Together telling: reconciling information equivocality in crisis response

Abstract

Information is essential during crises. In a crisis response operation, information is usually shared among autonomous relief agencies to facilitate collective understanding and action. However, this may evoke the problem of equivocality, the presence of multiple competing or contradicting interpretations of the same information. The aim of this study is to offer pragmatic means of managing equivocality so collective understanding within and among groups can ensue in order to improve crisis response efforts. The primary theoretical constructs underlying this study are sensemaking, sensegiving, and storytelling. Sensemaking activities seek, process, create and use the information to come up with plausible understandings by assigning one meaning out of many plausible meanings in a situation, which is then communicated to others through the sensegiving efforts. Storytelling, as a communication tool, helps with the building of narratives in which open and negotiated conversations can lead to share understandings and coordinated actions. Built on the case of a garment factory fire incident in Pakistan that led to the death of 289 workers, the study adopted a Design Science Research approach by combining both existing theoretical understandings and relevant empirical data collected in two related settings. The data collection phase in Pakistan included analysis of investigation reports that examined the contributing factors and challenges faced by the first responders in handling the fire incident at the factory. Interviews with different actors of the factory fire incident, including survivors, victims’ family members, and emergency responders, were conducted. The second data source came from fieldwork conducted at Illinois Fire Service Institute (IFSI) in the United States. This was reinforced with reports retrieved from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) database investigating the common causes of firefighter fatalities. The data were analyzed using content analysis and validated through the member-checking process. Based on the theoretical and empirical data, this study developed and introduced the concept of Together Telling (TT). By using storytelling exercises adopted from the theatre ensemble, TT addresses the information-sharing issue of equivocality by enhancing the dialogic competencies of the crisis handlers so they can collectively understand the situation and move towards action. This study has important theoretical and practical implications. Theoretically, it facilitates episodes of collective sensemaking by improving sharing of information among team members and the application of storytelling techniques in the context of crisis response as this has been largely used in pre-crisis and post-crisis settings. TT provides practical incremental steps towards achieving common understandings while managing misunderstandings and confusions among the crisis response teams which is crucial in moving forward jointly. It also allows new form of leadership to emerge where everyone contributes to developing the larger narrative of the ongoing situation.