Fred C. Cuny Memorial Continuing Education Series
Principles of Disaster Management
Lesson 1: Introduction
Fred C. Cuny

This course was prepared by the Disaster Management Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison with financial support from the U.S. Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance/United States Agency for International Development (OFDA/USAID).

The text was prepared by the late Frederick C. Cuny of INTERTECT. The Professional Review Board included Nick Carter, Katherine S. Parker, William Nitzke, and the staff of the USAID Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance. The Study Guide was prepared by Don Schraam and Ruth Newman of the Disaster Management Center of the University of Wisconsin-Madison

© 1986 by Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System

Modified, updated, and edited by the Editorial Staff of Prehospital and Disaster Medicine, 1998.

This course may be taken for Continuing Education Credits by registering with the Disaster Management Center at the University of Wisconsin using the form attached at the end of each of the lessons. In addition, enrollment in this course contributes to attaining a Certificate in Disaster Management from the Disaster Management Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Inquiries should be directed on the attached form or by e-mail: schramm@epd.engr.wisc.edu

The Disaster Management Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison thanks the Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance for early support of course development. In particular, Gudren Huden, Denise Decker, and Fred Cole deserve special recognition for their understanding of this innovative educational process. At the University of Wisconsin, Linda Hook, Darrell Petska, Susan Kummer, Lolette Guthrie, Val Parish, and Angela Armstrong must be thanked for their efforts in editing, design, and production. The course development process is never over, and each of these people understands that very well.

Overview
This lesson is an introduction to modern management techniques and their application to the field of disaster management.

Learning Objectives
• Be aware of the need for effective management in a disaster.
• Know the difference between routine and crisis management.
• List and define the three types of advanced planning collectively called disaster preparedness.
• Divide the disaster manager's role into the three parts discussed in this lesson.
• State the difference between vertical and horizontal specialization by de-fining each briefly.
• Recognize some of the constraints and pressures on managers and relief organizations.
• List the different managerial environments that often are imposed on disaster managers.
• Understand the difference between the "logistics" and the "development" approaches.

Learning Activities
Read Lesson 1.
Study Figures I-1 and I-2; Tables I-1 and I-2.

Evaluation
Complete the self-assessment test at the end of this lesson.

Why Study Management?
Management science is an important field of study for disaster managers. The management of natural disasters, human-made catastrophes, and complex human emergencies including refugee operations or assistance to displaced persons is delivered by specialized programs operating in complex and often confused environments. The organizations that have been set up to deal with emergencies often are highly specialized. These institutions are guided and directed by the decisions of one or more individuals who are designated as "managers". It is these people who allocate scarce resources to alternative and competing demands. They establish the mechanisms for providing relief and aid in the disaster, and often determine the parameters of jobs, incomes, services, and care.

Modern disaster management goes beyond post-event disaster assistance; it includes pre-disaster planning and preparedness activities, organizational planning, public relations, and many other fields. Crisis management is important but, in reality, is only a part of the overall responsibility of the disaster manager.

Importance of Management in Disasters
Disasters are among the most unique and urgent situations that humans are called upon to manage. Events and information are confusing, and managers within the relief system, constantly are faced with a need to make quick decisions.

Management science offers the person in command, a framework for making decisions and for bringing these events under control. Delivery of relief and reconstruction aid can be improved substantially by detailed program planning and thorough, sound program management. A manager who applies to the situation, both modern management principles and an understanding of disaster events can provide a well-balanced program for the survivors in a disaster.

Often, the events of a disaster move rapidly and can be extremely traumatic for those who are unprepared. Disaster managers often do not get a second chance. If a decision is wrong, the manager and the victims must live with it. Therefore, it is important that disaster managers thoroughly understand their role and responsibilities and be familiar with the tools of management.

What is Management?
Management consists of decision-making activities undertaken by one or more individuals to direct and coordinate the activities of other people in order to achieve results that could not be accomplished by any one person acting alone. Effective management focuses on group effort, various forms of coordination, and the manner of making decisions. Management is required whenever two or more persons combine their efforts and resources to accomplish a goal that cannot be accomplish by acting alone. Coordination is necessary when the actions of group participants constitute parts of a total task. If one person acts alone to accomplish a task, no coordination may be required; but when that person delegates a part of the task to others, the individual efforts must be coordinated.

The Management System in Disaster Practice
The principles of disaster management apply in both routine and crisis situations. Routine management relates to those activities that occur during non-crisis periods, such as disaster mitigation and disaster reconstruction. Crisis management applies to emergency operations and includes both the preparedness phase and the immediate post-event periods. The various aspects of disaster management can be illustrated as shown in Tables I-1 and I-2.

To neutralize the confusion of the emergency period, disaster management places heavy emphasis on advance planning. Advance planning activities, collectively called disaster preparedness, include: 1) strategic planning; 2) contingency planning; and 3) forward planning.

