Characteristics of Effective Emergency Management Organizational Structures

Citation

(2002), "Characteristics of Effective Emergency Management Organizational Structures", Disaster Prevention and Management, Vol. 11 No. 3, pp. 222-222. https://doi.org/10.1108/dpm.2002.11.3.222.2

The events of 11 September and the increasing severity of disasters over the past several years have revived interest in the effectiveness of local organizations – and in their leaders – at planning for and maintaining an effective emergency management organizational structure as well as providing leadership during a crisis. During the 1970s, the International City/County Management Association (ICMA) conducted research that identified 20 key characteristics that contribute to an effective local government emergency management organizational structure. Examples of the characteristics include: strong and definitive lines of command, emergency procedures that are as close to routine operations as possible, strong coordination among participating agencies, the ability to maintain records during a disaster, and emergency planning as an ongoing activity. ICMA developed a self‐assessment exercise especially for use by the chief administrator (elected or appointed) of a local government in determining whether and in what ways her or his community organization possessed those favourable characteristics. The self‐assessment was used in over 60 workshops hosted by the Federal Emergency Management Agency and ICMA during the 1980s. Believing that these key characteristics for effective emergency management are as relevant today as they were 25 years ago, the Public Entity Risk Institute staff has dusted them off, reviewed them, and republished the self‐assessment in this manual. Leaders of communities can work through the exercises in the manual, examine the checklists, answer the questions, compare their own communities’ situation to the standards set out for the various organizational characteristics and functions, and learn from the nuggets of experience included throughout the book.