Abstract:

Not only since the COVID 19 pandemic, more and more industries and organisations are facing major changes. Demographic change, a shift in global economic power, the pandemic and the climate crisis will lead societies, industries and organisations towards considerable redistribution and adaptation measures in the coming years. This perspective raises the question of whether and how the young generation of students will be prepared for these challenges to prevent failure. In the meantime, different universities have started to offer courses in which students can acquire specific skills to prevent conflicts, to deal with conflict and crisis and to manage change processes. It is foreseeable today that management skills acquired at an early stage of a person’s educational path in the above mentioned areas will make a significant contribution not only to one's own advancement , but also to the development of companies, industries and even entire societies – the so-called larger social field. This paper describes the initiation and development of these modules dealing with conflict-, crisis and change management. The authors will provide insights into eleven topics with which their lecture programme in this area started three years ago. In several in-depth questionnaire and interview settings feedback was derived from more than 300 participants regarding topic selection, knowledge transfer, relevance and content gaps. The results obtained already – also presented in this contribution – will be used to develop curricula of modules and courses that provide practical training in change management skills early on in current academic education. This gives the next generation an optimal, de-escalating and enabling start in a working world that is more than ever characterised by processes of change.

Keywords:

COVID-19 pandemic, conlict management, change management, crisis management, decision making, leading negotiations.