Abstract
Crisis may require an organization to transform itself; however, transformation may not necessarily help the organization overcome the crisis. Two crises occurred in Taiwan that forced many businesses to change their operating style. The earthquake on September 21, 1999 and the outbreak of SARS in 2003 forced organizations to change. These two calamities exposed companies to a series of challenges which often required creativity and change to overcome. This research is a case study of how a Taiwanese company overcame the challenges caused by these crises, transforming itself from a customer-led business to a market-oriented business. Specifically, we extend Lewin’s planned change model to investigate the storytelling and organizational communication styles used in different stages of this company’s transformation. The findings reveal that a company can actively respond to crisis thereby providingguidelines for organizations facing catastrophe and chaos.
Highlights
On September 21, 1999, the most severe earthquake in Taiwan’s recorded history, 7.3 on the Richter scale, struck the central region of the island, killing 2,494 people, injuring 13,799, destroying 51,392 houses completely and damaging 104,833 houses severely
A second theme is that the enforcement of rules at that early stage mainly relied on an oral style of organizational communication
The company invested in the development of the computerized automatic assessment system, resulting in the creation of the Dynamic Course Generation System (DCGS) in 2002, a system utilized to assign customized study materials to students
Summary
On September 21, 1999, the most severe earthquake in Taiwan’s recorded history, 7.3 on the Richter scale, struck the central region of the island, killing 2,494 people, injuring 13,799, destroying 51,392 houses completely and damaging 104,833 houses severely. Total damage was estimated at 11.5 billion US dollars, including losses from collapsed buildings, shattered transportation infrastructure, and diminished industrial production due to a two-week power outage (Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics, 2000). The increase in the gross domestic product (GDP) fell from a projected 6.72% to 4.89% after the earthquake; the annual consumer price index (CPI) growth rate dropped from a projected 1.7% to 0.2%. These figures indicate that did consumer’s purchasing power decline and consumer willingness to consume weakened (Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics, 2009). With the mindset of living in the moment, people temporarily shifted from a long-term perspective to a short-term orientation; spending more on luxuries rather than long-term investment such as continued education (Pavia & Mason, 2004)
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