Leaving Emergency Management in the Refugee Crisis to Civil Society? The Case of Austria

Simsa, Ruth

doi:10.1080/19361610.2017.1228026

Cited by 51 publications

(38 citation statements)

References 8 publications

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“…CSOs thus played a crucial role in handling the situation. Without the numerous CSOs, without the thousands of volunteers, and without the public pressure exerted by them, the country would not have been able to provide shelter, transport and food for so many people (Simsa 2017). Though many early warnings had indicated this migration through Central Europe (Syria descending more and more into civil war; widely chaotic warlike situations in Iraq and Afghanistan), the situation was exacerbated by a cut in funding for the refugee camps in the Middle East and, for many CSOs, the migration came as an unexpected jolt.…”

Section: Empirical Context Methods and Casesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Organizing the Unexpected: How Civil Society Organizations Dealt with the Refugee Crisis

Meyer

Simsa

2018

Voluntas

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The capability of organizations to respond to unexpected events has been investigated from different theoretical angles: organizational learning, improvisation, ambidexterity, resilience, to name but a few. These concepts, however, hardly ever refer to structural characteristics. Against this backdrop, the aim of this paper is twofold. First, based on systems and organizational learning theory, it will theoretically link the characteristics of organizational structure with organizational responses to unexpected external jolts, thus contributing to better understand the reactions of organizations to the unexpected. Second, it will empirically illustrate the relation of organizational structure with organizational responses by investigating how Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) in Austria reacted to the unexpected inflow of refugees from Central Europe. In 2015, CSOs accepted a wide range of responsibilities and worked together with government entities to provide shelter, catering, and transport for almost one million refugees. Based on participant observations during operation, in-depth interviews (2015 and 2016) and focus groups with decision-makers (2017), we will sketch three longitudinal case studies of organizations with very different structures, concentrating on the processes and operations they developed during the crisis. Our findings show that their responses are closely related to their structure, specifically to the flexibility and the stability of structural elements. Remarkable changes took place in all organizations investigated. Initial responses and first structural changes occurred mainly where the structure already allowed for flexibility. Yet in the long run, the adaptations also impacted the stable structural elements.

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Section: Empirical Context Methods and Casesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Organizing the Unexpected: How Civil Society Organizations Dealt with the Refugee Crisis

Meyer

Simsa

2018

Voluntas

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“…Many felt the wish to give back what they got from society; they wanted to contribute to the common good and felt a personal need to help. A recurrent topic was distrust in the government's ability or willingness to supply sufficient services and anger because they did not see their standards of social welfare met (Simsa 2017). Strong emotions were also reported such as feelings of helplessness, responsibility or satisfaction to be able to help.…”

Section: Civil Society Actors Active In Refugee Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

Symbolic struggles over solidarity in times of crisis: trade unions, civil society actors and the political far right in Austria

et al. 2019

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As a consequence of the recent financial and economic crisis, social cohesion and integration are in jeopardy all over Europe. In this context, scholars also speak of decreasing solidarity, which is defined as a normative obligation to help each other and to make sacrifices to reach common goals. By taking the empirical example of Austria, we argue that the meaning of solidarity is increasingly being contested. Various collective actors such as trade unions, civil society actors, but also right-wing populist parties are engaged in symbolic struggles over solidarity. To show this, we examine the different concepts and foundations of solidarity and analyse where and why they conflict with each other, referring to recent debates on political issues, such as the needs-based minimum benefit system and the access to the labour market for refugees.

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“…), which indicates that they were not capable of reshaping and restoring the prevailing physical and social environment (Smith and Wenger 2007, 246). Local individuals and groups became aware of this gap and spontaneously came to disaster sites for providing relief Simsa 2017;Frühwirth and Lachmayer 2015).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Moreover, political directives were also unstable ('from welcome culture to border-closed strategy') (Maduz and Roth 2017, 2 ff. ;Simsa 2017). In summary, formal disaster relief organizations, i.e.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Social Capital in Emerging Collaboration Between NPOs and Volunteers: Performance Effects and Sustainability Prospects in Disaster Relief

Kaltenbrunner

Renzl

2019

Voluntas

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Disaster management research increasingly focuses on how to collaborate with emergent volunteers in order to support formal disaster agents in the nonprofit sector (Whittaker et al. in Int J Disaster Risk Reduct 13:358-368, 2015; Strandh and Eklund in J Conting Crisis Manag 26(3):1-9, 2017). In a disaster context, we regard emergent collaboration between these agents as an appropriate approach for structured self-organization (Simsa et al. in Nonprofit Volunt Sector Q, 2018. https://doi.org/ 10.1177/0899764018785472) and hence for providing sustainable disaster relief. Our research seeks to identify which factors facilitate such emerging collaborative efforts. Using survey data from Austrian refugee migration in 2015/2016, we examine how social capital components affect the collaborative efforts between nonprofit organizations (NPOs) and emerging volunteers on a team level. Data evaluation is based on regression analysis. We provide empirical evidence that social capital components like 'avoidance of misunderstanding' and 'interaction frequency' enhance the collaborative efforts between NPOs and emergent volunteers. Furthermore, the study highlights the roles of 'emotional intensity' and 'intimacy' in collaborative disaster relief performance.

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Leaving Emergency Management in the Refugee Crisis to Civil Society? The Case of Austria

Cited by 51 publications

References 8 publications

Organizing the Unexpected: How Civil Society Organizations Dealt with the Refugee Crisis

Organizing the Unexpected: How Civil Society Organizations Dealt with the Refugee Crisis

Symbolic struggles over solidarity in times of crisis: trade unions, civil society actors and the political far right in Austria

Social Capital in Emerging Collaboration Between NPOs and Volunteers: Performance Effects and Sustainability Prospects in Disaster Relief

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