When it takes one paradox to navigate another – a process study of a Swiss hospital coping with COVID-19
Type
conference paper
Date Issued
2022-07-08
Author(s)
Abstract (De)
This paper reports a longitudinal case study of a Swiss hospital coping with the COVID-19 pandemic. Leveraging a paradox lens reveals the organizing paradox of contradictory but interdependent expectations in treating both COVID-19 and normal patients. Handling these contradictory demands surfaces a paradox of centralized and de-centralized decision-making. Unfolding the latter to navigate the former, the hospital enacted a so-called "calibration mode", which balances the centralized and de-centralized decision-making to continuously calibrate resources and treatment capacities in order to adapt to the volatile pandemic while ensuring the treatment of non-COVID patients. The study thereby speaks to literature on extreme contexts, as well as to the paradox lens. Regarding the former, we show a novel approach of handling enduring extreme contexts. Regarding the latter, the study advances on the dynamic interplay between paradoxes and response approaches.
Language
English
HSG Classification
contribution to scientific community
Subject(s)
Division(s)
Contact Email Address
harald.tuckermann@unisg.ch
Eprints ID
268107
File(s)![Thumbnail Image]()
open.access
Name
EGOS-Tuckermann-COVID-Paradox.pdf
Size
1.27 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
40cf09ac07ee74d1b191dd48a1408cc9