Title

Inter-organizational coordination in extreme events: The World Trade Center attacks, September 11, 2001

Authors

Authors

L. K. Comfort;N. Kapucu

Comments

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Abbreviated Journal Title

Nat. Hazards

Keywords

auto-adaptation; sensemaking; extreme events; emergency response; organizational learning; complex adaptive systems; ORGANIZATIONS; Geosciences, Multidisciplinary; Meteorology & Atmospheric Sciences; Water Resources

Abstract

This paper addresses the problem of inter-organizational coordination in response to extreme events. Extreme events require coordinated action among multiple actors across many jurisdictions under conditions of urgent stress, heavy demand and tight time constraints. The problem is socio-technical in that the capacity for inter-organizational coordination depends upon the technical structure and performance of the information systems that support decision making among the participating organizations. Interactions among human managers, computers and organizations under suddenly altered conditions of operation are complex and not well understood. Yet, coordinating response operations to extreme events is an extraordinarily complex task for public and nonprofit managers. This paper will analyze the interactions among public, private and nonprofit organizations that evolved in response to the 11 September 2001 attacks, examining the relationships among organizations in terms of timely access to information and types of supporting infrastructure. The performance of the inter-organizational system is examined in the context of the events of 11 September 2001 from the theoretical perspective of complex adaptive systems. A model of auto-adaptation is proposed for implementation to improve inter-organizational performance in extreme events. This model is based on the concept of individual, organizational and collective learning in environments exposed to recurring risk, guided by a shared goal. Such a model requires public investment in the development of an information infrastructure that can support the intense demand for communication, information search, exchange and feedback that characterizes an auto-adaptive system.

Journal Title

Natural Hazards

Volume

39

Issue/Number

2

Publication Date

1-1-2006

Document Type

Article

Language

English

First Page

309

Last Page

327

WOS Identifier

WOS:000240799800011

ISSN

0921-030X

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