Public Management Review

ISSN: 1471-9037 (Print) 1471-9045 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/rpxm20

Risk and Crisis Management in the Public Sector

Brian Hunt

To cite this article: Brian Hunt (2010) Risk and Crisis Management in the Public Sector, Public
Management Review, 12:5, 747-751, DOI: 10.1080/14719037.2010.512202

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14719037.2010.512202

Published online: 15 Sep 2010.

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 BOOK REVIEWS
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Lynn T. Drennan and Allan McConnell

Risk and Crisis Management in the Public Sector
London: Routledge, 2007
ISBN 978 0 415 37815 4

Headline grabbing events such as those at Three Mile Island, Pennsylvania (1979),
Bhophal, India (1984), Heysel Stadium, Brussels (1985), the New York World Trade
Center (1993 and 2001) and Dunblane, Scotland (1999) are tragedies for individuals,
families and communities. Such events are also crises for public management.
This book by Lynn T. Drennan and Allan McConnell covers a wide range of crises
that have intruded into everyday life. The authors present a highly readable description
and discussion of risk and crisis management in public organizations. The content is
lively, the examples many and varied. The authors have produced a well-researched
volume which presents the topic in detail, and from several perspectives. Early chapters
describe and discuss definitions of risk, frameworks for managing risk and aspects of
contingency planning and preparedness for crises. From these fundamentals, the authors
develop frameworks for describing risk and managing a crisis, including the virtuous
cycle: prevention, preparation, response and recovery/learning. In their later chapters
the authors give detailed examples of suggestions for crisis response, including
managing stress, personality types and predicted behaviours under stress conditions,
and communication strategies. The final chapter presents ‘the big picture’ of the
challenges facing public sector organizations in risk and crisis management in a global
world. Each chapter covers much ground in a relatively short space.
Some readers may find the text too closely written for their taste, and there is an
argument to suggest that while thorough, the content seems somewhat overly
condensed. In part, that criticism is countered by the detailed lists for further reading
and references with which the authors conclude each chapter. Other user-friendly
content in each chapter includes learning objectives, key points and a glossary of key
Vol. 12 Issue 5 2010 747–754
Public Management Review ISSN 1471-9037 print/ISSN 1471-9045 online
http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals
DOI: 10.1080/14719037.2010.512202
 748 Public Management Review

terms. The authors have valiantly tackled a burgeoning topic that increases in scope
with every crisis in public life. Such crises are often highly political and, by their
nature, often become highly politicized. As the authors ably demonstrate the topic is
complex, wide-reaching and multi-faceted. Some readers might argue that the topic
warrants greater depth than given in this book. That may be debatable. However, the
authors have produced an interesting overview of the field and one which is highly
readable.
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The Nature Of Crises

Crises affecting societies and their citizens are not new. In the fourteenth century the
bubonic plague (the Black Death) killed between 30 to 60 per cent (estimates vary) of
the population of Europe; the Great Plague of London in 1665–6 claimed some 20 per
cent of the population; from 1918–20 the outbreak of Spanish flu outbreak claimed up
to 100 million lives worldwide; and the AIDS epidemic continues to take lives (for a
discussion see Kapucu and van Wart 2006).
Crises come in many forms and, as the authors note, nowadays ‘the word ‘‘crisis’’ is
everywhere’ (p. 14). Crises range from malfunctioning industrial and technological
installations, through activities of terrorist groups, to natural disasters and outbreaks of
life-threatening diseases such as AIDS, SARS and H1Ni. A standard framework for
analysis categorizes crises into those that are natural and those that are man-made (Putra
2009). Natural crises, predictable to a certain extent, include floods, heat-waves, forest
and bushfires (where these are attributable to weather conditions). In their extreme
form the elements create tsunamis, hurricanes and earthquakes (such as the tragic
events in Asia in December 2004, New Orleans in August 2005 and Haiti in
January 2010).
Man-made crises relate to industrial plant and equipment and include malfunctioning
transportation vessels (e.g. ferries, trains and aircraft), errors of judgement and human
fallibility (such as water contamination and animal husbandry). Some events are caused
by deficiencies in maintenance, operation and safety of industrial plant and equipment.
Traditionally we would class such episodes as industrial accidents. Categorizing
industrial-type accidents as crises tends to be a matter of level of intensity, duration and
number of casualties. However, an increasing number of crises involve human
malevolent and pre-meditated intent such as acts of terrorism. Now too numerous and
too frequent to name, in September 2001 the world was shocked to see hijacked
airliners piloted by terrorists crashing into iconic buildings in New York and
Washington. These atrocities resulted in the loss of an estimated 2,749 lives, many of
them public service personnel who raced into the devastated buildings while others
were fleeing to safety.
Even smaller scale tragedies have the ability to shock if the victims are children. In
the three-day hostage taking at School Number One in Beslan in Russia in 2004,
 Book Reviews 749

