Crisis response, organizational improvisation and the dispassionate communicative genre during the 2003 French heat wave.

Ce papier examine le rôle joué par les technologies de l’information et de la communication (TIC lorsque les organisations qui répondent à des crises doivent improviser à l’échelle organisationnelle. La littérature sur le management de la crise et dans le domaine des systèmes d’information ne rend pas compte de toute la complexité du phénomène d’improvisation. Nous proposons donc de mener une étude qualitative rétrospective de la canicule de 2003 en France. En suivant une démarche inductive, nous identifions le genre de communication que nous qualifions de dépassionné, développé par les administratifs autour du fax et de l’email qui a compromis leur participation à l’improvisation organisationnelle.This paper seeks to understand the role played by Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in organizational improvisation during crisis response. The crisis management literature and the IS literature do not fully capture the complexity of improvisation and crisis response. Due to the lack of theoretical background in relation to ICT support to crisis improvisation, we conduct a retrospective qualitative analysis of the 2003 French heat wave crisis response. Going back and forth between theory and data, we identify the dispassionate communicative genre, developed by the administrative actors around emails and faxes that hindered their participating in organizational improvisation.Organizational improvisation; communicative genre; crisis response; Improvisation organisationnelle; genre de communication; réponse à la crise;

What Support Does Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Offer to Organizational Improvisation During Crisis Response ?

While evidence of the exceedingly important role of technology in organizational life is commonplace, academics have not fully captured the influence of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) on crisis response. A substantive body of knowledge on technology and crisis response already exists and keeps developing. Extensive research is on track to highlight how technology helps to prepare to crisis response and develop service recovery plans. However, some aspects of crisis response remain unknown. Among all the facets of crisis response that have been under investigation for some years, improvisation still challenges academics as a core component of crisis response. In spite of numerous insights on improvisation as a cognitive process and an organizational phenomenon, the question of how improvisers do interact together while improvising remains partly unanswered. As a result, literature falls short of details on whether crisis responders can rely on technology to interact when they have to improvise collectively. This dissertation therefore brings into focus ICT support to organizational improvisation in crisis response in two steps: We first address this question from a general standpoint by reviewing literature. We then propose an in depth and contextualized analysis of the use of a restricted set of technologies – emails, faxes, the Internet, phones - during the organizational crisis provoked by the 2003 French heat wave. Our findings offer a nuanced view of ICT support to organizational improvisation in crisis response. Our theoretical investigation suggests that ICTs, in a large sense, allow crisis responders to improvise collectively. It reports ICT properties - graphical representation, modularity, calculation, many-to-many communication, data centralization and virtuality – that promote the settling of appropriate conditions for interaction during organizational improvisation in crisis response. In the empirical work, we provide a more integrative picture of ICT support to organizational improvisation in crisis response by retrospectively observing crisis responders’ interactions during the 2003 French heat wave. Our empirical findings suggest that improvisation enables crisis responders to cope with organizational emptiness that burdens crisis response. However, crisis responders’ participation in organizational improvisation depends on their communicative genres. During the 2003 French heat wave crisis, administrative actors who had developed what we call a “dispassionate” communicative genre in relation to their email use, barely participated in organizational improvisation. Conversely, improvisers mainly communicated in what we call a “fervent” communicative genre. Therefore, our findings reveal that the ICT support to organizational improvisation in crisis response is mediated by the communication practices and strategies that groups of crisis responders develop around ICT tools

Quel apport des technologies de l’information et de la communication (tic) a l’improvisation organisationnelle durant la réponse à la crise ?.

