Hospital adaptations to disaster: flow models of intensive technologies.
Material type:
TextLanguage: ENG Publication details: 1970Description: 12p., 7 refs, 2 figsReport number: DRC-REPRINT-45Subject: The concept of flow models has been used to depict the interrelationships of subparts in organizations with intensive technologies, that is, those in which a variety of activities are selected and ordered to produce certain desired changes in raw materials. Two such models were developed for normal and emergency situations and then compared in order to determine changes in interdepartmental relationships under crisis conditions. Results of this comparison indicate first more effective means of disaster planning in organizations with such technologies. In hospitals, for instance, the findings suggest that plans for the mobilization of various personnel are best developed along lines of departmental membership rather than in terms of such aggregate categories as occupation or position in an authority hierarchy. Also some considerations were disclosed which shed more light on the determination of the amount of stress experienced by organizations under these conditions. In organizations with multiple functioning units as over against those with only a single operating unit, the flow model suggests that not all units will necessarily experience great increases in demands. Rather, stress at an organizational level is better thought of as some sort of overall sum of departmental evaluations on this dimension. Theoretically, traditional notions of interdependence of parts in social systems theory was called into question when it was noted that organizational subunits exhibited differential adaptations to the effect of environmental alterations. The explanation may lie in the fact that kinds of interdependency other than those of the input/output variety exist
| Item type | Current library | Collection | Call number | Status | Date due | Barcode | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Books
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Australian Emergency Management Library | BOOK | 302.35 STA (Browse shelf(Opens below)) | Available | 005259347 |
Reprinted from Human Organization; 1970; Winter; Vol 29; No 4; pp294-302
Reprint
The concept of flow models has been used to depict the interrelationships of subparts in organizations with intensive technologies, that is, those in which a variety of activities are selected and ordered to produce certain desired changes in raw materials. Two such models were developed for normal and emergency situations and then compared in order to determine changes in interdepartmental relationships under crisis conditions. Results of this comparison indicate first more effective means of disaster planning in organizations with such technologies. In hospitals, for instance, the findings suggest that plans for the mobilization of various personnel are best developed along lines of departmental membership rather than in terms of such aggregate categories as occupation or position in an authority hierarchy. Also some considerations were disclosed which shed more light on the determination of the amount of stress experienced by organizations under these conditions. In organizations with multiple functioning units as over against those with only a single operating unit, the flow model suggests that not all units will necessarily experience great increases in demands. Rather, stress at an organizational level is better thought of as some sort of overall sum of departmental evaluations on this dimension. Theoretically, traditional notions of interdependence of parts in social systems theory was called into question when it was noted that organizational subunits exhibited differential adaptations to the effect of environmental alterations. The explanation may lie in the fact that kinds of interdependency other than those of the input/output variety exist
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