The Significance of Emergency Management - Essay Example

Introduction: The objective of this essay is to illustrate the significance of a suitable security policy and plan in every organization. The essay further emphasizes the need for the organization’s capability to respond immediately in the most effective and appropriate manner to every type of emergency. The main advantage of emergency management is that successful planning decreases the level of disorders that may occur during an emergency and it will facilitate the revival to a neutral stage much faster. In addition, this essay consists of various statistics and case studies that provide ample reason and evidence in support of the essay. It notes the significance of having an emergency reaction, disaster recovery and company continuity plan in case of hidden human-induced or natural disaster and calamity. The essay discusses about the flow and relationships between certain terms, and it also summarizes the various technology resolutions that can be used to continue the business after the occurrence of a disaster or any such situation. As essential it is for companies and organizations to be prepared for the most horrible cases in the future managing critical infrastructure is even more important Many companies still do lack sufficient emergency response plans, business continuity plans and disaster recovery.  In addition, due to inappropriate and ineffective plans many businesses can have failed to emerge from a disastrous situation. The security and safety of employees as well as continuity of services must always remain a priority for the business as it is one of the integral parts of any business. Emergency management is thus a continuing process to mitigate, prevent, prepare for, react to, and recuperate from an incident that intimidates life, operations, property, or the environment. Task 1: Key Skills and Traits Identified in Lectures and Assigned Readings Key Skills and Traits Confirmed by EM Interviews [mentioned by at least 4] Ability to lead, and manage personnel during developing events or emergency situations. Performs associated duties and responsibilities assigned. Handles the budget in the course of monitoring expenditures, estimating funds, recognizing obtainable grant sources. Organizes and manages an all-inclusive emergency management or attentiveness program. Ability to develop emergency management exercises, activities and objectives between boards, jurisdictions, councils, committees and other impacted groups or individual stakeholders to recognize and resolve problems and look for suitable creative solutions. Apply critical thinking, problem solving techniques and joint approaches to developing program services. Ability to provide recommendation, write and executes policy and program changes relating to emergency management or preparedness. Successfully plan, allocate, direct, and manage employees, before, during, and after an emergency. Ability to development and execution program objectives and goals sets up priorities in support of functions and recognizes requirement of resources. Examine situations carefully, recognize potential problems and find efficient solutions. Ability to effectively communicate orally and in writing / internally and publicly. Professionally communicate and convey thoughts both orally and in writing. Management and Leadership Skill Effective management and leadership skills of emergency managers help to formulate well established emergency management objectives, goals, procedures and policies. All these skills are collaborative in nature. Emergency management, finally, is related with people. Knowledge, passion, concern, collaboration, teamwork, and coordination underlie the key traits, skills, and ability that are crucial for the present day as well as future emergency managers. Therefore it becomes clear that management and leadership skills help to handle all these situations meticulously. One of the most recurring and interesting themes from the interview and the response of Hurricane Sandy is the characteristic of portraying calmness. It is a fact that a lot of emergency managers are basically reactive in nature. However, they also train in order to be properly prepared to respond at a moment’s notice. They are inclined to focus on the most recent crisis, and they attempt to solve all crises that have occurred due to one cause or the other. Possessing management and leadership skill facilitates emergency managers to pay attention to things that really matter such as; prioritizing missions, finding a balance among conflicting viewpoints, and working together across numerous disciplines. Emergency managers appreciate and recognize recovery, preparedness, mitigation, deterrence as well as safety programs. An emergency manager’s knowledge and skillset should be beyond the realm of expectations and be a role model that other could follow. Disaster alleviation, preparedness, reaction, and restoration are the end products of complex administrative and political communications, and these outcomes cannot be easily managed or anticipated. The ability to analyzing the most excellent method to approach these tasks is highly important. Emergency management programs depends to a great extent on the capability of the manager to completely comprehend the difficulties in the working of program, policy, or network and how to use or modify them for the better. This requires subject-matter experts who understand information relating to various topics for example land-use rule, zoning and construction codes with the intention of correctly understanding and emphasizing on vulnerabilities existing in today’s community. New leadership and management strategies are suggested that arise out of efficient policies as well as a new more compelling vision, rather than from hierarchy, status quo, or typical operating actions. The