Notre travail doctoral, structuré autour de deux études théoriques et d’une étude empirique, explore l’apport des Technologies de l’Information et de la Communication (TIC) à l’improvisation organisationnelle lors de la réponse à la crise. La première étude confirme la diversité de la littérature sur l’improvisation et révèle que les auteurs adoptent des postures différentes à quatre étapes du processus de recherche. La deuxième étude propose cinq mécanismes organisationnels fondamentaux au développement de l’improvisation organisationnelle. A partir de cette proposition, nous identifions six propriétés des TIC qui soutiennent l’improvisation de crise. Enfin, notre étude rétrospective qualitative du cas de la réponse à la crise provoquée par la canicule de 2003 en Île-de-France montre que le développement de l’improvisation, réponse au vide organisationnel qui pèse sur la réponse à la crise, dépend non seulement des propriétés des TIC mais également des genres de communication développés par les acteurs autour des moyens de communication. Durant la canicule, le genre fervent a facilité l’improvisation parmi les opérationnels. Au contraire, le genre dépassionné, prédominant dans les échanges électroniques, a freiné la participation des acteurs administratifs à l’improvisation. Certains d’entre eux sont tout de même parvenus à participer à l’improvisation en adaptant le genre dépassionné lors de leur utilisation du fax. Si les TIC facilitent certaines interactions, la faculté des acteurs à improviser dépend également de leur capacité à adapter leurs genres de communication.We explore Information and Communication Technology (ICT) support to organizational improvisation during crisis response by completing three studies. The first study confirms diversity in research on improvisation and suggests that author’s perspectives on improvisation diverge with respect to four tasks within the research process. The second study identifies five constituents of organizational improvisation. In addition, it reports six ICT properties that promote the settling of appropriate conditions for interaction during organizational improvisation in crisis response. In the empirical work, we provide a more integrative picture of ICT support to organizational improvisation in crisis response by retrospectively observing crisis responders’ interactions during the 2003 French heat wave. Our empirical findings suggest that improvisation enables crisis responders to cope with organizational emptiness that burdens crisis response. However, crisis responders’ participation in organizational improvisation depends on their communicative genres. During the 2003 French heat wave crisis, administrative actors who had developed what we call a dispassionate communicative genre in relation to their email use, barely participated in organizational improvisation. Conversely, improvisers mainly communicated in what we call a fervent communicative genre. Therefore, our findings reveal that the ICT support to organizational improvisation in crisis response is mediated by the communication practices and strategies that groups of crisis responders develop around ICT tools.Ile-de-France; Gestion de l'information; Vagues de chaleur; Comportement organisationnel; Nouvelles technologies de l'information et de la communication;

Approcher la réalité de l’improvisation organisationnelle en temps de crise : l’analyse des interactions durant la réponse à la canicule française de 2003.

L’improvisation suscite un intérêt croissant dans la littérature managériale. Cependant, le cas particulier de l’improvisation organisationnelle a été relativement peu étudié jusqu’ici. Au- delà d’une simple transposition des caractéristiques individuelles au niveau collectif, il manque une opérationnalisation claire du concept qui permette de caractériser l’improvisation et d’en découvrir les mécanismes. Une meilleure compréhension de l’improvisation organisationnelle modifierait les représentations, encore négatives, que se font les praticiens de l’improvisation. Toutefois, dans le domaine hospitalier, caractérisé par une forte institutionnalisation des pratiques, l’improvisation est principalement reconnue comme indispensable en situation critique. Il est donc nécessaire de mieux étudier l’improvisation, car celle-ci s’avère être une ressource cruciale à la résolution de problèmes complexes en situation de pression émotionnelle et temporelle forte. L’objectif de cette étude, en cours de réalisation, est de proposer une compréhension de l’improvisation organisationnelle au travers des interactions interindividuelles. En suivant les principes de la théorie enracinée, nous menons une analyse rétrospective de la réponse à la canicule de 2003 par trois structures hospitalières d’Ile-de-France. Les premières analyses de notre étude mettent en évidence trois types d’interactions : des interactions discursives, sources de développement de nouvelles pratiques, des interactions de traduction qui génèrent un référentiel commun de pratiques, et des interactions basées sur l’expertise qui légitiment certaines pratiques. La mise en évidence de telles interactions nous semble cruciale pour une meilleure compréhension de l’improvisation. Aussi, les éléments émergents de nos premières analyses semblent très proches des éléments théoriques du cadre des capacités dynamiques. Cela nous conduit ainsi à discuter la pertinence de l’approche des capacités dynamiques comme cadre d’analyse des interactions composant l’improvisation organisationnelle en situation de crise.secteur hospitalier; improvisation organisationnelle; interaction; crise;

Technological Support To Improvisation During crisis: An Image Theory Dased Approach

Improvisation is a core dimension of crisis response. It helps organizations to deal with complexity and to figure innovative responses to crisis in a short delay. Still, our knowledge on how improvisation develops cognitively is scarce. As a result, managers miss tools that would support improvisation cognitively. This paper aims at responding to this need, by reviewing literature on crisis and improvisation to develop an artifact and deduce requirements for technology. We rely on the Image Theory developed by Beach (1998) to conceptualize improvisation as a double step cognitive process that includes the screening process. Based on the use of ontologies and semantic distance, we then translate our understanding into a set of IT requirements, which will eventually help us designing the IT artifact

