Poor Communication in the National Emergency Crisis and Disaster Management Authority

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Introduction

In this world, there is a vast number of valuable companies that serve the needs of people to varying degrees. It is hard to disagree that being a leader and finding various solutions to maintain the effectiveness and success of one’s business is a challenging task. Even when the concept behind the company is positive and unique, mission and values statements are clearly identified, various stakeholders support the organization, and all employees are committed to the common objectives, the reality may be difficult. Not only external circumstances but also inner workplace issues may interfere with vital business processes or reduce the benefits of resources and ideas.

If a commercial organization fails to achieve high performance, it is unlikely that the whole community will suffer negative consequences and face challenges. However, when a firm or campaign that aims to address severe national or local problems meets issues and difficulties in one or several processes, the outcome is negative for the society as a whole. This is why leaders and responsible figures need to be able to analyze complex problems in the context of their workplace, apply decision-making techniques when assessing possible measures, and know how to implement the best solution. The purpose of this paper is to identify a complex workplace issue within the UAE National Emergency Crisis and Disaster Management Authority (NCEMA), discuss possible solutions, and offer a plan for implementing the most appropriate option.

A complex problem in the workplace including its scope and impact

The UAE National Emergency Crisis and Disaster Management Authority is a quite essential and recently introduced government department that addresses various natural and man-made accidents and issues and maintains the safety of the community. NCEMA’s mission is to manage and supervise the compliance with the policy of the nation regarding disaster, crisis, and emergency management procedures through cooperation and coordination with other relevant agencies. Consequently, since the authority is responsible for the lives and well-being of the UAE people, there should be no internal issues in the entity. However, despite the strenuous efforts of the government to make sure that the recently introduced department is effective, NCEMA still has a complex workplace problem.

The Disaster Management Authority consists of several departments that need to successfully and skillfully join their efforts when addressing a disaster. These include the most important groups aimed at working with media, communication, information, technology, support, and other factors that might be relevant regarding the agency’s functioning. It is evident that their cooperation should be flawless, but NCEMA faces a complex issue of failing cross-agency coordination and communication. In other words, it is still challenging for the units to coordinate their responsibilities and steps to harmoniously and effectively address an emergency. While each individually taken department works perfectly, they fail to join their efforts in a correct way.

The Ways the Identified Issue Impacts Business

Such an issue of poor communication and cross-agency coordination is quite common in disaster management. One would find it difficult to deny that the effects of this problem on the organization’s operations and performance are extremely severe. The UAE National Emergency Crisis and Disaster Management Authority is responsible for evaluating threats, protecting the citizens, preventing or addressing harmful consequences, and navigating the actions of people before, during, and after an emergency. In the UAE, the community’s well-being and ability to recover from a disaster depends on NCEMA and its employees. Nevertheless, the lack of proper and prompt communication between departments makes it impossible to achieve an adequate level of emergency response.

The significance and adverse influence of the identified issue are quite evident. Communication becomes the most complex component of disaster and emergency management as it requires better understanding, cooperation, and coordination. As a result, without adequate and informative communication, different departments are not able to react to the newly emerged circumstances, adapt their plan of action, or address the disaster in any other way. In such a way, time and effective communication become critical for the final success of all efforts in the given field. If an emergency response authority is divided into several departments, then it is required that they coordinate their work. Otherwise, their attempts to protect the community fail and disasters will have increased negative consequences, ruining the areas and taking more lives of people.

Information on the identified problem to help inform the decision-making process

Figure 1. Cause and Effect Ishikawa diagram.

The following discussion only refers to two causes: technological issues and lack of employee competency. In general, technological, sociological, and organizational challenges becomes the most important factors that should be analyzed regarding the case. They might critically affect the work of companies, their outcomes, and responses to the emergent cases or issues. Out of these three groups, only the sociological category is not discussed in this paper. When it comes to the first group, the authors state that if the specific geographic area is remote or the previous communications system has been destroyed, disaster management workers and first respondents require a rapid communication network deployment. Furthermore, there are still numerous communication problems that emerge regardless of the advances in technology and impact the work of various organizations. Consequently, this may be one of the several causes of the complex workplace issue.

While advanced technological solutions are available for NCEMA, and it is now much easier to navigate the work of several departments at the same time, failures in computer systems or incompatibility of technological resources are always possible. Unfortunately, while system overloads can be predicted and eliminated in a timely manner, challenges like such as unexpected failures are severer and require specific planning. Consequently, technological issues are difficult to be addressed but can be the key cause of poor cross-agency coordination and cooperation. For this reason, specific resources should be devoted to addressing these problems and guaranteeing they do not impact the work of organizations’ and their outcomes.

Another possible cause is the lack of training or knowledge about the technological equipment. It might influence the outcomes and require specific measures to ensure everyone knows how to act in specific situations. Additionally, regarding the training, it should be regular and continuous to ensure that the desired outcomes are achieved. Precisely the lack of proper training can be the cause of reduced communication and cross-agency coordination.