A variety of different management systems have evolved to respond to different types of disasters, and no particular standard is used throughout the relief system. Until recently, most agencies utilized management models borrowed from military and/or business organizational models. These models usually consist of a pyramidal hierarchy of upper-level management, middle managers, and field managers. As a general rule, upper and middle managers are concerned with managing the organization and facilitating operations in the field. The field manager is responsible for the development of programs that provide assistance directly to the people living in the disaster area.

In recent years, newer management models that allow greater sharing of decision-making with disaster victims and give more rapid and responsive action have been developed and applied to disaster management.

In this course, you shall examine each of these models and the management tools that are needed by all managers. Emphasis will be placed on providing guidance for field managers rather than for upper-level managers.

Overview of a Disaster Manager's Tasks
Disaster management can be defined as the effective organization, direction, and utilization of available counter-disaster resources. The role of an emergency manager can be divided into three parts: 1) managing operations; 2) managing people and 3) managing organizations.

A Framework for the Study of Management
The foregoing classification of a manager's role and tasks provides a useful framework for the study of disaster management. These three tasks serve as focal points for the major sections of this course. Lessons 2-5 concentrate on concepts and tools that are useful in planning and controlling programs and projects. These chapters contain discussions of managerial decision-making, information systems, and the planning and controlling of routine and non-routine operational decisions. Lessons 6-11 focus on personnel management and the skills managers need to lead and motivate their subordinates. Lessons 12-14 describe the management of organizations and are devoted to various facets of organizational planning, organizing (or structuring), and controlling. These are the core functions that managers must perform if they are to be effective.

The Management System
As an organization increases in size and complexity, its management adapts by becoming more specialized. In a relief agency, we may find top management (located at a central headquarters), middle management (represented by regional coordinators), field management (represented by field directors or managers at the local level), and various specialized managers handling personnel management, operations management, logistics, and financial management.

In the one manager-many subordinates type of organization, the manager coordinates the work of subordinates. When the roles or activities of the organization expand, the manager is confronted with assigning certain activities, such as distribution of relief supplies or the task of supervising subordinates, to another person while continuing to be concerned with organizational tasks. Whatever the decision, the managerial process is now shared, specialized, and more complex.

Vertical Specialization
Vertical specialization is the creation of a chain of command and accountability. The chain of command is termed hierarchy, because it results in a structured system of authority, with managers located at each point in a vertical chain. In such a hierarchy, it is possible to distinguish between field, middle, and top management.

Field-level managers
Field-level managers coordinate the work activity of others who are not managers. Subordinates may be field workers, volunteers, disaster victims working for the agency, clerks, or consultants depending upon the particular tasks that the sub-unit must perform. Field-level managers coordinate the basic work of the organization according to established plans and procedures. They are in daily or near-daily contact with their subordinates. They ordinarily are assigned to the task of field-level manager because of their ability to work with people -not only with their own subordinates, but also with other field managers. The effectiveness of their efforts will depend as much, if not more, upon their human relations abilities as upon their technical skills.

Middle managers
Middle managers coordinate the activity of other managers; yet, like field-level managers, they are subject to the coordination efforts of a superior. Middle managers coordinate the activity of a sub-unit of the organization.

Top management
Top management coordinates the activity of the entire organization. They work through the middle managers. Unlike other managers, the top manager is not accountable to another manager, but instead is accountable to the suppliers of the resources utilized by the organization (i.e., the donors). In non-governmental agencies, top management reports to a board of directors that generally represents its major donors. In governmental agencies, top management must answer to the chief executive or to an oversight committee of the parliamentary body of government.

Table I-1-Illustrative titles that show vertical specialization in three types of agencies (In a non-pyramidal organization, the middle-level manager's title normally indicates a "supportive" rather than "directive" role, e.g., Regional Coordinator versus Regional Director).

Virtually every major relief organization uses a variation of this hierarchy. What differentiates the organizations is the amount of decision-making authority granted at each level. In some organizations, all major decisions are made at the top level. Senior staff normally are found only at the headquarters, while junior staff serve as field-level managers. (This model usually is referred to as a "pyramidal" hierarchy.) In other organizations, the field-level managers are senior staff and all program decisions are left to the field while financial and other organizational decisions are shared with top management. Middle-level managers serve as resource coordinators and facilitators.

As a general rule, the latter organization usually is more effective in an emergency.

The terms used to identify managers at the various hierarchical levels differ from organization to organization. Table I-1 provides a comparison of the terms typically used in a private relief agency, an intergovernmental organization, and a governmental agency.

In summary, the vertical aspect of management can be defined as the process by which the right to act and to use resources is delegated to subordinates. In other words, managers can be described in terms of the extent and limits of their responsibilities and authority.

