Projects initiated in response to major emergencies: a pathway to future public value

This research study aims to better understand the phenomenon of projects initiated in response to major emergencies. This aim is important because the intensity and frequency of major emergencies are increasing. Improving the responses to major emergencies ensures a reduction in disaster risk and community vulnerability and contributes to building community resilience to future emergencies. Projects initiated in response to major emergencies must contribute to the reduction of disaster risk by ensuring these projects provide outcomes of public value that benefit affected communities. <br><br> The literature review conducted to explore this phenomenon revealed little evidence of research in this field. Where literature did exist, it did not account for the dynamics of the social, economic and political contextual elements that drive the initiation of these projects. Instead, the literature review indicated three assumptions about projects and their outcomes. The first assumption is that commitment to public value theories and principles ensures public sector projects deliver the right benefits to the right beneficiaries. The second assumption is that the selection and outcomes of projects is underpinned by alignment with a strategy. The third assumption is that good project management and application of robust project management methodologies ensure the delivery of successful project outcomes. This research study challenges these assumptions and demonstrates that they do not align with projects initiated in response to major emergencies.<br><br> The qualitative research approach comprised a combination of interviews and an examination of secondary data sources. The interviews were conducted with 24 emergency management project practitioners, each with extensive experience with projects initiated in response to major emergencies. The interviewees' responses to open-ended questions were both informative and emotional; providing stark insight into practitioners' experiences with these projects. The secondary data examined included a review of data gathered from previous interviews with the survivors of a major emergency. This examination added nuance to the author's understanding of the impacts of major emergencies on communities and the concept of communities as beneficiaries of project outcomes. Survivor views validated the observations and experiences of project practitioners. <br><br> The examination of the lived experience of project practitioners combined with the contextual elements that surround projects initiated in response to major emergencies provides deep insight into the reality of these projects and therefore delivers a valuable contribution to project management research. The examination of the lived experience supports the development of new evidence and presented existing evidence in a way that informs practice and develops workforce expertise.<br><br> The conclusions of this study contribute four perspectives on projects initiated in response to a major emergency. The first perspective is that traditional project management methodologies do not address the complexities of the emergency management environment. The second proposes that project managers have little, if any, influence on the selection of projects or their outcomes in this scenario. The third perspective reveals that these projects are often, in the view of project practitioners, the wrong projects delivering the wrong outcomes to the wrong beneficiaries. The fourth perspective proposes that the decision-making processes surrounding the selection of the projects are heavily influenced by political actors and heightened political pressure to implement short-term, quick-fix outputs rather than long-term, sustainable outcomes. These perspectives, captured in a conceptual model, highlight the social, economic and political contextual elements that influence the initiation of these projects.