Organizational learning amidst a crisis: lessons from the biopharmaceutical sector during COVID-19
| Date | 18 December 2024 |
| Pages | 407-440 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/PR-09-2023-0801 |
| Published date | 18 December 2024 |
| Author | Gerson Tuazon,John Peikang Sun,Varun Bhardwaj,Rachel Wolfgramm |
Organizational learning amidst
a crisis: lessons from the
biopharmaceutical sector
during COVID-19
Gerson Tuazon
Department of Management and International Business,
The University of Auckland Business School, Auckland, New Zealand
John Peikang Sun
Zhejiang Shuren University, Hangzhou, China, and
Varun Bhardwaj and Rachel Wolfgramm
Department of Management and International Business,
The University of Auckland Business School, Auckland, New Zealand
Abstract
Purpose –The purpose of the research is to investigate the impact of affective and emotional experiences
on organizational learning in highly dynamic and chaotic environments, specifically in the context of the
COVID-19 crisis.
Design/methodology/approach –Based on an intensive 12-month inductive study, 24-project managers and
16 team members from biopharmaceutical organizations were interviewed and a thematic analysis was
conducted.
Findings –Three themes emerged from the findings: (1) developing affective maturity as a socio-emotional
resource, (2) mixed-motive emotional dynamics and (3) meaning-oriented organizational identification and
commitment. The context of the COVID-19 crisis provided an unconventional performance environment.
Research limitations/implications –Our study has several limitations, offering avenues for future research.
Firstly, our focus on biopharmaceutical organizations, with their unique socio-cultural influences and
management styles, may limit the generalizability of our findings to other sectors and institutional contexts.
However, regulatory mechanisms in this sector may align with knowledge-based sectors, emphasizing the
influence of organizational values and best practices. Secondly,our reliance on a posteriori interview data limits
real-time observation of organizational learning (OL) processes. Future research could employ diverse data
sources and survey methods for corroboration. Additionally, cross-cultural studies might explore how different
societies respond to crises. Multi-level perspectives could also enhance understanding of affective experiences
and their impact on OL outcomes.
Originality/value –The study contributes new insights into OL through its focus on how affective experiences
and affective organizing efforts shape OL. Weoffer a novel and emergent theoretical model of OL in the context
of trauma which has implications for organizations particularly in the areas of information processing and
decision-making.
Keywords Organizational trauma, Organizational learning, Organizational crisis, Affective experience,
Post-traumatic growth, Positive psychology
Paper type Case study
Introduction
The investigation of organizational learning (OL) amidst crisis is an area of sustained scholarly
interest (Elliott and Macpherson, 2010;Kahn et al., 2013;Miner et al., 2001;Smith and Elliott,
2007). Whilst OL studies have predominantly relied on economic, cognitive and behavioural
models (Argote, 2011;Bapuji and Crossan, 2004;Chiva and Alegre, 2008), new studies
examining how affective experiences influence OL in crisis are emerging (e.g. Antonacopoulou
and Sheaffer, 2014;Mainiero and Gibson, 2003;Tafoya, 2018). This scholarly attention has
largely stemmed from studies unpacking OL as sensemaking (e.g. Calvard, 2016;Maitlis and
Sonenshein, 2010;Thomas et al., 2001). A core premise of how affective experiences influence
Personnel Review
407
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
https://www.emerald.com/insight/0048-3486.htm
Received 26 September 2023
Revised 1 July 2024
17 September 2024
Accepted 19 November 2024
PersonnelReview
Vol.54 No. 1, 2025
pp.407-440
©Emerald Publishing Limited
e-ISSN:1758-6933
p-ISSN:0048-3486
DOI10.1108/PR-09-2023-0801
OL is that emotional experiences elicited from traumatic events and crises generally hinder
individuals from learning by interfering with knowledge creation, retention and knowledge-
transfer processes (Antonacopoulou and Sheaffer, 2014). This assumption is incorporated, for
instance, in Hobfoll’s Conservation of Resources theory (Halbesleben et al., 2014) and is
generally accepted as a useful learning model for understanding the relationship between crisis,
psychological stress and learning (Hobfoll et al., 2018).
OL differs from individual and workplace learning in several key aspects (Bapuji and
Crossan, 2004). Individual learning focuses on personal skill and knowledge development,
typically occurring through personal experiences and education (Matsuo, 2018). Workplace
learning, on the other hand, involves learning that occurs within the work context, emphasizing
skills and knowledge directly applicable to job tasks and roles (Dang and Chou, 2020). In
contrast, we argue that OL encompasses a broader scope, referring to the processes by which
organizations collectively develop, enhance and manage knowledge and standards based on
both internal and external experiences (Mousa et al., 2022;Nielsen et al., 2018). This includes
the integration of learning across all levels of the organization to achieve collective goals and
adapt to changes, particularly during crises (Antonacopoulou and Sheaffer, 2014). By
distinguishing these types of learning, our research clarifies its focus on the organizational
level, providing a comprehensive understanding of how affective experiences during the
COVID-19 pandemic influence OL processes.
In a crisis such as the current pandemic, individuals are constantly processing considerable
volumes of complex information, contrasting perspectives, as well as strong emotions (L^
eand
Pradies, 2023;Slaughter et al., 2021). As organizations and institutions around the globe
slowly recuperate, understanding how emotions and affective experiences in a crisis shape OL
remain a significant organizational concern. The current research aims to uncover the complex
relationship between affective experiences and OL in dynamic environments by focusing on
the affective experiences of interdisciplinary actors in the development of a COVID-19
vaccine. Therefore, our research questions are as follows:
RQ. How does OL contribute to the effective management of organizational trauma in the
context of the biopharmaceutical sector?
