Bureaucracy and Disaster Management Essay

Introduction

Disaster management is one of the most important practices in modern government system which helps prevent disaster and losses of people. Theorists have defined adaptive tasks in disaster management, the mastery of which signals successful adjustment. There are the control-related tasks of managing panic and other problems, dealing with the environment, and preserving adequate relationships with disaster personnel¹. In this case, strict hierarchical structure of the state apparatus and bureaucracy are important elements of disaster control and management. Thus, there is a risk that the bureaucratic structure will fail if the disaster will be enormous.

Bureaucracy and its Functions

Bureaucracy and its Management Functions

Bureaucracy allows effective control systems which have a great impact on professional life determining the main standards and expectations. Control systems will motivate employees to acquire new skills and knowledge and develop themselves. Based on strict bureaucratic organization, disaster management requires adequate resolution of a search for meaning, the ability to retain mastery over one’s life; and enhancement of self-esteem. Successful self-management of disaster requires sufficient knowledge about the disaster and its management to make informed decisions about health care, the performance of activities to manage the disaster, and the application of skills to preserve adequate psychosocial functioning. Many researchers focus on the individual’s experience of disaster and panic-related symptoms as indicative of adjustment². For example, the experience of greater fatigue, pain, or nausea compared with others undergoing similar managements would reflect less positive adjustment.

In disaster management, maintenance of relatively low levels of negative affect and, in some studies, high levels of positive affect defines optimal adjustment in these studies. Both general (e.g., state anxiety, global distress) and disaster-specific measures are used. Most studies relied on the absence of negative affect to indicate adequate adjustment. This finding is consistent with the adjustment literature across several mass disasters³. Functional status and role-related behaviors also can indicate adjustment. Return to work has been used as an adjustment index in many studies of those undergoing cardiac events, for example. Other examples of functional status include mobility, completion of physical rehabilitation, and ability to adhere to disaster management regimens. First, adjustment to mass disasters is multidimensional, including both intra- and interpersonal dimensions. Within these realms, intraindividual adjustment comprises cognitive (e.g., intrusive thoughts, self-evaluations), emotional (e.g., depression, anxiety), behavioral (e.g., return to work), and physical (e.g., symptom reports) functioning. Interpersonal adjustment often is relevant with regard to both personal relationships (e.g., family, friends) and relationships with health care providers⁴.

Role of Control in Bureaucracy

Planning and control are two crucial parts of modern bureaucracy. The modern disaster management depends upon and is influenced by effective management solutions and strategies. Planning and control are concerned with setting goals, establishing policies and programs, and implementing action for the entire society. Its major tasks are to translate needs, actual and potential, into strategies able to protect millions of people in situation. Disaster management requires quality improvements and new methods of prevention and intervention⁵. Planning and control play an important part in bureaucratic system as they help management to provide administrative and supervisory activity of an entity.

Different types of controls are not simply a limited specialized activity, but rather a perspective for the entire disaster management team. Different types of controls do not function as a separate entity in the disaster scenario planning, nor is it more important than any other primary activity. Bureaucracy allows managers and military personal manage, delegate, and coordinate resources, and they provide a system of incentives to encourage and support behavior⁶. Managers and military personal establish reporting systems, perform evaluations, and allocate accountability. The traditional definitions of bureaucracy have concentrated on and described the management process. What a manager does is vital, but descriptions do not address the function or purpose of management. The principle of management is to produce positive outcomes. Bureaucratic structure is more complex and is more than leading employees. Indeed, it has many more components⁷.

Successful bureaucrats have the gift for inspiring and motivating employees; they have vision and lift the spirit of employees to accomplish great ends. The release of human possibilities is a essential leadership goal. Still, it is significant to differentiate moral and just leadership from the character of despots who, by definition, are effective leaders if they accomplish their goals through persuasion. For the agricultural contracting company, leading similar to leadership, is ethical. Managers mobilize and assign resources; they guarantee the continuing vitality of the staff; they generate and maintain appropriate procedures⁸.

In quality control, it is important to consider not only the valences of adjustment dimensions, but also their duration and interference with one’s functioning and goal pursuits. Individuals’ acute feelings of anxiety and loss on learning that they have a chronic disaster may not compromise adjustment, for example, unless these feelings interfere markedly with the ability to make important management decisions or they persist long after diagnosis. adjustment to chronic disaster is a complex phenomenon. It is recommended that researchers carefully consider their assumptions with regard to what constitutes positive adjustment, tailor their assessments to the theoretical question of interest, recognize that any particular assessment is likely to provide only a snapshot of circumscribed dimensions of functioning, and limit their conclusions regarding adjustment accordingly (Lipsett et al 2006). Disaster management should be based on strict quality standards and principles of health and wellness priorities⁹.

