Abstract
Emergency situations occur unpredictably and cause individuals and organizations to shift their focus and attention immediately to deal with the situation. When disasters become large scale, all the limitations resulting from a lack of integration and collaboration among all the involved organizations begin to be exposed and further compound the negative consequences of the event. Often in large-scale disasters the people who must work together have no history of doing so; they have not developed a trust or understanding of one another’s abilities, and the totality of resources they each bring to bear have never before been exercised. As a result, the challenges for individual or group decision support systems (DSS) in emergency situations are diverse and immense. In this contribution, we present recent advances in this area and highlight important challenges that remain.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Agarwal, R. and E. Karahanna, “Time Flies When You’re Having Fun: Cognitive Absorption and Beliefs About Information Technology Usage,” MIS Quart, 24(4), 2000, 665-694.
Barnard, L. and R. Von Solms, “A Formalized approach to the Effective Selection and Evaluation of Information Security Controls,” Comput Secur, 8(3), 2000, 185-194.
Baumgartner, F.R. and B.D. Jones, Agendas and Instability in American Politics. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1993.
Bellardo, S., K.R. Karwan and W.A. Wallace, “Managing the Response to Disasters Using Microcomputers,” Interfaces, 14(2), 1984, 29-39.
Bigley, G. and K. Roberts, “The Incident Command System: High Reliability Organizing for Complex and Volatile Task Environments,” Acad Manage J, 44(6), 2001, 1281-2000.
Bui, T.X. and S.R. Sankaran, “Design Considerations for a virtual information center for humanitarian assistance/disaster relief using workflow modeling,” Decis Support Syst, 31, 2001, 165-179.
Doughty, K., “Business continuity: A Business Survival Strategy,” Inform Syst Contr J , 1, 2002, 28-36.
Currion, P., Keynote address at the 3 rd International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management ISCRAM2006, Newark, New Jersey.
Drew, S., “Reducing Enterprise Risk with Effective Threat Management,” Inform Sec Manage, January/February, 2005, 37-42.
ECHO Humanitarian Aid Decision 230201, 2005. Decision Reference ECHO/THM/BUD/2005/02000.
Ehrhardt, J. and A. Weiss, RODOS : Decision Support for Off-Site Nuclear Emergency Management in Europe, EUR19144EN, 2000, Luxemburg, European Community.
Ellis, J.S., R.L. Lee, D.A. Sumkawa and T.J. Sullivan, “ARAC and Its Modernisation,” Radiat Prot Dosim, 73(1-4), 1997, 241-245.
FEMA News release 1603-516, By the Numbers: Hurricanes Katrina and Rita Disaster Assistance Update, July 31, 2006. Accessed via http://www.fema.gov/news/newsrelease.fema?id=28379.
Fisher, H.W., “The Role of new Information Technologies in Emergency Mitigation, Planning, Response and Recovery,” Disast Prev Manage, 7(1), 1998, 28-37.
Fodor, J. and M. Roubens, Fuzzy Preference Modeling and Multicriteria Decision Support. Dordrecht: Kluwer, 1994.
French, S., J. Bartzis, J. Ehrhardt, J. Lochard, M. Morrey, N. Papamichail, K. Sinkko and A. Sohier, “RODOS: Decision support for nuclear emergencies,” in Zanakis, S.H., Doukidis, G. and Zopounidis, G. (eds.), Recent Developments and Applications in Decision Making. Dordrecht: Kluwer, 2000, pp. 379-394.
French, S. and C. Niculae, “Believe in the Model: Mishandle the Emergency,” J Home Sec Emergen Manage, 2(1), 2005.
Hiltz, S.R., J. Fjermestad, R. Ocker and M. Turoff, “Asynchronous Virtual Teams: Can Software Tools and Structuring of Social Processes Enhance Performance?,” in Galleta, D., Zhang, P. and Sharpe, M.E. (eds.), Volume II: Human-Computer Interaction in Management Information Systems: Applications, 2005.
Humanitarian ICT Yahoo! Group. Accessed via http://groups.yahoo.com/group/humanitarian-ict/.
ISO 17799, 2005. Information technology - Security techniques - Code of practice for information security management. August 2005. Accessed via http://www.iso.org/iso/en/prods-services/popstds/informationsecurity.html.
Janczewski, L., and F. Xinli Shi, “Development of Information Security Baselines for Healthcare Information Systems in New Zealand,” Comput Secur, 21(2), 2002, 172-192.
