Crisis Management Scenarios Research Articles

Using the moral intensity framework to examine whether colleges should have reopened in late 2020 for in-person learning: an in-depth analysis of data from the United States with global implications for higher education

ABSTRACT The decision whether to reopen universities for in-person learning in late 2020 relied on ethical decision-making where the consequences were dire to the mission of the institution, health of the community, financial well-being of the institution and employees, and had political ramifications. The risks that universities faced worldwide included health risks to students, faculty, staff, and the community; financial risks to the institution and employees; and mission risks of the institution. Each of these risks had ethical implications. University reopening decisions were made in the United States as the number of COVID-19 cases and deaths were surging globally. Applying a moral intensity framework that assesses the in-person learning decision against six dimensions and using data collected from 62 universities, we show that social consensus and risk mitigation measures designed to reduce the magnitude of consequences and temporal immediacy were important factors in deciding to offer in-person classes. An ex-post facto analysis of COVID-19 infection and death data suggests that university administrators made an ethical decision. When facing a similar crisis management scenario in the future, a moral intensity framework could help university administrators worldwide understand the issues and allow them to make an ethical decision.

Exploring Empathy in Management: Compassionate Leadership - The Ratan Tata Way

Empathy in management has increasingly become recognized as a pivotal determinant of organizational success, influencing not only workplace culture but also overall performance metrics. This research paper undertakes a comprehensive exploration of empathetic leadership, spotlighting Ratan Tata, Chairman Emeritus of Tata Sons, as a quintessential example of compassionate leadership. By delving into empirical evidence and employing detailed case studies, this study seeks to illuminate the multifaceted impacts of empathetic leadership within organizational contexts. The paper examines how empathetic leadership practices, as exemplified by Ratan Tata, foster heightened levels of employee engagement, thereby cultivating a workforce that is not only more motivated but also more committed to organizational goals. Furthermore, it explores how such leadership styles contribute to enhancing organizational resilience in the face of challenges, fostering an environment where adaptability and cohesion thrive. Through the lens of Tata's leadership journey, the research aims to uncover specific strategies and behaviors that promote empathy within leadership roles. It analyzes pivotal decisions and interactions where empathy played a critical role in shaping outcomes, such as during significant acquisitions, organizational restructuring, or crisis management scenarios. By drawing on both qualitative and quantitative methodologies, including interviews, archival analysis, and comparative case studies, the paper endeavors to provide actionable insights into the practical application of empathetic leadership principles. Ultimately, this research paper not only underscores the theoretical underpinnings of empathetic leadership but also offers practical implications for organizational leaders and managers seeking to cultivate a more empathetic and inclusive workplace culture. By elucidating the linkages between empathetic leadership and organizational success, the study contributes to a deeper understanding of leadership dynamics in contemporary business environments and advocates for the integration of empathy as a core competency in leadership development programs and organizational strategies

Gamification through collaborative learning in medical education

Introduction: Introduction to Health Profession (IHP) was designed to teach first-year medical students the importance of self-directed learning, accountability, and teamwork in healthcare. Due to the COVID 19 pandemic, the course was delivered virtually, incorporating elements of gamification. Methods: Gamification features included collaborative teamwork to simulate and record the roleplay for assignments based on crisis management scenarios. The syllabus involves knowledge checks to promote self-directed learning and personal accountability as well as online questionnaires to identify personality traits followed by discussion. Games like Chinese whispers and charades were introduced to identify listening skills. Additional gamification features include progress mechanics for collecting badges upon successful completion of knowledge checks / assessments and completing collaborative teamwork activities. Results: Results from the descriptive study on the educational usefulness of the IHP module was found to be satisfactory. The feedback was encouraging as >95% of students gave positive feedback that the IHP activities enabled them to understand the value of teamwork, effective communication, professional behavior and enabled them to be resilient and adaptable. 92% agreed that the IHP activities helped to make connections and network with their peers during the pandemic Conclusion: Gamification of IHP course was successful in terms of practicality and usefulness in promoting communication, collaborative work, experiential learning, and teamwork. Students were empowered to take charge of their own learning of both content and development of interpersonal skills and teamwork through gamification. The isolation caused by the pandemic was alleviated by the networking that occurred during collaborative group activities.

