THE FUNCTIONING OF EXPANDING ORGANIZATIONS IN COMMUNITY DISASTERS,
Abstract
Expanding organizations refer to those which have latent disaster responsibilities but must develop a new group structure to achieve them. Case studies are presented of three kinds of expanding organizations -- Red Cross, The Salvation Army and local civil defense. It is suggested, in disaster operations, that such organizations (1) are weakly institutionalized in the community, (2) generally have extra-community ties, (3) have general and thus vague disaster tasks, (4) change their major functions, (5) radically change their structure, (6) have minimal experience as a work group, (7) have vague boundaries and (8) are often caught between two conflicting reference groups. Such organizations have difficult problems of adaptation. They find it difficult to control demands and to effectively utilize volunteers. Expansion itself creates a number of operational problems without adequate opportunity to institutionalize such changes. In particular, interorganizational relationships are affected and organizational legitimacy becomes problematic. On the other hand, the utility of expanding organizations in disaster operations is its flexible form, designed to cope with increased community demands. (Author)
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Sep 01, 1968
- Accession Number
- AD0678535
Entities
People
- Russell R. Dynes
Organizations
- Ohio State University