Information Technology, Improvisation and Crisis Response: Review of Literature and Proposal for Theory

Crisis response is generally acknowledged as a crucial aspect of crisis management. Crisis response often requires a need to improvise because the circumstances demand spontaneous innovation that departs from established procedures. Although previous research has acknowledged improvisation as a valuable component of crisis response, it has not provided adequate conceptual understanding of improvisation. Moreover, studies on the role played by information technology (IT) in crisis are inconsistent regarding the ways that IT may support improvised responses. As a result, few recommendations could be formulated to guide practitioners in using IT to respond to crises, thereby wasting crucial resources. This paper proposes a definition of improvisation that emphasizes its relationship to dynamic capabilities and organizational routines. Using this definition, we analyze the literature on crisis management. The results show that IT enables the reuse of existing resources in novel and spontaneous ways but also supports collaboration and leadership expertise

Handling coordination in an extreme situation: Tensions in electronic communication and organizational emptiness during the 2003 French heat wave crisis response

This study focuses on email use in extreme situations, in particular organizational crises in disaster settings. Despite abundant empirical evidence of intensive email use in crisis res- ponse, the question of the overall support from email to coordination in critical settings has remained unanswered. Filling this gap, we draw on grounded theory principles to conduct an exploratory investigation of email use during the 2003 French heat wave crisis response. We propose a thorough analysis of the crisis responders’ electronic communication prac- tices when they attempted to address what we label organizational emptiness. Through the narration of four episodes, our findings outline electronic communication tensions during the 2003 French heat wave crisis response: email was used by the crisis responders in a helpful as well as damaging way. Our discussion outlines four contradictory behaviors among email users - immediate communication but delayed action, centrality in informa- tion processing but absence in collective action, email use and avoidance, efforts for resi- lience despite persistent patterns of communication – that impeded organizational empti- ness resolution, thereby burdening coordination during crisis response. This study enriches literature in three manners. First, we extend the scope of investigation of extreme situations. Second we propose organizational emptiness as an original conceptual lens to comprehen- sively analyze IT use in crisis coordination. Third, we offer insights on technology enact- ment in extreme situations

Crisis Response and IT Use Literature Review and Suggestions for Future Research

Crisis response highly depends on managers’ use of information technologies (IT). Given the growing frequency of crisis, it is urgent to concretely investigate IT use in crisis response. Still, crisis characteristics have been tacitly overlooked in the literature on IT usage. As a result, both researchers and managers rely on a routine view of IT usage that does not match to the reality of crisis. Knowledge on IT usage in crisis response is missing and managers lack specific recommendations regarding IT use. The objective of this paper is to respond to that gap by proposing a literature review of the variables that affect crisis response and are likely to differ from routine to crisis situation. From this review, we suggest some potential questions for future research on IT usage. Doing so, we promote more salient recommendations on IT use to managers and IT professionals

Gatekeepers Rather than Helpless: An Exploratory Investigation of Seniors’ Use of Information and Communication Technology in Critical Settings

Reports and studies often show that seniors suffer disproportionately during disasters. Yet seniors’ handling of information and communication technology is largely overlooked. Based on a qualitative study comprising interviews and focus groups, this research shows important properties of seniors’ practices with information in critical settings. Seniors embody and tap into local knowledge, mingle offline and take online cues about emergency situations, and maintain trust towards institutions. We discuss the need to pursue and diversify investigation on this topic, as well as the role of seniors as gatekeepers rather than considering them helpless individuals. This research contributes to a better understanding of seniors’ use of digital resources by highlighting their role in information sharing in disaster settings. We pave the way for future research to inform policy making and support seniors’ survival in future disasters

“An iron hand in a velvet glove’’: the embodiment of the platform logic in the emergency sector

Despite increasing attention on organizational responses to digital platforms the Information Systems research has overlooked the influence of platforms on the public sector. In this paper we draw on the concept of institutional logics to examine the impact of platforms on the emergency sector. A qualitative case study of the emergency sector is undertaken, comprised of interviews with organizations—including emergency response organizations, government agencies, firms, non-government organizations and community and volunteer groups. The findings reveal the interplay between the prevailing ‘command and control’ and ‘community’ logics and the ‘platform’ logic and how the tensions and synergies between them are shaping the information landscape in the sector. We demonstrate how organizations embody and resist aspects of the platform logic