necessity for a broad viewpoint and efficient leadership skills are just a few requirements for future emergency managers. Develops and Executes Program Objectives and Goals sets up Priorities in Support Functions and Recognizes Need of the Resource. There are different kinds of threats to communities in their day to day functions such as political social technological economic threats etc. These threats may not necessarily appear obvious in their initial phases but may impede the whole development policy and drag communities and business into a loss in an extremely short period of time. In the case of serious nationwide threats, primary responders will have to rely on public establishments for help. So, in order to react to such uncertainties and risks, organizations require a holistic and incorporated planning, which focuses not only on avoiding and minimizing escalation, but also on providing the ability to adapt as well as facilitate reinforcement. An emergency is an accidental event with the potential to jeopardize life, disrupt operations and create various types of environmental problems and which needs a comprehensive and significant response in order to overcome it While emergency plans may be incorporated in disaster or business stability plans, their chief focus is placed on managing localized actions and providing immediate response to emergencies and incidents, both manmade or natural, bearing in mind the requirement to protect life of workers, assets and the public. In the United States, a disastrous incident can be classified as local, by a local establishment generally a Law Enforcement Agency (LEA) that is in charge. Law enforcement groups normally have situational duty as disasters may direct to the usual occupants for lawful teaching about infrastructure roads etc being destroyed and also to the irrelevant enforcement that renders the society not being capable to confront disasters and emergencies. Most disasters do not go beyond the ability of the local jurisdiction or the ability that they have put in place to recompense such as the memorandum of understandings with neighboring localities. On the other hand, if the event turns out to be uncontrollable by the local government, the nation’s emergency management steps up to be the authority in charge and deals with the issues that threat the society. Efficient risk management is mainly based upon (1) the identification of man-made and natural hazards that may have considerable effect on the society or organization (2) the analysis and examination of these identified hazards mainly based on the vulnerability of society to find out the nature and level of the risk they pose and (3) an impact analysis and examination to find out the potential influence they may have on specific organizations, communities, and other such entities. Strategies for mitigation, emergency operations strategy, stability of operations strategy, and pre and post-disaster revival plans must be based upon the specific risks recognized as well as resources must be allocated suitably to counter those risks. Apply Critical Thoughts, Problem Solving and Joint Approaches to Developing Program Services. The general aim of emergency management is creating a more flexible society. This is the vision that should drive emergency mangers throughout the time they hold authority. Accomplishing this objective requires the ability to influence all those varied stakeholders to work towards a united goal. Only through careful and proper planning and awareness to projecting impacts of the complete range of possible tragedy intensities, on the basis of past data and records, can valid subjective and local trends be formulated in order to provide planners with a basis for suitable cost-effective alleviation actions and budgets. Only with outstanding knowledge of the reasons and dynamics of avoidable disasters can high-quality prevention actions be found. What remains is the indisputable and unquestionable value of planning as a procedure that forces methodical thought of risk, susceptibility and ability, history of the disaster, ecological variables and overall reaction strategies on a routine and regular basis. Plans simply originate from the overall procedure that tends to a more better and close examination of options and issues. The emergency management and business continuity society consists of different entities comprising of the government at distinct levels industry and business non-governmental business establishments as well as individual citizens. All of these entities have their own focus, distinctive responsibilities and missions, diverse resources and abilities, and operating procedures and principles that drive the way they act and behave. Efforts taken for the management of environment, planning on how to utilize land, other kinds of planning, enforcement of building code, training, and exercises are essential and should give emphasis to reduction of vulnerability and not just be a mere source of compliance. Critical thoughts, problem solving and joint approaches to developing program services need a strategic structure which integrates, by definition: A long term and a short term viewpoint. A readiness to think about both likely and unlikely crisis scenarios. A propensity to value data regarding past emergencies and such disasters. A willingness to use the methods of the ‘entire community’ [private + public sector]. A consideration of other community emergency features and plans. A focus on ‘circumstances-based’ emergency willingness. A readiness to bring in the outlooks of businesses and citizens. A grasp of technical, logistical, and unique resource requirements. Examine Situations Carefully, Recognize Potential Problems, and Find Efficient Solutions. Emergency management should give more attention or in other words priority to mitigation and prevention activities. Traditionally, emergency