Personnel and Structure: An Organizational Study

There is a vast amount of sociological literature which deals with the relationship of organizational membership and organizational change. Recently attention has been focused on deliberate attempts by researchers and others to intervene in organizations (Corwin, 1972). Organizational change programs, irrespective of their goals, frequently attempt to modify the organizational structure through, at least in part, the inclusion of outsiders who are unconventional, creative, flexible, good boundary personnel, etc. (Carlson, 1962; Clark, 1968). fn the future, sociological studies of intervention strategies are likely to become more important since increasingly there are programs attempting to manipulate structural variables. Therefore, it will be useful and indeed necessary to have the relationship of variables such as staff composition and organizational structures variables empirically verified. This study of police-community relations P-CR) units, the findings of which are part of a larger study conducted by the Disaster Research Center (DRC) of the Ohio State University, was undertaken with that intention

Some Observations On Fire Departments' Response To The Massive Fire In Chelsea, Massachusetts

At 3:56 p.m. on Sunday, October 14, 1973, a fire in an abandoned warehouse was sighted which would eventually destroy 18 city blocks and damage 12 others in Chelsea, Massachusetts, a city of around 32,000 people and an industrial satellite of Boston. At its height, this conflagration was thought to be a "fire storm" with the smoke of the blaze visible from as far as 50 miles away. Because of the large area affected, and the number of fire departments involved in controlling this conflagration, the Disaster Research Center took this opportunity to study the organized response to a relatively rare phenomena in present day American cities,a massive fire situation. A two-person research team was sent to Chelsea, Massachusetts, staying two days, October 16 and 17. Their focus was primarily on the mobilization and coordination of the various fire departments involved, as well as some of the supporting organizations' activities. The following general questions were asked to obtain the information: (1) Who took charge of the fire departments' response to the fire? (2) What organizations (fire departments, police departments, National Guard, etc.) were involved in the emergency period? (3) How were the various emergency organizations mobilized? And how were they then coordinated? (4) What were the problems confronted in this massive fire situation? (5) What role did the local civil defense organization play in the coordination of activities