Human Resource Management and Institutional Resilience during the COVID-19 Pandemic—A Case Study from the Westfjords of Iceland

Abstract

Human resource management (HRM) is challenging in times of crisis, more so than when there is a stable business environment. Consequently, the overall aim of the study is to identify the preparedness, transition process, learning, and growth that businesses in the Westfjords region experienced because of the COVID-19 pandemic. In total, 42 semi-structured interviews were conducted with various members of the society, such as health authorities, healthcare workers, staff of a university center, social workers, and business owners, to gain as broad of an understanding of the local impacts as possible, as well as the coping strategies that emerging or were employed. The model employed for the analysis is an organizational resilience and organizational coping strategies model, which considers both the pre- and post-crisis situation. The core components of this model—anticipate and plan, manage and survive, and learn and grow—were the themes that were used in the thematic analysis of the interviews presented in the results. The findings of the study suggest that the preparedness aspect of the model employed, namely anticipate and plan, was negligible, as institutions were neither very ready for disruption prior to the crisis, nor had plans in place to deal with such a situation. Despite the lack of pre-crisis anticipation and planning mechanisms, examples of how institutions managed and coped during the pandemic were evident in the data. Also, during the crisis, some institutions managed to not just learn and grow, but, through adaptation to the situation, they were able to thrive. The findings also suggest both positive and negative aspects to HRM in public and private institutions. The implications of the study are theoretical in cases of alteration to the analytical model employed, practical in the case of coping mechanisms and practical solutions suggested, and have policy relevance, as the study emphasizes the importance of integrating flexible approaches to national mandates, thus enabling local conditions to be taken into account.

1. Introduction

Human resource management (HRM), or how to manage people working within organizations, is challenging in times of crisis, regardless of the nature of the crisis, which can be due to economic, health, natural disaster, or political instability situations [1]. These aspects associate negatively with sustainability, but, if addressed successfully, they can correspond with the paradigm of sustainable HRM and enhance the long-term viability of organizations. In this instance, corporate sustainability means to reduce an organization’s ecological footprint, or to have a positive impact on the human and social aspects of the work. However, it has been recognized that the HRM literature mainly focuses on organizations operating in a business environment that is stable and mostly facilitating of economic prosperity and growth. Due to the serious consequences that the pandemic has had on business operations, managers, and employees, there is a need for extensive research in this area [1].

Some issues that may emerge in times of crisis are determined by the common elements of surprise, threat, and short timespans to respond to the situation [1,2]. The issues that need to be addressed include finding ways to maintain employees’ health, safety, and wellness [3]; the need for retaining, attracting employees, or laying off employees; and, if and how working arrangements or payroll management needs to be altered, supporting employees’ work-life balance [1,4] or workplace loneliness [5], crisis communication [2], and more. Managing these issues may determine the viability or success and resilience of organizations when handling a crisis, when at such times decision making has to be fluid [6] and potentially critically rearranged according to the knowledge of the experts who are able to handle disruptive events [7].

How organizations commit to resilience and respond to a crisis may determine their level of success, which, in this context, relates to their capacity to bear the strain while still operating, pull through after the situation is over, and learn from the crisis situation they went through [7]. If this is not done, and organizations simply emphasize business-as-usual, they may find themselves in a downward spiral, thereby undermining the well-being of society, as they do not address sustainability challenges. Moreover, they engender the passing on of the problems to future generations instead of turning them into business opportunities that focus on alternative ways of conducting business operations and that make these more sustainable [8]. However, this requires financial resources that may not be available [9], such as when operating preconditions fail. Therefore, organizations may address a crisis by employing soft or hard HRM models [1]. In the former case, employees are cared for in various ways, as they are considered to be assets influencing organizational success [10], which thereby results in commitment and trust [11,12], while in the latter case, employees are seen as a means to production [10], but, in that instance, the strategic approach is to cut costs, such as by freezing or reducing pay, offering minimal training, downsizing, outsourcing, or intensifying the workload [11,13,14,15], which may result in less commitment and a lack of trust. In a time of crisis, these approaches may be employed simultaneously [13].

External shocks influencing the business environment and sustainability have been evident in the past two decades. They include the global financial crisis that started in 2007/2008, as well as numerous shocks of an environmental nature, such as floods, earthquakes, and hurricanes. These major disasters affect human resource management, as well as skill availability and shortages [16], and, depending on the nature of the industry, impacts can be industry-specific [17,18,19]. In cases of natural disaster, such as earthquakes, this includes a shortage of temporary housing, a limitation of technological capabilities, requirements for new skillsets and training, and a lack of information and/or operational capacity [16]. Therefore, sustainability in HRM has relevance for various levels of analysis [4], but it should be noted that employees have a particular role to play on different levels as well, which namely include the individual (e.g., knowledge, experience, and idea), organizational (e.g., daily operation, knowledge sharing, linking to the outside world), and institutional levels (e.g., communicating and cooperating with stakeholders) [20].

