P20 Strengthening Wellbeing, Resilience and Innovation in the Emergency Services: Issues, Challenges and Opportunities in a VUCA world

Panel Members & Contact Details

Corresponding Chair & Review Group Chair: Professor Paresh Wankhade, Edge Hill University Business School, UK. Email: Paresh.Wankhade@edgehill.ac.uk

Co-Chairs:

Dr Katarzyna Lakoma, Nottingham Trent University Business School, UK. 

Dr Lucia Velotti, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, NY, USA

Professor Peter Murphy, Nottingham Trent University Business School, UK

Summary

This panel focuses on the growing wellbeing crisis in emergency services, where responders face increasing demands, chronic understaffing, and exposure to trauma amid global instability and resource constraints. It invites academic and practitioner contributions exploring mental health, organisational culture, leadership support, and resilience strategies, with a strong emphasis on addressing stigma and promoting trauma-informed care. The panel also encourages diverse theoretical and methodological approaches to better understand and support the evolving needs of emergency service workers in high-pressure environments.

Description

The emergency services panel has been running successfully since the 2017 IRSPM Conference.

Emergency services, globally, are dealing with complex societal pressures such as an ageing population,  increasing societal inequalities and greater public expectations while coping up with significant reductions in operational budgets and rising demand for their services. The pursuit of greater efficiency and effectiveness is under pressure from systemic issues, chronic understaffing and unfair management expectations which is resulting into a serious workforce wellbeing crisis (Wankhade et al., 2020,2018; McCann, 2022; Granter et al., 2019).

Emergency responders (e.g. paramedics, firefighters and police officers) face a wide range of wellbeing challenges, many of which are intensified by global factors such as geopolitical instability, and increased urbanisation, in an environment characterised by volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity (VUCA). Increased frequency and severity of crises on account of climate crisis or pandemics such as COVID-19 have placed sustained stress on emergency services worldwide. Additionally, emergency workers often face resource constraints and pressure to meet performance targets.  Despite growing awareness, stigma around mental health persists in emergency services along with inadequate counselling or peer support. The repeated exposure to emotional and traumatic incidents, is further contributing to cumulative psychological harm and moral injury.

The panel will be a combination of standard academic paper presentations and practitioner submissions. Submissions on the following topics will be welcome (in addition to submissions on other themes) including:

• Workplace discrimination (gender, diversity & inclusion) and its mental health impact.
• Organisational and leadership support in promoting individual and collective health and wellbeing.
• Tools and strategies for building mental health and psychological resilience.
• Designing effective strategies for individual and team counselling, peer support. 
• Addressing burnout and occupational stress.
• Flexible working and workplaces.
• Building a just and nurturing organisational culture.

Emerald and the International Journal of Emergency Services will sponsor the best paper award including the possibility of a Special Issue, similar to one published from papers presented at the 2018 panel:  https://www.emerald.com/insight/publication/issn/2047-0894/vol/9/iss/1

Theoretical framework/methods

Notwithstanding the global provision of emergency services, conceptual and methodological understanding of its working, organisations and workforce is still evolving (Wankhade and Murphy, 2023). The exact choice would depend on the specific research question(s), objectives, and available resources but several methodological choices are available. Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) Model is helpful to explain stress, burnout, and motivation in high-pressure roles to unpack job demands (e.g., trauma, workload) that leads to burnout unless balanced by job resources (e.g., support, autonomy). The Conservation of Resources (COR) Theory can highlight why sustained exposure to crisis depletes wellbeing since people strive to obtain and protect resources (emotional, physical, social), and stress arises when these are threatened or lost. The Trauma-Informed Care Framework highlights the importance of understanding and responding to trauma in service provision.

Qualitative methods can for instance provide in-depth insights into the lived experiences, perspectives, and challenges faced by emergency service staff and stakeholders. Quantitative research methods can be employed to identify patterns, correlations, and generalisable trends systems. Longitudinal studies can help reveals long-term impacts and causal relationships.

Relevance

The relationship between organisational performance, service delivery, workforce wellbeing and resilience within emergency services is complex and deeply interconnected. This panel relates directly to public management scholarship by addressing how to manage people, institutions, and systems for sustainable, effective service delivery in organisations trusted to protect lives and safeguard citizens and assets. It is thus important to ensure that the wellbeing of frontline workers is a key management priority since it directly impacts their ability to perform under pressure. Retaining supporting and motivating the workforce which often works in demanding environments is critical for long-term sustainability. Public management scholarship also highlights the value of good leadership. Our panel will highlight the importance of leaders in shaping organisational culture, offering insight into how managerial decisions affect psychological safety, morale, and burnout risk. The panel can further inform public managers about the consequences of underfunding or mismanaging staff welfare, motivating them to design resilient systems that support frontline workers during crises. Public management scholarship also increasingly focuses on building institutional resilience, especially post-COVID and in the context of climate change, which are directly relevant to the emergency services.

In summary, the proposed panel is seeking to explore ‘wellbeing and resilience’ in emergency services is highly relevant to the field of public management, as it touches on key themes such as workforce performance, organisational effectiveness, service delivery, and public value.

If approved, this panel will highlight the important but under-researched field of emergency services management.