International Disaster Management and Organizations Evolving - Book Report/Review Example

Business Case Study Executive summary The paper represents a suggestion report from the view point of a management consultant the alternative of action that could have been taken or could be taken by Rio Tinto in case of future natural disaster. The report is written in the form of suggestion from the perspective of a management consultant. Various alternatives have been suggestion as probable course of action and evaluated against a set of decision criteria. At last one of the alternative that is implementing effective communication tools has been suggested to be implemented due to the low cost and effectiveness of the alternative. Issues Rio Tinto is a British-Australian Multinational company. It is involved in the business of metals and mining. The company has its operation throughout the world. One of its offices is located in Japan. Business portfolio of this firm is vast. It supplies a wide range of various minerals to different industries around the world. Rio Tinto’s major products are aluminum, copper, diamond, uranium, iron ore, thermal and metallurgical coal and different industrial minerals. In six continents the organization has its business covering 40 countries. A large number of employees are working with this company. 1With the help of advanced technology the firm operates its huge scale of operation through exploring and innovating different business practices. The company faced a major problem in its Japan’s office related o earthquake. The operational activities of the company got hampered for this natural disaster. The employees of Japan’s office faced chaotic situation after the earthquake. They did not have any idea how to handle the situation and continue their work at the end of this natural disaster. As a result the business operation of the company got struck. The management of the company did not take any effective measures to manage the situation and helping the employees to get out of it. In that earthquake the office building of Rio Tinto shook three times. Another major issue is the firm is investing on others factors of the organization but it is not undertaking any effective measures in providing employee benefits and facilities. 2After the earthquake the employees had to stay back in the office whole night for lack of transport facilities. For the lack of information those employees did not have any idea about the outside environment. Even within the office the working environment was not normal. The organization should incorporate effective and appropriate measures in managing such situations. As Japan is an earthquake prone country so the company should be ready to face this type of natural disaster and according to that it should take necessary steps to look after the health and safety of its employees. In such situations the employees rely very much on the company and its management system. But Rio Tinto failed in meeting up the expectations of its employees and stakeholders. The firm did not perform any social responsibilities. It only focused on the profitability of the company. Causes Rio Tinto Company experienced a very bad impact for the earthquake. This natural disaster happened 520km far from Tokyo. The office of the company was in a building which was not resistant to earthquake. At the time of earthquake the employees took shelter under the table to protect themselves.3 But this was very risky. Staffs became very much unsatisfied with the management as the company did not provide any service to them after the natural disaster. It is important to focus on these cause at the business operation of Rio Tinto is getting damaged by this. The company invests a huge amount of money to increase its profitability. The brand name of the company is very much popular in mining industry. It uses innovative technology to explore various minerals. 4The firm utilizes modern technology to maximum level to achieve its objectives and goals. For this reason it doesn’t take any initiatives to look after the health and safety issues of its employees. The management of the company only focuses on increasing the productivity of employees. But the growth and development of a perfect organization depends highly on maintaining proper measures in health and safety of its employees. For safeguarding its employees from natural disaster the company should follow some policies to guide its workplace environment. 5The employees of Rio Tinto faced a major problem in communication after the earthquake. They were unaware about outside situation. Therefore it is important for the company to maintain effective communication system which will help the employees to communicate people outside the office. This office of the firm is located in an earthquake prone area. So it should have kept the facility of receiving information of natural disaster beforehand. It could have helped the company to take preventive measures for overcoming the chaotic condition. The employees could have been seriously injured if the earthquake continued for some more time. Moreover they did not have any transport facilities from the firm. As a result they faced a serious problem in going back to home after the earthquake. Alternatives Various issues and causes of this case are associated with health and safety of the employees of Rio Tinto Company. To manage these issues some necessary alternative actions should be taken by the company. The organization has to develop and facilitate transport facilities to the employees after any type of natural disaster. This is because after natural disaster transport system of the country gets damaged and it become very difficult to the people to reach their home. Therefore it is the responsibility of the company to facilitate the employees in reaching their homes after any natural disaster. Developing effective communication system will help the company to gather information about outside environment and weather forecast. By getting accurate information about earthquake or any natural calamities the organization can provide leave to its employees in those situations.6 This strategy will result in saving the lives of its many employees and rescue them from life threatening situations. Moreover strong communication system will help the employee to get connected with their near ones. Another alternative solution Rio Tinto can take is to shift its office to a different place which is less affected by earthquake. This will benefit the company to protect is office assets from serious damages and safeguard the life of its employees. Presently the office of Rio Tinto is located is a place which is very much affected by earthquake and it endanger the lives of its staffs. The management has to invest money for taking care of the staffs. The company can alternatively take help and consult with the head office and ask their help to take a decision on any of the alternatives or any alternatives that the head office may suggest. After mutual consultation with the head office the company management along with the head office together can take an affirmative decision on the matter in hand. Another alternative is to make sure that the building which they use as office can cope with such natural disasters like earthquake, fire etc