A Framework for ICT-Supported Coordination in Crisis Response

Abstract

Crisis response efforts often require coordinating a previously unknown adhocracy of agencies under time pressure. While current technologies that support coordination are successful for well-defined static process descriptions, they may fall short in the face of more complex and unpredictable scenarios, such as a crisis or emergency. Using design science research, this thesis contributes a set of design artifacts that are used to gain insight into coordination in crisis response and its support with information and communication technology (ICT). A simulation model, together with the constructs, methods and design models that went into its development, was built for this purpose. The simulation model operationalizes constructs from the information-processing view of coordination in crisis response, using an agent-based representation that enables experimenting with both mediated as well as mutually adjusted coordination mechanisms for a crisis response organization in a specific crisis scenario. Findings indicate that coordination in crisis response emerges through the interaction between different coordination mechanisms and that simulation can be used to enable a comparison between them and to assess the potential effect of using ICT.