Organizational Management & Communication in Disasters
Overview
The topic of Organizational Management and Communications in Disasters is so broad that we could spend years just on these two areas of study. This course will provide the opportunity to explore different management, leadership, and communication styles to allow you to decide the best practices applied to pre-disaster, disaster, and post-disaster settings.
You are expected to independently critically read several leadershiptheories in the early part of the course, and then build upon the practices that make the most sense to you as we move through the term. During this term, you will complete 5 FEMA IS courses that are part of the U.S. professional credentialing process. You will see where to submit the certificates in the weekly Topics of Study area, for each specific course certificate.
What is systems theory, and how does it apply to chaos, project management, and disaster management? There will be several readings from Ackoff and others in this area. Think about this model in disaster planning exercises.
Teamwork is crucial to managing the effects of a disaster: defined leadership, clear roles, the knowledge to accomplish the task, and communication, are all elemental aspects of optimal action in disaster or emergency. Likewise, leadership, followership, and “management” are all components essential to teamwork. Organizational culture will be explored using several readings from Edgar Schein and others to answer the questions: how do you become an intelligent follower, and as a manager, how do you interact with followers?
Readings
Teamwork, Chp 1-10. Focus on how teams work, what can go wrong and the roles you play on a team. How do you value these roles?
For those delayed getting textbooks here is a PDF of the first few chapters in Larson. Larson Part 1.pdf (Chap 1-3)
Group Dynamics Analysis
Choose a group you have been a part of in the past and perform a critical analysis of the group dynamics, utilizing the lessons learned from the class work.The first portion of the course focuses on the presence and use of groups in Organizational Management. Using the text Larson & La Fasto, (1989) Teamwork, what must go right/ what can go wrong as your foundation, write a critical analysis of the strengths and opportunities for improvement identified in your small group work.
Remember, in APA style, to lead with a brief abstract composed after your write the paper. State in the introduction succinctly your conclusions and key learning points. Build your content by answering the Critical Analysis components of Who, What, When, Where (descriptive); the Why, Why not, What If (analytical) ; and the So What, What Is Next (evaluative) components. Conclude with a restatement of the salient points to take away from your analysis. Following the grading process, several of these works will be posted for the class to review.