Chechen terrorists held captive over 1,000 people, of which more than two-thirds were
children. The siege and subsequent shootout between terrorists and security forces
resulted in the loss of over 300 lives. In decades past, the tragedies at Aberfan, Wales
and Dunblane in Scotland were especially poignant as in each case the majority of
victims were children. At Aberfan in October 1966 coal mining slag piled high slid
downhill onto two schools. The vast majority of the 144 victims were schoolchildren.
In 1996 a heavily armed gunman opened fire in a Dunblane primary school killing
seventeen children and one teacher. As with the shootings of the lone gunman in
Dunblane, crises can be through acts of individual personal hostility; for example, in
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Erfurt, Germany, Columbine, Texas and the so-called Beltway Sniper in Washington,
DC, Virginia and Maryland. It is unlikely that such events will recede. Rather, our
societies and public services are likely to face incidents of a more intense nature as
anyone seeking media notoriety strives to make a grander statement than predecessors.
Some commentators prefer to divide crises into further sub-categories. Farazmand
(2001) suggests four contexts: political; economic; leadership; and environmental. In
their book (p. 19) Drennan and McConnell develop the four-cell matrix proposed by ’t
Hart and Boin (2001). Within this framework, crises can be typified by the speed of
development and speed of termination. Some crises have ‘long-term processes of
deterioration and rapid ruptures’ (Farazmand 2001: 2). A nation-wide hunt for a serial
killer gathers momentum slowly but may have a fast conclusion, while a power blackout
has a fast onset and fast termination. Changing social mores or demographics, and
habitual practices can produce crises which evolve slowly (such as global warming, or
depleted natural resources and human skills shortages). Or events may have a rapid
onset followed by slow analysis and understanding such as a post-massacre gathering of
evidence and witness testimony for a tribunal.

Public Organizations, Crisis Management and Leadership

Away from the sensational headlines and emotive eye-witness recollections, public
sector leaders and managers are tasked to deal with an incipient crisis. Leadership in a
crisis has been described as a ‘mission impossible’ (Boin and ’t Hart 2003).
Public organizations are complex multi-dimensional organizations which have an
inherent political dimension. Surmounting a crisis requires that leaders of public
organizations be adept at rapid and focused communication: conveying the ‘right’
messages, in the ‘right’ tone, to the ‘right’ people, using the ‘right’ communication
channels. Public pronouncements need to show clearly that key executives are aware of
the situation, can give credible assurances that crisis management teams are in place and
explain the concerted effort to resolve the crisis. Where there is loss of life the leader
should express regrets.
Crises warrant concerted actions. Statements and actions not only need to address
key concerns but also to meet the expectations of the various stakeholders and actors,
 750 Public Management Review

including taxpayers, citizens and politicians. Often a political response is a key

