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Leveraging Collaborative Networks in Infrequent Emergency Situations
Title: Leveraging Collaborative Networks in Infrequent Emergency Situations
Date: June 2005
Author: Donald P. Moynihan
Institution: IBM Center for the Business of Government
Bibliographic Entry: Moynihan, Donald P. Leveraging Collaborative Networks in Infrequent Emergency Situations. Madison, WI: IBM Center for the Business of Government, University of Madison-Wisconsin, June 2005, 48 pages. Accessed at: http://www.businessofgovernment.org/pdfs/MoynihanReport.pdf (accessed Sept. 11, 2007).
Electronic Link: http://www.businessofgovernment.org/pdfs/MoynihanReport.pdf
Key Words: emergency response, Exotic Newcastle Disease (END), Incident Command System, Emergency Management Response System
Summary of Key Points, Issues, Conclusions:
Public services are now being delivered less through single hierarchical organizations, and more through networks of multiple organizations coming from any level of government, and from private and nonprofit sectors. Particularly, in the area of emergency response, networks have grown in importance. The area of animal disease is an example of emergency response, as these have the potential to do damage to the nation’s food supply. Exotic Newcastle Disease (END) is one such disease, which occurred in 2002-2003, and was finally eradicated by a task force involving ten major state and federal agencies, local governments, and temporary employees from the private sector.
The task force overcame a number of challenges. The Incident Command System provided general guidelines that had to be applied to the specific incident. Another major challenge was the unanticipated aspects of the outbreak. A third major challenge was the issue of continuity, since the workforce was primarily borrowed from parent agencies, and employees were able to commit to no more than three-week rotations.
Keys to success of the task force involved the ability to adapt to the environment and develop appropriate management responses. To be successful, the task force established trust and a model of cooperation, and shared norms based on the sense of urgency of their mission and time spent among one another. Additionally, the ability to adapt and apply a command and control structure, such as the Incident Command System, was a factor for success.
The task force also worked to learn, codify, and communicate standard operating procedures that governed daily operation of teams, all from field experience and observations. A final factor of their success was the application of technology. The task force developed a rapid diagnostic test for END that reduced delay between testing and results from a week to mere hours. A second innovation was the use of tasking software, known as the Emergency Management Response System.
Name of Researcher: Alison Stevens
Institution: Integrative Center for Homeland Security, Texas A&M University
Date Posted: Sept. 12, 2007