Enfrentamento e defesa na pandemia de COVID-19 no turismo brasileiro: a perspectiva dos problemas perversos sob a ótica das metáforas

Abstract

This thesis approaches the confrontation and defense of Brazilian tourism to the phenomenon of the COVID-19 pandemic from the perspective of metaphors as a wicked problem. In several economies, the tourism sector is the primary source of fund-raising, producing wealth, generating jobs, and reconfiguring the reality where it develops; however, with the pandemic, the industry has been competing on several fronts. The main objective of this research was to identify which confrontation strategies and defense mechanisms were used by agents of the Brazilian touristic supply chain to react to the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic. A qualitative research was conducted with ten in-depth interviews with industry agents, including tourist guides, hotel owners and travel agencies, a kitesurfing instructor, and a national hotel consultant. The data were analyzed triangularly, combining content analysis, lexical analysis in the Iramuteq® software and analysis of meaning units in the Atlas.Ti® software. The results indicate that it was the dynamic capabilities of sensing and seizing, the use of collaborative strategies and the development of resilience as a defense mechanism which helped agents to react to the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic, classified as a perverse problem by its complexity, generation of chaos and faulty solutions. Metaphorically, in the agents’ view, there were variations in facing the perverse problem: for authorities, governments and politicians, the pandemic was noticeable; however, it was ignored (Grey Rhino) or minimized (Black Elephant); for the segment of professionals, it arrived as something rare, unexpected and, until now, inexplicable (Black Swan). The intersection of the research tripod – wicked problems, confrontation and defense and metaphors – built the Prism Phenomenon, a polygon formed by ten faces, classified according to their intensity and strength, which allows a holistic view of the pandemic's real experience through the tourism industry in Brazil, where the greatest impact reported for the sector was the abrupt and rapid manner in which activities were paralyzed, which quickly generated loss of revenue and much damage. In summary, we concluded that the sector directly suffered the impacts of a rare and unknown phenomenon, in different intensities, reacting to it within its possibilities and considering the particularities of each area of activity. As main managerial implications, it can be concluded that the impacts of a wicked problem - due to its complexity, chaos generation, failed solutions and use of conflicting and confusing information - can be mitigated by public and private authorities, with the strengthening of the productive chain in times of crisis, especially with regard to the adaptation of people and organizations to changes, being necessary the constant development of internal and external dynamic capabilities and the use of generic strategy practices, especially those of collaborative nature.