Some studies have been conducted on HRM practices and the work-related impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic has had a major impact on jobs, both positive and negative. Some companies have been struggling, while others have been thriving. Impacts have been felt in terms of “health and safety, the supply chain, the workforce, cash flow, consumer demand, sales, and marketing” [17]. Businesses thriving during the pandemic include internet and digital technological specialists and those in a position to offer and sell their products online, such as food and beverage takeaways, entertainment, online education, or companies selling cleaning, health, and sanitation-related products, or providing innovative solutions of any kind. The tourism sector is suffering significantly during the pandemic [17], and employees experienced job insecurity [21], but similar negative effects are evident in the show and entertainment industry, concert management and theaters, clubs, bars, and discotheques, as well as in relation to various personal services, such as hair and beauty salons and massage parlors, where people are particularly likely to be self-employed. Consequently, employees have lost their jobs or wages have been cut, their working arrangements have changed, and distance working [11,22] has been the reality for many fortunate enough to keep their jobs, or even thrive in the case of career development or promotion [3]. Other issues have been industry/sector specific, including healthcare workers suffering physical exhaustion, uneasiness, and miseries [18], the psychological effects on seafarers held at sea for lengthy periods [19], or, more commonly, cases of reduced productivity and increased incidences of anxiety and low morale, employee absenteeism, and more [13,22].

In a recent systematic literature review on HRM and crisis situations, some of the economic themes identified in cases of crises responses were cost reduction and individual performance, which is hard for HRM facing cutbacks and the freezing of pay, changes in spending priorities, and reductions in training. The work situation themes were mostly related to health care professionals and tourism, such as in cases of increased workload, and external threats, including fear of infection and illness, burnout, absenteeism and more. Additionally, although studied in the context of natural disasters and HRM, some may be relevant for other types of crises, including pandemics that involve talent shortages, higher turnover rate, and a lack of information. Examples of political instability impacts on HRM are post-traumatic stress, funding, and the need for extra labor [1].

The current research presented in this paper is part of a broader Circumpolar research study managed by the Iqaluit-based Qaujigiartiit Health Research Center, which is entitled ‘COVID-19 Public Health Outcomes in Arctic Communities: A Multi-site Case Study Analysis’. This study was conducted simultaneously in eight Arctic countries, including the United States, Canada, Greenland, Norway, Finland, Sweden, Iceland, and Russia. The focus was on remote communities, and, wherever relevant, on Indigenous peoples. In the case of Iceland, the focus was on the Westfjords region, which is the most sparsely populated area in Iceland with just over 7000 inhabitants, or 2% of the total population of Iceland [23]. None of the other national cases focused on the pandemic impact on human resource management during the COVID-19 crisis. Therefore, this case study adds value to the overall circumpolar study, as well as to the literature in general, by focusing on preparedness, impacts, solutions, learning, and growth in relation to human resource management that emerged as a response to the crisis in rural Arctic communities.

The Westfjords is a large peninsula in northwestern Iceland. It is characterized by high mountains, limited lowland suitable for agriculture, deep fjords, good harbor conditions, and close proximity to generous fishing grounds, which means that the local economy relies on fisheries, fish farming, and fish processing for its economic well-being [24]. The road conditions can be challenging during the wintertime due to snow and ice, even though some tunnels have been built in the region. In some instances, roads can be closed for periods during winter months [25]. In the case of infrastructure, the biggest town, Ísafjörður, has one hospital and an airport that provides flights to and from one destination: the capital city of Reykjavík [26]. Mass tourism has not yet gained a foothold as a major industry in the region, with the exception of cruise ships, due to issues, such as inaccessibility and remoteness [27].

The Westfjords region was hit hard in the first waves of the pandemic, with outbreaks and/or impacts on a nursing home [28,29], a fishing trawler [30,31,32,33], the University Center [34], and small business owners [28]. Interviews conducted in the region were used to draw out information about the preparedness of businesses prior to the pandemic, the impacts on their employees and daily operations, and the learning and growth (if any) gained from the pandemic, with all this examined within the context of HRM and sustainability. Therefore, the overall aim of the study was to identify the preparedness, transition process, and learning and growth experienced by businesses in the Westfjords region due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Consequently, the study aims to answer the following research questions:

• How well were private and public institutions in small and remote coastal communities prepared for the COVID-19 pandemic?
• What were the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on daily operations?
• What solutions emerged in response to the COVID-19 pandemic?
• What type of learning and growth potential can be drawn from the COVID-19 pandemic?

This empirical study offers lessons learned in public and private institutions at the local and regional scale that can benefit future studies comparing results with other rural areas in Iceland or across the Arctic, as well as compare and contrast those results with larger urban areas in Iceland. These results use the COVID-19 pandemic to provide an understanding of how external shocks to socioeconomic systems vary by locality in the context of HRM, which helps address the gap in empirical studies on this topic in rural Arctic communities, such as in Iceland. A research gap in terms of “how resilience in cognition can be converted into behavioral resilience and to contextual resilience” has been emphasized, as well as lack of empirical research in this area [35].

