How a risk focus in emergency management can restrict community resilience – a case study from Victoria, Australia

2017 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jana-Axinja Paschen ◽  
Ruth Beilin
Keyword(s):  
Emergency Management ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Community Resilience ◽  
Ecological Resilience ◽  
Risk And Resilience ◽  
Policy And Practice ◽  
The Social ◽  
Response And Recovery ◽  
And Control

The research investigated understandings of risk and resilience in emergency management (EM) policy and practice. The core findings illustrate how a complex of institutionalised socio-cultural expectations and standardised processes – that is, evidence-based response models to deal with and communicate uncertainty – influence the operationalisation of resilience in EM. We observe that a focus on disaster risk as a quantifiable product of physical hazards is an attempt to control uncertainty and leads to engineered or technology-centred response solutions. Accordingly, community resilience is principally seen as the product of risk reduction, incident response and recovery interventions. The research shows that resultant command and control management practices produce limited – and limiting – interpretations of community resilience as disaster resilience. This can restrict existing and emergent community responses to risk, and the ability to imagine and enact more systemic types of community resilience. For instance, the short-term disaster focus tends to neglect the social and institutional root causes of community vulnerability and generic risk information is detached from everyday community experience. Using wildfire in Australia as its case study, this paper discusses the social, cultural and practical challenges of operationalising social–ecological resilience in EM.

Emergency Management Professional Development

2013 ◽  
pp. 651-665 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marianne Robin Russo
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Emergency Management ◽  
21St Century ◽  
Social Communication ◽  
Information Communication ◽  
Social Communication Skills ◽  
Emergency Personnel ◽  
The Social ◽  
Response And Recovery ◽  
Response Systems

Although there is current research describing technology efforts utilized in the 21st century as it relates to emergency management, there are adult educational factors to examine regarding Information Communication Technology (ICT) and the Social Communication Skills (SCS) of emergency personnel. Technology is quickly evolving and the the population is becoming increasingly more diverse, driving the efforts of emergency personnel to harness more technological emergency advances and navigate the culture of each community to assure effective emergency measures are taken. Within the ICT and SCS framework, emergency management must concern itself with: (a) the basic tenets of emergency management; (b) the changing and new nature of global threats in the 21st century; (c) evolving emergency management technologies; (d) social considerations when interfacing with the communities served; and (e) recommendations for those who are involved in emergency management mitigation, preparation, response, and recovery emergency efforts. All of these factors revolve around the education and re-education of adults; therefore, the focus of this chapter explores subsequent educational implications for the emergency personnel workforce as well as positive results for affected communities. This chapter proposes a larger implication, one of emergency personnel professional development within technology-based response systems as well as the cultivation of social communication in an effort to build a Sense of Community (SOC) with the diverse citizenry they serve. Emergency first responders, as well as other emergency personnel, must be educated in technology and social skills to better serve the community and to become a part of a holistic community. It is in this way that safety, and ultimately social justice, efforts for specific groups who may be marginalized and disenfranchised during an emergency are enhanced.

scholarly journals The Mechanism of Social Organization Participation in Natural Hazards Emergency Relief: A Case Study Based on the Social Network Analysis

2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (21) ◽  
pp. 4110 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yingxin Chen ◽  
Jing Zhang ◽  
Pandu R. Tadikamalla ◽  
Lei Zhou
Keyword(s):  
Social Network ◽  
Social Network Analysis ◽  
Network Analysis ◽  
Emergency Management ◽  
Social Organization ◽  
Natural Hazards ◽  
Quantitative Research ◽  
Emergency Relief ◽  
The Social

The uncertainty and complexity of natural hazards put forward new requirements for emergency management systems. In order to deal with natural hazards effectively, it is important to build a cooperative network between government organizations and social organizations. The social network analysis method is adopted, the April 2013 Ya’an China earthquake is taken as a case study, the institutionalized emergency organization network before the disaster and the actual response organization network after the disaster are analyzed, and centrality, between centrality, closeness centrality and core-periphery are calculated. Through qualitative and quantitative research, the functions of social organization in the process of natural hazards emergency relief are revealed, the role orientation of social organization in the emergency management network is analyzed, and the influence factors of the social organization participation in the natural hazards relief is pointed out. Research results will help to promote the cooperation between social organization and government, and improve the efficiency of natural hazards emergency relief.

scholarly journals Environmental management control systems for carbon emissions

2017 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 39-50 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nadia Di Giacomo ◽  
James Guthrie ◽  
Federica Farneti
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Management ◽  
Carbon Emissions ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Air Travel ◽  
Management Control ◽  
Policy And Practice ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Case Study Analysis ◽  
Study Approach

Purpose This paper aims to focus on a global consulting company and examine how it struggled to establish an effective environmental management control system for carbon emissions for its employees’ air travel. The organisation was motivated to reduce its carbon emissions both to comply with regulation and to enhance or maintain corporate reputation. Design/methodology/approach The paper takes a case study approach, examining internal and external documents as well as conducting interviews with senior staff. Findings The case study investigates how Beta’s management implemented a system to reduce carbon emissions. The organisation focused on air travel, but the study finds that employee travel preferences did not radically change. Rather than reduction in carbon emissions, as planned by head office, air travel carbon emissions actually increased during the period, and, as a consequence, the reported reduction targets were significantly adjusted downwards to meet the new realities. Practical/implications The study has implications for both policy and practice for organisations seeking to improve their sustainability performance. Originality/value The study responds to calls in the literature to undertake research to identify how management practices might reduce negative sustainability impacts, as there is little evidence of what management practices and accounting tools are being adopted, particularly in relation to carbon emissions from air travel. The paper adds to the creation of new accounting, giving visibility to carbon emission management through case study analysis.

