A Study of Organizational Coping and Resilience: An Academic College Under Fire "CANCELLED"

Our research is a case study of organizational coping with a state of war at an academic college in Israel's northern periphery. We defined this situation as an unexpected crisis caused by an external factor beyond the college's control. The study focused on the coping processes initiated by college leaders in their attempt at crisis management. A qualitative retrospective case study design was chosen to explore the ways in which the different sectors in the college perceived, experienced, responded to and influenced the organization's efforts to deal with and adapt to the threat. Our goal was to describe the organization's coping during the crisis situation by tracing the chain of events, the stages of crisis management, understand issues related to leadership and analyzing the fulfillment of major tasks involved in dealing with crisis and uncertain situations.

Based on insights gained through understanding the main themes of this case study we sum up what we have learned and propose practice guidelines for future situations of organizational crisis of uncertainty.

Organizational coping under uncertain and risky circumstances is a recognized topic for research and discussion. However, coping by an academic institution under fire is a rare topic for academic research and discussion. Unfortunately such situations are not unusual in many war regions throughout the world. By this study we throw light on an important topic in higher education managerial policy. Such case studies along with comparative studies of this topic may contribute to the understanding of this unique phenomenon.