Preliminary Papers
Permanent URI for this collection
Browse
Browsing Preliminary Papers by Issue Date
Now showing 1 - 20 of 361
Results Per Page
Sort Options
Item Comments on the Integration of Civil Defense into Local Government(Disaster Research Center, 1967) Quarantelli, E. L.Statement prepared on March 21, 1967 as member of the National Academy of Sciences Advisory Committee on Civil Defense.Item Volunteerism in Disaster Situations(Disaster Research Center, 1967) Shaskolsky, LeonThe effects of a natural disaster extend beyond the visable and tangible damage caused to the physical surroundings, and also involve a qualitative change in the nature of society. There is a change from a Gesellschaft- style society to one where relationships and interaction between people are based on Gemeinskhaft-style sentiments. An analysis of the reaction of volunteers in such situations must accordingly take account of this transformed nature of society. Modern impersonal society normally provides little reason or scope for voluntaristic or altruistic actions. Inasmuch as there is volunteerism, it is generally channeled through some organized or organizational means, In contrast to this, disaster often evokes many and varied instances of volunteer activity, part of it in terms of previously planned organization, much of it spontaneous on a group or individual basis. Such a response, different from normal social life, is a consequence of the transformation whereby the basic sentiments shift from Gesellschaft to Gemeinschaft. Since even those organizations geared to disaster activities reach their maximum response through the utilization of volunteer activity, an awareress of transformation, coupled with a judicious utilization of volunteers, would contribute to the overall effectiveness of such organizations.Item Patterns of Looting and Property Norms: Conflict and Consensus in Community Emergencies(Disaster Research Center, 1968) Dynes, Russell R.; Quarantelli, E. L.In this paper we shall attempt to do three things: (1) to contrast two rather different perspectives on massive looting behavior in community emergencies; (2) to note differences in patterns of looting in conflict and in consensus situations (i.e., between civil disturbances and natural disasters); and (3) to advance an explanation of looting in terms of changes in certain crucial group norms, particularly those pertaining to property, at times of major crises. We shall depict some of the more easily observable characteristics of looting behavior in the last several years. and try to suggest that they can not be too easily understood in terms of being primarily symptoms of more basic individual conditions or simply a failure of persons to incorporate or maintain surrounding societal values. What is involved, from our point of view, is normative group behavior which is far more instrumental than expressive in form. We shall attempt to document this not only by looking at civil disorders but also at the pattern that looting behavior assumes in another kind of major community emergency. i.e., natural disasters. The most parsimonious common explanation f or the looting behavior in the two situations is that the usual group norms which govern property in both instances change. Because one type of these community emergencies is a consensus and the other type is a conflict situation, the resulting pattern of looting behavior is different, but nevertheless the major explanatory factor is to be found in group not in individual characteristics.Item Group Emergence in Community Crises: A Study of Conditions Conducive to the Development of Collective Behavior(Disaster Research Center, 1969) Parr, Arnold R.Using data from five community crises, this study analyzes the conditions that facilitate the development of emergent groups in stress situations. We compare the empirical evidence from three community emergencies in which there was group emergence with empirical evidence from two community emergencies in which there was no group emergence. It is postulated that the conditions conducive to the generation of new groups in community disasters can be classified in a three-fold typology: (1) social-psychological conduciveness; (2) cultural conduciveness; and (3) structural conduciveness. We anticipate that the findings of this research will expand and extend collective behavior theory through devoting attention to the origins of collective behavior, an area which has received little prior emphasis.Item Organizational Change Within a Community Conflict Environment(Disaster Research Center, 1970) Wenger, Dennis E.; Kreps, Gary A.Item Interorganizational Relations In Communities Under Stress(Disaster Research Center, 1970) Dynes, Russell R.; Quarantelli, E. L.Item Organizational Innovations in Crisis-Relevant Groups(Disaster Research Center, 1971) Kreps, Gary A.The following reports from the first of a two-phase study of change in crisis-relevant organizations brought about by the possibility or occurrence of civil disorder. Based upon some preliminary observations of selected urban police and fire departments, this first phase summarizes a middle range theoretical model developed in an effort to capture the process of change when charter is threatened in an indeterminant environment. The second phase (presently ongoing) empirically examines and refines the model. As stated, the model is based on studies of change in crisis-relevant organizations as adaptations to the problems posed by the possibility of civil unrest. Organizationally, we suggest that change can be conceptualized as an intelligence processing activity, i.e., bringing technical and political information to bear upon the definition and elaboration of problems and the execution of solutions to meet these problems. The concepts, assumptions, and basic and derived propositions are presented in sequential fashion. This will be followed by some brief discussion of the conceptual logic of the model.Item Organizational Change and the Concept of Structure(Disaster Research Center, 1971-02) Stallings, Robert A.Organizational structure is proposed to be viewed best as task structure, i.e., the patterned arrangements of task roles required in producing desired organizational outputs. The fundamental basis of task structure is underlying core technologies. Other structural properties, such as authority relationships, are thus best viewed as correlates of task structure. This perspective of basic organizational structure raises new questions which may lead to more productive analyses of organizational change.Item Images of Disaster Behavior: Myths and Consequences(Disaster Research Center, 1972) Quarantelli, E. L.Item Initial Observations on Problems and Difficulties in the Use of Local EOC's in Natural Disasters(Disaster Research Center, 1972-05) Quarantelli, E. L.Item Organizational Intelligence: Its Conceptual And Empirical Utility(Disaster Research Center, 1973) Kreps, Gary A.; Dynes, Russell R.Wilensky recently introduced the concept of organizational intelligence. Through conceptually insightful, it has been in need of empirical documentation. This paper documents the intelligence concept via studies of organizational change in 29 community organizations ( police and fire departments). Intelligence boundary personnel are identified and their influence in the development of planned organizational change shown. Finally, several organizational structural and environmental variables are introduced to further elaborate the concept via multiple regression analysis. These variables include organization size, wealth, complexity, centralization, professionalization, comparative reference, and enviromental threat.Item Organizations as Victims in American Mass Racial Disturbances: A Reexamination(Disaster Research Center, 1973-05) Quarantelli, E. L.; Dynes, Russell R.Item A Social Control Organizational Perspective of Four Disturbances(Disaster Research Center, 1973-06) Fitzpatrick, John S.Item Disaster Subcultures: The Cultural Residues of Community Disasters(Disaster Research Center, 1973-06) Wenger, Dennis E.; Weller, Jack M.Item The Family and Community Context of Individual Reactions to Disaster(Disaster Research Center, 1973-08) Dynes, Russell R.; Quarantelli, E. L.Item A Report on the Activities of the Disaster Research Center (DRC)(Disaster Research Center, 1974) Dynes, Russell R.; Quarantelli, E. L.Item The Emergence Of An Organizational And An Organization Set: A Study Of An Inter-Faith Disaster Recovery Group(Disaster Research Center, 1974) Ross, G. Alexander; Smith, Martin H.Item A Description And Analysis Of A Radio Station Operation During A Forest Fire(Disaster Research Center, 1974) Adams, David S.Item Some Observations On The Handling Of The Dead In The Rapid City, South Dakota, Flood Disaster(Disaster Research Center, 1974) Hershiser, Marvin R.Item Hospital Emergency Facilities in a Disaster: An Analysis of Organizational Adaptation to Stress(Disaster Research Center, 1974-02) Taylor, Verta A.