Reflection on Emergency Planning and Coordination Theory (Essay Sample)

University   Reflection on Emergency Planning and Coordination Theory By Student’s Name   Date of Submission   Instructor Reflection on Emergency Planning and Coordination Theory Through the week, we learnt several aspects underlying emergency planning and coordination theory. Right from watching the YouTube video "Canberra Australia Firestorm 2003" to learning about the principles of emergency planning and coordination theory, I was able to appreciate the role played by disaster management in emergency situations. I also learnt that in order to reduce risks involved, there is a need for proper coordination of human and material resources, development of protocols and procedures, forecasting and monitoring of hazard, and the protection of the community involved. Through class discussion, we learnt that disaster management utilises limited resources to respond to emergency instances speedily and efficiently. In addition, we also gathered that since disasters are unexpected, the response is done without enough information required for decision making. I also learnt that in order to respond disasters speedily and efficiently, emergency planning is essential. This is because it seeks to speed up decision making, address information gaps, and in the end reduce the impact of the potential disaster incident. From the class, I gathered that the main objective of emergency planning is to guide direct participants through the procedures and the resources to use during an emergency. In addition, through the class, I learnt the features that characterise an effective disaster planning response. They include lowest level response, efficiency, holistic approach, plan formality, the specification of plan application, interoperability of different agencies, and knowledge of available resources. These are among the significant principles of emergency planning that response teams should be well versed with. It is thus evident that exquisite coordination is required to effectively handle disaster incidences. From the article by Malone & Crowston (1990), it is deducible that coordination theory can be applied to the process of emergency planning. We learnt from the article that a major aspect of coordination is working together in harmony. We also gathered that the theory focuses on coordination of activities for the achievement of desired results. As mentioned earlier, emergency planning aims to guide participants through the response procedure. As we found out in the article by Malone & Crowston (1990), this means that people have to be managed to carry out activities to achieve the desired results. The article also enlightened us on what coordination theory entails. The theory is a multidisciplinary concept that covers psychology, management science, economics, computer science, organisation theory, and economics. In this regard, proper coordination requires inputs from other disciplines. This is due to the interdependencies among activities that are managed to achieve a goal. The article by Malone & Crowston (1990) helped us understand the components of coordinat...