Agility in higher education: Planning for business continuity in the face of an H1N1 pandemic

The H1N1 virus threatened to cause a pandemic; how many organizations would have been able to respond effectively and continue functioning at reasonable levels? Focusing on the role of information technology in providing agility, this paper analyzed business continuity plans of 20 U.S. universities...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:S.A.M. advanced management journal (1984) 2010-09, Vol.75 (4), p.20-30
Main Authors: Ekmekci, Ozgur, Bergstrand, Jack
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
College campuses
Disease control
Emergency management
Epidemics
Epidemie
Higher education
Hochschule
Influenza
Information technology
Informationstechnik
Learning
Management
Methods
Online education
Organizational change
Pandemics
Risikomanagement
Studies
Swine flu
Universities and colleges
USA
Viruses
Websites
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Summary:The H1N1 virus threatened to cause a pandemic; how many organizations would have been able to respond effectively and continue functioning at reasonable levels? Focusing on the role of information technology in providing agility, this paper analyzed business continuity plans of 20 U.S. universities as the 2009-10 academic year commenced. The plans were downloaded from the universities' Web sites. Text was coded and clustered, and the clusters organized by theme: IT service configuration, faculty readiness, and student readiness. Concluding that agility is highly dependent on the capacity to adjust to the speed and direction of change, the authors offer practical guidelines and suggestions for managing structural size and complexity, revisiting the role of IT, and establishing cultural norms. [PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]
ISSN:0749-7075
0036-0805
0001-8643
0567-977X