Doctoral Dissertation Research: Understanding Organizational Anticipation and Response to Disaster Risks

这项研究的目的是提高我们对大都市地区组织如何共同识别，计划和应对灾害风险的理解。以前的研究集中在对特定灾害事件的反应上。这项研究将注意力转移到一个研究不足的领域，即在政府工作的专业人员的日常实践，以减少这些破坏性事件的频率和影响的方式积极预测灾难。研究将侧重于如何发展灾害风险管理专门知识，以及如何在组织内部和跨组织边界的稳定和危机时期部署这种专门知识。在社会学方面，该项目代表了对大都市地区灾害管理人员日常工作的第一次系统的实证研究。对访谈和参与者观察数据的分析将提供灾害社会学与更一般的风险和专门知识研究之间的关键联系。 该项目收集和分析了纽约市一个市政应急管理机构的参与者观察数据，以及对公共服务和私营部门灾害风险管理专业人员的深入访谈。数据收集的参与者观察阶段将包括在应急管理办公室工作人员执行七项不同任务时跟踪他们;网络管理，以保持与其他政府组织的联系，协调救灾工作;规划，包括编写备灾计划和行动手册;制定和执行桌面模拟灾害演习;监测稳定时期的条件;公众沟通;培训和教育;实际业务活动。除了这些观察之外，还将对灾害管理从业人员进行75次深入访谈，其中60次来自纽约市OEM网络，15次来自该网络之外，这些观察和访谈的目的是了解风险管理从业人员如何定义风险，如何在知识变化迅速的领域定义专业知识，以及多个组织如何相互作用（或不相互作用）以保护公民免受多种灾害的影响。在灾害越来越频繁、影响越来越严重的时期，该项目将有助于我们了解如何减少灾害风险。 它也将有助于为目前在政府和私营企业工作的应急管理从业人员提供最佳实践。

The purpose of this research is to improve our understanding of how organizations in metropolitan areas work together to identify, plan for, and respond to disaster risks. Previous research has focused on reactions to specific disaster events. This research shifts attention to an under-studied area, the everyday practice of professionals working in government to proactively anticipate disaster in a way that reduces the frequency and impact of these disruptive events. The research will focus on how disaster risk management expertise is developed, and how that expertise is deployed in times of stability and crisis within and across organizational boundaries. In sociology this project represents the first systematic empirical study of the daily work of disaster managers in a major metropolitan area. The analysis of interview and participant-observation data will provide critical links between the sociology of disaster and more general research on risk and expertise. This project collects and analyzes data from participant observation in a municipal emergency management agency in New York City as well as in-depth interviews with disaster risk management professionals in public service and the private sector. The participant observation phase of the data collection will involve shadowing Office of Emergency Management staff while they perform seven different tasks; network administration to maintain ties with other government organizations to coordinate disaster response; planning, which includes the writing of disaster preparedness plans and playbooks; the development and execution of tabletop exercises for disaster simulations; monitoring conditions during times of stability; public communication; training and education; and actual operations activity. These observations will be complemented by 75 in-depth interviews with disaster management practitioners, 60 from the New York City OEM network and 15 from outside of it. The purpose of these observations and interviews is to understand how risk management practitioners define risk, how expertise is defined in an area where knowledge changes rapidly and how multiple organizations interact (or not) to protect the citizenry from disasters of multiple kinds. In a period where disasters are becoming more frequent and their effects more severe, this project will contribute to our understanding of how disaster risk can be reduced. It also will be helpful as a source of best practices for emergency management practitioners currently working in government and private industry.