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

本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。以前的研究主要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，以一种减少这些破坏性事件的频率和影响的方式主动预测灾难。该研究将侧重于如何开发灾害风险管理专业知识，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些专业知识。在社会学中，这个项目代表了对大城市灾害管理人员日常工作的第一个系统的实证研究。对访谈和参与者观察数据的分析将在灾害社会学与更一般的风险和专门知识研究之间提供关键的联系。该项目收集和分析了在纽约市的一个市政应急管理机构进行的参与性观察以及对公共服务和私营部门的灾害风险管理专业人员进行的深入访谈的数据。数据收集的参与性观察阶段将涉及在应急管理办公室工作人员执行七项不同任务时跟随他们；网络管理与其他政府机构保持联系，协调救灾工作；规划，包括编写备灾计划和剧本；灾害模拟桌面演练的开发与实施；在稳定时期监测情况；大众传播;培训和教育；和实际操作活动。这些观察结果将辅以75位灾害管理从业人员的深度访谈，其中60位来自纽约市OEM网络，15位来自外部。这些观察和访谈的目的是了解风险管理从业者如何定义风险，在知识快速变化的领域中如何定义专业知识，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难的影响。在一个灾害越来越频繁、影响越来越严重的时期，这个项目将有助于我们了解如何减少灾害风险。它还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做法的来源。

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.