management have confined their actions to building up emergency reaction plans and coordinating the initial reaction to disasters. Given the increasing risks and uncertainties that societies have to face now, emergency managers play a much more important role than ever before Future managers should stride to be more strategic and progressive in terms of their thinking. The functions of an emergency manager can no longer be restricted to that of a mere technician but have evolved to that of a senior policy advisor and manager who manages a community-wide plan and program in order to address various hazards and maintain composure in every stage of the emergency management cycle. “Strategic thinking is a critical competency for senior leaders and their staffs. It is a purposeful, deliberate activity that seeks to generate innovative strategies and approaches to posture organizations for success in the complex and ambiguous strategic environment. The concept of strategic thinking was explained by presenting its history within the strategic management literature, and identifying three primary points of view organized across the strategy as art versus strategy as science debate” (Waters, n.d, par.29). Emergency managers should evaluate hazards and scrutinize them in order to formulate ways to decrease vulnerability. Collaborative attempts among organizations and experts in the private, public and non-profit sectors are required to encourage prevention of disaster as well as promote preparedness. Emergency exercises are a fundamental instrument and a very valuable resource for emergency managers who desire to slowly sharpen and train their emergency reaction team to perform with as much accuracy as possible to the ideal performance. Emergency plans that are not at all tested, and assumptions regarding the performance of emergency reaction groups which are by no means experimented, lead to unfavorable and damaging outcomes. Emergency management should be incorporated into the day-to-day decisions of any organization, rather than just during the event of a disaster. Protecting people is the primary duty of the government or law making authority, which is impossible to accomplish without construction partnerships between various disciplines and across every sector. Task two: Emergency management is the general name of an interdisciplinary field that deals with strategic organizational management methods used to protect critical possessions and assets of a business from hazardous risks that can further lead to disasters and also to ensure the resiliency of the institution within its designed lifetime. The plan explains in detail the actions for reacting or responding to a crisis that affects it ability to give services to the students, workers, and staff as well as its capability to meet regulatory or legal requirements. Three levels of emergency actions have been recognized in relation to the level of the emergency. Level 1 - The emergency involves an event that takes place in a localized section or building and can be immediately brought under control with limited help or basically by just utilizing internal resources. The Level 1 emergency has small or no impact at all on processes and activities outside the locally affected region. Influenced personnel or areas coordinate directly with the operational department workers from risk management, public safety facilities etc to control Level 1 conditions. Level 2 - A medium level emergency that disrupts large parts of the community of campus and can no longer be controlled using internal resources or such small scale methods. Level 2 emergencies often require assistance from outside organizations. These procedures may rise quickly, and can have serious effects on mission-critical purposes or safety of life. Level 3 – A critical incident that unfavorably affects the whole campus and that may also affect the surrounding society. Throughout a Level 3 emergency, common process can be suspended. The consequence of the emergency is complex and wide-ranging and a timely decision to be taken in situations of disaster calls for wide ranged cooperation and coordination. Emergency Manager Interview of University of Maryland University College, summer 2012 EMAN 670 – Mr. Mark Hubbard, Benton Best. This interview was conducted with an EM in the state of Maryland. The Emergency Manager who was interviewed believes that effective communication, capacity to make decisions, thinking politically, leading and acting with general technology has assisted them a lot in terms of speed of delivery. As things can be done faster, Emergency Management as a process becomes quicker as well. Unveiled through the interview is the fact that The EM was extremely perceptive with this question regarding scenario-based arrangement being more popular sometimes as it is much easier for the layman, risk-based planning is very significant because it directly deals with the real issues that a particular authority has to face. The interview was very interesting mainly because the interviewee was an Emergency Manager, particularly one as skilled as this. It facilitated a free-flowing talk which encompassed the whole range of emergency management and finally led back to the characteristics and qualities that create a good emergency manager. By discussing with respect to who the EM would desire to meet, much was learned regarding why these EMs ascended to the stage as they did. The position of the emergency manager in the local government arrangement seriously affects the authority of the manager’s efficiency and capability to do a particular job. While the arrangements held by emergency managers vary broadly across the country, they can be separated into few general types. In the initial type, the emergency manager reports directly to the head of government and becomes one among the area heads. The emergency manager