Bridging the Strategic Operational Gap : a matter of perception

This research studies the issue of strategic policy advising from a Regional Operational Team to a Policy Team in the context of The Dutch crisis management organization. For this research, the following research question has been used: “do different backgrounds of actors in a Policy Team (PT) and a Regional Operational Team (ROT), and institutional arrangements regarding strategic policy advising that are in use in a safety region, influence the congruence of perception of these actors regarding strategic policy advising?” In order to answer this question, a nomothetic, cross-sectional case study has been applied. Data has been collected by means of literature studies and qualitative interviews with actors from both the strategic and operational level. The institutional context of the regions has been studied by means of an institutional analysis. The analysis showed that both similar backgrounds and specific institutional agreements (or rules) influence the congruence of perception regarding strategic policy advising of the actors involved. Specifically developed rules that facilitate interactions between the operational and strategic level, can be used to prevent issues related to differences in perceptions of actors regarding strategic policy advising.