Leadership, Public Values, and Trust in Emergency Management

2019 ◽  
pp. 66-88
Author(s):  
Augustine Nduka Eneanya
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Emergency Management ◽  
Team Leadership ◽  
Public Values ◽  
Team Members ◽  
Emergency Managers ◽  
Chain Of Command ◽  
Set Up ◽  
The Right ◽  
Share Information

In today's environment, emergency managers get things done through team leadership. Good leaders know how to follow others when the situation calls for it. Being the right kind of leader is critical to getting committed and engage followers. The chapter argues that managers build trust into decision making during emergencies; when managers set up the right conditions for the team to thrive, it results a better outcome. The chapter further argues that when managers share information both up and down the chain of command and make their intention clear about what winning looks like, team members are able to use their own discretion and make decisions that support the mission. The chapter concludes that an effective expression of the manager's intent must be clear and concise of what the team must do to succeed and achieve the desired end state. The manager must build trust in decision making among the team to achieve better results.

Leadership, Public Values, and Trust in Emergency Management

2018 ◽  
pp. 61-82
Author(s):  
Augustine Nduka Eneanya
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Emergency Management ◽  
Team Leadership ◽  
Public Values ◽  
Team Members ◽  
Emergency Managers ◽  
Chain Of Command ◽  
Set Up ◽  
The Right ◽  
Share Information

In today's environment, emergency managers get things done through team leadership. Good leaders know how to follow others when the situation calls for it. Being the right kind of leader is critical to getting committed and engage followers. The chapter argues that managers build trust into decision making during emergencies; when managers set up the right conditions for the team to thrive, it results a better outcome. The chapter further argues that when managers share information both up and down the chain of command and make their intention clear about what winning looks like, team members are able to use their own discretion and make decisions that support the mission. The chapter concludes that an effective expression of the manager's intent must be clear and concise of what the team must do to succeed and achieve the desired end state. The manager must build trust in decision making among the team to achieve better results.

scholarly journals Increasing the Value of Uncertain Weather and River Forecasts for Emergency Managers

2016 ◽  
Vol 97 (1) ◽  
pp. 85-97 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frauke Hoss ◽  
Paul Fischbeck
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Emergency Management ◽  
High Water ◽  
Water Levels ◽  
Local Network ◽  
Weather Forecasts ◽  
Emergency Managers ◽  
Weather Events ◽  
The Media ◽  
The Many

Abstract Emergency managers (EMs) use National Weather Service (NWS) forecasts to prepare for and respond to severe weather events. To effectively facilitate such decision making, the NWS needs to understand this large and important group of clients. EMs translate the forecasts to local topography, suggest actions to take in preparation of high water levels, and use their local network and reputation to make people act. For this study, 17 EMs in towns along rivers were interviewed and asked to describe their use of river and weather forecasts. Forecast uncertainty is one of the many uncertainties an EM has to manage when coordinating an emergency response. Each of the interviewed EMs who uses river forecasts was acutely aware that river forecasts often have substantial uncertainty. To cope with this uncertainty, EMs engage in extensive information gathering before forming their own judgments. However, EMs often do not communicate their judgment of the situation to the public, fearing potential liability claims and backlash from the media. For emergency management decisions, while EMs do consider forecast data, they rely heavily on recorded data and monitoring crews, limiting the benefits of forecasts that can be made with significant lead time. This paper arrives at recommendations for the NWS on how to increase the value of river and weather forecasts for decision making in emergency management.

Collaboration and crowdsourcing in emergency management

2017 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 176-193 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christoph Ernst ◽  
Andreas Mladenow ◽  
Christine Strauss
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Social Networks ◽  
Social Network ◽  
Emergency Management ◽  
Disaster Response ◽  
Network Effects ◽  
Weak Ties ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Emergency Managers ◽  
Social Network Effects

Purpose Emergency managers face coordinative challenges that require a high degree of mobility, flexibility and the ability to interpret heterogeneous, location-dependent information of various sources and quality. Recent information and communication technology-driven developments like crowdsourcing or social networks have opened up new organizational possibilities for emergency managers. To make quick but solid decisions, and improve the coordination of activities performed by crowdsourcees during disaster response, the authors suggest the use of collaborative features from crowdsourcing and inherent availability of resources from social network effects. In this paper, the idea of considering collaboration and crowdsourcing as drivers for flexibility in the design of business processes in the context of emergency management is prepared, the meaning of location-dependent tasks for volunteers is investigated, and the added value of social network effects is substantiated. Design/methodology/approach This paper is part of an ongoing research project in the field of crowdsourcing. It represents conceptual work that builds on relevant literature. Findings In terms of emergency management, the paper sheds light on what emergency managers may consider when coordinating activities performed by volunteers and how they may benefit from social network effects. Furthermore, it is shown how they can exploit information using collaboration-based and tournament-like crowdsourcing, how they can benefit from invoking additional resources using weak ties from social networks, and how visualization of information may support decision-making. Practical implications Exemplary applications to exploit crowdsourcing and social network effects to support improvisation and to respond flexibly in disaster response are given. Originality/value This paper suggests novel collaborative approaches to support emergency managers in their decision-making. Based on social network analysis, the value of weak ties is elaborated, and based on a taxonomy from crowdsourcing, distinct collaborative alternatives are developed and proposed for application in emergency management.

