Disaster Management Essay -- Business Management Studies

Disaster ManagementIntroductionAll disaster managers must make decisions. Their decision involves acomparison between several alternatives and an evaluation of the exit. The feel of the decisions managers make is the truemeasure of their performance. Each operational decision influencesfuture actions, which in turn, require further decisions. Errors indecision-making, therefore, tend to be cumulative.Decision-making is the major responsibility of a disaster manager,regardless of his or her functional area or level in the organization.Some of these decisions may have a strong touch on on the organization,while others will be important, but less crucial. The important point,however, is that all decisions will have more or less sort of effect.Variables in Decision-makingIn some cases, decisions are made where there are few alternatives andall the parameters of the decision can be clearly identified. However,many decisions require that a choice be made between different coursesof act ion that may be affected by variables or events beyond amanagers control. For example, the field director of a refugee relaxationoperation knows that the accuracy of new arrival forecasts will dependin large measure, upon political events in another coun establish. Similarly,a supply officer of a relief agency is faced with the problem of howmuch and what types of supplies should be ordered in the immediateaftermath of an earthquake, without knowing the full extent of thedisaster.Decision-making is carried out chthonic three different conditions orsets of variables 1) certainty 2) risk and 3) uncertainty.1) Decision-making Under Conditions of Certainty When a managerknows or is certain of all the effec... ...e. Clarify the problem and try to eliminate irrelevant or unnecessary issues.Step 2. Gather and organize all the information about the problem. Put all the information in a logical form and sequence.Step 3. Extract the relevant information.Step 4. Evaluate the information. Assess the quality and accuracy of the information and estimate the unknowns and variables that may influence the outcome of the decision.Step 5. Identify alternatives. Determine the alternatives and identify as many of the pros and cons and the possible outcomes of each.Step 6. Make the decision. Pick the best (most positive) alternative.Once a decision has been made, it should be adhered to. Hesitation orwavering fosters uncertainty and lack of confidence in thedecision-maker, and can reduce the effectiveness of the decision.