Course syllabus
Inriktning och samordning i samband med katastrofhantering
Direction and Coordination in Disaster Management
VRSN10, 7,5 credits, A (Second Cycle)
Valid for: 2015/16
Decided by: Education Board C
Date of Decision: 2015-04-15
General Information
Main field: Disaster Risk Management and Climate Change Adaptation.
Compulsory for: MKAT1
Elective for: RH4
Language of instruction: The course will be given in English
Aim
- To provide the student with knowledge and skills to plan and
evaluate prerequisites for direction and coordination in disaster
management.
- To constitute a foundation for the student with an interest in
research associated with direction and coordination in disaster
management.
Learning outcomes
Knowledge and understanding
For a passing grade the student must
- Demonstrate knowledge and understanding for the field of
direction and coordination in disaster management, including
insight in current research and development within the field
- Demonstrate specialized methodological knowledge in the main
field of direction and coordination in disaster management
Competences and skills
For a passing grade the student must
- Demonstrate the ability to critically and systematically
integrate knowledge and analyze and assess preconditions for
direction and coordination in disaster management
- Demonstrate the ability to identify and formulate challenges
for direction and coordination autonomously and creatively as well
as suggest solutions
- Demonstrate the ability in speech and writing both nationally
and internationally to report clearly and discuss his or her
conclusions and arguments on which they are based in dialogue with
different audiences
- Demonstrate the ability to work constructively in a team and to
communicate effectively with humans from different disciplines
Judgement and approach
For a passing grade the student must
- Demonstrate the ability to reflect on his or her attitude
towards preconditions for direction and coordination
- Demonstrate the ability to reflect on ethical, subjective and
societal dimensions of preconditions for direction and
coordination
Contents
Field description
Direction and coordination is here regarded as effects needed
for making the best use of the capacity of the resources which are
engaged in the management of a disaster, i.e. meeting the aid
requirements. Direction entails orientation of available resources
towards formulated goals. Coordination entails adapting sub-goals
and activities to each other with the purpose of making the best
use of the capacity of the resources.
An epistemological standpoint is that disaster management is
characterized by complexity and uncertainty, which affects
decision-making.
Direction and coordination can be achieved in several ways. Two
of these are command & control and collaboration. Command &
control achieves direction and coordination through the authority
of one entity over other entities. Collaboration achieves direction
and coordination through agreement between entities with mutually
equal authority. Closely associated to these concepts is
leadership. Leadership includes aspects such as ethics, norms,
motivation, trust and to make the best of the abilities of the
individual/group. Leadership entails relations between humans which
enable command & control and collaboration.
Course components
The main components of the course consist of:
- Introduction to the terms direction, coordination, command
& control and collaboration
- Brief treatment of the complex environment in which direction
and coordination are to be achieved
- Treatment of decision making under uncertainty, including the
time dimension
- Treatment of leadership with special focus on trust and
norms
- Treatment of models for command & control and
collaboration
- Exchange of knowledge between students and experienced
practitioners
- Brief treatment of methods for evaluating and analyzing
preconditions for direction and coordination
The course content is applicable nationally as well as
internationally and suitable for those who are interested in
working with issues concerning direction and coordination in
emergency and disaster management on different levels of society.
Examples of associated bodies are central, regional and local
authorities, health care, rescue services, private companies and
humanitarian organizations.
The course includes mandatory individual homework and group
project work, which are mainly based on case studies. The project
work is to be presented orally as well as in writing, the latter in
the form of a report.
Examination details
Grading scale: TH
Assessment: Group assignment (2.5 hp, pass/fail) and individual assignments (5 hp)
Admission
Admission requirements:
- Admitted to the Master's Programme in Disaster Risk Management and Climate Change Adaptation or to the Programme Risk Management and Safety Engineering or have a minimum of 150 hp from a five-year engineering programme or from the Fire Safety Engineering Programme at LTH.
The number of participants is limited to: 40
Selection: Guaranteed admission for students at the Master's Programme in Disaster Risk Management and Climate Change Adaptation. Selection rules for the remaining places: priority is given to students firstly at the Programme Risk Management and Safety Engineering and secondly at the Fire Safety Engineering Programme at LTH. To distinguish between students from the same programme, number of credits and results on the programme will be used.
Reading list
- Atkinson, S.R. & Moffat J.: The Agile Organization, From Informal Network to Complex Effects and Agility. CCRP publications, 2005.
- Bergström, J. & Uhr, C.: Complexity and disaster response management, Working paper. Routledge, 2015.
- Brehmer, B.: Dynamic decision making: Human control of complex systems. Acta Psychologica, 1992. 81(3), 211–241.
- Brehmer, B.: Harmony rather than unity. Proceedings of the 16th International Command and Control Research and Technology Symposium. Washington, DC, 2011.
- Ekman, O. & Uhr, C.: Course compendium. 2015.
- Hogg, M. A. &Reid, S. A.: Social Identity, Self-Categorisation, and the Communication of Group Norms. 2006. In Communication Theory, Vol. 16, pp. 7-30.
- Kahneman, D.: A perspective on judgement and choice. Merican Psychologist, 2003. 58, 697-720.
- Klein. G, Orasanu J., Calderwood R., Zsambok C. E.: Decision Making in Action - Models and Methods. Ablex Publishing, 1993.
- Meyerson, D. M., Weick, K. E, and Kramer, R. M.: Swift Trust and Temporary Groups. Sage Publications, 1996. In: Kramer, R. M., and Tyler, T. (Eds.), Trust in Organizations: Frontiers of Theory and Research, pp. 166-195.
- Mishra, A. K.: Organizational Response to Crisis: The Centrality of Trust. Sage Publications, 1996. In: Kramer, R. M., and Tyler, T. R. (Eds.), Trust in Organizations: Frontiers of Theory and Research.
- NATO SAS-050 Research Task Group: Exploring New Command and Control Concepts and Capabilities. Final Report. Prepared for NATO, January 2006. 2006.
- Smith, J. R., &Louis, W. R.: Do as we say and as we do: The interplay of descriptive and injunctive group norms in the attitude-behaviour relationship. British Journal of Social Psychology, 2008. Vol. 47, pp. 647-666.
- Tajfel, H.: Social Psychology of Intergroup Relations. Annual Review of Psychology, 1982. Vol. 33, pp. 1-39.
- Terry, D. J., Hogg, M. A., & McKimmie, B. M.: Attitude-behaviour relations: The role of in-group norms and mode of behavioural decision making. British Journal of Social Psychology, 2000. Vol. 39, pp. 337-361.
- Uhr, C.: Leadership ideals as barriers for effective collaboration. In press, 2014.
Contact and other information
Course coordinator: Christian Uhr, christian.uhr@risk.lth.se
Course coordinator: Olof Ekman, olof.ekman@msb.se
Further information: Group assignments and seminars require active participation. Each group member must individually be able to account for the content of the project assignment. If a group member does not fulfil the demands of the group or ignores hers/his commitment, she/he can be reassigned to another group or get a fail result.