Incident Command System as a Response Model within Emergency Operation Centers During Hurricane Rita

This study examines the degree to which the use of the Incident Command System (ICS) influenced the performance of Texas emergency operations centers (EOCs) during Hurricane Rita. Staff in evacuation, transition, and host county EOCs completed a questionnaire that assessed demographic variables, EOC physical environment, ICS experience, ICS implementation, and team climate. The results indicated that the duties each ICS section performed varied substantially from one EOC to another. Moreover, ICS experience and ICS implementation lacked statistically significant correlations with team climate, even though EOCs' physical environments did. Finally, staff from emergency relevant agencies (e.g., public works and social services) seemed to have more problems with ICS than did staff from emergency mission agencies (e.g., fire and police departments). Thus, there needs to be further study of ICS application in emergencies other than structural and wildland fires, as well as the development of new ICS training materials for emergency relevant agencies to supplement the current ICS training materials for emergency mission agencies.

[1]  Ronald W. Perry,et al.  Emergency Operations Centres in an Era of Terrorism: Policy and Management Functions , 2003 .

[2]  Jim McLennan,et al.  Decision Making Effectiveness in Wildfire Incident Management Teams , 2006 .

[3]  Saundra K. Schneider.  Governmental Response to Disasters: The Conflict between Bureaucratic Procedures and Emergent Norms , 1992 .

[4]  E. Salas,et al.  Toward an understanding of team performance and training. , 1992 .

[5]  Nicholas Sutingco.  Chapter 30 – The Incident Command System , 2006 .

[6]  L. James,et al.  Estimating within-group interrater reliability with and without response bias. , 1984 .

[7]  Dick A Buck,et al.  A Critical Evaluation of the Incident Command System and NIMS , 2006 .

[8]  Greg L. Stewart,et al.  AN EXPLORATION OF MEMBER ROLES AS A MULTILEVEL LINKING MECHANISM FOR INDIVIDUAL TRAITS AND TEAM OUTCOMES , 2005 .

[9]  Vikas Singh,et al.  National Incident Management System , 2007 .

[10]  Dennis J. Devine,et al.  A Meta-Analysis of Cohesion and Performance , 1995 .

[11]  W. Shadish,et al.  Experimental and Quasi-Experimental Designs for Generalized Causal Inference , 2001 .

[12]  Robert L. Wears,et al.  Information flow during crisis management: challenges to coordination in the emergency operations center , 2007, Cognition, Technology & Work.

[13]  S. Lirtzman,et al.  Role Conflict and Ambiguity in Complex Organizations. , 1970 .

[14]  M. Lindell,et al.  Household Adjustment to Earthquake Hazard , 2000 .

[15]  W. Schaufeli,et al.  Job burnout. , 2001, Annual review of psychology.

[16]  Michael T. Brannick,et al.  A role and expectancy model of participative decision-making: A replication and theoretical extension , 1990 .

[17]  Ronald W. Perry,et al.  The structure and function of community emergency operations centres , 1995 .

[18]  Michael K. Lindell,et al.  Effects of Organizational Environment, Internal Structure, and Team Climate on the Effectiveness of Local Emergency Planning Committees1 , 1995 .

[19]  Kristina Lauche,et al.  Incident Command Skills in the Management of an Oil Industry Drilling Incident: A Case Study , 2005 .

[20]  T. Drabek.  Managing the Emergency Response. , 1985 .

[21]  M. Lindell,et al.  Climate quality and climate consensus as mediators of the relationship between organizational antecedents and outcomes. , 2000, The Journal of applied psychology.

[22]  Daniel R. Ilgen,et al.  Extending the Multilevel Theory of Team Decision Making: Effects of Feedback and Experience in Hierarchical Teams , 1998 .

[23]  D. Neal,et al.  Effective emergency management: reconsidering the bureaucratic approach. , 1995, Disasters.

[24]  W. Waugh,et al.  Emergency management : principles and practice for local government , 2007 .

[25]  J K Ford,et al.  Emergency response training: strategies for enhancing real-world performance. , 2000, Journal of hazardous materials.

[26]  Richard T. Sylves,et al.  Disaster Management in the U.S. and Canada: The Politics, Policymaking, Administration and Analysis of Emergency Management , 1997 .

[27]  M. Lindell,et al.  A Revised Index of Interrater Agreement for Multi-Item Ratings of a Single Target , 1999 .

[28]  John Tisak,et al.  The measurement properties of the role conflict and role ambiguity scales: A review and extension of the empirical research , 1993 .

[29]  Robert C. Bolin.  The Loma Prieta earthquake : studies of short-term impacts , 1990 .

[30]  P. Lagadec,et al.  Crisis Management in France: Trends, Shifts and Perspectives , 2002 .

[31]  J. A. Wise,et al.  Design basis for the NRC Operations Center , 1983 .

[32]  Michael K. Lindell,et al.  Relationship between organizational context and job analysis task ratings. , 1998 .

[33]  J. G. Bethlehem.  Cross-sectional Research , 1999 .

[34]  Karlene H. Roberts,et al.  The Incident Command System : High Reliability Organizing for Complex and Volatile Task , 2007 .

[35]  R. Turner,et al.  Organized Behavior in Disaster. , 1972 .

[36]  Randy R Hansen.  Letter to the Editor Regarding Incident Command System (ICS) , 2006 .

[37]  Robert E. Ployhart,et al.  An Evaluation of Generic Teamwork Skills Training with Action Teams: Effects on Cognitive and Skill-Based Outcomes , 2005 .

[38]  L. James,et al.  Integrating Work Environment Perceptions: Explorations into the Measurement of Meaning , 1989 .

[39]  Michael K. Lindell,et al.  Member Commitment and Participation in Local Emergency Planning Committees , 2000 .

[40]  Irwin L. Goldstein,et al.  Training in organizations: Needs assessment, development, and evaluation , 1986 .