowledgeable participants that the group actually understood some of the
important concepts related to the theories of crisis. In fact the theories of crisis was the most
important learning outcome that was achieved through the group interaction process. Many
group members did not attend some of the last group sessions of the group activities. The
learning was also affected as some of the more informed group members remained largely away
from the group at crucial times.
Comparison of the Activities
The two activities of week three and week five were very different in terms of
participation and outcomes. In the week 3 group activities some serious limitations were noticed
in terms of coordination and cooperation. The groups did not perform well in the week 3
activities. However, in the group activities of week 5 much more coordinated activities took
place. It also has to be noted that in the week three activities some of the members were unaware
and lacking in knowledge about crisis management. This was the result of actually taking people
in the group that were unable to learn more during the first two weeks of learning activities.
Hence, the group learning and interaction process became very challenging to bear. On the 5th

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wek activity however, the group members were more focused, more knowledgeable and more
effective in terms of participation in the activity processes. One of the main contrasting feature
also became the case study that was provided in week 5. The Hillsborough incident was much
more known to the participants in this week. As for the event of Bhopal disaster, there were
many that had not actually heard of the incident. Hence, a basic difference of conceptualization
also led to the not so good group experience. The week 5 participants were much more
cooperative and all the important group sessions witnessed full attendance. I was able to engage
more freely with the participants in week 5 than that of week 3.
Personal Role
In week three my role was to coordinate effectively with the team and along with another
member of the team create a database for all the information that was gathered. In week 5, I was
one of the chief single point of contact for guidance in regards to the group research. In each of
the groups that I participated in my responsibilities were based on proper communication that I
needed to maintain with the other members of the group. Both the roles actually helped me to
understand my potential in far better ways than would have been actually possible otherwise. My
roles centered on providing essential assistance and effective data collection. It helped me to
learn more and communicate better. My roles in both instances were focused on helping the
teams to coordinate better. In week 3, I needed to create a knowledge base to help my peers and
the group in general. I helped to create a strong record for all the information that were gathered
through the group interactions. This came to great use when the last sessions and the recap were
being held. In week 5 my work was more effective. In this week I had to help the people that
were unable to understand the leaning in the first instance. So I had to help the learners with their

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queries. This helped me to understand the group learning process better. I was effective in
making sure all members got to learn effectively.
Learning
The most important learning was in regard to crisis and the various significant factors that
affect it. I learnt that crisis was essentially any incident or issue that can jeopardize the effective
running of any organization. I also learnt that crisis can affect the effective functioning of not
only the organizations but also the societies that they were part of. More importantly I learnt the
wide ranging effect of crisis on a number of essential stakeholders that organizations may tend to
have. It is important. Crisis needs to be treated in more important ways to help people and
organizations to perform better. I also learnt how to work in groups and generate essential
learning through the same. Group participation helped me to become an optimally effective
person that can both learn individually and help others to learn. I became more inclined towards
helping others and my communication levels improved significantly. I was also able to gather
more real time knowledge about crisis management. This helped me to become an effective
person with regards to the process of learning. In essence, I was an improved, more attentive and
much more efficient learner. M analysis capabilities improved subsequently.

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References
Kayes, D.C., 2004. The 1996 Mount Everest climbing disaster: The breakdown of learning in
teams. Human Relations, 57(10), pp.1263-1284.
Stein, M., 2004. The critical period of disasters: Insights from sense-making and psychoanalytic
theory. Human Relations, 57(10), pp.1243-1261.
Turner, B.A., 1976. The organizational and interorganizational development of
disasters. Administrative science quarterly, pp.378-397.
Watkins, M.D. and Bazerman, M.H., 2003. Predictable surprises: The disasters you should have
seen coming. Harvard business review, 81(3), pp.72-85.