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Organisational Resilience and Crisis Management

  • School: Nottingham Business School
  • Study mode(s): Full-time / Part-time
  • Starting: 2025
  • Funding: UK student / International student (non-EU) / Self-funded

Overview

Central governments and organisations have been susceptible to events that have challenged them to maintain service delivery to their residents’ expectations. Although organisations such as local governments continue to build capacities to withstand the adversity from such disruptive events, the persistent nature of these events gives a signal that the situations will only get more intense rather than better. On one hand, this has made it so that local governments are compelled to transfer the burden to their residents by increasing local taxation to build the capacities to enable them to maintain service delivery, or to limit or cease the services provided to residents within available resources. On the other hand, the increased demand for key services (e.g. social care) has not only affected the quality of services provided but also led to a reduction of other discretionary (but equally important) services. As a result, the welfare of residents has been and continues to be affected as these shocks persist. This challenge affects the attainment of SDG goal 11 - to make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable.

Resilience is a term often used as a measure of resistance and/or recovery. Resilience is defined as an organisation’s capacity to anticipate and cope with uncertain shocks, allowing them to bounce forward through the enhancement or development of new capacities (see also McManus et al., 2007; Shaw, 2012; Barbera et al., 2017). Besides the financial aspects of resilience, different aspects of resilience have emerged in areas such as community, organisational, and individual resilience. Studies (Barbera et al., 2017, 2024; Jones 2017; Ogle et al., Hastings et al., 2015) have explored how local governments have used limited resources to respond to adversities from disruptive events in developed countries (Korac et al., 2017; ) over the past decade.

Extant research (Dom, 2024) has also examined the impact such disruptive events have on the financial conditions of local governments, and how these impact their financial resilience. However, there is less traction on research that explores how these events disrupt the non-financial conditions of organisations, and strategies they adopt to remain resilient in times of adversity and/or crisis. To address this research gap/problem, this research aims to understand the organisational resilience and resource management in times of crisis in a local government context. The following represent specific potential research questions include, but not limited to:
*How do disruptive events influence the non-financial conditions of Local Governments?
*What capacities and capabilities help/hinder Local Governments to be resilient in times of adversity and crisis?
*How do Local Governments respond to maintain their organisational resilience levels in times of adversity and crisis?

Proposed Methodology
Exploratory research approach that uses a qualitative, quantitative or mixed-methods.

Data Collection: Data can be collected from either or both primary and secondary sources. Secondary data from Government websites/database, Office for National Statistics (ONS), HM Treasury, etc. Primary data from semi-structured interviews, surveys, questionnaires, etc.

Data Analysis: Qualitative data can be analysed using thematic Analysis, Fuzzyset Qualitative Comparative Analysis (FsQCA), etc. Quantitative data can be analysed using Trend Analysis, Data Visualisations, Probit/Logit regressions, etc.

Timeline: 3 years (FT), 6 years (PT)

Flexibility on proposed area of research: Although the main focus of the proposal is in a local government context in the UK, this can be tweaked/changed slightly to focus on other public sector agencies and departments such as Higher Education Institutions, Police, Fire and Rescue, the National Health Services, etc. from other developed countries or emerging economies.

Nottingham Business School is triple crown accredited with EQUIS, AACSB and AMBA – the highest international benchmarks for business education. It has also been ranked by the Financial Times for its Executive Education programmes in 2023 and 2024. NBS is one of only 47 global business schools recognised as a PRME Champion, and held up as an exemplar by the United Nations of Principles of Responsible Management Education (PRME).

Its purpose is to provide research and education that combines academic excellence with positive impact on people, business and society.  As a world leader in experiential learning and personalisation, joining NBS as a researcher is an opportunity to achieve your potential.

Applications for October 2025 intake closes on 1st July 2025 and applications for Jan 2026 intake closes on 1st October 2025.

Entry qualifications

Candidates must have a postgraduate degree in Accounting, Finance, Economics, Business Management, Operations Management, or any other business-related research discipline.

We welcome candidates with qualitative skills, but ones with strong quantitative skills in Stata, SPSS, NVivo, and Qualtrics.

UK: Successful applicants for the PhD in Nottingham Business School normally hold a first or upper second-class honours degree from a UK university or an equivalent qualification. Candidates with a lower second-class degree may apply if they hold a Master’s degree at Merit level or higher.

International: Successful applicants for the PhD in Nottingham Business School normally hold a first or upper second-class honours degree from a UK university or an equivalent qualification. Candidates with a lower second-class degree may apply if they hold a Master’s degree at Merit level or higher.

International students will also need to meet the English language requirements - IELTS 6.5 (with minimum sub-scores of 6.0). Applicants who have taken a higher degree at a UK university are normally exempt from the English language requirements. Applicants who do not meet the English language proficiency requirement will normally be asked to complete an English Language course

How to apply

Applications for October 2025 intake closes on 1st July 2025 and applications for Jan 2026 intake closes on 1st October 2025. Please visit our how to apply page for a step-by-step guide and make an application.

Fees and funding

This is a self-funded PhD project for UK and International applicants.

Guidance and support

For more information about the NBS PhD Programme, including entry requirements and application process, please visit: https://www.ntu.ac.uk/course/nottingham-business-school/res/this-year/research-degrees-in-business

Nottingham Business School is triple crown accredited with EQUIS, AACSB and AMBA – the highest international benchmarks for business education. It has also been ranked by the Financial Times for its Executive Education programmes in 2023 and 2024. NBS is one of only 47 global business schools recognised as a PRME Champion, and held up as an exemplar by the United Nations of Principles of Responsible Management Education (PRME). 

Its purpose is to provide research and education that combines academic excellence with positive impact on people, business and society. As a world leader in experiential learning and personalisation, joining NBS as a researcher is an opportunity to achieve your potential.

Still need help?

Martin Jones