Development of a Human-Agent Interaction System including Norm and Emotion in an Evacuation Situation (Student Abstract)

Agent-based modeling and simulation can provide a powerful test environment for crisis management scenarios. Human agent interaction has limitations in representing norms issued by an agent to a human agent that has emotions. In this study, we present an approach to the interaction between a virtual normative agent and a human agent in an evacuation scenario. Through simulation comparisons, it is shown that the method used in this study can more fully simulate the real-life out come of an emergency situation and also improves the au thenticity of the agent interaction.

Sinking houseboats and swaying home stays: community resilience and local impacts of COVID-19 in managing tourism crisis in Kerala

Purpose The tourism sector of the state of Kerala in India is highly vulnerable and has been extensively impacted by the global pandemic disaster. This paper aims to analyze the impact of COVID-19 (Corona virus pandemic) on houseboat operators and homestay managers. Design/methodology/approach This paper indicates a multi-stakeholder assessment method to examine various pandemic disaster facets through a structured discussion with different destination stakeholders. This study examines qualitative data collected through semi-structured interviews from homestay owners, houseboat operators and government designators in Kerala. This study proposes a conceptual community resilience competency framework that could facilitate speedy crisis management responses. In this study, the sample comprises of nine respondents who play a pivotal role in the travel business, comprising the public sector, private sector, NGO's and community leaders. Findings The qualitative findings identify India’s and the state of Kerala's roles in handling crisis management scenarios over internal strategies and strategy formulation. The results indicate that the supplementary industry practitioners explore tactical and strategic management initiatives to sustain their businesses. The dynamics of stakeholder engagement adopted by the state is given prominence. Originality/value This study suggests mechanisms to re-establish the brand image and the possible strategies and suggestions that could help in the survival of the Kerala tourism industry in the post-disaster period. The “new normal” has been substantiated in the study by incorporating strategies and precautionary methods adopted by the homestay and houseboat operators so as to address the guests' safety concerns.

Problems Caused by the Impact of COVID-19 on Small and Medium Enterprises Management and its Solutions

The present paper has been made a comparative analysis of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises to determine the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic-related restrictions and lockdown on their activity. At the same time has been analysed pre- and post-pandemic periods. Also, the paper provides opinions about the ways how to mitigate and avoid impact on small and medium enterprises (SMEs) caused by pandemics, which might reoccur in the future. The importance of SMEs in the world and Georgian economy has been estimated in terms of added value, GDP, turnover, manufacturing products, and working place formation. It has been concluded that SMEs can handle some minor and short-term issues by themselves with the elaboration of the business continuity plan and crisis management scenarios, but these still are needed the active involvement of state aid. The latter implies financial support and professional, informational, and technical support as well, such as state internet-platform available for SMEs for interactive coordination and communication between the parties and for rapid action from the state on those fields which has been damaged mostly.

Simulation and assessment of battery depletion attacks on unmanned aerial vehicles for crisis management infrastructures

The article discusses the problem of simulation and assessment of battery depletion attacks on unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in crisis management systems. These devices operate in security sensitive infrastructures, thus, they are subject to accidental incidents or intentional ones performed by an attacker, such as natural disasters, terrorist attacks or sabotage accidents. The drones are particularly subject to battery depletion attacks, which exploit their autonomy, their physical movements in space, their wire and wireless communication channels, or even all together. The article classifies, first, various battery depletion attacks on an UAV and presents their analysis. Next, we describe how we adapted a Parrot AR.Drone 2.0 to the needs of a crisis management scenario by adding specific hardware control and monitoring units as well as made empirical studies on it. Simulation and experiments allowed us to confirm the feasibility of such attacks in practice, evaluate and compare their effect.

Methods and analytical tools for assessing tactical situation in military operations using potential approach and sensor data fusion