Janis, I.L., Groupthink: Psychological studies of policy decisions and fiascoes. Boston: Houghton-Mifflin, 1982.
Jennex, M., “Emergency Response Systems: the Utility Y2K Experience,” J Inform Technol Theor Appl, 6(3), 2004, 85-102.
Keil, M., A. Tiwana and A. Bush, “Reconciling user and project manager perceptions of IT project risk: a Delphi study,” Inform Syst J, 12, 2002, 103-119.
King, D., “VISTA, a visualization analysis tool for Humanitarian Situational Awareness,” in Van de Walle, B. and Turoff, M. (eds.), Proceedings of the 3 rd International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management ISCRAM2006, pp. 11-16.
King, G., “Crisis management and team effectiveness: a closer examination,” J Bus Ethics, 41(3), 2002, 235-249.
Kobayashi, K., T. Ishigami and T. Akiyama, “COSTA: A Computerized Support System for Emergency Technical Advice,” Radiat Prot Dosim, 73(1-4), 1997, 277-280.
Linstone, H. and M. Turoff, (eds.), The Delphi Method: Techniques and Applications. Addison Wesley Advanced Book Program, 1975, now online via http://is.njit.edu/turoff.
Ma, Q. and M. Pearson, “ISO 17799: ‘Best practices’ in information security management?,” Commun ACM, 15, 2005, 577-591.
Markillie, P., “When the Supply Chain Breaks: Being too lean and mean is a dangerous things,” The Economist, June 17, 2006, 16-28, in a special section on “The Physical Internet: A survey of logistics,” 3-18.
Marsden, P. and E. Hollnagel, “Human interaction with technology: The accidental user,” Acta Psychol, 91, 1996, 345-358.
Mowshowitz, A., Virtual Organization: Toward a Theory of Societal Transformation Stimulated by Information Technology. Westport, CN: Quorum, 2002.
Mowshowitz, A., “On the Theory of Virtual Organization,” Syst Res Behav Sci, 14(6), 1997, 373-384.
Niculae, C., “A socio-technical perspective on the use of RODOS in nuclear emergency management,” Ph. D. dissertation, Manchester Business School, 2005.
Nunamaker, J.F., Jr., A.R. Dennis, J.S. Valacich, D.R. Vogel and J.F. George, “Electronic Meeting Systems to Support Group Work: Theory and Practice at Arizona,” Commun ACM, 34(7), 1991, 40-61.
Parker, D.B., Fighting Computer Crime, A New Framework for Protecting Information. New York, NY: Wiley, 1998.
Raskob, W., V. Bertsch, J. Geldermann, S. Baig and F. Gering, “Demands to and experience with the Decision Support System RODOS for off-site emergency management in the decision making process in Germany,” in Van de Walle, B. and Carle, B. (eds.), Proceedings of the Second International ISCRAM Conference ISCRAM2005, 2005.
Rice, R.E., “From Adversity to Diversity: Applications of Communication Technology to Crisis Management,” Adv Telecommun Manage, 3, 1990, 91-112.
Roberts, K.H., “Managing High Reliability Organizations,” Calif Manage Rev, Summer 1990, 101-113.
Roberts, K. and R. Bea, “Must Accidents Happen?: Lessons from High Reliability Organizations,” Acad Manage Exec, 15(3), 2001, 70-79.
Rutkowski, A.-F., B. Van de Walle, W. van Groenendaal and J. Pol, “When stakeholders perceive threats and risks differently: the use of group support systems to develop a common understanding and a shared response,” J Home Sec Emergen Manage, 2(1), 2005, 17.
Rutkowski, A.-F., B. Van de Walle and G. Van Den Eede, “The effect of GSS on the emergence of unique information in a risk management process: a field study,” in Proceedings of HICSS40, 2006, 9 pages.
Sahana Wiki Community, 2006. Accessed via http://www.reliefsource.org/foss/index.php/Sahana
Shershakov, V.M., R.V. Borodin and V.S. Kosykh, “Radioecological analysis support system (RECASS),” Radiat Prot Dosim, 50, 1993, 181-184.
Spillan, J.E. and M. Hough, “Crisis planning in small businesses: importance, impetus and indifference,” Eur Manage J, 21(3), 2003, 389-407.
