CRISIS MANAGEMENT APPLICATION

Application: Design-Build

Floods, storms, landslides, earthquakes, and many other types of natural disasters can leave an affected area without the ability to evacuate or to receive needed provisions. For example, transportation was severely limited on the Mississippi Gulf Coast after Hurricane Katrina due to the destruction of major highways and bridges. Several communities became “islands” due to the destruction of these bridges. Because people could not leave or receive needed materials and goods, a different approach was applied to re-building the highways and bridges there.

Design/Build was the process used, and this provided for the quick rebuilding of three major bridges. This process contrasts with Design/Bid/Build and combines the design, permit, and construction into one overlapping process. Design/Build involves hiring the same designer/contractor to oversee a project’s design, bid, and construction. This process was so successful in Mississippi that the first bridge built, the St. Louis Bay Bridge, won an America Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials Transportation Award in 2007. Might this same process be applied to disaster recovery when re-establishing communication, business and industry, housing, and human services?

To prepare for this assignment:

• Review Chapter 9 in your course text, Crisis Management in the New Strategy Landscape, and think about challenges to organizational learning in crisis management and how you might address them.
• Review the article, “What is Design-Build?,” and focus on the strategies involved in the design-build model and the challenges that might be presented by it.
• Think about the importance of keeping cultural and social justice considerations in mind when developing a design-build model.
• Use the natural disaster you chose for Week 8 or choose a different one, other than Hurricane Katrina, and research the demographics for the area where the disaster occurred. Think about the various cultures involved and challenges there might be regarding languages or traditions.
• Review the article, “Design-Build Effectiveness Study,” and think about how the concept of design-build can be applied to the natural disaster you chose.
• Review Table 9-2 in your course text, Crisis Management in the New Strategy Landscape, and think about the new learning areas related to the natural disaster you chose.
• Keep the natural disaster you chose in mind as you review the article, “The Dirty Dozen: Twelve Failures of the Hurricane Katrina Response and How Psychology Can Help.” Think about ways to avoid the failures presented in the article.