Several Possible Solutions

After the potential causes are identified, it is essential to think of a number of alternative solutions that can show their effectiveness in addressing the issue and its causes. Considering the identified problem, there are two options of intervention. To begin with, it is possible to provide the staff from all departments of NCEMA, as well as their managers, with appropriate and high-quality training. Training programs will be aimed at filling the gaps in employees’ skills and knowledge. The second option is to analyze the documentation from previous years of the Disaster Management Authority’s work, find technological issues, and focus on their elimination.

Propose a range of alternative solutions to the problem

Like with any organizational issue, there are several solutions to the identified complex workplace problem. While each option may seem to be promising and lead to success, some of the selected alternatives are always less effective and quality than others. What is more, some alternatives can require more resources but promise fewer chances for success. Thus, in order to choose the best available option, it is required to discuss each, define its stakeholders and restrictions, and make a final decision that is informative and sound.

Possible Solutions and Their Stakeholders

Overall, in order to address inadequate communication and poor cross-agency coordination between NCEMA’s departments, it is essential to eliminate the causes discussed above, namely, the lack of employee and manager training and the failure of computerized systems of communication. Consequently, the two proposed options will be based on each of the two aforementioned causes of ineffective communication between the departments of the UAE National Emergency Crisis and Disaster Management Authority. One of the solutions will focus on staff training programs, which will include both broad and narrow concepts and challenges. At the same time, the second will address technical issues that decrease the levels of communication possibilities.

Training

To begin with, in order to fulfill the gaps in managers’ and employees’ knowledge and skills, it is essential to identify these gaps. For instance, are all employees aware of the technical rules for using the channels and means of communication available to them? Do they know how to choose the most appropriate way to convey important information in a particular situation? Do all frontline employees remember exactly how to make sure that the data is received and what to do if this does not happen? It is these factors that can be considered the main indicators of good employee training, and if these indicators turn out to be low, the need for training programs will be obvious. As for the heads of departments, one should also test their knowledge and skills regarding maintaining adequate communication, detecting errors in poor communication, and finding ways to increase reduced cross-agency coordination. Unfortunately, the development of technological solutions also brings some disadvantages because it is not always possible to introduce them to employees and leaders promptly. Consequently, serious errors may appear during the utilization of new means of communication.

Further, when the gaps are identified, employees and managers will be divided into several groups according to their levels of experience and knowledge. NCEMA needs to find high-quality training programs and professionals who will provide the staff with informative and engaging lessons aimed at eliminating the gaps and improving their competence. After several months of enhanced practical and theoretical classes, heads and employees will be more acquainted with the various means of computerized systems, which will lead to improved cross-agency coordination and communication.

This option’s stakeholders are the following: the workers themselves, the heads of the departments, and NCEMA as a whole. Their roles are to prepare the implementation of the solution and increase the Disaster Management Authority’s performance and effectiveness. Another stakeholder is the community since people’s lives depend on the efficacy of NCEMA and need its staff to be able to respond to various disasters and emergencies correctly. Finally, those professionals who will be responsible for the training programs and education of the team are also the stakeholders.

Technological Improvement

The second proposed solution is to check all technical and computer systems and analyze whether they have been the cause of communication failures over the past few years. For example, archival documentation should highlight the number of times the first response team needed to rapidly deploy communication networks, encounter computer system failures, or struggle to use the most effective methods of sending and receiving information. Thus, in case the aforementioned problems are identified, it is vital to upgrade the technological systems used by NCEMA’s departments and update recommendations related to the deployment of communication networks. What is more, the Disaster Management Authority needs to make sure that all computerized systems and other means of communication and cross-agency coordination that they use are flawless, up-to-date, relevant, and effective. Otherwise, if some devices are not efficient anymore or can be replaced by newer technologies, this should be addressed to eliminate the identified issue.

Most of this decision’s stakeholders are the same as those mentioned above. NCEMA’s departments’ leaders and employees, including the IT staff. The latter is responsible for upgrading the systems and identifying possible errors. NCEMA itself is the main stakeholder as it needs to coordinate its workers’ efforts aimed at improving the overall performance of the agency. Finally, the community is another stakeholder – one of the reasons is mentioned in the first solution’s discussion: people need to know that they are safe thanks to the high-quality services of NCEMA. Another reason for society to be stakeholders is that persons need to be careful during a disaster in order not to prevent the first responder team from adequate communication by interfering with their technologies.

Restrictions Placed on the Possible Solutions

Unfortunately, both alternative options have a number of restrictions, and the final decision depends on the severity and complexity of these barriers. To begin with, when implementing the first solution, NCEMA may encounter challenges like the lack of time and finances, and it will be too difficult to organize proper training programs because of their complexity and sophistication. What is more, it is also possible that employees and managers will lack the understanding of why they require additional education, which may cause the absence of their interest or reasonable efforts, reducing the efficacy of the training. As for the second alternative solution, the main restrictions are also the fact that this process is time-consuming and costly. Additionally, the lack of necessary information and documentation is also likely, which will significantly reduce the effectiveness of this option.