The paper is structured in the following manner. Firstly, the theoretical model is explained, followed by a discussion about the research methods employed and the case explored. Then, the key findings of the analysis are introduced, before the findings in the broader national Arctic and international context are discussed. Finally, the final conclusions are presented.

2. Theoretical Model

The organizational resilience and coping strategies model is the theoretical foundation of the data analysis [35]. In the study, the focus is on a problem-focused approach to coping, which means acting on the situation, rather than emotion-focused coping mechanisms [36,37]. The underlying aspects of resilience are derived from an integrated model on organizational resilience, which includes cognitive (perception), behavioral, and contextual issues, to thus consider both the levels within and outside the organization. However, resilience on one level (individual, group, and organizational levels), such as the individual, may not transfer to other levels, namely, groups or an organization [35].

The model consists of three main steps: (1) anticipate and plan for the crisis, (2) manage and survive the crisis, and (3) use the crisis to learn and grow when bouncing back after the crisis. It is depicted in the organizational resilience model shown in Figure 1. Arrows in the model help explain the connected and sequential steps in the model. The model has both pre- and post-crisis elements, and the dynamics of continuous improvements are shown in the feedback loop from the Learn and Grow element to the element of Organizational Resilience.

3. Methods

To conduct the study, a semi-structured interview framework was designed (Appendix A). It is, among other things, grounded in an initial report for the overall project, which is now at a draft stage and entitled ‘A Review of COVID-19 Public Health Restrictions, Directives, and Measures in Arctic Countries’ [38]. The interview framework consisted of five stages: (1) design of the interview questions (Appendix A), (2) criteria for selecting interviewees, (3) conducting the interviews and transcription of the recordings, (4) data analysis and extraction of information, and (5) the discussion and presentation of findings [39,40].

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a huge impact globally, which calls for research of various kinds, including effects on individuals, communities, businesses, nations, regions, and so on. The purpose of this study was to collect empirical data in sparsely populated and remote communities that were significantly affected by the outbreak; as such, communities and stakeholders within them, including businesses, are often excluded when the impacts on nations are examined. Therefore, it was considered critical to get a detailed description (narratives) in the context of various aspects of the pandemic at the local level. The timing of data collection was important, which was after the first two waves of the pandemic hit the local communities hard. It meant that events were still fresh in people’s minds, but some time had still passed from the initial impacts, which meant that lessons had already been learned from the effects of the pandemic on society, companies, staff, etc.

The boundary of the study is the Westfjords region of Iceland, with a look at the main town of Ísafjörður and several small towns in a relatively close proximity, or 20–40 min drive. The region is regarded as a single case study, among other things, due to the small local population and to protect the anonymity of the interviewees. In total, 42 interviews with 44 interviewees were conducted with various members of the society, which yielded as broad of an understanding of the local impact on the local community as possible. The interviewees in the study were, in one way or the other, influenced by human resource management in some capacity, either as employees or as managers of local institutions or businesses.

Using purposive sampling [41], interviewees were identified. The interviewees were anonymized and numbered from 1–44. The snowball technique was also used, i.e., in cases where interviewees suggested other potential interviewees, and as diverse a group as possible was chosen. These included health authorities and healthcare workers; governance officials, such as a town mayor; staff and students of the University Center and school workers; and others employed locally, including within fishing and fish farming, the port authority, tourism operators, civil protection and emergency management workers, an artist, and a telecommuter. In most cases, the interviews were conducted in Icelandic, although some were conducted in Polish and English, particularly when these languages were the interviewee’s native language or in the case of foreign students studying at the University Center of the Westfjords. The Polish interviews were conducted with the aid of a translator.

The data was mostly collected on October 2021, with some additional interviews carried out on November 2021. These were face-to-face interviews, except for two conducted via Zoom. They took place at the convenience of the interviewee. The interviews were framed and structured in such a way that they facilitated an exploration of how HRM affected the lives of those interviewed. The main interview questions were focused on the topics of: community and business experiences of the impacts of the public health measures; organizational coping, management, and adaptive strategies; impacts specific to different businesses, employees, and the self-employed; and policy implications for the future.

After the interviews were transcribed and translated into English where necessary, they were analyzed using MAXQDA 2020 software. An analytical model was developed and tested, with the process of data analysis and the extraction of information following the method of thematic analysis. This incorporated five steps: (1) compiling, (2) disassembling, (3) reassembling, (4) interpreting, and (5) concluding [42]. Transcription and translation took place on November and December 2021. Thematization and analysis were carried out on January and February 2022. Prior to the study, there was a minimal commitment to prior assumptions, theory [43], and ex ante expectations, especially given that the pandemic was ongoing. The approach to the analysis was mainly deductive, with codes and sub-codes being pre-defined after the data collection, based on the theoretical model (see Figure 1), to ensure relevance and to examine the key ideas from the model [44,45].

