Joeri Van Laere
Professor of Informatics
When a crisis occurs, unexpected collaborations often emerge between various societal actors. Together, they must address the challenges that arise, but it is not always clear who should do what or who is responsible for specific tasks.
In crises, unexpected collaborations emerge between societal actors, often lacking clarity on roles and responsibilities. Municipalities or county boards coordinate Direction and Coordination Functions (DCF), temporary groups involving businesses, authorities, and organizations. These groups face challenges in setting clear, actionable goals under pressure.
Effective crisis collaboration requires a shared direction, but previous research shows that actors struggle to articulate clear goals and have limited opportunities to practice this.
This project will first analyze how DCFs set goals in past crises (e.g., the 2020 pandemic, the 2018 wildfires, 2015 refugee crisis) to develop guidelines for effective goal-setting. The second phase involves workshops where DCFs practice and evaluate these guidelines, enhancing their skills. Researchers will study group dynamics using Partial Organisation theory, focusing on balancing order, identity, flexibility, and agency in goal-setting.