Staw, B., I. Sandelands and J. Dutton, “Threat-Rigidity Effects in Organizational Behavior: A Multilevel Analysis,” Admin Sci Quart, 26, 1981, 501-524.
Stoneburner, G., A. Goguen and A. Feringa, “Risk Management Guide for Information Technology Systems,” in Recommendations of the National Institute of Standards and Technology, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Technology Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, NIST Special Publication 800-30, October 2001.
Suh, B. and I. Han, “The risk analysis based on a business model,” Inform Manage, 2003, 1-9.
Terada, H., A. Furuno and M. Chino, “Improvement of worldwide version of system for prediction of environmental emergency dose information (WSPEEDI),” J Nucl Sci Technol, 41(5), 2004, 632-640.
Turoff, M., “Past and Future Emergency Response Information Systems,” Commun ACM, 45(4), 2002, 29-32.
Turoff, M., M. Chumer, R. Hiltz, R. Klashner, M. Alles, M. Vasarhelyi and A. Kogan, “Assuring Homeland Security: Continuous Monitoring, Control, and Assurance of Emergency Preparedness,” J Inform Technol Theor Appl, 6(3), 2004, 1-24.
Turoff, M., M. Chumer, B. Van de Walle and X. Yao, “The design of a dynamic emergency response management information system,” J Inform Tech Theor Appl, 5(4), 2004, 1-36.
Turoff, M., M. Chumer and S.R. Hiltz, “Emergency Planning as a Continuous Game,” in Proceedings of ISCRAM 2006 (The third international Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management), NJIT, Newark NJ, May 2006, pp. 477-488.
U.K. Airport News 2006. Accessed via http://www.uk-airport-news.info/heathrow-airport-news-140806b.htm.
Van Den Eede, G., B. Van de Walle and A.-F. Rutkowski, “Dealing with risk in incident management: an application of High Reliability Theory,” in Proceedings of HICSS40, 2006, 10 pages.
Van Den Eede, G., W. Muhren, R. Smals and B. Van de Walle, “Incident Response Information Systems Capability: the role of the DERMIS design premises,” in Van de Walle, B. and Turoff, M. (eds.), Proceedings of the 3 rd International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management ISCRAM2006, 2006, pp.251–261.
Van de Walle, B., B. De Baets and E.E. Kerre, “Characterizable Fuzzy Preference structures,” Ann Oper Res, 80, 1998, 105–136.
Van de Walle, B., “A relational analysis of decision makers’ preferences,” Int J Intell, 18, 2003, 775–791.
Van de Walle, B., and A.-F. Rutkowski, “A Fuzzy Decision Support System for IT Service Continuity Threat Assessment,” Decis Support Syst, 2006, forthcoming.
Van de Walle, B. and M. Turoff, “ISCRAM: growing a global R&D Community in Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management,” Int J Emerg Manage, 2006, forthcoming.
Vogus, T.J., and T.M. Welbourne, “Structuring for high reliability: HR practices and mindful processes in reliability-seeking organizations,” J Organ Behav, 24, 2003, 877–903.
Von Solms, R., “Information security management (3): the Code of Practice for Information Security Management (BS 7799),” Inform Manage Comput Sec, 6(5), 1998, 224-225.
Weick, K., “Organizational Culture as a Source of High Reliability,” Calif Manage Rev, 29(2), 1987, 112-127.
Weick, K.E., K.M. Sutcliffe and D. Obstfeld “Organizing for High Reliability: Processes of Collective Mindfulness,” Res Organ Behav, 21, 1999, 81-123.
Weick, K.E. and K.M. Sutcliffe, Managing the unexpected: Assuring High Performance in an Age of Complexity. San Francisco, CalCA: Wiley, 2001.
Williams, T.M., F. Ackermann and C. Eden, “Project Risk: Systemicity, cause mapping and a scenario approach,” in Kahkonen, K. and Artoo, K.A. (eds.), Managing Risks in Projects. London: E&FN spon, 1997, 343-352.
Wolf, F., “Operationalizing and testing normal accidents in petrochemical plants and refineries,” Prod Oper Manag, 10(3), 2001, 292-305.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2008 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
van de Walle , B., Turoff, M. (2008). Decision Support for Emergency Situations. In: Handbook on Decision Support Systems 2. International Handbooks Information System. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-48716-6_3
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-48716-6_3
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-540-48715-9
Online ISBN: 978-3-540-48716-6
eBook Packages: Business and EconomicsBusiness and Management (R0)