The paper presents designed quantitative methods and algorithms implemented in specialized mobile mCOP application for combat decision support. Military operations require sophisticated planning and execution in order to minimize risks and potential losses while fulfilling mission objectives in constrained time. To support such features the decision makers design methods of evaluating threats and tactical scenarios. The outcomes of such calculations provide mission alternatives called variants or Courses of Actions. To determine which possible CoA is matching the scenario and in the end is the most feasible, a set of quantitative methods can be used. The evaluation process considers both tactical and topographical characteristics of the scenario. The location, orientation and composition of forces, combat potentials, performed tasks, as well as terrain and battlespace environment features are the parameters considered in the algorithms, which in result provide threat levels, attrition rates, potential losses, objectives timelines etc. To assess tactical situation we implemented, a set of combat potential evaluation methods, which using doctrinal patterns, can be easily employed in mobile software. The advantage of equipping each decision maker at the tactical level with sophisticated methods provides means of increasing the speed of task execution, provides more accurate decisions but most of all supports instant reporting from combat units. Due to the development of hardware and software platforms, smartphones offer are capable of running complex algorithms for tactical support for individual soldiers and low level commanders support. Since they are capable to utilize tactical data (forces location, composition, tasks) in dynamic mobile military networks, accessible anywhere during mission, and provide provides rich functional support for situation awareness and decision superiority. These two key factors of 21st century military operations influence the efficiency of recognition, identification and targeting during combat missions. Military support tools providing rich tactical and their analytical capabilities, can serve as recon data hubs, but most of all can support and simplify complex analytical tasks for commanders. The tasks mainly include topographical and tactical orientation within the battlespace. Developed software platform mCOP, demonstrates all research findings, providing personalized combat-oriented distributed mobile system, supporting blue force tracking capabilities, reconnaissance data fusion as well as threat level evaluation for functionalities for management of military and crisis management scenarios. Presented research demonstrates and evaluates the proves the usefulness of deploying mobile applications for combat support, situation awareness development, and the delivery of augmented reality based threat level analytical data to extend the capabilities and properties of constructed methods and of software tools applied for supporting military and border protection operations.

Application of Augmented Reality, Mobile Devices, and Sensors for a Combat Entity Quantitative Assessment Supporting Decisions and Situational Awareness Development

This paper presents advances in the development of specialized mobile applications for combat decision support utilizing augmented reality technologies used for the production of contextual data delivered to any tactical smartphone. Handhelds and decision support systems have been present in military operations since the 1990s. Due to the development of hardware and software platforms, smartphones are capable of running complex algorithms for individual soldiers and low-level commander support. The utilization of tactical data (force location, composition, and tasks) in dynamic mobile networks that are accessible anywhere during a mission provides means for the development of situational awareness and decision superiority. These two elements are key factors in 21st-century military operations, as they influence the efficiency of recognition, identification, and targeting. Combat support tools and their analytical capabilities can serve as recon data hubs, but most of all they can support and simplify complex analytical tasks for commanders. These tasks mainly include topographical and tactical orientation within the battlespace. This paper documents the ideas for and construction details of mobile support tools used for supporting the specific operational activities of military personnel during combat and crisis management. The presented augmented reality-based evaluation methods formulate new capabilities for the visualization and identification of military threats, mission planning characteristics, tasks, and checkpoints, which help individuals to orientate within their current situation. The developed software platform, mobile common operational picture (mCOP), demonstrates all research findings and delivers a personalized combat-oriented distributed mobile system, supporting blue-force tracking capabilities and reconnaissance data fusion as well as threat-level evaluations for military and crisis management scenarios. The mission data are further fused with Geographic Information System (GIS) topographical and vector data, supporting terrain evaluations for mission planning and execution. The application implements algorithms for path finding, movement task scheduling, assistance, and analysis, as well as military potential evaluation, threat-level estimation, and location tracking. The features of the mCOP mobile application were designed and organized as mission-critical functions. The presented research demonstrates and proves the usefulness of deploying mobile applications for combat support, situation awareness development, and the delivery of augmented reality-based threat-level analytical data to extend the capabilities and properties of software tools applied for supporting military and border protection operations.

Single-group analysis of simulation training improves the ability of anesthesiologist assistant students to use TeamSTEPPS during crisis management scenarios

Single-group analysis of simulation training improves the ability of anesthesiologist assistant students to use TeamSTEPPS during crisis management scenarios

