Organizational Change in Times of Crisis: COVID-19 Pandemic and Strategy Change in Municipal Government

Abstract

The Covid-19 pandemic was the greatest crisis to face humanity, at least, during the last century. A crisis that had a significant negative impact beyond public health, on society, the economy, and the public administration. At the core of both central and local government response to Covid-19 pandemic, were standing the promotion of organizational change and the strengthening of strategic planning resilience, in order to safeguarding and guarantee the provision of public services to the citizens. In this context, the purpose of the research is to analyze, and comparatively evaluate the impact of Covid-19 pandemic on organizational change in municipal government, focused on the introduction of planning. Research's results are based on a national level, mixed methods, empirical survey conducted with the participation of 32 municipal authorities in Greece, to identify and evaluate the factors affecting organizational change in municipal planning.