The journal Betriebswirtschaftliche Forschung und Praxis (BFuP) is one of the few German-language journals in the field of business administration. It is both listed in relevant rankings and read by many practitioners.
In their paper, the authors examine how the introduction of New Work principles affected the management of the crisis situation in the Covid lockdown and how the crisis influenced the acceptance of these new organisational forms. According to its own assessment, the case study company under investigation was better able to cope with the crisis compared to other companies in the same dealer organisation. The organisational changes already undertaken before the crisis in the direction of more self-determination and personal responsibility were experienced as particularly helpful. However, without the technical preconditions that were also created early on, the changeover to flexible models of work organisation would not have been possible. Due to the technical and organisational measures started in previous years, the company was able to react very flexibly to family burdens during the lockdown and still ensure the necessary operating hours. As a result, this has contributed to an increased acceptance of the new organisational form of work, which was viewed with scepticism by many employees before the crisis.