Organized behavior in disaster: analysis and conceptualization.

The study focuses on organized activities within communities experiencing disaster. Substantively, it draws on the existing research literature, including the field work of the Disaster Research Center. It is initiated by a description of the nature of disaster involvement on the part of various community organizations. A discussion follows of the different meanings of the term disaster and of the social implications created by differential characteristics of disaster agents. It is suggested that the primary disruption of the social structure is revealed in unplanned changes in inter-organizational relationships. Four types of organized behavior are isolated, derived from a cross-classification of the nature of the disaster tasks and the post impact structure. Using these four types, problems of mobilization and recruitment are discussed as well as the specific operational problems these groups experience functioning under disaster conditions. All organizations have to cope with uncertainty, urgency, the devlopment of an emergency consensus, lost authority, and a changed basis for compliance. Disasters create conditions where inter-organizational relationships are necessary. These tend to be mediated through boundary personnel, the development of an organizational set, and the establishment of organizational legitimacy. A final chapter deals with the implications of disaster research in dealing with the organizational consequences of a nuclear catastrophe