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
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.
Reviews for Risk and Crisis Management in the Public Sector
“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.
