Structures for collaboration and networked adaptation: Emerging themes from the COVID-19 pandemic

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Crisis Management
• Sociology

Background:

• The COVID-19 pandemic presents complex, uncertain challenges requiring multi-level responses.
• Research on national pandemic strategies is abundant, but local and regional management insights are limited.
• This study addresses the scarcity of empirical data on sub-national pandemic crisis management.

Purpose of the Study:

• To provide early empirical insights into collaborative functions during the COVID-19 pandemic in Norway and Sweden.
• To contribute to a research agenda focused on collaborative practices in pandemic crisis management.
• To identify key themes in emerging collaborative structures at municipal and regional levels.

Main Methods:

• Qualitative empirical study focusing on collaborative functions.
• Analysis of early insights from Norway and Sweden.
• Examination of municipal and regional management practices.

Main Results:

• Emerging collaborative structures effectively filled gaps in pre-established crisis management frameworks.
• Municipal and regional levels demonstrated more adaptive practices than anticipated, despite the crisis's complexity.
• The pandemic's duration facilitated significant evolution of collaborative structures.

Conclusions:

• Adaptive collaborative structures are crucial for effective pandemic crisis management at local and regional levels.
• Findings suggest a need to adapt organizational structures to complex, evolving problems.
• The study calls for reconsideration of fundamental crisis management principles, such as the similarity principle.