=Paper=
{{Paper
|id=Vol-2397/paper1
|storemode=property
|title=Managing Systemic Risks: Opening up Public Crisis Management in Global Networks
|pdfUrl=https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-2397/paper1.pdf
|volume=Vol-2397
|authors=Moreen Heine
|dblpUrl=https://dblp.org/rec/conf/wirtschaftsinformatik/Heine19
}}
==Managing Systemic Risks: Opening up Public Crisis Management in Global Networks==
https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-2397/paper1.pdf
Managing Systemic Risks: Opening up Public Crisis
Management in Global Networks
Moreen Heine
University of Potsdam, August-Bebel-Str. 89, 14482 Potsdam, Germany
mheine@wi.uni-potsdam.de
Abstract. The more complex the interdependencies within global networks be-
come, the more challenging it becomes to manage overarching crises with cas-
cade effects. The organisations involved in crisis management are independent
but must act collaboratively. This challenge affects both private and public or-
ganisations. The increase of autonomy and self-organisation seems to be an ap-
propriate way to meet these challenges. However, disaster control is strongly
based on hierarchical management structures. This paper shows design options
and fields of action for collaborative and post-bureaucratic crisis management in
global networks and, on this basis, describes the state of research and research
gaps. Particular attention is paid to the state of empirical research. Building on
this, the paper presents a first research framework for collaborative and post-bu-
reaucratic crisis management in global networks. The level of openness and the
combination of hierarchical and collaborative elements in crisis management are
taken into account.
Keywords: Public Crisis Management, Global Networks, Collaboration.
1 Introduction
The more complex the interdependencies between social and economic systems
worldwide become, the more challenging it becomes to manage difficult to assess over-
arching crises with cascade effects. This challenge affects both private and public or-
ganisations.
Administrations as control systems cope with an increasing environmental complex-
ity by mapping this complexity in their internal structures, resulting in highly special-
ised, finely structured administrations [1]. The effective and efficient control of a dif-
ferentiated and heterogeneous administrative system becomes more and more difficult
with increasing specialisation. This applies in particular to crisis management. Against
the background of global networks, crisis management must operate across national
borders. This also affects private companies which also have to orient their crisis man-
agement across national borders.
From an administrative and organisational science perspective more autonomy and
self-organisation are increasingly in demand (cf. inter alia [2] and [3]) in order to re-
main efficient despite growing environmental and system complexity. This can also be
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transferred to public crisis management. Developments in information technology en-
able open organisations, i.e. the integration of external actors in government and ad-
ministrative processes and thus also in public crisis management (cf. [4]). The lines
between governmental and non-governmental crisis management activities are blurring
[5].
However, crisis management is strongly hierarchical, also with a view to following
military organisational principles. The combination of bureaucratic and post-bureau-
cratic elements and the simultaneous opening up to external actors could therefore be a
suitable way of coping with crises in global networks. Highly professional external or-
ganisations and actors can then contribute to overcoming crises that affect them directly
or potentially through cascade effects.
On the basis of governance paradigms (section 2), this paper derives design options
and fields of action for collaborative and post-bureaucratic crisis management in global
networks and, on this basis, describes the state of research and research gaps (section
3). Particular attention is paid to the state of empirical research. Building on this, the
paper presents a first research framework for collaborative and post-bureaucratic crisis
management in global networks (section 4). The paper ends with an outlook (section
5).
2 From Bureaucracy to New Public Governance
Public administrations are exposed to and shaped by specific paradigms and con-
cepts. The traditional one is Public Administration according to Max Weber where the
governance mechanism is based in particular on hierarchy. The following are, first,
New Public Management basing on the adaption of private sector management and,
second, New Public Governance (NPG), positing a plural state, where multiple inter-
dependent actors contribute to the delivery of public services and thus focuses on self-
organisation and inter-organisational relationships [6].
NPG largely meets the requirements of global crisis management in a highly inter-
dependent environment. However, the role of digital transformation is not sufficiently
taken into account. This aspect leads to the Open Government concept. There are some
conceptual and terminological overlaps, but Open Government explicitly includes the
extensive use of information systems. Open Government acts as an umbrella term for
various concepts of openness focussing on transparency, participation, and collabora-
tion of the state toward third actors in the economy or the citizenship [7]. Open Gov-
ernment is partly dominated by the idea of extending democracy in order to increase
the integration of citizens, while others emphasise the increase in problem-solving ca-
pacity through the integration of external actors in general (citizens, business and non-
profit organisations). The second view is particularly appropriate for this paper.
Partnerships and collaboration are ways to pool efforts to deliver services or to re-
spond to crises; both require an appropriate governance [8]. From a system perspective,
governance is shaped by the following design factors, which can be very differently
formed [8]:
• Hierarchy, Market, Network
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• Degree of centralisation
• Resource allocation
• Decision making
• Checks and balances
Systemic governance covers the public (sub-national, national and supranational level)
and private sector (private companies, NGO, citizen organisations, citizens) [8]. The
question is how these design factors can be arranged in such a way that the balance
between hierarchy and self-organisation leads to successful global crisis management.
3 Collaboration in Crisis Management
The organisations involved in crisis or disaster management are independent but
must act collaboratively [9]. This applies not only to response itself, but also to the
other phases of disaster management, i.e. mitigation, preparedness and recovery [5].
Disaster management is a cyclical and collaborative process in which the collection,
organisation and dissemination of information and data are critical [10]. Depending on
the situation, different organisations are involved, including the disaster control author-
ities (in some cases on different federal levels), the fire brigades, the police, specialised
authorities (e.g. environmental authorities), private aid organisations (e.g. the Red
Cross), military forces, affected companies (in some cases critical infrastructures) as
well as companies supporting certain services (e.g. transport). There are variations from
one state to another.