Disaster Planning

Given that mass disasters present numerous potential stressors, how can we account for this apparent positive psychological adaptation? Several explanations are possible. Another compatible possibility is that mass disasters carry the potential for positive as well as negative consequences and that people’s ability to extract positive meanings from their disaster experience balances any negative consequences. Study participants reported high levels of depressive symptoms, they also evinced positive morale and positive states of mind comparable to general population norms, and they reported experiencing positive meaningful events. A third possibility is that, as mentioned previously, individuals shift their comparison standards as they adapt to disaster¹⁰.

Example of 11 September 2001

In spite of great benefits and opportunities proposed by bureaucratic structure and controls, it is unable to respond effectively to such complex disasters as terror attacks. The disaster of September 11^th changed lives of millions of people around the world. A mixture of political and social factors led to this attack caused a great catastrophe and national tragedy. Political leaders and philosophers, military and sociologists develop many conspiracy theories of 9/11 trying to explain the attacks, involvement of the government and its actions. In spite of the facts and figures proposed by the conspiracy theories, all of them lack clear evidence and official documents which could prove the hypotheses. Events of September 11^th changed the world and marked a new era in international politics and international relations. The events of September11th were a series of suicide arracks committed by Muslim fundamentalists. The attackers hijacked four airplanes and directed two of them into the Twins Tours in New York. The third plan was directed into the Pentagon and the forth one was crashed in Pennsylvania. In spite of different conspiracy theories, the undeniable fact is that Al-Qaida and bin Laden officially confirmed their involvement in these attacks. Any bureaucracy can manage such complex problems and mass panic as such. Only flexible and multidimensional approach would help military to manage tehsituation and establish state control over a short period of time¹¹.

In terms of bureaucratic structure, the more individuals’ central goals in life are threatened by the disaster, the more stressful the situation, and the more their appraisals, coping processes, and internal and external resources are challenged. Perceived goal blockage is likely to engender distress and an attempt to cope. In his cognitive-motivational-relational theory of emotion, Coping processes can be understood as lower order goals (e.g., express emotions about having cancer) that serve as a path to achieving higher order goals (e.g., maintain emotional balance, live a fulfilling life)¹².

Disaster Management

In disaster management, It is clear that the receipt and effectiveness of social support is partially dependent on personal attributes of the recipient and the reactions of others. Cancer people who reported some distress but maintained a positive attitude received more support from peers than did highly distressed or very well-adjusted people. In a prospective investigation of rheumatoid arthritis people, Helplessness appraisals were associated with passive coping in people, which in turn was related to lower perceived quality of emotional support, and greater psychosocial impairment and declining self-reported health over time. Clearly, specific facets of interpersonal relationships can both aid and hinder adjustment to panic situations, depending on the nature of the support attempt, attributes of the provider and recipient, and demands of the panic situations¹³. Although the conceptual and data analytic complexities can be daunting, intimate relationships provide rich ground for delineating the complex interplay of factors influencing adaptation for couples. Also, the disaster management professionals propose to involve information technologies and the Internet in disaster management for control and management functions¹⁴.

A bureaucratic model involves coping as a mediator between personality and outcomes, such that people high on neuroticism are more likely to cope through avoidance, which in turn predicts poor adjustment, for example. An interactive model implies that personality and coping interact, such that avoidant coping is effective for those low in neuroticism but maladaptive for those high in neuroticism, for example. Here, select demographic and personality attributes that are promising are examined as risk or protective factors in adjustment. Demographic and Background Attributes. Although not often a focus of studies on adjustment to panic situations, demographic and other stable premorbid characteristics often are included as covariates or otherwise examined in relation to adaptation¹⁵. Bureaucracy refers to systems and relations within systems being in motion, energetic, changing, and productive. In contrast to a static view of a context, a dynamic view focuses on the acquisition and utilization of resources by system components. Each stage of disaster management requires a different configuration of resources (e.g., implementation requires expertise in needs assessment and community interventions, or programmatic resources; maintenance requires ongoing commitments to funding and staffing, or political influence with funding organizations)¹⁶.

