Learning from Crisis: A Framework of Management, Learning and Implementation in Response to Crises

Deverell Edward and Olsson Eva-Karin
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Deverell Edward: CRISMART/Swedish National Defence College and Utrecht University
Olsson Eva-Karin: CRISMART/Swedish National Defence College

Journal of Homeland Security and Emergency Management, 2009, vol. 6, issue 1, 22

Abstract: This study deals with the relationship between organizational flexibility, crisis response and learning. As a point of departure we use previous research from the field of crisis management which tells us that experience can shape crisis responses in two ways: as a way of repeating former routines or as a precondition for improvisation. Based on an abductive study we argue that the mandates of top-managerial teams, where we differentiate between centralized and decentralized, are closely connected to the way organizations learn - in behavioral or cognitive modes. Our findings from two case studies show how the decentralized managerial group learned in a behavioral fashion by creating new formal policies and structures, while organizational members in the centralized managerial group relied on individual cognitive structures as a way of 'storing' lessons learned. The study ends by discussing the findings from a crisis management perspective, where we propose that the two modes of learning profoundly affect the crucial issue of flexibility in organizational crisis response.

Keywords: learning agents; crisis management; organizations (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2009
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DOI: 10.2202/1547-7355.1574

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