Organisational learning and self-adaptation in dynamic disaster environments.

Area of Science:

• Disaster Management
• Organizational Learning
• Socio-technical Systems

Background:

• Dynamic environments of disasters pose challenges for inter-organizational learning and adaptation.
• Information availability, exchange, and distribution are critical for self-adaptation during disaster response.
• Organizational flexibility and information infrastructure are key enablers of interaction and information flow.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the occurrence and extent of organizational learning in Turkish disaster management.
• To identify factors influencing inter-organizational learning and adaptation in disaster response operations.
• To analyze the impact of major earthquakes on the evolution of disaster management practices.

Main Methods:

• Employed mixed-methods research, combining qualitative and quantitative approaches.
• Examined five disaster response operations in Turkey.
• Analyzed organizational, technical, and cultural aspects of disaster management.

Main Results:

• No significant organizational learning was observed following the 1992, 1995, and 1998 earthquakes.
• The 1999 Marmara earthquake acted as a 'symmetry-breaking' event, initiating 'double-loop' learning.
• Subsequent Duzce earthquake response operations demonstrated changes in organizational, technical, and cultural domains.

Conclusions:

• Disaster magnitude and type significantly influence the learning process.
• Major disruptive events can catalyze transformative learning in disaster management.
• Effective information infrastructure and organizational flexibility are crucial for learning and adaptation.