Health Care Transformation: An Academic Application System Case Study

Abstract During the 1st Semester of 2017, at the Brazilian Aeronautics Institute of Technology (Instituto Tecnologico de Aeronautica - ITA), a successful Interdisciplinary Problem-Based Learning (IPBL) experience took place. At that time, almost 30 undergraduate and graduate students from 3 different courses within just 17 academic weeks had the opportunity of conceptualizing, modeling, and developing a Computer System based on Big Data, Internet of Things (IoT), and other emerging technologies for government and private organizations. The purpose of this system was to aggregate data from actors such as Patients, Physicians, Hospitals, and Health Care Suppliers, by integrating them into just one decision making process. This academic research project was named in Portuguese as Solucoes Tecnologicas Aplicaveis as Midias e Produtos em Saude - STAMPS, meaning in English Technological Solutions Applicable for Health Care - TSA4HC. It was planned to allow students to develop health care decision making systems to address crisis management scenarios such as epidemics. Differently from other existing systems from Universities, Research Centers, Governmental Agencies, Public and/or Private, this system was developed and tested in just 17 academic calendar weeks, applying the Scrum agile method and its best practices. This experience was stored in a Google site and implemented as a Proof of Concept (PoC). It represents one example of how to address the old problem of teaching, learning, designing, and implementing complex intelligent systems to solve health care system problems, by collaboratively using the Scrum agile method with Python or Java, Spark, NoSQL databases, Kafka, and other available technologies.

Simulation-Based Laparoscopic Surgery Crisis Resource Management Training—Predicting Technical and Nontechnical Skills

To develop a unique simulation-based assessment using a laparoscopic inferior vena cava (IVC) injury scenario that allows for the safe assessment of urology resident's technical and nontechnical skills, and investigate the effect of personality traits performance in a surgical crisis. Urology residents from our institution were recruited to participate in a simulation-based training laparoscopic nephrectomy exercise. Residents completed demographic and multidimensional personality questionnaires and were instructed to play the role of staff urologist. A vasovagal response to pneumoperitoneum and an IVC injury event were scripted into the scenario. Technical and nontechnical skills were assessed by expert laparoscopic surgeons using validated tools (task checklist, GOALS, and NOTSS). Ten junior and five senior urology residents participated. Five residents were unable to complete the exercise safely. Senior residents outperformed juniors on technical (checklist score 15.1 vs 9.9, p < 0.01, GOALS score 18.0 vs 13.3, p < 0.01) and nontechnical performance (NOTSS score 13.8 vs 10.1, p = 0.03). Technical performance scores correlated with NOTSS scores (p < 0.01) and pass/fail rating correlated with technical performance (p < 0.01 for both checklist and GOALS), NOTSS score (p = 0.02), and blood loss (p < 0.01). Only the conscientiousness dimension of the big five inventory correlated with technical score (p = 0.03) and pass/fail rating (p = 0.04). Resident level of training and laparoscopic experience correlated with technical performance during a simulation-based laparoscopic IVC injury crisis management scenario, as well as multiple domains of nontechnical performance. Personality traits of our surgical residents are similar and did not predict technical skill.

Evaluation of a Simpler Tool to Assess Nontechnical Skills During Simulated Critical Events.

Management of critical events requires teams to employ nontechnical skills (NTS), such as teamwork, communication, decision making, and vigilance. We sought to estimate the reliability and provide evidence for the validity of the ratings gathered using a new tool for assessing the NTS of anesthesia providers, the behaviorally anchored rating scale (BARS), and compare its scores with those of an established NTS tool, the Anaesthetists' Nontechnical Skills (ANTS) scale. Six previously trained raters (4 novices and 2 experts) reviewed and scored 18 recorded simulated pediatric crisis management scenarios using a modified ANTS and a BARS tool. Pearson correlation coefficients were calculated separately for the novice and expert raters, by scenario, and overall. The intrarater reliability of the ANTS total score was 0.73 (expert, 0.57; novice, 0.84); for the BARS tool, it was 0.80 (expert, 0.79; novice, 0.81). The average interrater reliability of BARS scores (0.58) was better than ANTS scores (0.37), and the interrater reliabilities of scores from novices (0.69 BARS and 0.52 ANTS) were better than those obtained from experts (0.47 BARS and 0.21 ANTS) for both scoring instruments. The Pearson correlation between the ANTS and BARS total scores was 0.74. Overall, reliability estimates were better for the BARS scores than the ANTS scores. For both measures, the intrarater and interrater reliability was better for novices compared with domain experts, suggesting that properly trained novices can reliably assess the NTS of anesthesia providers managing a simulated critical event. There was substantial correlation between the 2 scoring instruments, suggesting that the tools measured similar constructs. The BARS tool can be an alternative to the ANTS scale for the formative assessment of NTS of anesthesia providers.

