“I know that most men, including those at ease with problems of the greatest complexity, can seldom accept even the simplest and most obvious truth if it be such as would oblige them to admit the falsity conclusions which they have delighted in explaining to colleagues, which they have proudly taught to others, and which they have woven, thread by thread, into the fabric of their lives.”
- Leo Tolstoy
Emergency Management: An Unpredictable Affair
The answer to almost every question asked in the emergency management field is, “it depends.” This way of thinking is very hard for the public and elected or key officials to grasp as they are used to seeing a problem and finding the solution. In emergency management, however, we work in a world of complex problems, where there is no one solution or one agency that can solve everything. It takes collaboration and coordination with multiple entities to effectively work through every complexity to get to solutions that will work for any given community. And rarely is one solution sufficient to meet the needs of the emergency.
“Networks are a non-hierarchical approach to management, reliant on horizontal relationships, information, expertise, and trust to direct a self-organizing process.”
- Robert Agronoff, Indiana University Professor
We see this type of structure in emergency management. Very seldom does an emergency manager have the authority over all parts of an emergency management program, let alone a disaster event. In reality, most emergency managers have little to no authority at all. Instead, emergency management personnel rely upon those key horizontal relationships necessary for effective coordination and emergency support. They rely on the various subject-matter experts from across disciplines to provide appropriate and timely information and expertise. An emergency manager brings those with authority to the table to work through complex problems and determine realistic solutions.
“The art of simplicity is a puzzle of complexity.”
- Douglas Horton
In addition to being part of a network, emergency management is also part of a complex adaptive system. The activities in which we are involved are often unpredictable, full of conflict, dynamic, and filled with threats as well as opportunities. Our simple one-to-one relationships tend to become more complex over time, including more partnerships and collaborative networks. This leads to a more complex environment as a collective group. Larger emergencies or disasters exacerbate this phenomenon due to the addition of outside partners or players, where relationships are yet to be formed. Government is also increasingly responsible for “wicked problems,” those that are considered so complex that no one organization or agency can respond appropriately. One of the complexities of an open system such as emergency management is the necessity for the organizations to adapt over time. How do the social structures of these dynamic relationships impact various outcomes?
“A fundamental principle that characterizes open systems is that objectives can be pursued through a variety of methods and means and there is no single approach that will always produce the desired results.”
- Veteran’s Health Administration, Institute for Crisis, Disaster, and Risk Management at the George Washington University
Since major emergencies happen infrequently, and may be considered unpredictable, and the partnerships are diverse, the response to these events is varied. No one agency will be able to respond effectively and no one solution can be utilized on every event. With this in mind, why would we continue doing things the way we have done them for the last several decades? For example, why would we allow our training programs to focus on one problem or one agency? Wouldn’t it be more beneficial to create complex exercises for complex problems utilizing these self-organizing networks? And how can we expect to solve complex problems if we allow the silos in organizations to continue?
“Everyone you will ever meet knows something you don’t.”
- Bill Nye (the Science Guy)
The systems approach allows crews not only to train and learn for individual performance, but also as a cohesive crew, learning one another’s strengths and weaknesses and determining how each individual can make the team stronger overall. The systems approach emphasizes the ability to adapt to a changing environment by tailoring information to different components of the system in order to produce the most accurate and useful results. A one-size-fits-all approach to emergency management has proven to fail time and again. What may work in one area may not work in another. Once again, the answer is, “It just depends.”
“At some point, you have to make a decision. Boundaries don’t keep other people out. They fence you in. Life is messy. That’s how we’re made. So you can waste your lives drawing lines. Or you can live your life crossing them. But there are some lines that are way too dangerous to cross. Here’s what I know. If you’re willing to throw caution to the wind and take a chance, the view from the other side is…spectacular.” — Meredith Gray, Grey’s Anatomy
