Managing legitimacy: The Christchurch post-disaster reconstruction

Abstract

Large-scale, post-disaster infrastructure reconstruction projects confront multiple challenges. These include working in a demanding, resource-constrained environment; working to compressed timeframes; addressing community expectations; and protecting the local economy affected by the disaster. Following a series of major earthquakes in Canterbury New Zealand, an innovative organisational arrangement was developed in order to manage the extensive infrastructure reconstruction. This research investigated how SCIRT, the project-based alliance organisation that was created for the disaster recovery, addressed these challenges in handling the vast programme of projects. A key finding was that establishing the internal and external legitimacy of this organisation was a critical element that determined the effectiveness of the recovery work. Managing legitimacy perceptions among the multiple stakeholders is identified as a core task, and a little-recognised critical success factor, in the use of alliances for large-scale disaster-recovery projects.