La comercialización de los medios de comunicación en China

tary state where much legislation is defined nationally but implemented locally. We focus on the organisational dimension of adaptation and how this fits into local policy process given that such policy changes should exist already considering that future changing climate and weather are predicted already. For example, this is very relevant for spatial projects being developed today which will remain in use for several decades. Similarly, adaptation should be anchored in the local governmental organisation itself, if the adjustment pro- cess is to be implemented effectively. To achieve this we argue that, due to the complex and cross-cutting nature of the issue, adaptation requires some form of explicit organisational changes for responses to be effective. Such or- ganisation changes were examined in our research at their functional, personal and structural levels within selected municipal administrations. The concept of organisational changes is used as an indicator to determine to what extent local governments are including adaptation in their local policy process.

Based on the above, the following research question was formulated for the chapter:

RQ5 Which organisational changes can be observed in Dutch municipalities to incorporate adaptation to climate change, and how can we explain our observations?

Drawing on the organisational change and policy implementation literature, the chapter sets out its conceptual approach in Section 6.2. Section 6.3 ex- plains the methodological approaches applied to conduct the study. The study results are presented in Section 6.4 and contain both descriptive (Section 6.4.1 - 6.4.2) and explanatory (Section 6.4.3) parts. The chapter ends with conclu- sions provided in Section 6.5.

6.2

Analysing variation in organisational responses

towards adaptation

The research aim here was to explain the variation encountered in the organ- isational responses of a selection of Dutch municipalities as to how they were responding to climate change adaptation. The primary intent was to observe and record the organisational changes local governments have undertaken to include adaptation in their policies and practices. We take organisational adaptation to be the changes made by the organisation to be able to realise adaptation better. We examined the bureaucratic situation within a municipal administration, but not the political processes or context.

The chapter is based conceptually on insights from the organisational change literature that analyses how organisations deal with external factors

Chapter 6 Organisational responses towards climate change adaptation

that compel the organisation to change, and when and how they (choose to) adjust in order to cope with these stimuli (e.g. G. R. Jones, 2009; O’Toole, 1995; Levitt & March, 1988). The organisational change lens is very relevant given the importance of the climate change stimuli. Changing climatic con- ditions, whether experienced or anticipated, can be regarded as one of many signals which an organisation may decide to respond to by adjusting its rou- tines (Berkhout et al., 2006). Routines are at the heart of every organisation and cover many forms of how an organisation operates. They are recorded in the collective memory and culture of an organisation. They change when any evidence of novel situations requires a response and when existing routines clearly become either inappropriate or ineffective (Levitt & March, 1988).

The chapter consists of a descriptive and an explanatory part. In the first part, we discuss our findings by using the learning phasing approach of signalling, interpreting and responding to climate change impact. In the second part, we explain the variations encountered by analysing whether the observed organisational changes are driven by internal or external factors.

Responding to climate change stimuli starts by recognising either direct signals (e.g. experience with shifting weather patterns or other climate change impacts) or, more indirectly, the advent of higher level policy on climate change and adaptation, or press attention to extreme weather events around the globe. However, signalling does not imply an actual prelude to organisational adjust- ments. Evidence from experience may fail to be recognised or interpreted as being significant because of the scarcity, redundancy or the complexity of the evidence from experience (Levitt & March, 1988, p. 333).

If the signals of climate change as a driving force are interpreted as being essential to act upon, the next step is to define and implement an appropriate response. For a municipality, responses would be adaptation to existing poli- cies or the creation of new policies. Then the implementation of adaptation measures would require some form of organisational change to increase the effectiveness of the organisation to deal with adaptation. The criteria used to assess organisational changes are as ‘people’, ‘procedures’ and ‘functions’ (G. R. Jones, 2009; Leavitt, 1973). The ‘people’ dimension captures how the skills and capabilities of the staff assigned for adaptation are enhanced. The ‘procedure’ dimension covers adjustments and the development of spe- cific procedures to better cope with the direct and indirect effects of climate change. These might be manifest in initiatives such as contingency plans, or new operational or emergency procedures to cope with the intensification of precipitation. Our focus was on water impacts, which are the most common area where measures are taken (van den Berg et al., 2010). The ‘functional’ dimension deals with changes within the organisational structure. This might

6.3 Methodology

include allocating a staff member or a new department to coordinate the adap- tation strategy or arrange the outsourcing of local tasks to improve the general level of performance. Table 6.1 presents the types of organisational changes we discerned for our analysis.

Table 6.1 Levels of action for analysing variation in organisational responses

Level of action Type of organisational change

Example

People level Adjustments in staff allocation to increase the effectiveness of the organisation to deal with adaptation

Enhancing the skills and capabilities of the staff assigned for adaptation

Procedural level Adjustments in procedures and practices to increase the effectiveness of the organisation to deal with adaptation

Developing specific procedures to better cope with direct of indirect effects from climate change, like contingency plans or procedures to cope with intensification of precipitation Functional level Adjustments within the

organisational structure to increase the effectiveness of the organisation to deal with adaptation; also includes the outsourcing of local tasks

Allocating a staff member or a (new) department to coordinate the adaptation strategy

6.3

Methodology

The paper is empirically based on two comparative case studies that included multiple study units. A case study design (George & Bennett, 2005) was followed. This allows an inductive approach to analyse the organisational pro- cesses taking place and to generalise from these observations. The municipality was our case study unit and our focus was the bureaucratic policy processes taking place. In selecting cases, we identified a number of maximum variation cases that would either score minimal or maximal on the main variables we defined (Flyvbjerg, 2006).

