Thinking outside the box, improvisation, and fast learning: Designing policy robustness to deal with what cannot be foreseen

Abstract

Policies are continually subjected to turbulence and crises. Interest in policy robustness as a fundamental way to deal with what cannot be foreseen is increasing. Thus, there is a flourishing stream of literature suggesting that policies need to be designed to be agile and flexible. However, the associated characteristics remain undeveloped. This article fills this gap by drawing on lessons obtained from the unplanned behaviors that were adopted in the management of the COVID‐19 pandemic. Individual and organizational behaviors characterized by outside the box thinking, improvisation, and fast learning yielded solutions to unexpected problems. In this article, some of these emblematic unplanned behaviors are assessed, and the research builds on the literature on policy robustness, crisis management, and organizational theory to identify three enabling conditions to design more robust policies: coordinated autonomy, training for unplanned responses, and political institutional capacity.

Public administration and politics meet turbulence: The search for robust governance responses

“…This review also identified a seventh important factor discussed in relation to robust governance: the voluntary compliance of citizens with state-sanctioned measures and guidance (e.g., mask mandates). Capano and Toth (2022), introduced in the previous section, found that following top-down rules had a constraining effect in the early stages of the Italian COVID response. They stress that outside-the-box thinking is crucial for an agile and flexible response, which requires an open and critical stance toward rules (although by no means a willy-nilly rejection of rules).…”

“…Capano and Toth (2022), introduced in the previous section, found that following top‐down rules had a constraining effect in the early stages of the Italian COVID response. They stress that outside‐the‐box thinking is crucial for an agile and flexible response, which requires an open and critical stance toward rules (although by no means a willy‐nilly rejection of rules).…”

“…Public organizations ready for robust governance will want to know what to do, and the ambition of this special issue is to develop a better understanding of the strategies and tools that may be used to this end. The literature has already advanced some general claims about robust governance (Ansell et al, 2021;Capano & Woo, 2018;Ferraro et al, 2015;Howlett et al, 2018;Vliet & Kok, 2015), but as Capano and Toth (2022) argue in this special issue, this research agenda must achieve greater scope and specificity. Key questions for advancing this research agenda include "What are the structural properties of robust governance systems?"…”

“…While structural properties are important and useful targets for design, robust systems must also effectively pair structure with process. In their assessment of the Italian response to COVID‐19 in this special issue, Capano and Toth (2022) emphasize how crisis situations typically call for “unplanned” responses to novel situations; that is, customized responses to time‐sensitive demands. An important process trait is outside‐the‐box thinking , which requires those making decisions to adopt a reflective and critical stance toward the received wisdom.…”

The public sector and co‐creation in turbulent times: A systematic literature review on robust governance in the COVID‐19 emergency

“…Therefore, a holistic view on robustness should not overlook the political aspects of governance. Building a robust political system, capable of authoritatively allocating values and of dealing with the conflicts of power and influence is fundamental in liberal democracies even in the face of turbulence demands (Sørensen & Ansell, 2021 ) (Capano & Toth, 2022 ).…”