finds it very easy to communicate in a direct line of communication with the chosen officials and can propose the problems and requirements of his agency quite explicitly and clearly to them. Conversely, emergency management has to compete with every other line in the organization for a restricted supply of funds. The emergency manager is viewed by the other section heads more as a participant than as a facilitator or coordinator of their processes and this of course is one of the root causes for internal conflict. The emergency manager can use as much time haggling in excess of fighting bureaucratic skirmishes and budget questions as he does in raising the emergency organization. EMAN670, Emergency Manager Interview, Hushower, Leigh. According to this interview it can be seen that Emergency Management is not a career that is selected, rather it is a career that selects the members. The Disaster Response Coordinator Rasheed Plummer is one among the best examples of this. He was an American Red Cross volunteer and employee that provided facilities to survivors and existing families after the 2001 terrorist attacks. Mr. Plummer still finds chances for development in the available programs. Primarily, he agrees entirely with the National Science Foundation’s proposal of the requirement for evacuee intake and shelter management handling as well as training. His second ranked strategy aiming at curricular growth would be to form strong bonds with partner agencies. Third, he would recommend preparation in a legal and proper way to follow kind donations. Next, he actually promotes WebEOC training as it creates disaster response possible from home, or wherever they are created if their regular travel ways are blocked. Finally, he greatly focuses on training with alternative communication methods like RACES. Characteristics he finds in successful emergency responders that he has performed which contain a passion to assist, an enduring desire to learn, awareness in emergency management, and an enduring obligation to the field. Lastly in this interview Mr. Plummer recommended that the four important things to bring with are a notepad, a cell phone, a multi-tool and a walkie-talkie. The common public, of course, would be more comfortable not to think regarding disasters of several types and, the worse the possible threat is, the lesser they desire to deal with it. Increasing issues of disaster effects and response cause discomfits and intimidate people so much that managers of emergency are often encouraged to downplay the extremely real problems that the community faces. Planning, as they are told, is a small key and should be kept in the local government business. This method only separates the emergency organization from the public, constrains the building of an improved understanding of emergency resources by the public, and places serious dependence on public information created during an emergency. Such public information can be incomplete, misleading or absent in general. Chosen officials, for their component, respond to public concerns regarding administrative, day-to-day fiscal as well as political issues. Tax evaluations and zoning rules are of a higher priority than an earthquake that can never happen. It is difficult for an emergency manager to take over the awareness of chosen officials and to get a supporting commitment of maintenance for emergency planning Emergency Manager Interview Interviewee: Heather Huller. In this interview states that the duty of emergency management in Okinawa is a great one that contains an all-hazard method and support with Japanese emergency managers. Fortunately, Heather Huller has more than ten years of experience comparing the time she joined service in the armed forces. Huller's formal education and wide experience gave her a big insight into the career path of a trained emergency manager. The function of the emergency manager can no longer be that of a technician but must progress to that of a manager and senior policy advisor who manages a community-wide program to address every hazard and every phase of the cycle of emergency management. Emergency managers are depended on for using obtainable resources efficiently and effectively to manage risk. This means that the situations of policy and programmatic precedence must be based upon calculated levels of risk to property, lives as well as the surroundings. A main role of the emergency manager is the evaluation of vulnerability and risk and the growth of corresponding plans that can be used to eliminate or reduce risk. On the other hand, the same proposed mitigation strategy might come in handy for several given risks. The emergency manager should have the flexibility to decide not only which the most capable course of action is but also which would have the most possibility of being executed. The most theatrical segment of emergency management is response. In this stage the emergency manager manages activities to ensure that general objectives are being followed together. The emergency manager has to be flexible in order to suggest differences in procedures and adapt easliy to a quickly changing and regularly unclear circumstance. The importance is on creative problem solving skills based on the occasion and not on rigid adherence to pre-existing plans. This can be done by analyzing the problems in the light of every possible angle and dimension and then reach the most appropriate solution which would not only solve the current problem but would also prevent it from recurring Emergency managers have to recognize how to evaluate hazards and decrease vulnerability, look for the support of public officials and support the passage of laws and the enforcement of ordinances that reduce vulnerability. Collaborative efforts between organizations and experts in the private, public and non-profit sectors are required to promote disaster