Rediscovering Communities: Lessons From the Hurricane Katrina Crisis

Abstract

In an era of globalization, the importance of communities—particularly local ones—receives relatively little attention in management education and research. Even academic institutions consider themselves to be “boundary-less” organizations, defined more by ideas and discourse than geographic locations. In this article, the authors describe their process of “rediscovering” communities, and their enduring organizational relevance, in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Drawing on their experiences with the recovery efforts at Tulane University, the authors explore the interdependencies which exist between organizations and their communities, and the challenges that leaders confront in managing them. They highlight three central observations: the dynamic nature of community relationships, the embeddedness of organizations in multiple communities, and the need to balance initiative and collaboration when solving interdependent challenges. They argue that there is significant merit in reintroducing these themes both inside and outside the classroom, and outline implications for organizational strategy and leadership.