Title: Crisis management and forced collaboration: a case study during the coronavirus pandemic

Authors: Camilla Lönngren; Erik Hedlund

Addresses: Center for Societal Security at the Swedish Defence University, Swedish National Defence University, Drottning Kristinas väg 37, Box 27805, 11593, Stockholm, Sweden ' Educational Science, Swedish National Defence University, Drottning Kristinas väg 37, Box 27805, 11593, Stockholm, Sweden

Abstract: This paper investigates one crisis management effort during the COVID-19 pandemic's first wave in Stockholm, Sweden. Decision-makers in Stockholm were afraid that intensive care unit beds would run out due to the massive spread of the virus and therefore decided to build a temporary hospital in an exhibition hall outside Stockholm. Using field study observations and interviews, this paper uses grounded theory method to describe what happened between two actors, a hospital and a regional administrative body, during this process. These two actors, in this paper called the Operational and the Administrative organisation, are two separate but dependent actors who had to collaborate during this crisis. The crisis management process can be seen as forced collaboration. By investigating the different phases of the crisis management, we found that there were conflicting situational assessments, conflicting actions, power play and stereotyping, which contributed to making collaboration and crisis management difficult.

Keywords: crisis management; COVID-19; collaboration; grounded theory; Sweden.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEM.2023.132395

International Journal of Emergency Management, 2023 Vol.18 No.3, pp.317 - 334

Received: 26 Oct 2021
Received in revised form: 23 May 2022
Accepted: 03 Jun 2022
Published online: 19 Jul 2023 *

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