This paper addresses the problem of inter-organizational coordination in response to extreme events. Extreme events require coordinated action among multiple actors across many jurisdictions under conditions of urgent stress, heavy demand and tight time constraints. The problem is socio-technical in that the capacity for inter-organizational coordination depends upon the technical structure and performance of the information systems that support decision making among the participating organizations. Interactions among human managers, computers and organizations under suddenly altered conditions of operation are complex and not well understood. Yet, coordinating response operations to extreme events is an extraordinarily complex task for public and nonprofit managers. This paper will analyze the interactions among public, private and nonprofit organizations that evolved in response to the 11 September 2001 attacks, examining the relationships among organizations in terms of timely access to information and types of supporting infrastructure.The performance of the inter-organizational system is examined in the context of the events of 11 September 2001 from the theoretical perspective of complex adaptive systems. A model of auto-adaptation is proposed for implementation to improve interorganizational performance in extreme events. This model is based on the concept of individual, organizational and collective learning in environments exposed to recurring risk, guided by a shared goal. Such a model requires public investment in the development of an information infrastructure that can support the intense demand for communication, information search, exchange and feedback that characterizes an auto-adaptive system.

Community coordination requires communication and planning of precautions to take when faced with a severe threat of disaster. The unique case of the four Florida hurricanes of 2004--Charley, Frances, Ivan, and Jeanne--is used here to assess community responses to repeated threats of hurricanes. The paper examines how effectiveness in coordinating community disaster response efforts affects future public preparedness. The findings suggest that pre-season planning, open communication between emergency managers and elected officials, and the use of technology all had a significant impact on community responses. The repeated threat scenario indicates that emergency managers must work vigilantly to keep residents informed of the seriousness of a situation. The study describes how emergency managers in Florida countered public complacency during four hurricanes in six weeks. The strategies identified as useful by public managers in the context of hurricanes are applicable to other natural and man-made disasters.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to analyze scholarly discussions and findings regarding collaborative emergency management (CEM). Several aspects such as leadership, decision making, intergovernmental and interorganizational relations, technology applications in CEM have been investigated.Design/methodology/approachLiterature review was conducted using three popular search data bases, Academic Search Premier, Academic OneFile, and Info Track OneFile using the following keywords: CEM, collaborative and emergency and management, collaborative networks, emergency networks, emergency network, interorganizational networks, Interorganizational and networks, intergovernmental and networks, and National Emergency Management Network (NEMN).FindingsThe paper emphasizes that high expectations of public and stakeholders in emergency and disaster management require effective use of resources by collaborative networks.Practical implicationsEmergency and disaster managers should be able to adopt their organization culture, structure and processes to the collaborative nature of emergency management.Originality/valueThe paper focuses on a very important subject in emergency and disaster management using NEMN as example.

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This research focused on the interorganizational and intergovernmental response to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005. The study used the concepts from the network and partnerships literature and used current techniques of network analysis. The study found that the use of intergovernmental and interorganizational response to coordinate complex operations in multiorganizational environments of catastrophic disasters was not successful in responding to both Hurricane Katrina and Rita in 2005. The research suggests that more investment should be made in community capacity building at the local and state levels for successful and effective partnerships in responding to catastrophic disasters. In this research, the local and state levels are shown to be faster in response and future research should focus on local, state, and federal resources coordination in response to catastrophic disasters.