Interorganizational Network Coordination under Stress Caused by Repeated Threats of Disasters

Abstract

The study addresses interorganizational learning and coordination as well as their impact on collaborative capacity building in disaster environments. Community coordination requires communication and planning to take necessary precautions in the face of severe threats of disasters. The historically unique case of the four Florida hurricanes of 2004 is used to assess coordinated response under conditions of repeated threats of hurricanes. The repeated threat scenario suggests that emergency managers must vigilantly work to keep the partnering public, private, and nonprofit agencies and citizens informed and apprised of the seriousness of the situation. The research examines four hurricane response operations drawing on content analyses of news and situation reports. Content analysis provides interorganizational interactions that are subject to network analysis revealing information about: (1) how critical actors interacted and coordinated, (2) sub-groups under each network, and (3) each network as a system. Using network analysis in analyzing disaster response systems is a new way of exploring the issues from another perspective and through a new methodology. The article showcases the potential use of network analysis in both organizational and emergency management research.