dimension, especially when other countries’ citizens are involved. (The relief efforts for
the 2004 tsunami involved embassies, interpreters and translators, NGO relief and
support agencies, hospitals and healthcare professionals, and co-ordination locally,
nationally and across several time-zones.) This scenario presents public management
with a dilemma. By design, public sector organizations manage ‘planned and
programmed activities’ (Putra 2009: 152). This they achieve in a mechanical way
through their well-tested, and often time-honoured, bureaucratic processes
and procedures. Crises represent an abrupt body blow to existing systems and
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structures.
Competent crisis response requires organic processes, agile thinking and co-
ordination of effort across various relevant public agencies. It greatly helps if there are
pre-established streamlined channels of communication, logistics and authority. In their
book, Drennan and McConnell remind us ‘a crisis is a unique set of threatening
circumstances which usually appear with little or no warning, yet require quick
decisions to be made’ (p. 147). It goes without saying that ‘quick decisions’ should also
be ‘right’ decisions. In a crisis, events emerge over time out of the fog of ambiguity and
uncertainty, and tend to be aggravated by incomplete and distorted information. This is
not a recipe for clear thinking and decisiveness. In such circumstances, leaders can and
do make errors of judgement. Conversely, leaders and their teams can surmount crises
to demonstrate sound decision making in arduous situations, and demonstrate
astounding levels of personal courage and self-sacrifice. Crises can ‘make or break’ the
leaders of public service organizations. In the wake of 9/11 US domestic approval
ratings soared for President Bush, while a decade earlier the Mayor of Amsterdam saw
his reputation tarnished in the aftermath of the 1992 disaster when an El-Al 747 crashed
into a city housing complex and the victims saw that mayor’s pledges of support were
not kept (Boin and ’t Hart 2003).
Perceived poor management in a crisis by leaders of public services can dilute the
trust of citizens in the agencies of public governance. The shooting of an innocent
Brazilian man by officers of the London Metropolitan Police who erroneously believed
him to be a terrorist and the sloth-like response to Hurricane Katrina underscore the
delicacy of the public trust, and how easily it can be lost.

REFERENCES
Boin, A. and ’t Hart, P. (2003) Public Leadership in Times of Crisis: Mission Impossible? Public Administration
Review, 63:5 pp544–53.
’t Hart, P. and Boin, R. A. (2001) ‘Between Crisis and Normalcy: The Long Shadow of Post-Crisis Politics’ in
U. Rosenthal, R. A. Boin and L. K. Comfort (eds) Managing Crises: Threats, Dilemmas, Opportunities,
Springfield, IL: Charles C. Thomas.
Farazmand, A. ed. (2001) Handbook of Crisis and Emergency Management, Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press.
 Book Reviews 751

Kapucu, N. and van Wart, M. (2006) The Evolving Role of the Public Sector in Managing Catastrophic Disasters
Lessons Learned. Administration and Society, 38:3 pp279–308.
Putra, F. (2009) Crisis Management in Public Administration. Planning Forum, 13/14 pp152–76.

Brian Hunt
College of Management Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand
Ó 2010, Brian Hunt
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T. Christensen and P. Lægreid (eds)

Transcending New Public Management: The Transformation of Public Sector Reforms
Aldershot: Ashgate, 2007
ISBN 978 0 7546 8393 3

The objective of the book as stated in the first (and introductory) chapter is primarily to
examine recent administrative reforms in the Scandinavian countries, Australia and
New Zealand, following two decades of the global ideational predominance of the new
public management (NPM). The analytical framework consists of what the editors refer
to as the ‘transformative approach’, seeking to explain various national trajectories of
administrative reforms by combining a number of theoretical perspectives accounting
for how environmental pressures, polity features and historical institutional context
shape the process and outcome of public policy. As with most edited books, some of the
chapters are stronger than others in addressing the editors’ objective. Nevertheless,
taken together, the chapters bring out certain important elements in what has been
generally referred to as ‘post-NPM reforms’.
The second chapter by Tom Christensen, Amund Lie and Per Lægreid traces the
distinct processes and outcomes of administrative reforms in Australia, New Zealand
and Norway. It addresses two key questions: first, what has been the effect of NPM
reforms on the relationship between political control and administrative autonomy?
Second, has the nature and direction of reform over the past ten years been one of
continuation along the line of NPM or characterized by a radical reversal towards a
reassertion of control at the centre of governments? The conclusion is that although
the instruments of reform have varied among the three countries, they are all
seeking to address the systemic fragmentation created by NPM reforms by
re-establishing integrated and co-ordinated service delivery with stronger political
control and policy leadership. Similarly, the following chapter by John Halligan
looks at reform design and performances in Australia and New Zealand. It tracks
three broad generations of reforms, with the more recent being integrated
governance reforms widely referred to as post-NPM reforms. The implications of
these reform discourses for performance management are examined, juxtaposing the
Australian and New Zealand experiences. The reader gets the impression that both