whenever the situation may arise. The building should especially be protected against earthquake and Tsunami as because earth quake and tsunami are the most frequent natural disaster that may occur in Japan. Making people aware of what they need to do in emergency situation and training them is also an alternative7. Decision Criteria In the above pages several alternative course of action is suggested when it comes to what is the probable course of action that the company could have chosen in the emergency situation of earthquake that took place or in case of any future emergency situation that might occur. It is important to note that the cost of natural disaster is increasing worldwide as shown in following figure. Increasing cost of natural disaster8 However it might not be feasible for the company to implement all the alternative course of action. In such a scenario the company may have to choose any one of the alternatives. When it comes to choose one alternative out of the several available alternatives, first of all it is required to form decision criteria. A decision criterion gives the basis on which the decision of choosing one alternative out of the several available alternatives can be based upon. The decision criteria on which each of the alternative courses of action can be evaluated upon are: 1. Is the alternative financially viable- This decision criteria will be used to evaluate the cost behind the implementation of a particular alternative. If a particular alternative is very costly to implement, chances are the company and company management won’t go forward in implementing. Each alternative should be evaluated on the basis of cost vs. benefit scale to find out if the particular alternative is financially viable or not. 2. Time period required to implement the alternative- Time period required in order to implement the alternative. If the particular situation is a persistent problem and the company wants a quick fix solution, then a solution which will require a long time to implement will not be an obvious choice. 3. Are the employees comfortable with the alternative- Employees are the most important resources of an organization. So any alternative chosen should be chosen keeping the employees in perspective. 4. Is the alternative technically feasible- It is also important to judge if the particular alternative is technically feasible. Technical feasibility is an important criterion to judge while judging the feasibility of an alternative. 5. Has the alternative been approved by the top management- Is the top management comfortable with the decision and are they ready to accept the decision. Recommendations Decision criteria Alternatives Financial viability Time period required Are employees comfortable? Approved by top management? Alternative technically feasible? Develop and facilitate transport facilities Costly initiative Small time period is required to implement Yes Medium probability that the top management will approve Moderately visible Shift office to a different place Very costly strategy Long time period may be required Employees may not be comfortable Management won’t probably approve the decision Technically difficult and cumbersome to apply in practice Develop effective communication Less costly initiative Can be implemented rather quickly Yes employees are comfortable Management will probably approve the decision Can be rather easily implemented Consult with head office and ask for help Least costly Long time as the help may take time to arrive or a long decision process Employees may think that the management is unnecessarily taking time Management will approve the decision but may not have the time to help Depends on the type of help provided Building more earthquake resilient buildings Moderately costly depending on the amount of technology implemented or if new building is built Depends upon the amount and scope of work Employees may be uncomfortable with the temporary inconvenience caused due to elaborate scope of work Management may or may not approve depending on the time and money Depends on the amount and scope of work Training and making people aware Less costly. Only cost is training cost Depends on the amount of training given Employees are like to have a mixed reaction Management may approve Easy to implement technically Based on the criteria of decision given above and after evaluation of the alternatives against each of the above decision criterion, developing effective communication technologies and implementing the same seems to be most effective9. Implementation and implications The alternative that Rio Tinto can go in for implementing is developing effective communication strategy. This alternative seems to be most effective as because this is very less costly and likely to be approved by all concerned and related stakeholders. In time of a disaster the most important thing that assures the affected is timely information and update regarding the event and assurance and guidelines regarding what should be done.10 Implementing an effective communication system can in simple sense mean installing a public address system. The public address system should be battery operated as an alternate source of power so that it can function even if there is a power cut in case of earthquake or any other natural disaster. The public address system should be maintained by a disaster management cell within the company to handle emergency situation. As per long term plan the organization should ensure that the building is made earth quake resistant to the extent it is possible.11 However implementing major structural changes may cause incontinence for the workers and so they may not approve. The initiative could also face resistance from top management as it could be a costly initiative.12 References Aldrich, Howard and Martin, Ruef., Organizations Evolving. London: SAGE. 2006. Coppola, Damon P. Introduction to International Disaster Management. MA:Elsevier. 2011. Haddow, George and Haddow, Kim S. Disaster Communications in a Changing Media World. MA: Butterworth-Heinemann. 2013. Hyndman, Donald and Hyndman, David. Natural Hazards and Disasters. CA: Cengage learning. 2013. Kingston, Jeff. Critical Issues in Contemporary Japan. New York: Routledge. 2014. Muttarak, Raya, and Wolfgang Lutz. Is Education a Key to Reducing Vulnerability to Natural Disasters and hence Unavoidable Climate Change?.Ecology and Society, 19(1).2013. Rooney,Terry, Geoffrey Podger and Judith Hackitt., The Role of the Health and Safety Commission and the Health and Safety Executive in Regulating Workplace Health and Safety: Third Report of Session 2007-08, Vol. 2: Oral and Written Evidence. Edinburgh: The Stationery Office. 2008. Schuster, Peter. Fundamentals of international occupational health and safety law. USA: Aberdeen University Press. 2008. Smith, W. Gregory., Management Obligations for Health and Safety. Florida: CRC Press. 2011. Stranks, Jeremy. The Managers Guide to Health and Safety at Work. London: Kogan Page Publishers. 2005. Taranath, Bungale S. Structural Analysis and Design of Tall Buildings: Steel and Composite Construction. Boca Raton: CRC Press. 2012. Tufty, Barbara. 1001 Questions Answered About: Earthquakes, Avalanches, Floods and Other Natural Disasters. Ontario: Courier Corporation. 2013. Read More