Cross-sectoral Crisis Preparedness and Response: An Organizationality Perspective

Abstract

Crisis preparedness and response require coordination among diverse actors. Traditional crisis management literature emphasizes the ad-hoc and temporary nature of crisis collaborations, but thereby overlooks the extent to which crisis response builds on pre-existing structures and relationships. This paper applies the concept of organizationality—divided into structural and entitative organizationality—to analyze multi-actor crisis management in Sweden. Drawing on three qualitative real event case studies—a ferry grounding, a flooding incident and a forest fire—we demonstrate how organizationality can be used to understand crisis collaboration. The three cases illustrate strong entitative organizationality, enabling coordinated crisis response despite relatively weak but still present structural frameworks rooted in pre-existing institutional arrangements. Organizationality showcases how crisis management relies on latent structural conditions, but also needs trust and actorhood. In contexts like Sweden, where crisis management lacks hierarchical command structures, entitative organizationality plays a critical role in ensuring coordination.