The Role of Management Educators in Supporting Students After Tragedy: An Autoethnographic Account

Abstract

Tragic events like mass shootings exemplify chaotic or turbulent environments as survivors face uncertainty and seek to reconstruct their understanding of the world. One aspect of helping those affected by tragedy is through social support. Classrooms offer unique opportunities for social support as they consist of many individuals affected by tragedy in various ways. The unique context of classrooms also allow management educators to discuss such events to help prepare students for how to handle uncertainty when they are managers. Yet, as management educators, we are sometimes hesitant to discuss such events because they fall outside our area of expertise, we need to contend with other course constraints, or we are trying to deal with our own uncertainty following tragedy. Using an autoethnographic approach, the current research provides an account of my thought process going into the first class I held following the Route 91 shooting in Las Vegas, NV, as well as a recap of the conversation in that class. The hope is that this research helps instructors in the future with their decision-making about how to handle post-tragedy classroom discussions. Implications of these conversations in preparing future managers for their careers and for organizations more generally are discussed.