I've Seen Fire and I've Seen Rain: Public Management and Performance After a Natural Disaster Academic Article

abstract

• Public organizations operate as open systems in settings that can be a source of difficulties for managers and for program performance. The unexpected arrival of two major hurricanes in 2005 caused widespread havoc, and some of the consequences constituted major shocks to public agenciesin particular, to public educational systems. This article assesses whether such shocks caused drops in performance, and whether organization and management contributed to a mitigation of these deleterious effects. Evidence indicates that shocks do disrupt performance but also that staff capacity and stability in street-level personnel of the organizations can reduce or eliminate these negative consequences.

authors

• Meier, Kenneth

published proceedings

• ADMINISTRATION & SOCIETY

altmetric score

• 6.55

author list (cited authors)

• Meier, K. J., O'Toole, L., & Hicklin, A.

citation count

• 38

complete list of authors

• Meier, Kenneth J||O'Toole, Laurence J Jr||Hicklin, Alisa

publication date

• January 2010

publisher

• SAGE Publications  Publisher

published in

• Administration and Society  Journal

keywords

• Hurricanes
• Organizational Shocks
• Performance
• Public Education
• Public Management

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

• 10.1177/0095399709349027

start page

• 979

end page

• 1003

volume

• 41

issue

• 8

URL

• http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0095399709349027