Our case selection assumed that the ‘adaptive action’ of organisational changes to adopt adaptation would depend largely on the scale and intensity of the climate change impacts. We relate the experience of a natural hazard

Chapter 6 Organisational responses towards climate change adaptation

event with the future probabilities of these impacts being intensified by climate change. We consider then how these two dimensions might affect the local governmental response towards adaptation. We selected cases that covered a maximum variation on these two variables, but also we differentiated between rural and urban municipalities. The total selection included fourteen cases. Table 6.2 shows the entire case study selection.

The first variable was labelled ‘experience’. We selected regions affected by a serious flooding experience using the records of the International Disaster Database (the flooding events recorded here included the 1953 North Sea Flood Disaster and the high water events in 1993 and 1995). A flooding is an event in which a large body of water, such as a river or lake has over-topped or broken through the dykes. This was the case for six municipalities. The organisational learning literature argues that experiences are very important for the development of an organisation, as their routines are based primarily on their interpretations of the past, rather than their anticipation of the future (Levitt & March, 1988). This is relevant for understanding responds to climate change stimuli as it suggests that any research approach must include a history dependent component.

The second variable was labelled ‘risk’. This was dealt with by identifying regions that face new flood risks due to predictions of likely increases in sea level or the intensification of river discharges. We considered it likely that both the probability and the scale of climate change impacts would influence the readiness to take adaptation action. We identify how risk and risk perception relates to the readiness to take action by examining the high or low probability of future climate change impacts. The variable of an increased flooding risk applied to seven municipalities.

The third variable was labelled ‘size’. This was included by distinguishing between a series of urban and rural cases that were selected as flood prone, or not, and also at risk, or not. These two groups of municipalities vary in their geography and their organisational contexts. Cities represent concentrations of people and economic infrastructure, while their built character makes them sensitive to urban heating and storm water inundation. Cities are run by a large municipal organisation with more resources and more opportunities to specialise. The ‘size’ variable covered six urban and eight rural cases.

Data were gathered through policy document analysis and complemented through semi-structured interviews with civil servants (n = 27) during two se- ries of case study research. The first case study was a nationwide study of nine municipalities. This examined how municipalities perceived their role in adap- tation in a multi-level setting and how they might develop local adaptation strategies.

6.3 Methodology

Respondents were identified by contacting the selected municipalities on their general telephone number to arrange interviews concerning the munici- pality’s climate change policy. The municipality itself decided how this should be interpreted and, usually, the contact emerged from the Environmental, Wa- ter Management or Spatial Planning Department. In smaller municipalities initial contacts were with the civil servant directly. Semi-structured interviews were conducted using an open-ended questionnaire with fourteen people from various departments and backgrounds. This discussed how climate change, its impacts and adaptation were perceived and organised and whether and how the municipality has been confronted with extreme weather or flooding exposure. This first exploratory round enabled us to conclude tentatively that adaptation was related generally to precipitation shifts. The issue was often associated with the local water management department, with the Environ- mental and Spatial Planning Departments being associated as well.

The second case study included five municipalities within one region (Over- ijssel). This examined how adaptation was being integrated into the local pol- icy process. The insights from the first round led us to interview seventeen staff representing the Environmental, Spatial Planning and Water Depart- ments using a questionnaire issued in advance (see below). We conducted semi-structured interviews also. These were based on an open-ended ques- tionnaire to address how climate change policy was organised within the mu- nicipality; how climate change risks were being perceived; and whether it was believed that there was a sufficient drive and resources to prepare the munic- ipality for future climate change impacts.

The second case study round was preceded by a web-based survey (n = 62). This was distributed among a selection of civil servants responsible for envi- ronmental, water management or spatial planning policy from the 25 munic- ipalities comprising the province in total. The response rate was 82%. The questionnaire was completed by one to four civil servants per municipality and covered 23 of all 25 municipalities. The names of the respondents were pro- vided by the provincial and water board authorities who communicated with the concerned civil servants on a regular basis.

Data analysis classified and interpreted the different ‘scores’ on the selec- tion criteria and on the different local narratives from the case study munici- palities. These local narratives were important as they included the organisa- tional perspective on climate change; its (perceived) impacts and adaptation as a strategy towards it; and, also descriptions of the characteristics of the municipality which provided context. We focused on the organisation of cli- mate issues within the organisation, the type of measures carried out and the respondents’ perceptions of the climate change concept, its risks and preferred

Chapter 6 Organisational responses towards climate change adaptation

solutions to compare the efforts put into adaptation among the different mu- nicipalities,. To generalise the findings we ordered the data to achieve a level of general understanding. The findings are discussed throughout Section 6.4. A data matrix showing the key data at a glance is provided in Table 6.2.