The role of public managers in the development and activation of dynamic capabilities for territorial resilience: a comparative case study of French local authorities

Crises and shocks that shake territories are intensifying and are characterized by increasing frequency and uncertainty (Boin & Lagadec, 2000). Local authorities are on the front line to absorb these shocks and adapt to them. They are in charge of public policies in the fields of transport, waste management and urban planning, all of which pose challenges for the sustainability of territories (Bhagavathula et al., 2021). The heterogeneous and ambiguous nature of the pressures experienced at the local level thwarts pre-established procedures to address them and enhances the need for resilience. Resilience constitutes an innovative, integrative, and unifying approach (Tanguy & Charreyron-Perchet, 2013) where the role of the local authority is to bring actors together around common visions (Soldo, 2018) to meet challenges that require different expertise. Developing resilience capabilities at the organizational or territorial level helps to limit the effects of disruptions, shocks, or crises and promotes a strategic vision suitable to change and adaptation (Duchek, 2020; Williams, 2011). The multi-level nature of resilience implies an interaction between individual, organizational, and territorial levels (Altintas, 2020; Lengnick-Hall et al., 2011; Weick, 1993). Furthermore, the concept of dynamic capabilities, derived from the strategic management literature, provides a framework for understanding how individuals, organizations, or territories evolve despite constraints (Mendez & Mercier, 2006; Teece, 2007). Hence, we mobilize the notion of dynamic resilience capabilities, which we define as the ability to prevent crisis situations, maintain a level of functioning, recover from shocks, and learn from experiences thanks to a continuous reconfiguration of local resources and skills. Top managers influence the strategic choices of the organizations they lead (Hambrick & Mason, 1984), particularly because they are able to decide how to allocate and orchestrate resources (Adner & Helfat, 2003; Augier & Teece, 2009; Helfat & Martin, 2015). Thus, we state that the stance of leaders in the face of local challenges conditions the development of dynamic capabilities for territorial resilience and thus promotes the resilience of the territory. We sought to understand how a network of local authorities engages in the construction of a territorial resilience project. Since local governments have a hierarchical structure, we aim to understand the role of managers when considering and driving internal and external governance modes for enhancing local resilience and adaptation to potential crises. Between the months of June and November 2023, we conducted a comparative study of the cities of Lyon and Grenoble as well as their respective metropolitan areas. Thus, we performed fifty semi-structured interviews (Romelaer, 2005) with public managers (chief executives of local authorities and project managers) involved in change management. The interviews were fully transcribed and analyzed using the Nvivo 14 software. The two territories studied have distinct landscapes and specificities. However, both are faced with the climate urgency and have taken the initiative to strengthen their resilience. The political support and the internal commitment of public managers towards transition are strong. The initial results of this study revealed obstacles and levers in the development of the resilience project. Engaging in territorial resilience on two different administrative levels implies a different understanding of local issues. At the organizational level, this translates into difficulties working with other administrations (State, region, department, municipality). Internally, resilience implies the integration of all services, however the visions and goals of each unit do not always converge due to different priorities on the delegation's agenda. Faced with these challenges, project managers provide support to enhance the coherence of the resilience project. They are a key lever and demonstrate the need for highly qualified internal staff to strengthen organizational resilience. Both cities rely on their potentialities and resources to strengthen their resilience. They have an associative network, legal prerogatives, internal and external funding, and their respective workforce. They are innovative in resources management, as they created new spaces for consultation and collaboration among various actors. Concerning external stakeholders, examples include the citizens' convention on climate or the school of resilience. Internally, chief officers drive management fashions to include the whole organization's staff through proactive approaches, which enhances transversality. Public managers leverage on external pressures to bring about long-term changes, as it was observed with the energy crisis in winter 2022, which influenced public facilities management.