Krisenmanagement und Personalcontrolling: Fallstudie anhand eines Energieunternehmens

Abstract

The subject of this bachelor’s thesis is crisis management and personnel controlling, with a particular focus on energy companies. External events such as the COVID-19 pandemic, the uncertain flood situation in Austria in 2024, and ongoing geopolitical conflicts are continuously increasing. Against this backdrop, the central question arises as to how the energy sector can identify and resolve potential staff shortages at an early stage in order to ensure the availability of human resources and to deploy them effectively in operational activities, even in exceptional situations. As energy companies form part of critical infrastructure, maintaining the power supply is essential, particularly in the event of operational disruptions or escalating crises. The relevance of this thesis lies in the need to highlight the close interconnection between crisis and risk management and, building on that, to integrate the supporting functions of personnel controlling. The thesis analyses key instruments that contribute to early personnel availability planning and help ensure the targeted deployment of staffing requirements in crisis situations. The thesis consists of five content chapters and includes both a theoretical and an empirical part. The introduction outlines the specific research problem and objectives. The main part presents the literature-based foundations of crisis management and personnel controlling, with a particular focus on industry-specific aspects. Subsequently, guided interviews with two employees from different departments of an energy company are analyzed using qualitative content analysis. Based on this, the empirical findings and theoretical insights are combined. The final chapter answers the research question and outlines further research opportunities regarding the identified gaps. The key findings show that both strategic and operational personnel controlling play a central role in early-stage personnel planning and ensuring staff availability. Theoretically, there is a strong interrelation between crisis and risk management and personnel controlling. At the strategic level, analyzing weaknesses within the company and assessing potential risks helps to identify future needs for action. Additionally, structures must be established that specifically address staff shortages, particularly in situations of disruption and crisis, in order to guarantee an uninterrupted power supply. To this end, and based on operational personnel controlling, appropriate measures are defined to promote flexible personnel deployment and enable a rapid response to staff absences, among other challenges.

Date of Award	2025
Original language	German (Austria)
Supervisor	Katharina Musil (Supervisor)