Decision‐making training in local government emergency management

2012 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 159-174 ◽  
Author(s):  
Helen Sinclair ◽  
Emma E.H. Doyle ◽  
David M. Johnston ◽  
Douglas Paton
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Local Government ◽  
Emergency Management ◽  
Management Decision ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Emergency Operations ◽  
Emergency Managers ◽  
Decision Making Styles ◽  
Management Decision Making ◽  
Survey Approach

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to contribute information and recommendations that could better equip emergency managers to prepare for and respond to emergencies and disasters, with a focus on improving their decision‐making capabilities during response.Design/methodology/approachA questionnaire‐based survey approach was used in this research and 48 different local government organisations participated. These results were examined in conjunction with contemporary emergency management decision‐making literature. A combination of closed and open ended questions was used, enabling qualitative and quantitative analysis.FindingsResults suggest that while there is information available about decision making, not all emergency managers are aware of the existence of this information or understand its relevance to emergency management. It is likely that those who did have a comprehensive understanding of decision making had gained this knowledge through non‐emergency management‐related courses. In total, 71 percent of participants said they would be interested in receiving more support regarding training and practice for decision making in Emergency Operations Centres.Originality/valueA wide body of research has investigated decision‐making styles. However, this paper shows that in the local government emergency management sector there is little awareness of the understanding of the different decision‐making approaches. In addition, for those organisations surveyed, there is a great desire for further training and practice in decision making. It is thus vital that this need is addressed, to further improve the future response of these organisations to emergencies.

Problems Relating to the Right to Information in Turkey

2019 ◽  
pp. 134-168
Author(s):  
Omur Aydin
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Public Administration ◽  
Participatory Democracy ◽  
The State ◽  
State Of Emergency ◽  
Attitudes And Behaviors ◽  
And Behaviors ◽  
Right To Information ◽  
The Right ◽  
Share Information

Traditionally, public administration has always preferred to work behind closed doors. However, the concept of participatory democracy, which developed especially after the 1950s, encouraged citizens to participate more in the decision-making mechanisms of the state. Turkey experiences many problems in exercising the right to information, which was enacted in 2003, arising from the administration's attitudes and behaviors and also from the legislation. Foremost among these are the fact that citizens have not been made sufficiently aware of this right and that the administration is reluctant to share information. An analysis of the data and statistics in Turkey shows a rising trend in the exercise of this right by citizens between 2004-2015. However, considering the size of Turkey's population, the rate can still be deemed low. Post-2015 figures show a radical decline in citizens' exercising of the right to information. This situation may be explained by the painful process that Turkey experienced from 2015 onwards and the state of emergency implementations that followed.

Distrust in emergency management: The impact of reduced information exchange

2009 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 19 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bjørn Ivar Kruke, MSc, PhD
Keyword(s):  
Emergency Management ◽  
Information Exchange ◽  
Willingness To Communicate ◽  
Trust Building ◽  
Complex Emergencies ◽  
Humanitarian Operations ◽  
Emergency Managers ◽  
Host Government ◽  
The Right ◽  
The Impact

Coordination of humanitarian operations in complex emergencies require joint initiatives from mutually dependent actors, such as the host government, large UN agencies, international and national nongovernmental organizations, and the population. To master the challenges of coordination, building trust relations between these actors is essential, trust relations based on the willingness to communicate, to share information, and to cooperate. However, distrust between the displaced population and host government is often seen in complex emergencies and influences the agencies coming to the emergency area. This article concludes that distrust leads to reduced information exchange and thereby increased distrust. Although distrust in the authorities is well founded in Darfur, humanitarian operations without the authorities are not possible. The right personalities in key positions and smaller forums for information exchange increase the likelihood of trust-building between individual emergency managers from the various actors; trust-building is necessary for reliable emergency management.

scholarly journals Data interoperability software solution for emergency reaction in the Europe Union

2015 ◽  
Vol 15 (7) ◽  
pp. 1563-1576 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Casado ◽  
E. Rubiera ◽  
M. Sacristan ◽  
F. Schütte ◽  
R. Peters
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Emergency Management ◽  
Service Oriented Architecture ◽  
First Responders ◽  
Data Interoperability ◽  
International Crisis ◽  
Linguistic Differences ◽  
Emergency Managers ◽  
Disaster Data ◽  
Modular Ontology