4. Results

The overall aim of the study was to identify the preparedness, transition process, and learning and growth [35] of businesses in the Westfjords region that were experienced because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Although there is general HRM literature on crisis management [35], the specifics of HRM and crisis management due to the COVID-19 pandemic have been lacking [1]. Therefore, the exploratory interviews in this project were conducted without pre-determined hypotheses from the research team. The results presented below originate directly from an analysis of interview text from a wide range of stakeholders in the community to present a general mapping of the experiences of key private and public institutions, such as health care services, public administration, schools, and different types of local businesses. The thematic analysis presented here are structured according to the core components of the model shown in Figure 1, which is where the themes presented in Section 4.1, Section 4.2 and Section 4.3 are drawn from. Thus, they first explore measures taken to anticipate and plan in advance for a pandemic. Secondly, they discuss HR-related management measures and responses that facilitate coping. The third sub-section examines the lessons learned and growth opportunities arising from the pandemic. Quotations from interviewees are shown in italics and these are anonymized, with only the interviewee number shown in brackets after the extracted material.

4.1. Anticipate and Plan

4.1.1. Lack of Preparedness

Across the interviews, opinions differed about the extent to which the communities and their institutions were prepared for the pandemic. At the beginning, most institutions lacked any sort of formal plan that they could use to guide the shifts in their operations. While this lack of planning was largely seen as excusable, given the unprecedented nature of the crisis, the early outbreak in the local nursing home was highlighted by a community leader as an instance where the lack of planning proved harmful:

And of course, we have a nursing home and two people died in the nursing home in the first wave of infections. So, it had a huge impact. Both organizationally and response wise, because there was no plan in place of how to respond to this. No one knew what they were actually doing.

(01)

The interviews presented the lack of planning as something that occurred throughout the healthcare system, including supply concerns over personal protective equipment and initial misunderstandings about how it should be used. These issues increased stress for employees and contributed to feelings of fear and uncertainty at the beginning of the pandemic.

The negative impacts on employee well-being resulting from a lack of planning prior to the pandemic went beyond the healthcare sector, as can be seen in the following quote from an interview with an employee at the local university center:

We have stress because you never know what the next day will bring. You never know what will be next, like what the set of rules will be…you have no long-term strategy. We’re always kind of in a very passive role, just waiting for things to happen and just reacting, we were not able to do anything proactively.

(32)

This kind of juggling was repeated at the university center throughout the pandemic, due to a decision to preserve in-person classes whenever possible, which required them to shift between teaching in-person and online. The person interviewed contrasted this with the experience of other universities that were able to simplify their plans by moving classes entirely online. In the case of the university center, the ability to plan was further compounded by the nature of operations at the time, as most of the staff and students were either traveling to Ísafjörður from abroad or from other parts of Iceland. Given the small size of the community and its isolated nature, there was concern that outsiders might create an additional risk of COVID-19 infection. To deal with this, university officials had to coordinate planning concerning quarantining and testing requirements with the local health authorities, which proved challenging. There was frustration as to how the logistics of these services were managed later in the pandemic.

4.1.2. Preparedness

In other situations, however, the small size and isolation of the communities featured were not always viewed as an obstacle, and this was credited by some as helping the community mitigate the stresses associated with the pandemic. Many of those interviewed felt that the nature of these settlements, their remote locations, and their experience in dealing with natural hazards, such as avalanches and severe storms, helped to enhance resilience or preparedness, as exemplified by this quote from a local tourism business owner:

It’s flooding, it is earthquakes, volcanoes, avalanches. We are used to dealing with the natural forces. Being lost at sea, all kinds of things.

(37)

In fact, some of the infrastructure worries associated with the pandemic, such as potential disruptions to deliveries of essential products, such as food, were already accounted for in the habits of locals:

For example, going to the store, people stock up. Nothing was different because we always have to have a week of supplies.

(30)

The small, tight-knit nature of the community was presented as a positive in this context, as the ease of communication facilitated by the small social structure allowed for more efficient decision making during the initial stages of the crisis.

An interview with a community leader detailed how the small size of their community enabled administrators to make quick decisions in the absence of a plan. At the beginning of the pandemic, a staff member was directed to contact all community members over the age of 70 and instruct them to call the health authorities if they experienced COVID-19 symptoms. While this ability to quickly implement decisions made at the local level was presented as a positive, the informant also emphasized the uncertainty that it entailed:

Completely disorganized and is not specified in any rules and completely unclear what the effect is, good or bad or what. But you just make decisions like that. And I made a lot of decisions like that.

(01)

This example further demonstrates how pre-pandemic planning, or a lack thereof, influenced management practices throughout its duration, the specifics of which are further discussed in Section 4.2.

