Mid Sweden University

This study explores the adaptive capacity of managers in street-level organizations (SLOs) in response to global crises. Using a Swedish municipality as a case study, we explore the challenges encountered by managers during the extended COVID-19 pandemic. The abilities required to manage the crisis differ from the challenges and skills typically associated with professional crisis managers. We propose the term ‘turbulence manager’ to describe the unique challenges in SLOs and the skills required to navigate the situation, particularly the delicate balance between crisis management and regular duties. In conclusion, this study emphasizes the crucial role of SLO managers in crisis adaptation, highlighting their ability to mitigate the impact of turbulence by creatively adjusting their existing routines. 

In recent years, the Students Barents Rescue (SBR), a student-focused spin-off of the Barents Rescue, has been implemented at universities in Sweden, Finland, and Norway. This exercise is specifically designed for students enrolled in programs related to risk and crisis management studies. Barents Rescue itself is a civil international crisis management exercise aimed at developing the capacity for cross-border collaboration in response to disasters, accidents, and other emergencies in the Barents region. Through table-top emergency scenarios, the exercise fosters cooperation between participants from different countries and disciplines, emphasizing the importance of coordinated crisis management in a region where cross-border cooperation is essential.

The SBR exercise is designed to engage university students in a hands-on, collaborative environment where they can experience first-hand the complexities of cross-country cooperation during times of crisis. SBR provides a unique opportunity to develop essential skills in communication, teamwork, and crisis management, while also gaining a deeper understanding of how national and cultural differences can influence decision-making in a collaborative setting.

We argue that exercises like SBR can improve students' learning and understanding of cross-country collaboration. While we will touch on the exercise’s aims and learning objectives, the focus will be on student evaluations, which provide valuable insights into how participants perceive the exercise's effectiveness. In addition, we will examine how the development of case scenarios within the exercise has evolved over the years. These case scenarios are an essential component of the exercise, providing students with realistic, real-world situations to respond to, further enhancing the learning experience and preparing them for future roles in crisis management.

This study aims to examine the ambiguity and uncertainty surrounding crisis management and the implementation of national recommendations in two public-sector organizations during the initial phase of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. This study is based on two case studies: a municipality and a county administrative board in Sweden. Data were collected through interviews, surveys, and participation in meetings, and they were analyzed using a practice theory lens. The results demonstrate a lack of knowledge and uncertainty regarding the crisis management structure, leading to conflicting interpretations of rules, recommendations, and decision-making procedures. The somewhat uncoordinated response from central authorities had a significant impact on local handling of the crisis, requiring higher management to spend considerable time interpreting the regulations and adjusting them to the local situation. The lack of clear decision procedures and support from higher management creates frustration and anxiety among operational managers. Organizations struggle to keep up with fast-changing guidelines and implement them effectively, resulting in an increased workload and challenges in prioritizing resources. The study also reveals concerns about the long-term consequences and ability to maintain quality in core activities during a wide-ranging crisis as the COVID-19 pandemic.

Following COVID-19, the responsibility principle guiding emergency preparedness and crisis management in Scandinavian countries has once again faced criticism. In order to make sense of the current discussions surrounding this principle, this study uses Bacchi's framework of “What's the problem represented to be” to explore its development and perceived problems and effects in Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. The study examines how policy documents have problematized the responsibility principle and the historical contexts that prompted the adoption of the principle, tracing its evolution from 1989 to 2019, before the outbreak of COVID-19. It scrutinizes the role of key institutions, legislative changes, and historical events, such as crises and geopolitical shifts, in shaping crisis management practices. The analysis identifies several recurring issues in crisis management, highlighting two overarching problems: fragmented responsibilities and difficulties in balancing decentralization with centralization, both of which result in insufficient coordination. By comparing the experiences of these countries, this study provides valuable insights into the historical foundations and organization of crisis management systems in Scandinavia prior to COVID-19.

This presentation highlights the importance of relational concepts for understanding disaster management (DM) in rural areas. Specifically, we turn to the concept of relational place to illustrate how places derive meaning from their relationships with other places and argue for a deeper understanding of how these dynamics influence DM professionals’ experiences. Despite extensive research on DM, place is often treated as a neutral backdrop rather than as an active agent that shapes professionals’ work. To explore the role of place in DM, we draw on interviews with professionals from four municipalities in northern Sweden, characterized by expansive geographies, declining populations, and a decreasing tax base. By employing the concept of relational place, we show how DM professionals perceive laws and regulations as ill-adapted to their contexts and their work as diverging from broader societal norms. We also illustrate how feelings of peripheralization, understood as a process rather than a static condition, are linked to the political, financial, and social dimensions of DM. Through this, we aim to broaden the discourse on DM by providing insights into the unique challenges faced in rural contexts, emphasizing how these intersect with professionals’ understandings of place.

This paper explores the significant role of serious games in the realm of risk and crisis management education for building resilient societies. Games as educational tools in higher education can be used to facilitate active and interactive learning activities, which have particularly strong potential for development of collaborative and functional knowledge among students, such as communication skills, resourcefulness, adaptability, and other action competences. The presented serious game, Under Pressure, is a board game designed to facilitate discussion and transformative learning on resilience among students studying risk and crisis management. The players navigate diverse roles within the broader societal context of the game, gaining insights into negotiation strategies and decision-making processes. The game's overarching goal is to present players with various scenarios, prompting them to gather information, negotiate measures, and coordinate tasks to enhance societal resilience. Under Pressure employs realistic scenarios, offering players a high degree of decision-making freedom within the game environment. Throughout the game, hazardous events strike the society at random, promoting the students to collaboratively seek to advance resilience to a broad range of possible scenarios. The findings suggest that the game effectively stimulates discussion on diverse perspectives regarding societal resilience, emphasizing the collaborative investment and decision-making necessary for synergistic benefits across the entire society.