Sub RQ1. How do individuals utilize affective experiences and affective organizing
efforts to make sense of their work in the context of organizational trauma
caused by the pandemic?
Sub RQ2. How do affective experiences and affective organizing efforts arise in shaping
OL amidst trauma and crisis?
These questions focus the investigation on the affective dimensions of OL amidst trauma
rendered by the global pandemic, delving into the emotive sensemaking processes and probing
into the rationale that individuals employ to make sense of complex information at work. We
define affective experiences as the broad range of feelings that actors experience and can be
distinguished in the form of emotions (caused by specific events and brief in duration) and
moods (identified as either positive or negative affect and longer in duration) (Barsade and
Gibson, 2007). Affective organizing efforts, on the other hand, refer to the general processes of
activation, maintenance and modification of moods and emotions particularly in helping the
individual organize and process difficult affective experiences to achieve psychological well-
being (Seo et al., 2004).
In addressing the profound and multifaceted relationship between affective experiences
and OL, our current understanding, as delineated in the extant literature, often underestimates
the complexities inherent in affective responses to organizational trauma (Griffiths et al.,
2005;Kahn et al., 2018;Vince, 2001). Conventional paradigms of OL have historically
prioritized cognitive, behavioural and economic factors, inadvertently overlooking the
complex and multifaceted influence of affective dynamics during times of crisis (Argote,
PR
54,1
408
2011;Barsade and Gibson, 2007;Bridgman and
Sliwa, 2021). This oversight has resulted in
the marginalization of emotions as a crucial variable in understanding organizational
adaptability and resilience. This is particularly critical in light of our research questions, which
seek to uncover how individuals employ affective experiences and organizing efforts in
making sense of their work amidst trauma (RQ1), and how these efforts shape OL in such
contexts (RQ2). The prevailing literature, while rich in its exploration of cognitive and
structural aspects of learning, frequently fails to capture the dynamic interplay between
emotional responses and learning processes in organizational settings disrupted by crisis
(Bridgman and
Sliwa, 2021). This gap is evident in the limited theoretical integration of how
deeply affective responses to trauma, such as fear, solidarity or confusion, interact with and
influence the cognitive processes of sense-making and knowledge integration that are central
to OL (Brown and Starkey, 2000;Buchanan and H€
allgren, 2019). By critically examining and
problematizing these omissions, our study aims to enrich the OL discourse by integrating a
more holistic understanding of how affective experiences catalyse or hinder learning in the
wake of organizational trauma, thus offering a more comprehensive framework that
acknowledges both the emotional and cognitive substrates of learning in crisis conditions.
Whilst there are some studies which have clear definitions of crisis occurring within and
towards organizations (Antonacopoulou and Sheaffer, 2014), managerial and team member/
employee accounts of OL in a crisis are broadly recognized as exceptional, particularly in the
current global COVID-19 pandemic (Brammer and Clark, 2020;Dirani et al., 2020;
Greenberg and Hibbert, 2020). In sum, the more that individuals within organizations
experience trauma (whether from outside or inside the organization) as devastating and
unmanageable, the more likely the trauma will affect their ability to absorb new information
and potentially damage the underlying social exchange structural framework necessary in
establishing shared connections (Byrd-Poller et al., 2021;Mainiero and Gibson, 2003;Tafoya,
2018). Due to these characteristics, analysis of OL in a crisis is much more difficult to
understand particularly as organizational trauma can dominate short-term memory networks,
create an adversarial organizational climate impacting strategic intent (Fang and Chen, 2016),
and disrupt both emotive and cognitive pathways even after the individual has finished “day-
to-day” work (Griffiths et al., 2005;Kahn et al., 2013).
The notion that shocks are able to significantly affect OL entails a differentiated set of
responses at multiple levels of the organization. For instance, managers at the frontline may
need to be proactive in recovery efforts at the day-to-day level, whereas leaders and upper
management may need to emphasize strategic recovery efforts at the organizational system
level in order to re-establish homeostasis (Kahn et al., 2018). This dual approach offers the
organization situational flexibility as well as the stability to engage in empathic leadership:
enhancing organizational resilience by aligning personal and organizational goal clarity
(Gonzalez-Mul
eet al., 2016), providing contextual information for problem-solving (Carmeli
et al., 2021), galvanizing human capital necessary for OL capabilities (L
opez-Cabrales et al.,
2011), and improving mental models of teamwork that balances technical, task and socio-
emotional competencies (Mohammed et al., 2010).
An emphasis on investigating the affective nature of OL despite the destructive disruptions
can expand current theorizations of management learning in the context of crisis (Smith and
Elliott, 2007;Walleret al., 2014). The implication for team leaders and members illustrates the
importance of affective experiences as crucial linchpins in developing OL capabilities in
response to managing organizational trauma stemming from crisis (Antonacopoulou and
Sheaffer, 2014). The themes presented in our study provide empirical qualitative evidence on
how emotions may influence OL in times of uncertainty and disruption. Our argument posits
that understanding the affective organizing efforts and affective experiential terrain important
to personnel, operational and strategic management systems and adds richer layers of insight
on the impact of crisis on organizations and institutions. In times of adversity,leaders (whether
formal or informal) are generally looked up to by members to provide meaning and
understanding in relation to the crisis. Additionally,leaders are also regarded to be responsible
Personnel Review
409
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