Bureaucracy begins with the assumption that the institution is a uniform, intractable structure directed in minutiae by control. Although very much authoritarian, the personal nature of real authority gives way to impersonal “policies” and “procedure¹⁷. Bureaucracy becomes not a set of specific plans to be realized but a continuing desperate attempt to write enough regulations to control every aspect of the organization, to be enforced by the guardians of the establishment. And the control is strictly top-down, issuing in mandates without commensurate resources or authority; there is no bottom up, except the accountability for carrying out dictates. The problem is that results cannot be mandated. Bureaucracy not only takes on the characteristics of the institution, it reinforces them. Rather than changing the system, planning is adapted to the defense of the system. Customer and supplier wants and needs are central to the marketing concept. Bureaucracy must use research findings and concepts that will help in determining actual and potential wants and needs as a basis for guiding decisions. Strategy is the process of deciding how to best position the organization in its competitive environment in order to achieve and sustain competitive advantage, profitably¹⁸.

Hurricanes

The best example of effective application of bureaucracy is management of hurricanes. The last year, the first tropical depression began on June 10, 2006 and became a storm, “Tropical Storm Alberto”, on June 11. Dominant coastal images involved enjoying sunny skies and sandy beaches rather than fleeing from hurricanes winds and storm surges. It is important to note that few of today’s coastal residents understand how a hurricane their beautiful shorefront commons. In July, two tropical storms reached the coast. Unnamed hurricane reached the land on July 17-18 (45 kt/998 mb) and tropical storm Beryl – July 19-21 (50 kt/1001 mb). Such interventions are important, as the level of community participation does not seem to correlate with the plan quality or degree to which the plan is implemented. Citizen initiatives in community health promotion often entail influencing governmental, health, social, and welfare organizations to be responsive to community concerns¹⁹. Consequently, the health promotion specialist may facilitate the development of community power. Disaster management problems or issues can be defined in numerous ways and the way an issue is defined has a direct bearing on the type of intervention. In theory, a community intervention to reduce dietary fat intake would ideally approach the problem comprehensively targeting the multiple influences on dietary behavior²⁰.

Disaster management groups within a community may compete for the same resources and this may limit cooperation. The ability for organizations to put aside such fears for the greater community good that concerted action can bring is often facilitated by an individual who is trusted by all parties. The specialist tries to cultivate participation among various community constituencies through an organized recruitment approach that is calculated to raise awareness of the importance of the health promotion initiative, and to instill a concern for the issue. Most importantly, participation is likely to result when concern is internalized and community members feel a personal responsibility to participate To foster effective participation, health promotion specialists facilitate the participants’ abilities to plan, organize, and implement effective community actions. Thus, aiding community groups in planning initiatives is an important intervention in community health promotion. The entree process, if well-organized and based on an accurate understanding of community dynamics, enables the community health promotion specialist to be sensitive to community concerns and to approach community members in a way that produces trust. Often, the health promotion specialist will have to overcome citizen reservations in order to gain their support²¹.

Assessments based on disaster status and population needs perceived by the community do not identify the capacities present in communities to effectively address needs. As a result, new projects may accurately reflect need, but may not suggest what community assets are present to implement community health promotion strategies effectively²². There are critiques of needs that are based primarily on health status indicators and community leader perceptions, noting that such assessments rarely involve grassroots community members and thus do not contribute to developing community capacity. In reaction to this criticism, recent approaches to entree include the mapping of community capacities. They also provided maps of associations that may be present in neighborhoods that can offer opportunities for residents to meet. An important result of skillful entree is the health promotion specialist’s cultivation of trust among community constituencies who are most concerned and/or affected by a presenting health issue. Underlying adaptation are the concepts of change and coping. Thus, adaptation refers to the components in systems, and the systems themselves, being in a constant stage of influence, flux, accommodation, and change. Succession refers to the notion that over time, forms of life change in a regular sequence. In addition, an ecological approach is oriented toward studying naturally occurring phenomena and contributing to improving or maintaining the functioning of all systems²³.

Conclusion

In sum, disaster management programs should involve different approaches and tools in order to create effective and efficient solutions for diverse populations. interventions and prevention campaigns are one type of strategic alliance that may be nurtured by the community health promotion specialist. Others include networks, consortia, leadership councils, and citizen panels. Regardless of its form, strategic alliances generally share certain characteristics. Usually, they work well when members gain access to new information, ideas, materials, and other resources; when duplication of services and competition is minimized and consensus decision making is maximized; when the potential for each member to maximize power and influence is achieved; and when responsibility for addressing complex or controversial issues is shared across member organizations.

Control systems in bureaucracies are forestalled when members’ resources are diverted unduly to the alliance, when the alliance focuses on issues that are not of core concern to members, or when the alliance delays in taking action due to a slow and cumbersome process for reaching consensus. finally, coalitions that evaluate their mission, goals, objectives, and activities regularly are more efficacious than coalitions that are not privy to such self-evaluation data. Organizations that achieve high levels of each of these processes and outcomes are more likely to create a favorable organizational climate, such as greater group cohesiveness, which in turn has been shown to be related to greater satisfaction, participation, and performance. Likewise, there is a body of research illustrating that citizen participation in the research and intervention process not only has the potential to improve the quality of life for communities and individuals but it can also increase the quality of data collected by researchers.

