Crisis Management in Transition: Teams, Roles and Collaboration in Municipalities

Crises and societal disruptions place high demands on municipalities' ability to organise rapidly, establish a shared understanding of the situation and make decisions under conditions of time pressure and uncertainty. At the same time, the way crisis management is organised is changing. Staff and other actors may need to participate from different locations and organisations, requiring traditionally co-located crisis management teams to increasingly incorporate digital and hybrid ways of working.

The project Crisis Management in Transition: Teams, Roles and Collaboration in Municipalities examines how municipal crisis management teams are organised and activated in physical and hybrid settings. Particular attention is given to how team members can quickly understand and assume their roles, how information is shared, and how effective collaboration can be established when conditions change rapidly.

An important part of the project also concerns learning over time. Experiences from crises and exercises need not only to benefit the individuals who participated, but also to be transformed into practices and knowledge that remain within the organisation. The project will therefore develop, test and evaluate systematic approaches that support effective crisis management while strengthening organisational learning and resilience.

The project is conducted in close collaboration between Mid Sweden University and Östersund Municipality. Researchers in Information Systems and Quality Management work together with municipal practitioners in an interactive research process that brings research and practical experience together. The project includes document studies, interviews, observations, exercises and collaborative activities to understand current practices and to develop and evaluate new approaches.

The overall aim is to contribute knowledge and practical approaches that strengthen municipalities' capacity to rapidly establish effective crisis management teams, regardless of whether participants work together in the same physical location or in hybrid settings. The results are also expected to improve the conditions for collaboration, information management and learning before, during and after crises.