Interplay between labour dynamics, accounting and accountability practices during the rise of a political logic: an Egyptian case study

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (4) ◽  
pp. 675-702
Author(s):  
Ahmed Abdelnaby Ahmed Diab
Keyword(s):  
Corporate Management ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Study Approach ◽  
The Social ◽  
Revolutionary Politics ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
And Control ◽  
Accountability Practices ◽  
African Setting

Purpose The purpose of this study is to provide a political explanation of management, accounting and control (MAC) practices in a traditional and unstable African setting. This was done by exploring the influence of latest revolutionary politics in Egypt along with labour dynamics in the context. Design/methodology/approach Theoretically, the study uses the institutional logics perspective to understand the effects of higher order institutions on corporate management and workers at the micro level. Methodologically, the study adopts an interpretative case study approach. Data were collected using a triangulation of interviews, documents and observations. Findings The study finds that volatile political settings can have different contradictory implications for MAC practices. It also concludes that revolutionary events play a central role not only in the configuration of MAC practices but also in the mobilisation of labour resistance to these practices. Originality/value The study contributes to the literature by investigating the different appearances of MAC practices in a volatile, political or revolutionary context, in contrast to highly investigated stabilised Western contexts. This broadens the definition of the social in the area of accounting and control.

Is Gender-Based Violence a Social Norm? Rethinking Power in a Popular Development Intervention

2020 ◽  
Vol 126 (1) ◽  
pp. 89-105
Author(s):  
Amy Piedalue ◽  
Amanda Gilbertson ◽  
Kalissa Alexeyeff ◽  
Elise Klein
Keyword(s):  
Social Norms ◽  
Social Norm ◽  
Social Processes ◽  
Gender Based Violence ◽  
Policy And Practice ◽  
The Social ◽  
Key Factor ◽  
Critical Revision ◽  
Gender Based ◽  
And Control

Changing social norms has become the preferred approach in global efforts to prevent gender-based violence (GBV). In this article, we trace the rise of social norms within GBV-related policy and practice and their transformation from social processes that exist in the world to beliefs that exist in the minds of individuals. The analytic framework that underpins social norms approaches has been subject to ongoing critical revision but continues to have significant issues in its conceptualisation of power and its sidelining of the political economy. These issues are particularly apparent in the use of individualised measures of social norms that cannot demonstrate causation, and conflation of social norms with culture. Recognising that the pressure to measure may be a key factor in reducing the complexity of the social norms approach, we call for the use of mixed methods in documenting the factors and processes that contribute to GBV and the effectiveness of interventions. As social norms approaches are increasingly prioritised over addressing the non-normative contributors to GBV (such as access to and control over productive resources), awareness of the limitations of social norms approaches is vital.

scholarly journals Integrating the social sciences into the COVID-19 response in Alberta, Canada

2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (7) ◽  
pp. e002672
Author(s):  
Myles Leslie ◽  
Raad Fadaak ◽  
Jan Davies ◽  
Johanna Blaak ◽  
PG Forest ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Social Science ◽  
Infection Prevention ◽  
Interdisciplinary Team ◽  
Infection Prevention And Control ◽  
Social Scientists ◽  
The Social ◽  
Policy Communication ◽  
And Control

This paper outlines the rapid integration of social scientists into a Canadian province’s COVID-19 response. We describe the motivating theory, deployment and initial outcomes of our team of Organisational Sociologist ethnographers, Human Factors experts and Infection Prevention and Control clinicians focused on understanding and improving Alberta’s responsiveness to the pandemic. Specifically, that interdisciplinary team is working alongside acute and primary care personnel, as well as public health leaders to deliver ‘situated interventions’ that flow from studying communications, interpretations and implementations across responding organisations. Acting in real time, the team is providing critical insights on policy communication and implementation to targeted members of the health system. Using our rapid and ongoing deployment as a case study of social science techniques applied to a pandemic, we describe how other health systems might leverage social science to improve their preparations and communications.

