Abstract
Exponentially increased number of disasters and continuous failure of humanitarian aid lead to increase in attention towards humanitarian logistics. This paper aims at understanding the conceptual framework of humanitarian logistics with a special focus on the human resources involved in the disaster relief operations. The study used a conceptual research methodology through an extensive literature review from both academic and practitioner journals. The study attempts to identify the challenges for planning and managing human resources for a humanitarian-aid organization considering the uncertainty of disaster location and intensity. The study also tried to indicate the scope for further research in the area. The paper is conceptual in nature and empirical research is required to validate the findings. The study sets an agenda for academic research. The findings of the study will help the academia to establish a framework for studying the humanitarian organizations which are different from the general business organizations. The study also provides a tool for the practitioners to understand the challenges, plan, hire and retain the human resources accordingly. Research focus from academia in the area of humanitarian logistics is less compared to practitioner’s research. Also, not much research concentrated on the human resources aspect of disaster management which is different when compared to the business organizations.
Highlights
On 16 June 2013, when half the world just woke up for a new day, not knowing what was happening in Uttarakhand,where thousands were waiting for once in a lifetime pilgrimage at Kedarnath, one of the holy shrines in India.At Kedarnath, another day with pilgrims started and in no time, Holy Ganges shook life disastrously
A status report of Disaster Management in India (2005) clearly defined the framework, policies and procedures assigning the roles to the concerned personnel but, there is no evaluation of its implementation
Objective of the Study This conceptual paper intends to present a clear overview of the concept of “humanitarian logistics” in general and the “challenges for human resource functions” in particular.The paper attempts to illustrate the thrust areas of humanitarian aid in India and identify the challenges from the existing challenges
Summary
On 16 June 2013, when half the world just woke up for a new day, not knowing what was happening in Uttarakhand,where thousands were waiting for once in a lifetime pilgrimage at Kedarnath, one of the holy shrines in India.At Kedarnath, another day with pilgrims started and in no time, Holy Ganges shook life disastrously. As Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) in 2010 explained “cloud burst”, occurs when a cloud empties out its water content at speeds of over 10 cm per hour for more than an hour at one place and in Uttarakhand the total rainfall was 261cm in three days. It took almost 15 days for the armed forces to rescue the people affected by the disaster while the Government announced that it might take 3years to reopen the holy shrine for pilgrims. A status report of Disaster Management in India (2005) clearly defined the framework, policies and procedures assigning the roles to the concerned personnel but, there is no evaluation of its implementation. Thomas and Mizushima (2005) called for ‘increased professionalization of humanitarian logistics through improved personnel selection, training and education
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