Investigating the impact of Organisational Minfulness on ICT utilisation for coordinated real-time decision making in emergency management
In the emergency management (EM) domain, coordination and decision making challenges for emergency response involving multiple organisations are often associated with ICT utilization. A major problem observed during a twelve-year career in the EM industry related to how people used and blamed technology for decision making during crisis and unexpected events. Recognised and established as a gap in literature and practice was the absence of research to evaluate the effectiveness of ICT to support critical operational decision making and team performance within the domain. This problem influenced the research motivation and objective of this PhD dissertation to develop a tool to support practitioners to evaluate the people, processes, and technology involved in EM operations. The thesis extends Organisational Mindfulness (OM) theory in naturalistic decision making environments by contributing to knowledge about IS utilization within highly adaptable organizational structures. The design, construction, and evaluation of the IS artefact to assess system and team performance in complex real-world settings focused on how forms and patterns of coordinated decision making were supported by ICT. The application of OM resulted in a unique design theory approach and practitioner oriented tool to evaluate organizational performance. The thesis contributes to an understanding of group cognition in uncertainty where problem formulation and solution orientation are shaped by rapid interpretation of information through technological mediums. Observed in this naturalistic setting is a uniquely dynamic and adaptable form of making decisions enabled by ICT which was defined as coordinated real-time decision making (CROM). By making operations research more relevant to the needs of the EM community, the study addresses a critical gap to understanding recognition-primed decisions which enable organizational interoperability thus contributing to both theory and practice in the IS and EM domains. A design science research (DSR) methodological approach was employed in the design, construction, and evaluation of an IS artefact called the Organisational Mindfulness-based Information System (OMIS) Evaluation Framework for Reliable Performance. Adoption of the Hevner (2004) three cycle view resulted in three iterative design cycles and four iterative versions of the OMIS Evaluation Framework. Data gathered through observation of discussion- and operational-based simulations, revealed that OM allowed for enhanced decision making capabilities through dynamic group interaction with technology. In addition to a validation of OM as an observable phenomenal and theoretical construct for naturalistic decision making, the thesis established design drift and reflective conversation as two novel approaches for transparency when employing a DSR methodology. Review of literature suggests that this longitudinal DSR investigation is the first to focus on IS utilization and reliable performance using organisational mindfulness. The study found that mindful technology use in highly dynamic environments generated elevated levels of capacity for information gathering, processing, and visualisation. Future research into how this may enhance operational performance evaluation will further allow the EM domain to prioritise building the capability of human and technological resources in order to save lives and protect communities from disasters.
EM, Emergency management, Organisational Mindfulness, OM
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