Abstract

The use of span of control is practiced by leaders as they determine how to manage others effectively and efficiently. When responding to disasters, emergency responders often put themselves in to potentially dangerous situations to protect lives, the environment, and property. Disasters are difficult to assess and control because they can rapidly expand and move from one jurisdiction to another. These factors can lead to emergency responders being overwhelmed as they attempt to bring order to chaos. The United States Federal Government provides guidance which recommends responding personnel and resources be organized into manageable size teams with one supervisor for every five workers. The guidance indicates this span can go down to 1:3 or up to 1:7 without any explanation of how or when these spans should occur or what conditions are acceptable for exceeding this recommended span of control. This study examined the experiences of 11 response operational supervisors who have each deployed to more than five disasters in the Western region of the United States. Virtual interviews were conducted using a series of open-ended questions in this qualitative research. The analysis of the data collected in this generic qualitative inquiry yielded three conclusions. Additional research and training are necessary to prepare tomorrows response operational supervisors for establishing and maintaining span of control during disasters. The research should be conducted in other regions and attempt to include various aspects of emergency management. Training should include concepts such as leader’s intent. This term is used described the process of communicating clear expectations within wildland firefighting organizations, but this process is not widely practiced among other aspects of the emergency management field. This research determined that initial response crews and resources deployed to disasters are not initially organized with span of control in mind. Initial response efforts can benefit from having large numbers of responders on site to help gain control over the disaster before it expands. However, the challenge for initial responders is they also require experienced and qualified supervisors to manage personnel and resources. Finally, the lack of qualified mid-level supervisors is adversely impacting the existing pool of responders, their agencies/organizations, and their ability to maintain a healthy work-life balance as the frequency and duration of deployments on disasters continue to increase.

Details

Title
Exploring Span of Control during Disasters in the Western United States
Author
Haug, Thomas W.
Publication year
2023
Publisher
ProQuest Dissertations & Theses
ISBN
9798374499261
Source type
Dissertation or Thesis
Language of publication
English
ProQuest document ID
2784390893
Copyright
Database copyright ProQuest LLC; ProQuest does not claim copyright in the individual underlying works.