4.2. Manage and Survive

4.2.1. Changes in Work Patterns

In the interviews, anticipating and planning in response to successive waves of the infection was a key part of how institutions adjusted their practices in order to cope with the consequences of the pandemic. Doing so required making various adjustments across all levels of the institutions’ management, including day-to-day operations. Many of the changes made concerned the physical workspace, including how it was accessed, as well as contact between employees.

Local businesses had to adjust their policies when it came to public health measures that impacted their operations, such as mask mandates and capacity limits. Examples of this included mask mandates and distancing requirements for employees in service jobs, such as grocery stores and restaurants, as well as the additional task of enforcing public health requirements for their customers. While the interviews characterized the community at large as being supportive and understanding of the public health measures, some issues were raised regarding compliance, particularly from older customers regarding mask mandates:

At that time, my daughter was working here in a store and she said, the young people never cause trouble, but the old people, we got to hear it from the old people.

(06)

An interesting example of workplace adaptation came from a factory, where a simple change enabled the management to greatly reduce the risk of a group infection. To reduce contact between workers in different groups, they simply ordered different colored hats for the employees and were therefore able to easily separate them. In addition to this success, fish companies were credited with making a successful adaptation to their overall business model. Prior to COVID-19, much of their overall customer base was drawn from restaurants, which were in turn supported by tourists. While tourism experienced a rebound over the summer months in 2020, the fish companies were able to adapt early on by switching to preparing fish for sale in grocery stores rather than restaurants.

4.2.2. Managing and Preventing Outbreaks

In Ísafjörður, the harbor is essential to the community, both as a source of supplies in this remote area and as a key engine for local economic activity, namely, fisheries and tourism. Protecting its functioning during COVID-19 was therefore critical. As a public health measure to prevent group infections, the harbor management implemented a policy which prohibited non-employees from entering the workplace. This was different from the experience of those working in public administration, who, along with employees of businesses that conducted most of their business online, were able to transition to working remotely. Safety was also maintained during an outbreak on a cruise ship that was docked in the harbor through cooperation between shipping companies and harbor officials:

But even though there was an infected person on board the ship, the shipping company or crew took full responsibility for it and isolated people and placed them in quarantine. Everyone at the shipping company had such a tracker around their necks, so it was always possible to know who had been in contact with the person in question. And so, they managed to isolate this on board the ship and keep it isolated. This never had any effect on our operations. We have, in fact, new facilities. A border shed where the harbor guards are behind glass and the passengers walk back and forth freely.

(31)

The success of the harbor and shipping company officials in preventing a larger outbreak stood in direct contrast to the experience of workers on a fishing boat that experienced a difficult outbreak early on. In that instance, many workers were infected, which was brought up in the interviews and attributed to poor management and failure by the vessel’s captain to follow protocols, which was something that has been confirmed by a court ruling.

4.2.3. Wage Adjustments and Revenue Losses

Wage adjustments were also referred to as a component of responses to COVID-19 by some workplaces. For example, the harbor experienced a loss in revenue due to a decrease in cruise ship traffic during the pandemic. However, rather than laying anyone off, the management implemented an overall wage reduction plan, which allowed people to keep their jobs.

In addition to wage adjustments, support schemes offered through the Icelandic government were shown to play a key role in how some local businesses managed revenue losses during the pandemic. This can be seen in the following excerpt from an interview with a tourism operator, who managed to grow their business during this period and successfully utilize government support to invest and expand:

We ticked all the right boxes. The revenue went down enough to make us fit in that scheme, maybe 50% of normal. [Many other companies in Ísafjörður] were able to get that support. We cut our salary during that time, but we managed to make the biggest investment that the company has made during that time. … We put it into a special account and managed to persuade the bank to provide the rest.

(37)

These types of financial benefits were characterized as benefiting the well-being of workers, as they had less stress over losing their jobs, and, as a result, closer to normal functioning of businesses with lower staff turnover was enabled. This support also had the effect of mitigating any differences in the experience of employees in private versus public institutions. For example, for public employees at the hospital, concerns regarding their well-being resulted from increased stress and changes to their work environment, while those in more service-oriented jobs were at greater risk of unemployment.

4.2.4. School Management

The day-to-day operations of schools were heavily impacted by the pandemic. Schools were generally presented as having been successful at dealing with the pandemic as best they could, though many in the primary and secondary schools were concerned over the impact of it on children. In high school and university operations, to comply with the disease control measures, reorganization to keep students separate and minimize infection was necessary:

We had all these measures. We had these little pink lines in the hallways marking different sections…like second year students can use the library and no one else can…distance learners will need to be studying downstairs.

(39)

While some of the physical adjustments that were made were relatively simple, the constant changing of rules regarding infection control meant ever-shifting rules for students and staff at all levels of schooling and education. This strained the well-being of staff, who grew tired of having to carry out the changes, as well as the students:

It was always changing week by week, and new decisions and then new decisions. So, undeniably, it created both this kind of fatigue and irritability, both in the staff group and the student group. Students were asking can we come to school? Shouldn’t we come to school?

