Disaster Response and Recovery (Case) - Essay Example

Compare the advantages and disadvantages of a Bureaucratic/ Hierarchical model vs. Network model for organizational change, which are described by Wise (2006) and Waugh & Streib (2006). Disaster management should be effective enough to ensure that the relief measures are taking place in desired way and the needs of the destitute are adequately made. Disaster management, however, can fail if the responsible organizations fail to bring in required changes. There are mainly two well-known models of organizational changes.

They are Bureaucratic/Hierarchical model and Network model of organizational change. Hierarchy model places its major importance on authority for creating and coordinating a vertical as well as a horizontal division of labor. According to this model, knowledge is considered to be a scarce resource. Under hierarchical mechanism, knowledge is concentrated in particular functional units of the organization. The functional units that possess knowledge are mainly placed at the higher level in the organizational hierarchy and these units are responsible for taking decision regarding the utilization and implementation of the knowledge.

(Wise, 2006) The advantages of this hierarchical model of organizational changes are as follows: First, it provides a space for employing a large number of labor for a task to conduct and complete. Second, this model preserves explicit accountability for the work that this large labor force do. Third, under this system there is a formal authority that has the power of compelling the laborers to complete certain tasks. Fourth, hierarchy is also able to provide extensive support to the routine work, work ethics, and other important elements that are important for influencing production.

(Wise, 2006; Waugh and Streib, 2006) The disadvantages of this model are as follows: First, under this model, the workforce is efficient in performing routine based task only. They face huge problem in performing innovative works. Second, the model is also quite inefficient in doing those jobs that require the creation of new knowledge. Third, the managers have to deal with a few levers for collaborating those tasks that may encounter severe problems. The tasks of non-routine nature are quite difficult to perform under this hierarchical model as they require higher level of collaboration among different levels of the organization.

(Wise, 2006; Waugh and Streib, 2006) The network model, on the other hand, presumes that the fields of public activities are filled with different types of organizations, private and government agencies, various non-profit organizations, etc. In this model, networks actually refer to interdependent structures that involve different types of organizations. Unlike in hierarchical model, one unit does not act as a subordinate of another unit under network model. In this model, one unit is dependent on another unit.

The public management networks mainly involve in undertaking purposeful efforts for bringing different parts of organization together for accessing knowledge and technology and providing guidance towards managing certain tasks. (Wise, 2006) The advantages of this network model are as follows: First, this model helps in facilitating arrangements at interorganizational level. In this kind of arrangement, it is possible to make negotiations and adjustments among different organizational departments.

Second, it does not put emphasis on complete restructuring of formal organizational set up. Third, this model helps in government organizations in playing positive roles in establishing the stage for other private organizations to properly interact for accomplishing common goals. (Wise, 2006; Waugh and Streib, 2006) The disadvantages of the network model are as follows: First, unlike the hierarchical model, the network model can not ensure higher level of accountability of several tasks. Second, under network it is necessary to ensure desired level of performance of the individual agencies as well as of the joint performance of the multiple agencies.

As a result performance assessment under network model becomes very complicated. Third, under network model, fall in performance of a single agency adversely affect the performance of other agencies and they are interrelated. (Wise, 2006; Waugh and Streib, 2006) 2. Suppose that the scenario is to rescue people from hurricane affected zones. In such a hypothetical scenario the steps relating to adaptive disaster management would be as follows: First, it is essential to plan the roles for various organizations that should be involved in the entire rescue operation.

Second, proper steps should be designed to ensure effective implementation of the plan. Third, the lapses in the command and control system within every governmental level should be rectified and the system should act appropriately. Fourth, the clear picture about the affected area should be formed before initiating operations. Fifth, there should be effective communications regarding the conditions of the affected regions within various agencies involved in the task. Sixth, at the time of the execution of the task there should be serious efforts for maintaining unity among various agencies.

The efforts of the deferral, the state and the local government should be united. Finally, care should be taken at each level of efforts that the tasks are executed and completed in due course of time without any delay as the situation under consideration is an emergency situation and any delay could make the situation worse. (Wise, 2006) 3. For Hurricane Katrina Disaster I would recommend incident command approach for dealing with the situation. This approach of disaster management is a very effective management procedure of dealing with different types of emergency situations.

This approach is used by many public safety agencies like police, firefighters etc. This system is governed by an incident commander who assumes the highest authority. In this sense the approach is highly bureaucratic in nature. But the best thing about the system is that it has a very high degree of flexibility in the sense that the system provides very high degree of organizational flexibility that is essential for providing reliable and high level of performance under very risky situations.

It also calls for adequate coordination among different agencies that are responsible for performaing the task. Thus under incident command system tasks are performed in a coordinated fashion as well as under the supervision of the highest command authority. Thus the probability of performing mistakes is minimized. (Bigley and Roberts, 2001) References 1. Bigley G. A. and Roberts K. H. 2001. The incident command system: High reliability organizing for complex and volatile task environments. Academy of Management Journal, 44(6): 1281-1299. 2. Wise, C. R. (2006).

Organizing for homeland security after Katrina: Is adaptive management what’s missing? Public Administration Review, 66(3): 302-318. 3. Waugh, W. L. and Streib, G. (2006). Collaboration and Leadership for effective emergency management. Public Administration Review, 66:131-140.