Measuring Performance in Civil Contingency Management
Abstract as pdf
Corresponding Author:
Edward Deverell
Swedish Defence University Sweden
edward.deverell@fhs.se
Author(s):
Adrian Ganic1
1Swedish Defence University, Adrianganic@Hotmail.Com, SWE
As Ulrich Beck (1992) famously predicted, we now live in a social order designed to manage risks and achieve safety. Still practitioners lack systems and metrics for assessing performance in contingent times. Moreover, research on performance measurement during contingencies is limited, not least regarding how relatively new professional civil contingency management functions relate to their work and what metrics they use to determine success (Jong, 2021; Boin & Lodge, 2016; McConnell, 2011). This study addresses this gap in contemporary research by posing the questions: What indicators do Swedish local level civil contingency professionals relate to when they assess performance, and what does that tell us about Swedish civil contingency preparedness? The study builds on the literature streams of crisis and disaster management, grouping the fields together under the contingency concept. Drawing on 40 semi-structured interviews with local level civil contingency professionals, we inductively develop eleven performance indicators, which are then separated into three larger categories: Establishing initial frameworks for management; Interacting with internal and external stakeholders; Interacting with the public. The categories work as a practical heuristic to accentuate different elements of civil contingency management.
References
Beck, U. (1992). Risk society: Towards a new modernity. London: Sage.
Boin, A. & Lodge, M. (2016). Designing Resilient Institutions for Transboundary Crisis Management: A Time for Public Administration, Public Administration 94(2):289-298.
Jong, W. (2021). Evaluating Crisis Communication. A 30-item Checklist for Assessing Performance during COVID-19 and Other Pandemics, Journal of Health Communication.
McConnell, A. (2011). Success? Failure? Something in-between? A framework for evaluating crisis management, Policy and Society 30(2):63-76.
Contingency: exploring an age-old concept for a new reality