Improving the Management in Emergency Management

The field of management has stressed the need for the development of positive organizational culture and organizational learning.  The management environment today and in the future will provide new challenges and organizational responses.  The management literature has been sensitive to this need and been quite responsive.  Emergency management must also acknowledge the need for organizational learning and the importance of a positive organizational climate to effective operations.  Possibly more executive education would support the increasing interdependence between the Department of Homeland Security, the business community, as well as state and local operations. 

During the past thirty years, the business community has focused on the importance of quality control and service.  Emergency management operations must share this emphasis and adopt methods of organizational assessment and quality control to enhance all elements of the emergency management process.

The management literature has for many years stressed the importance of strategic planning (Drucker 2002).  A greater awareness of the value of environmental scanning and the broader impacts of international affairs on internal operations will be increasingly important to the emergency management community.  Business may call on emergency management for help in identifying strategies to cope with a dramatically changing environment.