The COVID-19 Marathon

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic required the deployment of crisis management teams (CMTs) on an unprecedented scale. Due to their high level of responsibility and wide-ranging decision-making authority, the enduring resilience and health of CMT members is essential. Yet, during pandemics, they are permanently challenged. With cross-sectional data from 219 CMT members, we tested six pre-registered hypotheses based on the Job Demands–Resources model. We found the expected positive association between experienced demands and exhaustion (H1), which was moderated by home resources (partly confirming H2); a positive association between experienced resources and work engagement (H3), which was not moderated by demands (rejecting H4); and associations between exhaustion and engagement with outcome measures such as CMT members’ self-assessed performance, satisfaction, and quitting intention (mostly confirming H5 and H6). Furthermore, we explore how the pandemic has changed from experts’ perspectives, describe lessons learned, and derive practical recommendations and suggestions for future research.

In Search of a Modus Operandi for Evaluation: Developing a Mixed-Methods Approach for Crisis Team Exercises

“…Crisis management as a central task, a self-image as a crisis managing organization and the recognition of the need to maintain the ability to act in and for crises are being accepted by more and more representatives of public administrations (Schönefeld et al 2023). This is accompanied by the realization that something must be done for this purpose, i.e., practiced or exercised (Thielsch et al 2023). To this end, exercises subject people, technology, organization, and their interactions to endurance tests, thereby identifying weak points, such as those in infrastructures, organizational forms, practicability, etc., early on, and optimizing them for emergency situations.…”

“…The most appropriate terms here are crisis (management) staff or team(s) (CT) that describe a special organizational structure of an authority or public administration that is activated in non-usual situations that can no longer be handled in everyday mode. It is made up of interdisciplinary team members, takes on decision-making and coordination tasks in critical situations, is subordinate to the politically overall responsible person and thus an instrument for leadership support (Thielsch et al 2023). It is also referred to as an administrative-organizational component of crisis management, which can stand on its own or be combined with the operational-tactical component (on-site incident command) in an overall staff.…”

Lessons Learned

“…For crisis managers, the pandemic was a marathon with an uncertain outcome. Thielsch and colleagues (this issue, 2023) used the job demands–resources model to describe how working conditions affect the resilience and mental health of crisis management team members.…”