Purpose: The aim of this study is to examine how personnel from different organizations create meaning and intend to act in a potential dangerous situation. Design/methodology: The article rests upon an experiment, showing a movie with a bomb at the entrance of a retirement center. The task of the participants was to describe the situation and decide how to act in different situations. The participants involve was personnel from different kinds of organizations. Findings: Our findings show that there are different kinds of understanding of the situation and how to act, that could be explained by the logic of the organizational field, professional knowledge and the person's earlier experience. Originality/value: While most studies have been focusing on the interaction between emergency organizations alone, this study has investigated the sense making and acting of emergency organizations and other non-emergency organization. Most studies are also conducted either as retrospective interviews after a crisis or during training exercise. This study rest upon an experiment, were the subjects had to interpret the situation and decide how to act in real time.
Export Date: 28 August 2015