The delegation of authority also determines differences in the relationships among managers at the same level; that is, horizontal specialization.

Horizontal Specialization
The completion of a task requires the completion of a sequence of inter-related activities. Middle managers ordinarily are responsible for the completion of major sub-tasks. As the sequence of activities is identified and as responsibility for completing each is assigned, the managerial process becomes horizontally specialized. Each manager is at the same level in the hierarchy, but each is responsible for completing a different part of the total task. Middle managers must integrate their own tasks and objectives with other middle managers.

Similarly, field-level management usually is responsible for managing sub-groups that are specialized horizontally. For example, a field director responsible for a reconstruction project, in turn, may have to rely on certain specialists on his/her staff to obtain the necessary resources and provide them for the project. Each of these staff members may manage parts of the project (e.g., logistics), yet within the organization, they would be of equal "rank." Successful completion of the tasks assigned to subordinates results in successful completion of the project.

Managerial and Organizational Constraints
All managers operate under a series of constraints imposed by the organization or agency and by the management environment. Managers, as individuals, must respond to organizational objectives in carrying out their duties. Managers not only are responsible for implementing projects swiftly and competently, but also must do so within the context of the organization's long-range goals and objectives.

The organization, itself, operates within a complex legal, social, economic, and political environment, and disaster managers find themselves accountable to donors, government administrators, disaster victims, the general public, and others, as well as to their own organization. Organizations exist in a society that not only has expectations from them, but also places constraints on what objectives they can seek. Thus, while organizational objectives influence the manager, the larger environment may dictate these objectives.

Managers have personal characteristics that help to determine the way they perform. They have abilities, skills, traits, interests, needs, and aspirations that have been shaped and formed by their experiences. These characteristics influence the manner in which managers interpret and act on demands dictated by the objectives of the organization. The uniqueness of each managerial personality accounts for much of the variation in the way managerial activities are carried out. At the same time, the more general nature of organizational objectives accounts for the continuity and similarity in managerial activity within each institution or agency.

Managerial activities also are affected by certain characteristics of the immediate work environment such as the nature of subordinates' tasks and the technology available to accomplish those tasks. For example, the managerial activities required to plan, organize, and control routine tasks with simple technology may be different from those required for a non-routine task using complex technology. Other work-related factors include the amount of authority delegated to managers and the qualities of the interpersonal relationships between the managers and their subordinates.

In addition to work-related influences, non-work-related factors affect managerial activities. Managers belong to various friendship and interest groups whose influence may be reflected in a manager's work. For example, group pressure can cause managers to emphasize technical activities at the expense of human relations activities, or vice versa. (So can background, education, and the tools at hand.)

The performance of managers influences the work of their subordinates. The objectives are to stimulate a coordinated effort and achieve a high performance. Yet, the manager is only one influencing factor. Subordinates bring to the job their own unique sets of personal characteristics including abilities, interests, and traits, and they also belong to groups that exert non-work-related influence. The outcome of these multiple and often conflicting factors, is performance which itself becomes an influence on organizational goals and on managers as individuals.

Managerial Environments
The managerial environment for disaster managers is filled with uncertainties. There are four types on managerial environments:

Changing Values
It is common today to hear relief experts calling for more "accountability" or "social responsibility" on the part of every type of relief or development organization. These demands for more social awareness and responsibility from the relief agencies are an attempt to make the institutions more responsive to human needs. Disaster managers increasingly will be called upon to react to these demands. Some expected changes in the values of relief organizations in the foreseeable future are depicted in Table 1-2. This table reflects evolving "people-oriented" values.

Table 1-2-Changing values in relief agencies

The increasing demands on relief organizations for improved performance and greater social responsibility to disaster victims are resulting in serious rethinking of the fundamental values and approaches of these organizations. Some executives have responded: "How can society question us? We are operating for humanitarian reasons under difficult circumstances." The root of the conflict lies in two differing approaches to relief: 1) the traditional or "logistics" approach; and 2) the "development" approach. These activities are being addressed by the development of the Disaster Response Research Evaluation Template.2

Obviously, the above descriptions represent two opposite extremes. The disaster manager must find a way to meet immediate needs and at the same time lay the groundwork for development-oriented activities. A major task of disaster managers and the agencies that they lead is to find a position that will take into account victims' needs and expectations and, at the same time, meet the organization's responsibilities to the donors.

Complete the self-assessment test.

References
1. Colemann EC, Campbell ME: Supervisors: A Corporate Resource. New York: AMACOM, 1975, pp 11-15.

2. Task Force on Quality of Disaster Management, World Association and Emergency Management: Disaster Medical Response Research: A template in the Utstein Style. Prehospital and Disaster Medicine 1996;11: 82-90.

Return to Continuing Education Table of Contents
Return to PDM Home Page