Regarding section 2, decision making is a central focus of research on collaborative
disaster management. Joint decision making requires the exchange of information and
is therefore based on information flows. Sagun et al. distinguish four channels of infor-
mation flow during a disaster [11]:
• within each participating organisation
• between organisations
• from people to organisations
• from organisations to people
With regard to tools and techniques that could improve and support decision-making in
emergency situations, the literature generally focuses on training, decision support sys-
tems and simulation [12]. The use of crisis management systems can improve commu-
nication and support cooperation [13]. A plethora of information systems has been uti-
lised in disaster management to facilitate collaboration among the organisations in-
volved. Empirical research on this is rather rare, especially in the context of collabora-
tive networks in disaster management [14].
Beyond that, the extent of hierarchical and self organised governance elements is
also the subject of some studies. Traditionally, disaster management is characterised by
hierarchy and centralisation. The shift to more decentralised disaster management sys-
tems was especially encouraged by the need to collaborate during and after extreme
events [12]. This does not mean that hierarchical bureaucracy is completely replaced.
It can still be found in “the mosaic that is contemporary emergency management” [5].
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On one hand, emergency response requires careful organisation and planning, on the
other hand, emergency management has to be highly adaptable [5].
Self-organisation within collaboration needs distributed decision-making, which can
be very time-consuming. In addition, distributed decision-making makes it difficult to
coordinate all information and provide situational awareness [12]. Participation is lim-
ited in large disaster management operations. Decisions must be taken quickly despite
the large number of actors involved [5].
The question is how consensus-based decisions can be efficiently produced in self-
organised groups and to what extent hierarchical elements can be meaningfully inte-
grated. Janssen et al. ask whether hierarchical and peer-to-peer coordination structures
are fundamentally incompatible or whether they can be combined and, if so, to what
extent they can be combined [15]. They mention the need for ensuring adaptability,
empowerment of teams and decentralised decision-making, as the local actors are best
able to assess the situation.
Overall, there are only a few empirical studies on designing collaborative disaster
management and its governance. Based on a case study in the UK, Kapucu and Garayev
identify the following problems in collaborative disaster management: poor communi-
cation and interoperability, miscommunications, lack of coordination among organisa-
tions and deployed personnel, and the amount of time required to deploy common re-
sources [12]. Waugh and Streib explore whether command and control systems are ap-
propriate in dealing with catastrophic disasters in which authority is shared, responsi-
bility is dispersed, resources are scattered, and collaborative processes are essential [5].
They argue based on the problems in disaster management during Hurricane Katrina in
2005 and stress the need for interpersonal contact and working relationships. This in
turn places special demands on information systems, which must be able to facilitate
and map these relationships effectively. There are also studies that look at the structure
and development of formal and informal networks in disaster management (for an over-
view see [16]). However, the governance design and the role of information systems is
largely neglected in this context.
The lack of empirical evidence to investigate and compare the impact and success
of specific combinations of different governance elements (in particular hierarchical vs.
self-organised) is problematic. The requirements for information systems in disaster
management are very high (information aggregation, reliability). In the collaborative
environment and for the achievement of consensus decisions they become even higher
and in particular concern information synchronisation and visualisation as well as com-
munication and coordination. Here, too, further research is needed, especially on the
effects on disaster management output and outcome. The focus is often also on various
governmental actors or aid organisations as well as volunteers. Companies are less con-
sidered in research on collaborative disaster management. Another problem is that the
objectives of the different actors are often contradictory and the search for common
ground can be a challenge.
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4 Research Framework
The research framework results from the previously presented basics on collabora-
tive crisis management in the context of New Public Governance and against the back-
ground of the extensive use of information systems. Since this paper reflects the status
of an ongoing study, the research framework in Figure 1 is to be considered as prelim-
inary. The framework is oriented towards the phases of crisis management.
Fig. 1. Research framework for public crisis management in global networks
The level of openness describes the extent to which external actors are involved in terms
of transparency, participation and collaboration (from the perspective of the individual
actor). The level of openness can be different for the several external actors. For exam-
ple, a distinction can be made between state actors, non-profit organisations, companies
in general, companies operating critical infrastructures and citizens.
Furthermore, the governance of collaboration in global crisis management can be
structured in different ways. To this end, the various shaping factors for governance
must be considered. Of interest is the concrete application of hierarchical and self-or-
ganised elements for specific tasks in crisis management involving various actors. A
problem is certainly that the level of openness and the design of governance overlap.
This concerns, for example, resource allocation (information as resource, relevant for
transparency) and decision making (relevant for participation and collaboration).
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Also of great relevance is the question of the extent to which information systems
cover the specific tasks in crisis management and the collaboration of the actors.
With regard to specific research activities, a general distinction can be made between
theoretical or conceptual studies on the basis of the various disciplines and empirical
studies with the focus on the impact on crisis management outcome. Empirical evidence
of the impact on effective crisis management is particularly valuable here, as few results
are available so far.
5 Outlook
The results presented here should be further differentiated and substantiated by a
systematic literature search that takes into account the various disciplines in the field of
crisis management. However, the preliminary results emphasise the great need for in-
terdisciplinary and empirical research on global crisis management. In order to achieve
rapid progress in empirical research, studies on the impact of different governance mod-
els (including the use of information systems) on the effectiveness of crisis management
are of great importance. Comparative studies and experiments are suitable here. The
research framework can help academics to classify their own research and identify new
research questions. To further develop the research agenda, it is worth taking a look at
similar work on other research topics in business informatics (e.g. [17] and [18]).
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