Evaluation of a range of solutions to identify the most appropriate option

Speaking about problem resolution, it is critical to find the most appropriate and promising solution based on all the factors linked to the case. It is likely that training programs will bring more success than addressing possible technological issues. First, it is much easier for NCEMA to organize additional education for its staff, monitor the progress, and interest the workers in obtaining new information. Further, the second solution is extremely complicated because some technical problems are long-term and cannot be solved by NCEMA itself: for example, they depend on whether electricity is available after a disaster. Thus, it is more effective to teach workers what to do if there is no electricity than to try to address its absence.

A detailed plan for implementing the solution

When the most appropriate alternative is selected, it is vital to create a plan for its implementation. The following subsections will discuss the solution’s objectives and responsible figures, the way to monitor progress, how to communicate the plan to stakeholders, and how the eventual success will be ensured. It is hard to disagree that all these factors are extremely essential for the effectiveness of the selected measure, so one needs to consider them carefully.

Objectives and Task Owners

The main objectives of the selected solution are to fulfill the gaps in managers’ and employees’ knowledge and upgrade their skills related to communication and cross-agency coordination. One of the tasks is also to increase the staff’s interest and make sure that they understand why training is essential and strive to receive new information and abilities that will foster their performance. As a result, NCEMA will need to ensure that all these efforts finally lead to the elimination of the identified complex issue, which is the key goal.

This plan includes several tasks and figures responsible for their preparation and achievement. To begin with, it is vital to appoint a manager who will develop a method or system for finding gaps in the knowledge and skills of employees. Then NCEMA will likely need to appoint an IT professional who will organize and structure information quickly in order to distribute employees into several groups. Another manager will be responsible for finding suitable training programs, determining the timing of training, and notifying the staff of upcoming additional education. They, in turn, will be answerable for diligence in learning and providing feedback throughout the process.

Progress Monitoring and Milestones

Further, when the plan is created and all responsibilities and tasks are divided between the figures, it is crucial to think of ways to monitor progress and define several milestones. The monitoring process will help top managers to ensure that the used methods comply with the company’s standards and contribute to the gradual improvement of the situation. For this reason, it is critical to ensure specific short-term goals are attained. The milestones of the selected solution will likely include the following factors: the gaps in knowledge and skills are identified; employees are interested in training; professionals are found and agree to work with NCEMA; and the training is finished.

There is a number of methods for NCEMA to monitor its staff’s progress in acquiring new information. First, managers will need to leverage tracking tools like learning management systems (LMSs) that help them to administer tasks, monitor them, and offer specific interventions. Second, it is recommended to create a specific process for tracking and constantly assessing workers. Finally, managers need to pay attention to the staff’s reviews of the training and then ask them to provide both formal and informal feedback.

Communication of the plan to relevant stakeholders

The solution’s stakeholders are the staff, the heads of the departments, NCEMA as a whole, the community, and training professionals. It is essential to communicate the plan to them and explain what exactly depends on its successful implementation. To inform the community, information can be placed on the official website of NCEMA. Society needs to know that the Disaster Management Authority admits its mistake and truly cares about the safety of people, which is why its employees will soon be more skilled. The staff and managers can receive the message through their internal channels or during a common gathering, where responsible figures will explain their idea and the necessity of additional training, as well as its components. Finally, these managers will outline the training’s objectives to the selected professionals and ask them to make sure that these goals are considered during the program’s creation.

Appropriate monitoring and review techniques to ensure successful implementation of solution

Several factors define whether the selected solution appears to be effective. These steps can be identified in Critical Path Analysis (CPA). It is an approach helping to ensure that no specific adjustments because of extra complexity are needed. The first task (identifying the gaps) will take approximately two weeks because each employee in all NCEMA’s departments will need to complete a questionnaire, the creation of which is also a timely process. The next three tasks will be implemented simultaneously: to systematize the data and divide employees into groups (one week), inform all stakeholders (five days), and find a training program (one week). The next task will be to start the training, which will continue for up to several months, and managers will need to track the progress. Finally, two steps will take up to a month – to gather overall feedback and evaluate whether the training was effective.

Conclusion

To draw a conclusion, one may say that the application of various decision-making techniques and the deep analysis of complex workplace issues is a challenging and time-consuming process. When one manages to identify a problem that prevents the organization from achieving success and high performance, it is vital to examine the possible causes, make a list of alternative solutions, define their stakeholders and restrictions, and then decide which option is most likely to become successful. In this particular case, NCEMA faces poor communication and cross-agency coordination, making it complicated for the authority to achieve its objectives. The most possible cause of this issue is the lack of the staff’s competence and knowledge, so proper training programs seem to be the most effective solution. Thus, if the option is implemented correctly, NCEMA can finally improve cross-department communication and become more successful in responding to emergencies and disasters.

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