Supervisors: Heidi Houlberg Salomonsen & Winni Johansen
Discussants: Irene Pollach & Mai Skjøtt Linneberg

Abstract – PhD cover
Crisis management and communication research has traditionally emphasized centralized authority, often concentrated within a crisis management team (CMT), to enable rapid, coordinated internal responses during crises. Some scholars, however, question centralized models, especially during extended or complex crises. Such scholars, though, usually portray decentralization and involvement of middle managers and employees in overly optimistic terms, leaving key questions unresolved. When and how should CMT implement decentralization through middle managers, which tasks are suitable for this approach, and what organizational challenges might arise? What are the benefits of employee involvement on managerial resilience? Why does the centralization mantra persist, and what dimensions must be addressed to avoid failure in decentralized approaches? My PhD aims to empirically explore different organizational perspectives, such as CMTs, middle managers, and employees, in the context of decentralized crisis management and crisis communication, based on a case study of a large Danish organization (+1500 employees, including 140 middle managers) during the pandemic. This has resulted in three papers, including a systematic literature review of internal crisis communication research, a qualitative interview study, and a quantitative survey study.

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