Personalisation in children’s social work: from family support to “the child’s budget”

2015 ◽  
Vol 23 (5) ◽  
pp. 277-286 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emilie Morwenna Whitaker
Keyword(s):  
Family Support ◽  
Social Care ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Team Members ◽  
Ethnographic Studies ◽  
The Social ◽  
Case Study Site ◽  
Individualised Care ◽  
And Control

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the changing meaning of personalisation from the New Labour era of bespoke, integrated family support to the more recent implementation of personal budgets for disabled children to deliver “choice and control”. The paper explores the discursive change from early help to “intervention”, the shifting conceptualisation of parents and the turn away from family support towards a focus upon individualised commissioning to meet needs. Design/methodology/approach – In addition to a literature review of policy shifts, findings presented are taken from an ethnographic case study of one team of children’s disability social workers. Observations were undertaken of the team in the office space and at meetings, in addition interviews were conducted with all team members and with seven families. An interpretivist and qualitative approach was adopted throughout. Findings – Findings reveal the frontline and familial challenges of delivering choice and control in a climate of austerity and child-centricism. Salient points for integration around families and between organisations as personalisation narrows in scope are also considered. Research limitations/implications – Findings are taken from one case study site; further research in different sites is required to consider the array of understandings and experiences across the social care landscape and to provide a strong empirical baseline. Originality/value – The paper reports on one of the first ethnographic studies of personalisation in children’s services. The paper is of value to practitioners and managers in social care and the NHS. It is also of value to academics exploring the conceptual and practical issues of individualised care.

scholarly journals The impacts of Meta Data Management on Social Dynamics: A Research Case Study

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Torrance Mayberry
Keyword(s):  
Data Management ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Social Dynamics ◽  
Complex Phenomenon ◽  
Critical Importance ◽  
Meta Data ◽  
Cognitive Ethnography ◽  
The Social ◽  
Emerging Themes

<p>Meta data management practices often overlook the role social dynamics play in harnessing the value of an organisation’s unique business language and the behaviours it creates. Using evidence from literature, interviews and cognitive ethnography, this research case sets out to explain the impacts of meta data management on social dynamics. The emerging themes (that is, newness, continual adaption, engagement tension, production tension, inefficiency and unreliability) represent salient factors by which organisations can be constrained in exploiting the worth of their meta data. This research emphasises the critical importance of organisations having a deeper understanding of the purpose and meaning of information. This understanding is a strength for creating value and for exploiting the worth arising in networks and in the social dynamics created within those networks. This strength contributes to organisations’ economic growth and is interdependent with their ability to manage complex phenomenon in a growing interconnected society.</p>

scholarly journals O modelo de governança corporativa na educação superior e as repercussões no trabalho docente: Um estudo de caso

2020 ◽  
Vol 28 ◽  
pp. 9
Author(s):  
Fabíola Bouth Grello Kato ◽  
Vera Lúcia Jacob Chaves ◽  
Rosimê Da Conceição Meguins
Keyword(s):  
Work Conditions ◽  
Social Recognition ◽  
University Management ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Professional Management ◽  
The Social ◽  
Political Roles ◽  
The University ◽  
And Control

This paper analyses the repercussions of the adoption of a corporative government model for professor work inside a higher education institute within the State of Pará, managerially organized as a university and belonging to Grupo Ser Educational S.A. since 2014. This case study adds to the analyses of report documents and of three semi-structured interviews with professors of the University of Amazônia/Ser Educacional to understand the changes that the selling of the university to the Grupo Ser Educacional brought to professor work, in terms of the learning activities, the work conditions, and the university management. The analyses reveal that incorporation of the professional management system guided by the model of corporative management brought changes in the pedagogical culture, collegiate management, and in the conditions of work. The results show conflict between the social and political roles of education, especially from the incorporation of a policy of austere pedagogical management, one in which the current corporate world demands from educational companies that use this model, characterized by the deep heteronomy of professor’s work, fragmentation and control of pedagogical work, as well as the impoverishment and loss of social recognition.

scholarly journals An education approach for the Anthropocene epoch

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (11) ◽  
pp. e448101119780
Author(s):  
Cristiane Mansur de Moraes Souza
Keyword(s):  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Social Learning ◽  
Methodological Approach ◽  
Ecological Systems ◽  
Ecological Resilience ◽  
Considerable Uncertainty ◽  
Social Ecological Systems ◽  
Social Ecological ◽  
The Social

It is now well established in the literature that there is a need to incorporate the concept of sustainability into education at all study levels. However, there is considerable uncertainty expressed concerning how it could best be achieved and how the resilience concept would enhance this idea. This article aims to address this gap. The objective is to explore aspects of socio-ecological resilience, that underlies a university case study. The methodology is exploratory, descriptive, and explanatory. Results demonstrate that civil engagement university activities are an education approach that provides students with experiences that build skills necessary for addressing the challenges of the Anthropocene Epoch. The conclusion of the article emphasizes that the education for the Anthropocene epoch should consider the enhancement of ecosystem services by demonstrating that humans are part of the social-ecological systems; considering interdisciplinarity as a methodological approach; demonstrating the variety of potentials on participation of stakeholders by civil engagement as developing autonomy both on students and stakeholders and developing the ability for proactive attitudes. Is also enhance learning and social learning by civil engagement and participation.

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