Chapter 7: Mission United—Organizationally Divided: Inter-Sectorial Collaboration in the Hungarian Approach to Servicing Ukrainian Refugees

The Ukrainian–Russian war exposed the governments of neighboring countries to situations they never experienced in peacetime; situations for which they had little or no preparation. The reception and servicing (meeting various and diverse needs) of masses of refugees required a completely new approach. In Hungary unexpected and unprecedented close cooperation took place among actors that previously were not in contact with each other. The focus of this research is this exceptional inter-sectoral collaboration among territorial government offices, municipalities, and charity organizations aimed at providing basic needs for refugees in five transitory care centers (Help Points), set up near the Ukrainian border as a response to the emergency situation caused by the outbreak of the war.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the barriers to collaboration that might arise in teams with high cognitive diversity. Based on a series of semistructured interviews, the study offers insights into different challenges to collaboration. Using Bayesian process tracing, our results show that inter-organizational collaboration is highly facilitated by managing similarly diverse teams, clearly delimiting tasks, creating adequate organizational structures, and building trusting relationships.