3rd Edition
Risk and Crisis Management in the Public Sector
Risk and Crisis Management in the Public Sector 3rd edition is a guide for public managers and public management students which combines practical and scholarly knowledge about risk and crisis management together in a single accessible text. In the uncertainty of the twenty-first century, public managers need to know how to identify risks and plan for crises, how to respond to uncertain events and emergencies and how to develop resilience. This book provides this fundamental knowledge with reference to a range of contemporary cases including COVID-19, the war in Ukraine and global cyber-crime crises. It also explores the international, transboundary and multi-agency dimensions of risk and crisis management.
This fully updated new edition explores the cutting edge of risk and crisis management scholarship, provides an extensive series of tools and practical guidance for public managers who deal with uncertainty and draws on a wealth of classic and contemporary case studies. This content equips readers and public managers with the knowledge and skills to understand key issues and debates, as well as the capacity to treat risks and better prepare for, respond to and recover from crisis episodes. This book is essential reading for students studying public management, risk management and crisis management as well as professionals in the public management sector.
Figures, Tables, Boxes and Cases xii
Acknowledgements for the third edition xiv
Preface xv
Abbreviations xx
1 Risk and crisis: definitions, debates and consequences 1
Risk as probability, threat and opportunity 2
Strategic and operational risks 4
Public sector risk 8
The development of risk management 10
Defining crises: schools of thought 11
Understanding the plethora of crisis definitions 16
The crisis management cycle 28
Conclusion 30
Discussion questions 31
2 Risk and crisis management: drivers and barriers 35
Adopting a systematic approach to risk and crises 36
Justifying risk and crisis management 38
Environmental drivers 42
Barriers to effective risk and crisis management 49
Understanding the causes of crises 51
Identifying crises before they arrive 56
Conclusion 59
Discussion questions 60
3 Risk identification and assessment 66
Risk identification 67
Risk assessment 71
Risk management capacity 74
Risk to whom? 77
Objectivist and subjectivist risk assessment 78
The precautionary principle 79
Risk management and ethics: guiding principles and rules 81
Conclusion 83
Discussion questions 84
4 Risk response and risk communication 89
Key terms 90
Risk response 90
Risk communication 97
The role of trust 100
Risk and learning in the resilient organization 103
Conclusion 105
Discussion questions 105
5 Contingency planning and crisis preparedness 110
Key terms 111
Planning and preparedness: a primer 111
A cycle of preparedness 112
Stage one: assessing capabilities 114
Ideal planning vs. public sector reality 133
Case study 5.1: fantasy documents and the queensland floods 135
Conclusion 140
Discussion questions 140
6 Managing the acute phase of crisis: adapting to uncertainty 145
Key terms 146
Acute crisis management: elementary issues 146
Functions and response patterns 148
Influences on the acute stage of crisis management 166
Conclusion 174
Discussion questions 174
7 After the crisis: evaluation, learning and accountability 178
Key terms 179
Post-crisis evaluation: learning and accountability in context 179
The challenge of evaluation: what constitutes a successful crisis response? 181
Post-crisis policy reform and learning 187
Accountability and blame games 192
Factors influencing the crisis aftermath 197
Conclusion 202
Discussion questions 203
8 Risk and crisis management in a global world 208
Key terms 209
The paradox of globalization 209
Emerging global risks 210
Growing risks 212
Interval risks 218
Speculative risks 219
Humanitarian crisis management 220
Remote crisis management 225
Transboundary crisis management 229
Conclusion 231
Discussion questions 232
Conclusion 236
Case study one: lesson learning in the shadow of the pandemic 239
The ‘what’ of pandemic lesson-learning 239
The ‘how’ of pandemic lesson-learning 242
Conclusion 243
Case study two: cyberattacks and personal data breaches 245
Managing cybersecurity risks 246
Managing ‘successful’ hacks 247
Conclusion 248
Case study three: wildfires 250
Greece 251
USA 252
Australia 254
Conclusion: the need for better risk communication 256
Index 259
Biography
Lynn T. Drennan is Former Education Programme Director at the Institute of Risk Management, UK.
Adina Dudau is Professor of Public Management at the University of Glasgow, UK.
Allan McConnell is Emeritus Professor of Public Policy at the University of Sydney, Australia.
Alastair Stark is Associate Professor in Public Policy at the University of Queensland, Australia.
“This third edition is the best of the lot. It provides a comprehensive guide to new students and experienced practitioners alike. It combines, with great skill, insights from policy and public management studies to help readers understand and navigate public sector crises.”
Paul Cairney, Professor of Politics, University of Stirling, UK.
“As public managers around the world try to assess the successes and failures of national COVID-19 responses, this very welcome new edition of a key text reminds us just how substantial the challenges of risk and crisis management really are. From risk identification to matters of risk communication, and from contingency planning to post-crisis evaluation and learning, the main issues are presented in a clear, highly informed and well-structured fashion. Promising to meet the practitioner ‘halfway’, we are taken through the complexities and contradictions of risk and crisis but pointed also to the possibilities for learning from practical and academic experience across several risk domains. The call is for better crisis leadership, enhanced levels of preparedness and for greater organizational resilience in the face of emergent risks. In the wake of recent experience, this message is more essential than ever.”
Alan Irwin, Professor, Department of Organization,Copenhagen Business School, Denmark.
“Updated with a wealth of Covid era research from around the globe, the third edition of this widely used textbook easily remains the essential one stop shop for anyone seeking a state of the art overview of 'what we know' and 'what to (not) to do' in dealing with risks and coping with crises in public sector contexts.”
Paul 't Hart, Utrecht University, the Netherlands.