(39)

In tandem with other local schools, the university center had to repeatedly adjust its operations throughout the pandemic. Students reported experiencing some mental health impacts as a result of the online instruction, but were otherwise pleased with how the university handled things. Some reported the masking and distancing requirements as being particularly helpful, as they allowed for students to come together for class, so long as they were sufficiently separated. Due to the small size of the community, the potential for a serious group outbreak among the students was a particularly frightening prospect, given the relatively limited capacity of the local healthcare system. One of the issues the university staff had to address was the housing situation of the students, which included finding new accommodation for students to isolate in during outbreaks. This was challenging, due to staff shortages and a lack of housing, as well as the issue of organizing food distribution to those infected.

The interviews described what happened when an outbreak among the students occurred, but no students were seriously ill, and the school was reported to have handled it well. The school officials managed to support students who were quarantined or isolated by regularly checking up on them, through both phone and email, as well as in person by, for example, waving to them from a distance when dropping off food or other supplies. This in-person contact was highlighted by students as a key interaction which helped them to better maintain their well-being. The university officials were responsible for managing quarantine and isolation for the students, as there were no public quarantine facilities in the community.

4.2.5. Staff Shortages

Various management issues connecting to staffing challenges were also discussed in the interviews, including in schools, where quarantine measures and associated staffing shortages led to children being sent home.

We once had to send children home because someone had to be quarantined. And then, of course, that meant that the department was understaffed.

(34)

In schools, the consequences of quarantines and resulting staff shortage—namely, that children had to be sent home—while being undesirable, were still accepted as necessary in order to follow public health guidance, even if it put an additional burden on parents who had to look after their children while working from home. In the private sector, however, measures designed to prevent staff shortages were viewed more cynically as a sign of a profit driven approach.

In the big fish factories, they bought thermometers to measure the temperature of the staff when they came in the mornings. And in the beginning, it was a bit controversial, that this was symbolic of how profit driven the companies were. That they did not intend to lose staff on sick leave.

(41)

In addition to challenges posed by quarantine and other infection control measures, the impacts of COVID-19 on demand for local businesses led to staffing shortages, as was seen in the following quote from an employee at the local harbor:

Over the winter it was quiet. You could say that we may have been too many. But then we were understaffed this summer. We did not expect anyone, we did not expect any cruise ships in the summer. So, we did not hire any summer replacements.

(31)

The above quote shows how an inability on the part of managers to accurately predict their staffing needs ahead of time, due to the shifting circumstances associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, led to staffing shortages. This kind of management challenge reiterates the importance of planning in determining how communities and institutions are able to manage and survive, i.e., cope and even thrive, with crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic. The ability of such interactions to help inform management of future crises is further discussed in Section 4.3.

4.3. Learn and Grow

4.3.1. Adjustments and Resulting Growth

Those businesses and institutions that were able to successfully anticipate and plan to manage the impacts of the pandemic on their operations were able to survive and cope with the crisis, and in some cases even grow their businesses. From these experiences, lessons were learned regarding how to manage future crises, and some of the operational changes that resulted from the pandemic had positive impacts that many would like to retain going forward. This was shown in the example of the tourism company that used government support to buy new equipment. Another example of this arose in Bolungarvík, when the town experienced unusually rapid economic growth, as described by a community leader:

There are large investments in the fishing industry in the town now…There has not been such a large upheaval and investment in Bolungarvík for 30 years. Somehow, we managed to change things, economically. Because there is no unemployment here. The largest increase in real estate prices in Iceland last year was in Bolungarvík. We saw the tax revenue…it increased incredibly much, even though the population numbers did not change.

(01)

This development was presented as being particularly significant, given that depopulation has characterized these communities since the 1990s, and the town’s success was credited in major part to the ability of the local fishing industry to adapt:

We succeeded, the fishing companies in the town managed to adapt very quickly. It just stopped for two weeks and then when it started again it had changed the packaging, changed the products that were being processed, and just got going again.

(01)

In addition, some students at the university center were able to get jobs in local businesses during the pandemic, which proved helpful during the unexpected boom in summer tourism, which was something that was presented as a positive development that could be maintained going forward.

4.3.2. Remote Work and Teleconferencing

One of the most popular changes that emerged during the pandemic was the shift in approach that many employers made to remote work and teleconferencing:

So, I hope we have learned, even if only half of these conferences and meetings and seminars could be accessible through teleconferencing. If we would continue to do half in teleconferencing and do the rest so that we meet, it would be just victory and savings for the state and the nation.

(11)

This was presented in the context of the region’s history, as it would allow for more people to live in the Westfjords while working in the capital city of Reykjavík, as well as save time and money by avoiding unnecessary travel in a region that is frequently cut off by severe weather during the winter. The increased capacity for remote work was also praised in connection with the university center:

The university too I know already had that distance learning infrastructure in place, but the ability to reach students elsewhere, is probably a good thing in the long term.

