Organizing for Response: The Unresolved Problem

During the critical hours immediately following a significant spill, responders must perform three functions: determine the initial strategy and tactics, mobilize resources, and create the response organization. This paper examines the processes of creating and managing a smoothly functioning response organization. The current trend toward the creation of highly centralized response organizations based on the Incident Command System is criticized, based on research that demonstrates the need for a decentralized, flexible decision-making structure during a crisis. Research that examines the role of the external environment and organizational culture in the creation of effective crisis management organizations is identified. The formation of decision-centered organizations that effectively use decision-making groups is discussed. Until and unless these issues are better understood and addressed by disaster researchers and managers, organizing for response will remain an unresolved problem.