Cooperative Activities as Building Blocks: Toward an Interconnected, Interdependent System of Emergency Management

1. Cooperative Activities as Building Blocks:Toward an Interconnected, Interdependent System of Emergency Management Clayton Wukich, PhD Assistant Professor Department of Political Science Sam Houston State University Huntsville, TX wukich@gmail.com

2. Four Phases of Disaster Management • Good heuristic for both academics & practitioners • However, disasters = complex • In practice, emergency managers do not strictly follow a list of sequential steps to achieve intended goals

3. Neal’s Critique • Different phases may occur simultaneously • What happens (or does not happen) during one period (e.g., amount of mitigation or preparation) directly effects what happens (or does not happen) during another period (e.g., response, recovery) • Theoretically and conceptually, disaster researchers and practitioners should change their thinking about disaster phases and recognize their interconnectiveness Neal 1997, p. 154

4. An Interdependent Model of Emergency Management

5. Structure of an Action Situation • Set of participants • Positions to be filled by participants • Potential outcomes • Set of allowable actions and function that maps actions into realized outcomes Ostrom 2005, p. 32

6. Multiplexity • The existence of multiple relationships between agencies (Isset and Provan2005) • Agencies cooperate on a number of projects and activities • One interaction may lead to another • Interaction may create stronger, more robust relationships • Aggregate of all interactions = polycentric system of governance

7. Social Network Analysis

8. Social Network • A structure composed of a set of actors, some of whose members are connected by a set of one or more relations (Knoke and Yang 2008, p. 8) • Actor • Discrete individual, corporate, or collective social units (Wasserman and Faust 1994, p. 17) • Relational tie • Linkage, relationship between a pair of actors (Wasserman and Faust 1994, p. 18)

9. Network Models Star Network Circle Network Circle Network • Hanneman& Riddle 2005

10. Data & Methods

11. Field Study Area • Regional emergency management system • Multiple sectors, levels of government • Diverse organizational missions and capabilities • Allegheny County (Pittsburgh), Pennsylvania • System (and organizational) heterogeneity • Number of agencies • Fiscal capacity • Experience and training • Exposure to risk and the ability to reduce risk

12. Data Collection and Measurement • Semi-Structured Interviews w/ Domain Experts Data • 63 semi-structured interviews • Stratified sample • Interviews transcribed • Open, axial, and selective coding

13. 1 & 2-Mode Network Maps • Created both 1-mode and 2-mode maps • 1-mode data – records ties between one set of entities • 2-mode data – records ties between two sets (Borgatti 2009) • Agencies • Actions • Conducted network analysis, using the software: • UCINET (Borgatti, Everett and Freeman 2002) • ORA (Carley 2011) • By identifying central actors, cut points, and siloed (or disconnected) agencies, I demonstrate how the system integrates or fails to do so Actions at the system level At the level of the cooperative activity

14. Findings

15. An Interconnected, Interdependent Model of Emergency Management • Cooperative activities • Risk assessment • Mitigation and incident prevention • Preparedness • Response • Recovery • Evaluation and corrective action • Administration • Interaction between agencies create • Systems based on single-activities • Multiple-Activity Systems • When one joint activity leads to another… • An overall emergency management system • Cooperative activities as building blocks for polycentric systems of governance

16. Map Legend = Action = Agency

17. Risk Assessment Activities Police link fire and EMS networks in this model

18. + Risk Assessment

19. Mitigation & Incident Prevention • Lack of interlocal cooperation • Interactions generally occur between agencies operating in the same municipality • Or between local municipalities and agencies from higher levels of government • As a discipline, police participate in joint incident prevention projects more frequently (63.6 percent) than the other two disciplines; fire (31.8 percent) and EMS (10.0 percent) • Law enforcement activities such as DUI checkpoints; joint trailer and heavy equipment inspection; and other crime prevention programs account for the difference in cooperation

20. + Mitigation & Incident Prevention

21. Planning Activities Run Card Prioritized list of preferred mutual aid partners for 911 dispatch

22. Training Activities Large-scale training exercises link agencies: Mass casualty, mass decontamination, mall shooting

23. + Preparedness

24. Routine Response Activities Participation in response to structural fires, suspect apprehension, and traffic accidents help to integrate the system

25. Large-scale Response Activities County EOC as hub for information and resources

26. + Response Activities

27. Recovery Activities Again, EOC critical for communication, coordination, and control

28. + Recovery Activities

29. An Interdependent Model of Emergency Management

30. Questions