(12)

However, the enthusiasm for remote work was sometimes presented with a caveat, namely, that this also created challenges in terms of work-life balance for employees. Suggestions as to how to mitigate any difficulties in this regard included the need for good childcare for working parents and an understanding between managers and employees that their time off would be respected.

4.3.3. Improvements in Healthcare Services and the Unexpected Benefits of Sanitation Measures

The interviews revealed lessons and opportunities for improvements in healthcare services. While the lack of planning at the beginning of the pandemic was largely forgiven by those interviewed, given the extreme strain that healthcare workers were under, some of those interviewed were more critical of how testing and quarantining were managed later in the pandemic:

The system was way too stiff, and I don’t blame anyone for not being prepared, but I was very sad to see that there was no response and adapting to the condition.

(28)

It was suggested that, as a means of better enabling adaptation, the future planning of public health measures could be at the local level, rather than being mandated through the central government in Reykjavík. Rigid interpretation of the national rules meant that there was a lack of flexibility at the local level, even when cases were zero in the region. The public and the private sector had to follow rules, such as gathering restrictions, which inevitably restricted daily operations. However, the interviews also highlighted positive changes that emerged in the healthcare system as a result of the pandemic, particularly with regards to increased infection control measures:

I met a woman the other day who is working in the nursing home. And she was saying that they were in a bit of trouble because the residents there were not dying. Because there are so many people on the waiting list. After the pandemic we have a mask mandate, there is more cleaning and people are disinfecting everything. Then there is not as much illness coming into the nursing home.

(03)

These improvements in cleanliness and infection control were also seen in other locations, such as the fish companies, which have maintained some of the sanitary protocols enacted during COVID-19 in their factories.

Quarantine and isolation requirements were credited with helping some companies make positive adjustments to their business models. This was seen with restaurants, which were described as having improved their home delivery offerings in order to facilitate contactless services:

I think the restaurants in town have a lot more infrastructure to go and delivery orders. Now, the cafe that I worked at pre-pandemic had no delivery service and now has expanded to do delivery and online orders and catering events as well. So, they’re able to diversify their business model a little bit.

(12)

The unexpected benefits that adaptation efforts such as contactless delivery, which was implemented to promote sanitation and cleanliness, as well as comply with local regulations, provided for businesses shows how multifaceted and interconnected the various impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic were for community members and businesses and, in conjunction with the other examples discussed here, reiterate that the impacts of the pandemic cannot be categorized as having been exclusively positive or negative.

5. Discussions

Based on the findings of the study, an alteration to the organizational resilience and organizational coping strategies model is presently suggested [35]. It builds on the empirical data collected and analyzed, thus validating elements of the original model (Figure 1), while also highlighting the interplay between elements of the model, as shown with the bidirectional arrows that were not previously shown, as well as the relevance of adaptation and the possibility of thriving despite a crisis situation. The results have exemplified the various components in the model. For example, anticipation and planning was demonstrated via the civic response plan, managing and surviving was evidenced through reduced pay for staff, while adapting and thriving occurred through expanded tourism and fishing industry infrastructure. Furthermore (Figure 2), the organizational resilience and coping strategies model might be limited in its capacity to address the nuances that underpin organizational resilience, and this study has shown that, in an HRM context, there are interlinkages between the core categories that are not depicted in Figure 1, e.g., anticipating and planning underpins managing and surviving. The interrelationship between elements of the models therefore need to be altered. Namely, on the one hand, the interrelationship between anticipation and planning and manage and survive must be highlighted, and on the other hand, manage and survive and learn and growth need to be altered. However, instead of using the concepts learn and growth, the concepts of adapt and thrive are suggested, because some of the institutions were able to prosper if they were able to adapt to the situation with spillover benefits for the local community, instead of just learning and growing as an institution.

This research has shown that, throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, those individuals responsible for the management of institutions in the Westfjords have had to respond to the shifting consequences of the pandemic on their operations. As emphasized in the scholarly literature, if this is not done in crisis management times and organizations simply emphasize business-as-usual, they may find themselves in a downward spiral, thereby undermining the well-being of society, because they do not address sustainability challenges [8]. The interviews show that adjustments to human resources and operations management were a key component to how business and community leaders dealt with the impacts of COVID-19 in the Westfjords. An example of the adjustments made by institutions includes the taking on of a policing role by enforcing the national rules in supermarkets, restaurants, shops, etc., as was the case with wearing masks, sanitizing, distancing, and more.