Abstract. Emergency management becomes more challenging in international crisis episodes because of cultural, semantic and linguistic differences between all stakeholders, especially first responders. Misunderstandings between first responders makes decision making slower and more difficult. However, spread and development of networks and IT-based emergency management systems (EMSs) have improved emergency responses, which have become more coordinated. Despite improvements made in recent years, EMSs have not still solved problems related to cultural, semantic and linguistic differences which are the real cause of slower decision making. In addition, from a technical perspective, the consolidation of current EMSs and the different formats used to exchange information offers another problem to be solved in any solution proposed for information interoperability between heterogeneous EMSs in different contexts. To overcome these problems, we present a software solution based on semantic and mediation technologies. EMERGency ELements (EMERGEL) (Fundacion CTIC and AntwortING Ingenieurbüro PartG, 2013), a common and modular ontology shared by all the stakeholders, has been defined. It offers the best solution to gather all stakeholders' knowledge in a unique and flexible data model, taking into account different countries' cultural and linguistic issues. To deal with the diversity of data protocols and formats, we have designed a service-oriented architecture for data interoperability (named DISASTER: Data Interoperability Solution At STakeholders Emergency Reaction) providing a flexible extensible solution to solve the mediation issues. Web services have been adopted as specific technology to implement this paradigm that has the most significant academic and industrial visibility and attraction. Contributions of this work have been validated through the design and development of a cross-border realistic prototype scenario, actively involving both emergency managers and emergency-first responders: the Netherlands–Germany border fire.

scholarly journals Data interoperability software solution for emergency reaction in the Europe Union

2014 ◽  
Vol 2 (9) ◽  
pp. 6003-6031 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Casado ◽  
E. Rubiera ◽  
M. Sacristan ◽  
F. Schütte ◽  
R. Peters
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Emergency Management ◽  
Service Oriented Architecture ◽  
First Responders ◽  
Data Interoperability ◽  
International Crisis ◽  
Linguistic Differences ◽  
Emergency Managers ◽  
Service Oriented ◽  
Modular Ontology

Abstract. Emergency management becomes more challenging in international crisis episodes because of cultural, semantic and linguistic differences between all stakeholders, especially first responders. Misunderstandings between first responders makes decision-making slower and more difficult. However, spread and development of networks and IT-based Emergency Management Systems (EMS) has improved emergency responses, becoming more coordinated. Despite improvements made in recent years, EMS have not still solved problems related to cultural, semantic and linguistic differences which are the real cause of slower decision-making. In addition, from a technical perspective, the consolidation of current EMS and the different formats used to exchange information offers another problem to be solved in any solution proposed for information interoperability between heterogeneous EMS surrounded by different contexts. To overcome these problems we present a software solution based on semantic and mediation technologies. EMERGency ELements (EMERGEL) (Fundacion CTIC and AntwortING Ingenieurbüro PartG 2013), a common and modular ontology shared by all the stakeholders, has been defined. It offers the best solution to gather all stakeholders' knowledge in a unique and flexible data model, taking into account different countries cultural linguistic issues. To deal with the diversity of data protocols and formats, we have designed a Service Oriented Architecture for Data Interoperability (named DISASTER) providing a flexible extensible solution to solve the mediation issues. Web Services have been adopted as specific technology to implement such paradigm that has the most significant academic and industrial visibility and attraction. Contributions of this work have been validated through the design and development of a cross-border realistic prototype scenario, actively involving both emergency managers and emergency first responders: the Netherlands–Germany border fire.

scholarly journals Whose values? Decision making in a COVID-19 emergency-management scenario

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-14
Author(s):  
Mathea Roorda ◽  
Amy Gullickson ◽  
Ralph Renger
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Emergency Management ◽  
Decision Making Process ◽  
Evaluation Tools ◽  
Ethical Theories ◽  
Management Scenario ◽  
Pandemic Response ◽  
Share Information

Crises may present unprecedented challenges that require people to think outside their traditional boxes. During COVID-19, many of us have seen officials and experts come together to share information and simultaneously respond to an emerging issue. For an evaluator working at the coalface of the pandemic response it can be an opportunity to draw from their kete (basket) of evaluation tools and matrixes to support the decision-making process to be as defensible as possible. This praxis article describes the process of three evaluators reflecting and discussing one such scenario and exploring how an evaluation-specific tool based on normative ethical theories could provide some benefit.

scholarly journals The behavioral preferences of leaders and team performance – the notions of neuroleader and neuroorganisation

2017 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 31-39
Author(s):  
Anna Korzeniewska
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Team Performance ◽  
High Performance ◽  
Right Hemisphere ◽  
Management Decision ◽  
Behavioral Characteristics ◽  
Team Members ◽  
Behavioral Preferences ◽  
Management Decision Making ◽  
The Right

The article presents the interactions between behavioral preferences of a leader and the factors of a high-performance team. A total of 476 interactions were identified using a cross-impact matrix featuring the behavioral factors of the leader and 25 factorial factors. On this basis, the most useful features of the leader are identified and the definitions of neuroleader and neuroorganization developed. Interacted studies have shown that the neuroleader leading the organization toward neuroorganization prefers behavior that is characteristic for people who are particularly developed in the right hemisphere (blue and green, in PRISM terminology). The article presents the characteristics of “blue” and “green” leaders. The results of the present research may provide an introduction to a broader study of the influence of behavioral characteristics on team performance. It would be revealing to conduct research on a larger number of companies in order to find correlations between high team performance and the behavioral preferences of team members and leaders. The author want to take up these questions in further research on high performance in neuroscience. These studies will enhance the knowledge of management, decision making and human behavior in teams and organizations.

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