Bibliography

Bovens, M. ‘t Hart, P. Understanding Policy Fiascos Transaction 1996.

Charles, M. T. “The Last Flight of Space Shuttle Challenger” in Richard J Stillman, ed, Public Administration – Concepts and Cases, Sixth Edition, Houghton Mifflin, 1996.

Chomsky, N., September 11. Allen & Unwin, 2001.

Crockatt, R., America Embattled: September 11, Anti-Americanism, and the Global Order. Routledge, 2003.

Heimann, Ch. “Understanding the Challenger Disaster: Organizational Structure and the Design of Reliable Systems” American Political Science Review, vol 87 no 2, 1993, pp 421-35.

Hopkins, A. Making Safety Work, Allen and Unwin, 1995.

Hopkins, A. Managing Major Hazards, Allen and Unwin, 1999.

Landau, M. “Redundancy, Rationality, and the Problem of Duplication and Overlap” Public Administration Review, vol 29 no 4, 1969, pp 346-58.

Rosenthal, U., ‘t Hart, P. and Michael Charles eds, Coping With Crises, Charles C Thomas, 1989.

Perrow, Ch. Normal Accidents: Living with High-Risk Technologies, Basic Books, New York, 1984.

Schneid, Th. D., Collins, L. R. Disaster Management and Preparedness (Occupational Safety and Health Guide Series). CRC; 1 edition, 2000.

Lindell, M. K. Emergency Management. Wiley; 1 edition, 2006.

Footnotes

1. Bovens, M. ‘t Hart, P. Understanding Policy (Fiascos Transaction 1996), 43.
2. Ibid., 87.
3. Charles, M. T. “The Last Flight of Space Shuttle Challenger” in Richard J Stillman, ed, Public Administration – Concepts and Cases, (Sixth Edition, Houghton Mifflin, 1996), 97.
4. Bovens, M. ‘t Hart, P. Understanding Policy (Fiascos Transaction 1996), 66.
5. Bovens, M. ‘t Hart, P. Understanding Policy (Fiascos Transaction 1996), 51.
6. Crockatt, R., America Embattled: September 11, Anti-Americanism, and the Global Order. (Routledge, 2003), 71.
7. Ibid., 21.
8. Lindell, M. K. Emergency Management. (Wiley; 1 edition, 2006), 43.
9. Rosenthal, U., ‘t Hart, P. and Michael Charles eds, Coping With Crises, (Charles C Thomas, 1989),.87.
10. Rosenthal, U., ‘t Hart, P. and Michael Charles eds, Coping With Crises, (Charles C Thomas, 1989), 44.
11. Perrow, Ch. Normal Accidents: Living with High-Risk Technologies, (Basic Books, New York, 1984). 23.
12. Schneid, Th. D., Collins, L. R. Disaster Management and Preparedness (Occupational Safety and Health Guide Series).(CRC; 1 edition, 2000), 51.
13. Heimann, Ch. “Understanding the Challenger Disaster: Organizational Structure and the Design of Reliable Systems” American Political Science Review, vol 87 no 2, 1993, pp 421.
14. Landau, M. “Redundancy, Rationality, and the Problem of Duplication and Overlap” Public Administration Review, vol 29 no 4, 1969, pp 346.
15. Hopkins, A. Making Safety Work, (Allen and Unwin, 1995),87.
16. Hopkins, A. Managing Major Hazards, (Allen and Unwin, 1999), 33..
17. Hopkins, A. Making Safety Work, (Allen and Unwin, 1995), 45.
18. Rosenthal, U., ‘t Hart, P. and Michael Charles eds, Coping With Crises, (Charles C Thomas, 1989), 31.
19. Rosenthal, U., ‘t Hart, P. and Michael Charles eds, Coping With Crises, (Charles C Thomas, 1989), 36.
20. Lindell, M. K. Emergency Management. (Wiley; 1 edition, 2006), 34.
21. Crockatt, R., America Embattled: September 11, Anti-Americanism, and the Global Order. (Routledge, 2003), 76.
22. Hopkins, A. Managing Major Hazards, (Allen and Unwin, 1999), 43.
23. Perrow, Ch. Normal Accidents: Living with High-Risk Technologies, (Basic Books, New York, 1984). 66.