A lack of formal planning is a known barrier to HRM sustainability [8], and this certainly was evident in the institutions included in the study as well. An important and unique finding in this research was that, although a lack of formal planning existed, an inbuilt resilience to crisis management, which was garnered in prior experiences of coping with crises in the society, such as extreme weather and external shocks including avalanches and sea accidents, seems to have lessened the shocks to the management systems and flows [16]. In terms of the transition process, elements of both hard and soft HRM were present [11,13,14,15], although the hard approach was more common, such as employees suffering reduced pay or working hours. In the instance of learning and growth, there was a certain adaptability in production processes and packaging that minimized the negative consequences and facilitated larger economic returns than before. There was widespread use of teleconferencing software to maintain internal and external collaboration [6] and to continue to provide pre-pandemic levels of education. This, however, did not result in workplace loneliness, such as in the case of internet telecommuting [5], although students reported experiencing some mental health impacts as a result of the online education [46]. Additionally, there was a recognition of both the positive and negative impacts of the pandemic on institutions and jobs [8]. A hybrid form of HRM was evident in the way that employees retained their jobs (soft), although they experienced reduced working opportunities and/or pay (hard) [8]. The positive aspect of retaining staff is that it demonstrates caring on the part of the employer and reduces the need for staff (re)training in the future [8]. The flexibility in harbor management through collaboration with cruise ship operators and shipping companies was another example of a positive aspect, which allowed the servicing of them during the pandemic. Examples of negative impacts on jobs included stress in the workplace, such as in the health care sector and the disease spread on the fishing vessel that failed to adhere to health authority protocols. Although not mentioned specifically, there are most likely psychological effects on seafarers entrapped at sea, such as were raised in the literature [19], given that being held longer at sea, while possibly suffering illness, has negative implications for work-life balance [19].

Many of the issues that community members had surrounding COVID-19, such as school closures, public health measures, and their impacts on local businesses and recreation, were a result of management decisions made throughout the course of the pandemic [19]. While some of these experiences were in themselves not unique to the Westfjords [19], the HRM response as a whole shows several key areas related to the organizational resilience of rural Arctic communities. Workflow and responsibility are different in rural communities and institutions, with the burden often falling on a few individuals. However, there are advantages to smallness too, as in the example of the community calling individual elderly residents with information on personal protection measures, as well as the fact that the chain of command distance is often shorter in smaller institutions. This creates space for adaptability and a quick response time. However, small numbers can also be a weakness, with the human resources needed for anticipating, planning, and executing work tasks sometimes being limited, as was shown in the instance of fatigued school staff.

Limitations to infrastructure, such as transport distances and the lack of a quarantine hotel, meant that institutions in the Westfjords had extra pressures during the pandemic, as was evidenced by the university situation discussed in the findings. Staff shortages may result in the vulnerability of remote regions with relatively few specialized staff and no locally available replacement staff [17,18,19]. On the other hand, the national government’s emergency monetary support for local tourism and restaurant businesses seemingly added compounding benefits to company operations. This suggests that the companies that had the drive and initiative to expand could do so with relatively small support, which led to high impacts and favorable HRM conditions. The impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the daily operations of the institutions included in the study differed [17,18,19], with the greatest burden placed on the health care sector, tourism, and education, but with a lesser burden placed on established industries such as fishing, fish processing, and fish farming. The solutions emerging were in some cases efficient and inexpensive, such as the different colored hats used to separate shift workers in a fish processing factory. This solution could be used in other cases, such as in hospitals or on cruise ships, although it was initially tailor-made as a preventative measure [47] for the fish processing factory.

6. Conclusions

The theoretical implication of the study is the suggested alteration to the organizational resilience and organizational coping strategies model proposed, and also the deepened understanding of HRM in the context of a crisis in a local community in a sparsely populated region, which was established by the case study findings. Some of the examples presented in the paper explain coping mechanisms and practical solutions that are relevant for other types of institutions and organizations in the Arctic and beyond. In the case of policy relevance, the study emphasizes the importance of integrating flexible approaches to national mandates to ensure that they consider local conditions, such as the number of cases and how the situation should be dealt with.

In answering the research questions, it is also important to note the limitations of this study. Firstly, methodological limitations meant that the interviews were collected at a specific point in time in the ever-changing landscape of COVID-19 regulations. While the qualitative data gathered points toward a saturation in terms of experiences, it is not possible to know how gathering similar data in the future would compare, or how conducting this study around six months earlier would have altered the data.

Future comparative studies could include other methods, such as surveys and comparing other Icelandic or Arctic communities, or small communities in general. In addition, there are logical theoretical connections between the impacts of COVID-19 on the HRM aspects of institutions and the potential impacts of climate change. Organizational resilience and organizational coping strategies models can be interesting lenses under which to study climate change adaptation strategies, and lessons learned from the COVID-19 experience can give clues to the ways in which institutions must prepare for other unforeseen perturbations in their operations due to climate change. Particularly in the Arctic, where warming is occurring faster than the rest of the planet, institutions may need to prepare for and react quickly to HRM issues and economic shocks caused by climate change. This study did not aim to address comparisons of COVID-19 and climate change impacts on small Arctic communities and institutions, but it does lay the theoretical ground for future research in this area.