Organisations in crisis – CRISORG

Our research will focus on the decisions taken by three sets of organizations: 1) the government and central administrations, 2) regional and local institutions, 3) the (socio-)health sector. The semi-structured interviews we will conduct will be organized around three thematic entries that will help us to better understand the relationships between the different actors and organizations: 1) protection and prevention measures (masks, containment, curfew, isolation and physical distancing), 2) the organization of screening (availability and choice of tests, contact cases, applications), 3) the management and circulation of patients and populations at risk (in the hospital, at home, respiratory aids, treatments, transportation). In this categorization, the organization of screening occupies a hybrid position, since it falls both within the register of protection and prevention - when it is a question of using tests to produce statistical data - and within the register of management - when it is a question of identifying contaminated people and contact cases, in order to make them responsible, isolate them or treat them. But we wanted to distinguish these registers precisely to observe how this tension is managed by the different organizations.

We plan to conduct an average of ten interviews in each category. These interviews will be conducted by the two post-doctoral students recruited for the project. These interviews will be in addition to the interviews already conducted by the team members in the framework of the other projects mentioned above. For reasons of unity of location, we have planned to conduct the interviews on the last two levels (Local and Health) in one and the same region, the Grand-Est, in order to better study the relationships between the different actors.

Our results should make it possible to answer the following questions:
- What are the political, institutional and organizational determinants of decisions that proved crucial for the management of this crisis, the adaptation of organizations and the position they occupy in a system of relations?
- What type of cognitive work was undertaken to explain the crisis, and more generally to enable actors to make sense of the upheavals that occurred in their environment? Are there forms of knowledge or, more simply, cognitive framings that have a greater propensity to impose themselves as legitimate than others, and why?
- Are certain types of organizations better equipped to deal with crisis situations? How do we measure the ability of organizations to adapt? How do we assess their success in crisis management? Did previous crisis management or exercises play a role in the ability of some organizations to adapt?
- On what types of knowledge and data were these decisions based, how was this knowledge and data produced and circulated?

In addition to academic publications and the presentation of our results in national and international conferences, we will organize a workshop with complementary project leaders that we have identified and with whom we are already in contact.

We also intend to share our results with organizations concerned with crisis management. Several of them have already expressed a strong interest in this project and intend to use the results for their feedback on the Covid-19 crisis. The results of the study will also be presented to medical organizations, multi-professional intersectoral organizations (CPTS), the SGDSN and the ARS du Grand-Est.

Finally, we wish to use the results of this project to promote a real knowledge approach in terms of crisis management, by proposing to public organizations a common and cumulative experience feedback approach, which to this day does not exist.

None for the moment

This research intends to study the response of different organizations to the Covid-19 pandemic, comparing the period from March to May 2020 with the period beginning in October 2020.

It will focus on three sets of organizations:
1) Government and central administrations,
2) regional and local institutions,
3) the (socio-)health sector.

The interviews conducted will be organized around three thematic entries that will help us to better understand the relationships between the different actors and organizations:
1) protection and prevention measures (masks, lock-down, curfew, isolation and physical distancing) ;
2) the organization of tests and screening (availability and choice of tests, contact cases, applications);
3) the management of patients and populations at risk (in hospital, at home, respiratory equipment, treatments, transportation).

This research aims to uncover and analyse the capacities of these organisations to transform themselves or not in a period of uncertainty, by favoring an approach centered on collective action (to analyse the forms of cooperation or conflict that arise during crisis management) and a cognitive approach (which looks at the way in which actors make sense of the crisis and legitimize their actions). By comparing two periods, we will seek to see whether the capacities for cooperation differ according to whether the situation is marked by a high degree of uncertainty, urgency and extraordinary functioning; or, on the contrary, a better knowledge of the risks, less time pressure and a return to ordinary functioning.

The goal will be to produce, in addition to fundamental knowledge about organizations in crisis situations, an analysis shared with the actors involved in the management of the crisis in these different organizations, with a view to collective learning.