Reference: Kapucu, N., & Van Wart, M. (2008). Making Matters
Worse: An Anatomy of Leadership Failures in Managing Catastrophic Events.
Administration & Society, 40(7), 711-740.
Theme: Problems With Disaster Relief Leadership Exists and
the Lack of Integration Between Development and Planning Must Addressed
Summary: Disasters come in all
types and sizes. They can be natural or man made. “Catastrophic disasters
require additional leadership capabilities because extreme events overwhelm
local capabilities and damage emergency response systems themselves.” (Kapucu,
2008). Another way to look at exceptional leadership is that if something works
out well, due to great leadership, not very many people notice, but when there
are leaders who strike out and encounter failure, then everyone notices. Leaders
must represent competency like:
o
Decisiveness – a leader must act relatively
quickly to the task at hand and he/she must be willing to make unilateral
decision while remaining calm and collected.
o
Informing – critical information must be shared
with the Incident Commander and the media, and it also includes shaping the
mood of the public relations function.
o
Problem Solving – includes recognizing,
investigating and resolving problems as they appear.
o
Managing – creating, acquiring, transferring
knowledge and creating an environment that allows a flow of timely
implementation of innovations.
o
Planning – coordinating with personnel and
organizing to ensure that competent people are doing the work that is
necessary.
o
Decision Making – is one of the traits that
should be mentioned as number one since a leader needs to be able to constantly
make choices at a moments notice. A leader however, needs to be able to see and
understand the whole picture and be able to actively listen to information that
he/she receives, in order to be an effective decision-making leader.
Application:
Leaders are people that work well with others and can become your motivational
speaker and your teacher. In a catastrophic disaster, leadership is often
influenced by other’s effectiveness, and networking. The National Incident
Command System for example claims that local, tribal, territorial and open
government, have a right to information, however, it is important to know just
what the local laws are. Leadership in catastrophic disasters is also
political, as well as administrative. “They must lead the way in overarching
structures, reporting chains of command,
. . .” (Kapucu, 2008). It is important to understand how widespread the
leadership has to reach.