Tag clouds with a twist: using tag clouds coloured by information’s trustworthiness to support situational awareness

The amount and variety of information currently available online is astounding. Information can be found covering any subject and is accessible from any part of the globe. While this is beneficial for countless purposes, whether they be in understanding situations or for making decisions, the sheer amount of information has led to significant problems in information overload. As humans, we are simply unable to consume, reason about, and act on such a vast quantity of information in a timely manner. This is especially true in cases where gathering a quick understanding or awareness of a situation is desirable, or even required. In this article, therefore, we aim to investigate an approach to helping address this problem, which builds on our previous research in the area of assessing and presenting the trustworthiness of online information. Specifically, this article examines the capability of tag (or word) clouds, coloured according to the trustworthiness of the contexts in which they appear, in supporting an individual’s understanding of a situation. The novelty of this work is in the application of such tag clouds to a new decision-making context, and engaging in a critical, user-based assessment of their use. To comment briefly on our findings, we note that there is potentially a significant value to be gained in the application of this technique, in providing a quick, helpful and accurate overview of a situation. This could be exploited by the public at large, but possibly even in more official investigative or crisis-management scenarios.

BENEFITS OF LINKED DATA FOR INTEROPERABILITY DURING CRISIS MANAGEMENT

Abstract. Floodings represent a permanent risk to the Netherlands in general and to her power supply in particular. Data sharing is essential within this crisis scenario as a power cut affects a great variety of interdependant sectors. Currently used data sharing systems have been shown to hamper interoperability between stakeholders since they lack flexibility and there is no consensus in term definitions and interpretations. The study presented in this paper addresses these challenges by proposing a new data sharing solution based on Linked Data, a method of interlinking data points in a structured way on the web. A conceptual model for two data sharing parties in a flood-caused power cut crisis management scenario was developed to which relevant data were linked. The analysis revealed that the presented data sharing solution burderns its user with extra costs in the short run, but saves resources in the long run by overcoming interoperability problems of the legacy systems. The more stakeholders adopt Linked Data the stronger its benefits for data sharing will become.

An Energy-Efficient Collaborative Ground Vibration Measurement Scheme Based on Compressed Sensing and Belief Propagation

Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) can provide crucial and real-time information in many crisis response and management scenarios. For example, in volcano monitoring and the rapid reporting of aftershock information, WSNs detect the ground vibration and transmit the information sufficiently fast to help people survive the disaster. However, the processing and transmission of ground vibration data present a heavy burden for the small nodes of WSNs, and a single sensor node cannot provide accurate results for ground vibration detection. In this paper, we present a promising energy-efficient collaborative ground vibration measurement scheme based on efficient compressed sensing method and belief propagation method using the difference in the signal strength to distribute wireless communication load among sensor nodes, improve the detection probability, and extend the lifetime of this system. The performance was studied via theoretical analysis and simulation experiments, and the results indicated that the system could reconstruct the seismic signal even with a low measurement count; other benefits included decreased energy consumption of the sensor nodes and a considerably increased detection probability because of the proposed belief propagation method.

Dynamic modeling of the development of the DRAM industry in Taiwan

After nearly 30 years of development, Taiwan's DRAM industry has become the third largest in the world with a production value approaching US$4 billion in 2009. However, with the rapidly changing market business cycle during the last few years and the impact of the global financial crisis of 2008 to 2009, Taiwan's DRAM industry has found itself thrown into a crisis management scenario. In fact, the development of Taiwan's DRAM industry is a complex and dynamic process. Taiwan's government, banks, DRAM manufacturers and technical partners play important roles in the long-term accumulation of capital, technology and capacity. In this study, we used system dynamics to explore the system structure for the development of Taiwan's DRAM industry. Our simulation indicates that the effect of the government policy of direct investment in the aftermath of the financial crisis cannot effectively help the long-term development of Taiwan's DRAM industry.

Is Simulation the Best Way to Assess Pediatric Anesthesia Skills?