preparedness and prevention. Efforts taken for environmental management, land-use planning, building code enforcement, training, and exercises are necessary and have to highlight vulnerability reduction and capability building, rather than just observance. Emergency management is progressive and not just reactive in direction. Leadership has an important and powerful function in society and affects every aspect of every day life as well as the situations of crisis. Leaders can emerge from a group by initiative and could also be properly elected. There are a lot of qualities that a leader must possess for example: quick comprehension, intelligence, decisiveness, strength, courage, confidence, knowledge, education, personality, personality and above all reliability. There can be seen a long list of leadership characteristics but the following five qualities have the strongest relationship with leadership and are thus the most important. These five qualities include dominance, self-confidence, intelligence, high energy level and task related knowledge. “Students enrolled in the Master of Arts in Emergency Management Leadership Program will develop the ability to understand complex social, emotional, psychological, and political dynamics to effectively serve and lead support processes addressing an impacted community’s needs. This program takes psychology out of the classroom and private practice, and into the community to provide direct, hands-on services to individuals and groups who need professionals with the expertise to provide immediate and long-term support” (Emergency Management Leadership Overview, n.d, par.2). Current emergency mangers come from various backgrounds. Some graduated to their status as an emergency manager from first being a responder or from a military position. Others had the desire of being in this position right from college. Whereas both of these career paths provide the emergency manager with experiences and skills that assist them in their position as an emergency manager, they are incapable of providing the emergency manager with the variety or depth of experiences and skills that will be required to deal with disasters terrorism and such other issues. The next generation emergency manager must have a grasp of structural architecture and organizational design that permits newly incorporated organizations to maximize their respective influence in ways they could never attain alone. The next set of goals would be to decrease conflict, reduce overlapping eliminate gaps in the response plan and streamline response efforts. This would call for a combination of staff, blended capacities and novel methods of organizing to meet difficult response missions. additionally, new emergency managers should have an authority of obtainable skills which permits important decisions to be completed regarding new purchases, addition of systems and the development of innovative systems to answer intractable problems. This requires mainly a combined well-resourced and efficient R&D department in each state that becomes a laboratory of emergency management engineering and innovation. In turn, states would share technologies as well as innovations. “Becoming a good emergency responder or IC takes years of education and experience, and is a never-ending road to excellence. In a world that is constantly changing with new hazards being identified and new threats being posed, emergency responders must commit to a lifetime of learning to maintain their edge. Effective leadership is vital to the long-term success of any organization. Change in modern society impacts on all organizations and demands leaders able to develop coping strategies, and motivate people to embrace and support those strategies” (Bennett, 2011, p.37). The emergency facilities require the leaders to be able to exercise transformational and transactional leadership at every level. These leaders have to be knowledgeable in their field, and also should possess an attitude that would allow them to get a clear idea about the big picture. Although the emergency facilities help to inspire good transactional leaders trained in their specific craft, their culture and structure tends to limit the growth of transformational leaders due to the wide breadth and outlooks of experience they possess. The non-attendance of this part of leadership can limit the aptitude of emergency facility organizations to adapt with and manage quickly changing surroundings. Overcoming these problems calls for a promise by the senior organization for the provision of favorable situations for the growth of transformational leaders This may entail altering the culture of the business to render it more favorable for these leaders to prosper. It is also significant that the circumstances present in the organization allow all staff to develop to their full potential, even for those who might not turn out to be chief executives. If emergency facility organizations are able to provide these circumstances and create efficient transformational and transactional leaders who possess the knowledge to make appropriate and effective judgment then the business will be improved as well as highly equipped to meet a changing world and deliver good facilities and good working conditions. Reference List Bennett, B. (2011). Effective Emergency Management: A Closer Look at the Incident Command System. Program Development Peer Reviewed. Retrieved from http://www.asse.org/professionalsafety/pastissues/056/11/028_037_F1Bennett_1111Z.pdf Emergency Management Leadership Overview. (n.d). Adler School of Professional Psychology. Retrieved from http://www.adler.edu/page/programs/chicago/ma-in-emergency-management-leadership/overview Waters, D. (n.d). Understanding Strategic Thinking and Developing Strategic Thinkers. NDU Press. Retrieved from http://www.ndu.edu/press/understanding-strategic-thinking.html Read More