Would you know what to do if a massive power outage or other natural disaster disrupted your ability to access your online classroom? This presentation will discuss key research about managing and surviving disruptions and the implications for online programs like those at UMUC. Dr. Schweber will also highlight UMUC's Classroom Interruption Planning Guide and discuss preparedness suggestions with participants.Managing and Surviving Disruptions, Emergencies, Disasters:
Claudine SchWeber, Ph.D. ([email protected])
1Resilience*
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“…positive adaptation in any kind of dynamic system that comes under challenge or threat.” (Masten& Wright, 2009, p. 215)
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“the capability to rebound from a disaster…and to return to normal functioning with little delay” (Chandra et al., 2010)
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“capacity to cope with unanticipated dangers after they have become manifest…[learning to] bounce back” (Comfort, 1994, p. 158)
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*Research conducted with Dr. M. Bouchard (2010)
2Continuity of operations (coop):
“an institution’s ability to maintain or restore its business…when some circumstance threatens or disrupts normal operations“
3Anticipation
(preparation)
Management
during event
(response)
Resilience (recovery)
Thriving or
Hyper –
resilience
(better off)
Crisis:
Trigger
Event
Resilience Continuum
4Resilience perspectives : it‘s about survival and continuity
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Anticipatory: “Identification of potential risks, proactive steps to [enable survival]”;
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Crisis: “capability to rebound from disaster...and return to normal functioning”
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Economic: “ability to reinvent business models and strategies as circumstances change”
5Examples of Disruptions (Disasters, emergencies, etc.)
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Volcano ash clouds over Europe, Fall 2010
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Hurricane Katrina, August 2005
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Flooding in American south and Missouri, Spring 2011
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Japanese earthquake, March 2011
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UMUC—WebTychodownfor a week in Feb. 2007
6Today, we will also apply this to teaching & learning at UMUC
8Research Method
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Modified “Evidence‐Based Research” (pioneered at Carnegie Mellon)
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Literature search –57 sources: books or book chapters, scholarly articles, professional articles, dissertations, special reports/white papers.
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Inclusion/exclusion criteria: 45 items remained
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Analyzed resources—>3 major themes: a) anticipation‐preparation; b) leadership; c) communication
‐‐details on method at end of presentation, if desired
9What we learned—1:
Primary Focus: Anticipation‐Preparation
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Become a High Reliability Organization (HRO): develop a ‘preoccupation with [potential] failure’
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Develop a ‘culture of resilience’
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Responsibility of Senior Leadership: avoid ‘amnesia syndrome’; conduct resilience audits; delegate authority
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Practice ‘bricolage’
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Hire staff with experience (‘strategic hires’)
10What we learned—2:
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Identify and develop ‘back‐up’ systems: technology, other business locations, reserve fund. e.g. Xavier U and Hurricane Katrina—tech backup in California.
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Delegate decision‐making throughout organization; able to make decisions in ‘unfamiliar contexts’ (e.g. 9/11 and Morgan Stanley)
11What we learned—3:
Leadership, Communication
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Need to be able to make decisions under pressure
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Develop and test continuity plans
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Communicate with various stakeholders (e.g, the public, students, colleagues)—early and often!
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Plan for ‘reputation’ management with stakeholders, media.
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Establish a communication management strategy, plan, resources and implementation, and review regularly**
**UMUC—be sure to keep a list of students and their emails in a separate, safe place
12UMUC Classroom Interruption Planning Guide
http://www.umuc.edu/faculty/interruptionguide.shtml
13Assume UMUC has been hit by a wide area power outage in mid‐semester (as happened in upstate New York State in 2003).
*******
What’s your planfor continuing or managing the remainder of the course?
Question:
13Conclusions from this Research project
Organization resilience requires:
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Senior level attention—commitment to a culture of resilience
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Avoidance of complacency plan ahead
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Periodic internal communication and readiness to implement external communication plan
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Identifying and critiquing lessons learned
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…Practice, Practice, Practice
14Further Research
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Indentify cases: business, higher ed, (government?)
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Investigate whether there is a causal link between planning and resilience; between planning and doing better (hyper resilience)
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Leadership: what would case analyses reveal about decisions by leaders and adaptabilityandsurvival?
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Compare scholar and practitioner perspectives
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Investigate risk‐benefit impact on resilience planning: probabilityconsequence(e.g., Ford Pinto case)
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Investigate higher education plans, actions, results.
15Claudine [email protected]
16More--Research Methods: details 1
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Systematic review to “identify, acquire, extract and synthesize existing research studies” (Leseureet al, 2004, p. 14)
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57initial Sources = 9 books/chapters; 34 scholarly articles; 10 professional articles; 2 dissertations; 2 white papers
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After exclusion: 45 resources
17More--Method 2: steps
1.
key word searches
2.
classification of sources: author, discipline and approach, focus (individual, org., community); type of study (scholarly, popular); key ideas; other
3.
inclusion/exclusion criteria identified and applied
4.
Analysis by themes: anticipation, leadership, communication, other
Two steps were developed but not implemented:
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Assessment criteria:e.g., argument/ point made? Quality of the evidence, generalizability, contributions to theory,practice
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Scoring: evaluation of each resource per assessment criteria, scale of 1‐3 or NA
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