5 Day Crisis Management Event, Aarhus University Business School

Aarhus University played host to a 5-day event in September, themed around crisis management, with a special competition focussing on social media.

The event, which was split into two distinct phases, intended to introduce EUMADE4LL students to the challenges presented in an employment scenario. The first two days, facilitated by Aarhus University Business School, was made up of lectures on the subject of crisis management and, as a special addition, a ‘SoMe’ competition intended to identify good practise in social media management. Unique Lego trophies were awarded to the successful teams.

For the final three days, students were taken through an immersive crisis management workshop. Here labour market partner Rocca Creative Thinking Limited delivered a unique, role-play activity where students acted as communications employees of a multinational fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) organisation. The crisis was rolled out during the pretence of a global communications conference which tested students’ resolve and team-working abilities under duress.

Once the crisis (a product recall process) was under control, students were tasked with brainstorming ways to repair the organisation’s reputation and internal processes.

Critically students experienced first hand how it feels to be part of an unravelling crisis scenario as employees, utilising the skills they have learnt in earlier coursework while working in groups from across nations and using English as lingua franca.

The role-play was followed by a group discussion to explore learnings and share experiences and opinions.