Co-evolution of work structure and process in organizations: improvisation in post-disaster debris removal operations

Abstract

This study examines the performance of cognitive work—as constrained by physical, policy and resource-related factors—in the near-simultaneous design and execution of disaster response operations. The demands of the situation described here—the removal of debris from a high-value barrier island in the US state of New York after Hurricane Sandy (2012)—lay at the far boundaries of the responding organizations’ experience, making this case an excellent candidate for study. Data are analyzed on the deliberative processes of the responding organization in order to characterize the interaction between the design and operation of the debris removal network over time. Statistical data modeling of these processes reveals a number of temporal dependencies between ideation and decision-making processes, as well as between components of the system. The illumination and quantification of these processes using data produced through normal operations contributes significantly to theories of the cognitive and behavioral phenomena that underlie organizational response to highly non-routine events, thus building upon broader theories of organizational improvisation and performance.