To the Editor: We would like to commend Fehr et al. for their article that addresses simulation-based assessment for pediatric anesthesia skills.1We agree that a multiple scenario-based education and assessment of skills required to manage a pediatric anesthesia crisis are helpful in educating anesthesia residents.We have a few questions for the authors to clarify their study.In the scoring system, did the authors give consideration to the sequence in which the trainees performed items on the checklist? We believe this is important. For example, in a bronchospasm scenario, we believe administering 100% oxygen at the beginning of the crisis is more important than having it done toward the end of the crisis management. Did timing of performance of an action by the trainee affect the score they received?Having previous exposure to pediatric anesthesia simulation could improve the trainees' performance and their comfort level in the simulated setting.2Did the trainees have previous exposure to pediatric simulation before their 2-h session described in the study?Some of the scenarios seem to have less discrimination between the trainees with less than 2 months or those with more than 2 months of pediatric training. These scenarios, i.e. , malignant hyperthermia, bronchospasm, and accidental extubation, are common to both the pediatric and adult anesthesia experience. Could this have a role in their lack of discrimination?Interestingly, there is a lack of difference in performance between anesthesia fellows and residents. This could also mean that these scenarios would be less discriminating for pediatric anesthesia practitioners. Was there any feedback from the fellows and experienced residents that some of the tasks were not necessary for the management of the crisis scenarios? Such feedback could help tailor the items in the checklist on which future trainees would be scored while participating in these crisis management scenarios.

A Modular Collaborative Web-Based Framework for Humanitarian Crisis Management

In humanitarian crisis situations, there is always more than one organization or agency involved in early warning, preparedness, and response to the crisis. These participating actors usually need a shared computer-based framework to exchange information, monitor the status of the crisis, communicate and coordinate operations among them in order to make their collaborations better, and make the right decisions at the right times. The aim of this paper is to present a web framework that has a modular architecture. This web framework has been realized by advanced web technologies and design patterns in software engineering. It is made up of diverse web modules and can be reusable and configurable to adapt with particular crisis contexts. The feasibility as well as the efficiency of this web framework is also demonstrated in the paper through real and complex crisis management scenarios.

Reply to

We thank Power et al1 for their interest in and comments on our study, “Does Every Code Need a Reader: Improvement of Rare Event Management With a Cognitive Aid ‘Reader’ During a Simulated Emergency.”2 Our efforts focused on the examination of the use of cognitive aids (CAs) and whether their use ultimately leads to improved patient care by either more precise provider diagnosis or adherence to critical steps and algorithms. We studied CA use in a simulated patient emergency and specifically examined the interaction between the leader, the team, and an individual assigned to read the CA to the leader, the “reader,” using a communication matrix constructed based on the work of Entin et al.3–5 We recognize that there are limited data on this aspect of CA use and appreciate the important contributions of Power et al to the field. The articles cited by those authors present interesting suggestions on the use of CAs in a variety of simulated settings while clarifying questions about why their use improves6,7 or does not improve performance.8 Our primary objective was to determine if adding a new role to the emergency response team, an individual to read the CA to the leader, the reader, would encourage the use of the CAs by resident physicians during simulated crisis management scenarios. We also hoped to determine the interaction between the reader and the leader. Those objectives were the novel aspects of our study, and the most significant finding was that the introduction of the reader did increase CA use. It was also interesting and unexpected that the subjects who used the CA before the reader expressed great difficulty in reading the aid while gathering clinical information and communicating with the team. We also were surprised that all subjects reported that they found that the introduction of the reader helped them both assess and treat the simulated patient and communicate with the team. We did not find any investigations focusing on the dynamics between the members of the response team and their effectiveness with and without a reader. We hope that others will be able to examine the effects of introducing a reader to a response team during the performance of critical actions in simulated emergencies.2 Finally, we agree that randomized controlled trials offer a superior study design and are necessary. In this early investigation, we attempted to introduce the concept of the reader to determine if the teams would accept this intervention and whether the reader would increase the use of the CA. We have recently completed a randomized controlled trial involving the use of a dedicated CA reader and hope to provide new information on this important role. Amanda R. Burden, MD Assistant Professor of Anesthesiology Director Simulation Program Cooper Medical School of Rowan University UMDNJ/Robert Wood Johnson Medical School Cooper University Hospital Camden, NJ Marc C. Torjman, PhD Professor of Anesthesiology Cooper Medical School of Rowan University UMDNJ/Robert Wood Johnson Medical School Cooper University Hospital Camden, NJ