ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on co-ordination challenges in large-scale emergency response involving a broad range of resources and agencies. The lead emergency response agency in this type of operations has to prepare for a mix of both civilian, military, government, private, and voluntary forces, and for support from forces in neighbouring countries. We look into the management structures of the preparedness systems in an Arctic context, and the adjoining managerial roles related to the co-ordination of joint operations. We elaborate on the structuring mechanisms that can be activated to adjust the operations of the combined task forces to a challenging high-complexity environment. We build upon in-depth studies of two demanding search and rescue operations. Our findings illuminate how task complexity calls for organizational adaptations to meet unforeseen challenges and for increased flexibility in leadership at different levels. We claim that the lead organizations have to be prepared for ad hoc reorganization and role-switching to deal with the volatility of high-complexity environments. Structuring mechanisms including role-switching, authority migration, and system reconfiguration are appropriate. Implications for the organization and managerial role configuration of the co-ordinating agencies are discussed.
