Through the mist: how institution-knowledge bricoleurs make sense of a crisis

Abstract

As society faces more crises, it is critical for leaders, especially at the local level, to make decisions and intervene before reaching the tipping point. This often requires collective sensemaking across boundaries, but most studies focus on the challenges. This article asks how decision makers make timely decisions. It presents an institutions-process framework and analyzes the process and mechanism in the case of the response of E-Zhong City—just over an hour’s drive from Wuhan City in Hubei Province—to COVID-19 in the “Golden Seven Days” of 2020. Decision makers achieved timely decisions by exploiting all possible political opportunities and institutional tools, maximizing the diversity of the information available, and using multiple discourses and frameworks to enhance personal crisis awareness and achieve collective sensemaking across boundaries. This article defines the mechanism as bricolage and defines these decision makers as institution-knowledge bricoleurs. The concept of institution-knowledge bricoleurs extends the study of crisis decision making and the relationship between institutions and sensemaking.

Notes

1 All names of places and people in this article have been anonymized.

2 All cities’ arrangements for epidemic prevention and control were under the unified deployment of the Central Government after January 23 when Wuhan was locked down.

3 Whistleblower play an important role in the early stages of crisis response, especially when the public is not aware of the real situation. They are often front-line professionals who have the most direct and complete information. In the early stages of the COVID-19, Dr Wenliang Li and Ai Fen in Wuhan played this role (Abazi 2020).

4 For example, more than three cases of infectious diseases or the presence of other infectious disease characteristics (e.g., transmission rate, etc.).

5 The lower ranking city in Hubei Province has a more closed geographical environment, which provided a natural isolation barrier for viral transmission.

6 At that time, COVID-19 had not been officially defined yet. China’s official statement defined COVID-19 as “unexplained pneumonia.” But there were some “rumors” wide spread in Weibo and WeChat. According to the “rumors,” the South China Seafood Market was the source of the “unexplained pneumonia.”

7 Part of Hubei Province’s 12th Five-Year Plan (2011–2015), the purpose is to achieve the integration of medical resources in Hubei. A medical consortium is usually formed by a tertiary hospital in a region with a secondary hospital, a community hospital, or a village hospital.

8 A super-spreader is an epidemiological term that is not strictly defined, but mainly refers to people who are more likely to infect others than the average infected person. A typical super-spreader usually conforms to the 80/20 rule, meaning that approximately 20% of infected individuals result in 80% of transmitted cases (Galvani and May 2005). In early January, 2020, the neurosurgery department of the Union Hospital in Wuhan operated on a patient. After nine days, the patient was diagnosed with COVID-19. A total of 14 medical staff members were infected with COVID-19 during the treatment of the patient.

9 The provincial assistance team was also continued during the COVID-19 epidemic (See, Cai et al. 2022; Hu et al. 2020).

10 The latest news from the Health Commission at that time was a briefing from the Wuhan Health Commission in January 14, “The available findings indicate that no clear evidence of human-to-human transmission….”

11 “Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases Law of the People’s Republic of China” Article 39 states: if medical institutions find a class A infectious disease, the measures of separate isolation and treatment should be taken in a timely manner.

12 The two sessions are the National People’s Congress and the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference of the People’s Republic of China, the major governmental annually recurring meetings. The two meetings almost coincide and are of great political significance to China, they are always referred to as “two sessions” for short.

13 From January to March 1988, an outbreak of hepatitis A occurred in Shanghai. By May 13, 1988, a total of 310,746 people were sickened and 31 people died directly. The hepatitis A epidemic in Shanghai is an important memory of infectious diseases in China. At that time, Xu was studying in Shanghai and experienced the hepatitis A pandemic.

14 Playing the strongest voice of “people first”—Exploring the code of E-Zhong for epidemic prevention and control, from E-Zhong Daily.

15 The leadership group meeting is the highest decision-making body of a local government. It has a relatively regular agenda and meeting frequency. However, the Party Secretary has special agenda-setting powers. Once certain issues need immediate attention, the Secretary can call a special meeting. Depending on the urgency of the issue and the scope involved, the Secretary can also decide on the participants.

16 It was referred to “Hubei Province 12 Provisions of Discipline and Reward.” It was promulgated by the Hubei Provincial Commission for Discipline Inspection and Supervision in 2016. One provision states: If cadres in the handling of emergencies do not act exactly in accordance with the prescribed procedures, but they take timely measures and do not cause serious consequences, then they can be exempted from responsibility and this will not affect the promotion of cadres.

17 Playing the strongest voice of “people first”—Exploring the code of E-Zhong for epidemic prevention and control, from E-Zhong Daily. Non-compliance means the behavior of local government does not comply with the written or tacit rules from the central government. Specifically, at that time, local governments’ isolating the infected persons was not authorized by laws and the central authorities.

18 Hong Kua, the cadre accompanying Mayor Hong to the meeting in Hubei said in an interview: “When we arrived in Wuhan, Mayor Hong was wearing a mask. When other local cadres saw us, they felt like we were ‘deviants;’ that is, ‘is it necessary?.’ But our awareness was created. We were all quite alert.” (Interview time, January 27, 2021.)

19 It means a standard or event used for a reference or reminder of the severity of the crises. At that time, Wuhan suffered a lot. The outbreak in Wuhan was quite serious. So, Mayor Hong tried to use “Wuhan” as a reminder to alert the local officials.

20 Playing the strongest voice of “people first”—Exploring the code of E-Zhong for epidemic prevention and control, from E-Zhong Daily.

21 Interview with Hong Kua, Deputy Director of the Office of the Epidemic Prevention Command and Deputy Chief of the Integrated Group, January 27, 2021.

22 Playing the strongest voice of “people first”—Exploring the code of E-Zhong for epidemic prevention and control, from E-Zhong Daily.

23 Headquarters are Chinese governments’ central decision-making body in response to major events. During the COVID-19, the Headquarters played an important role as decision maker and coordinator (Cai et al. 2022).

24 Interview with Niu, Director of the Office of the Health Commission and Member of the Integrated Group of Epidemic Prevention, January 27, 2021.

25 In China, unannounced visits are a mechanism for leaders to process their work. It demonstrates the significance of the task within the Party and the government and send political signals and meaning.

26 The “Three-Character Classic” is a traditional Chinese culture phenomenon. It is called sanzijing in Chinese. It is the most easily understood and catchy traditional Chinese classic. It is often used to teach people how to behave. Its use for Epidemic Prevention and Control is a way to promote relevant general knowledge to the public.

27 For example, Xu was seen as a principal official favoring risk-taking strategies.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by National Social Science Fund for Young Scholars of China.

Notes on contributors

Changkun Cai

Changkun Cai ([email protected]) is an Assistant Professor at the College of Public Administration, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China. He specializes in politics and policy in China, public service delivery, and institutional analysis. He has published articles in Policy Studies, Public Administration and Development, Social Policy and Administration, Journal of Asian Public Policy, etc.

Zifan Yu

Zifan Yu ([email protected]) is a master student at the College of Public Administration, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China. She specializes in public governance and public policy.