11,930 Matching Results

Results open in a new window/tab. Unexpected Results? Search the Catalog Instead.

Organizational Perceptions of Women's Vulnerability to Violence in the Wake of Disaster (open access)

Organizational Perceptions of Women's Vulnerability to Violence in the Wake of Disaster

Women as a group hold little power in the social system which increases women's vulnerability to domestic violence. According to Merton (1970), social problems may be revealed through the disaster recovery process. A coraHunity1s organizational response to social problems such as wife abuse depends upon organizational members' perceptions. The data suggest that organizational perceptions of domestic violence largely depend upon the setting or environment in which an organization exists and operates. A second factor that greatly determines an organization's perception of domestic violence after disaster is organizational type. Organizations which provide services to domestic violence victims pre-disaster are more likely to perceive domestic violence following disaster than organizations which do not provide domestic violence related services prior to disaster.
Date: August 1995
Creator: Wilson, Jennifer L. (Jennifer Lyn)
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library
Homeland Security: Preparing for and Responding to Disasters (open access)

Homeland Security: Preparing for and Responding to Disasters

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Post-Katrina Emergency Management Reform Act of 2006 stipulates major changes to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to improve the agency's preparedness for and response to catastrophic disasters. For example, the act establishes a new mission for and new leadership positions within FEMA. As GAO has reported, DHS faces continued challenges, including clearly defining leadership roles and responsibilities, developing necessary disaster response capabilities, and establishing accountability systems to provide effective response while also protecting against waste, fraud, and abuse. This testimony discusses the extent to which DHS has taken steps to overcome these challenges This testimony summarizes earlier GAO work on: (1) leadership, response capabilities, and accountability controls; (2) organizational changes provided for in the Post-Katrina Reform Act; and (3) disaster management issues for continued Congressional attention."
Date: March 9, 2007
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
Object Type: Text
System: The UNT Digital Library
A Case Study of NASA's Columbia Tragedy: An Organizational Learning and Sensemaking Approach to Organizational Crisis. (open access)

A Case Study of NASA's Columbia Tragedy: An Organizational Learning and Sensemaking Approach to Organizational Crisis.

No other government agency receives as much attention as the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). The high-profile agency frequently captures attention of the media in both positive and negative contexts. This thesis takes a case study approach using organizational learning and sensemaking theories to investigate crisis communication within NASA's 2003 Columbia tragedy. Eight participants, who in some capacity had worked for NASA during the Columbia tragedy in a communication centered position, were interviewed. Using a grounded theory framework, nine themes emerged pertaining to organizational learning, leadership, structure, and organizational culture. The results of the study aid in understanding how high risk organization's (HROs) can learn from previous failures and details how organizational culture can hinder organizational change.
Date: December 2007
Creator: James, Eric Preston
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library
Citizen Involvement and Law Enforcement: Does Coproduction Affect Organizational Efficiency and Organizational Effectiveness? (open access)

Citizen Involvement and Law Enforcement: Does Coproduction Affect Organizational Efficiency and Organizational Effectiveness?

Citizen involvement in the production and delivery of public service has been a long time topic of interest and controversial debate among scholars. Essentially, the belief has been that if citizens are actively involved in the process, public organizations and communities benefit in numerous ways that will ultimately lead to increased citizen satisfaction. The purpose of this research is to explore the relationship between citizen involvement in the production of public safety and security and its effects on organizational efficiency and effectiveness of law enforcement agencies. To test the assumption that citizen involvement is positively correlated to organizational success and organizational efficiency of law enforcement agencies, a citizen involvement index was developed and used as the independent variable in ordinary least square regression (OLS) analysis. Three separate models are developed to measure the impact of citizen involvement on law enforcement. Findings obtained through bivariate and multivariate analyses indicate mixed results. Bivariate analysis revealed that citizen involvement was negatively correlated to organizational efficiency while no statistically significant correlation was found in multiple regressions. In addition, through bivariate analyses, citizen involvement was positively correlated with crime rates reported to city police departments, whereas multivariate regression analyses indicated that citizen involvement does not …
Date: August 2009
Creator: Gultekin, Sebahattin
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library
The National Commission on Children and Disasters: Overview and Issues (open access)

The National Commission on Children and Disasters: Overview and Issues

This report discusses The National Commission on Children and Disasters whose purpose is to assess the needs of children in the preparation for, response to, and recovery from natural disasters, acts of terrorism, and other man-made disasters.
Date: February 22, 2010
Creator: Keegan, Natalie
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Emergency Management: Observations on DHS's Preparedness for Catastrophic Disasters (open access)

Emergency Management: Observations on DHS's Preparedness for Catastrophic Disasters

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Homeland Security Act was enacted in November 2002, creating the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to improve homeland security following the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States. The act centralized the leadership of many homeland security activities under a single federal department and, accordingly, DHS has the dominant role in implementing this national strategy. This testimony discusses the status of DHS's actions in fulfilling its responsibilities to (1) establish policies to define roles and responsibilities for national emergency preparedness efforts and prepare for the transition between presidential administrations, and (2) develop operational plans and performance metrics to implement these roles and responsibilities and coordinate federal resources for disaster planning and response. This testimony is based on prior GAO work performed from September 2006 to June 2008 focusing on DHS's efforts to address problems identified in the many post-Katrina reviews."
Date: June 11, 2008
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
Object Type: Text
System: The UNT Digital Library
Physical Vulnerability of Electric Systems to Natural Disasters and Sabotage (open access)

Physical Vulnerability of Electric Systems to Natural Disasters and Sabotage

This report offers an analysis of the vulnerability of electric power system specific equipment which is included in a separate appendix that is under classification review by the Department of Energy. This appendix will be made available only under appropriate safeguards by the Department of Energy.
Date: June 1990
Creator: United States. Congress. Office of Technology Assessment.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Federal Emergency Management Agency: Factors for Future Success and Issues to Consider for Organizational Placement (open access)

Federal Emergency Management Agency: Factors for Future Success and Issues to Consider for Organizational Placement

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The size and strength of hurricane Katrina resulted in one of the largest natural disasters in our nation's history and raised major questions about our nation's readiness and ability to respond to catastrophic disasters. GAO has a large body of completed and ongoing work on a range of issues relating to all phases of the preparation, response, recovery, and rebuilding efforts related to hurricane Katrina as well as a wealth of historical experience in reviewing the federal government's response to disasters and catastrophic events. A great deal of attention has been focused on lessons learned from the 2005 hurricane season and many recommendations have been advanced on how to improve the nation's preparedness and ability to effectively respond to catastrophic disasters. GAO's testimony today describes some factors for success and other issues that Congress may wish to consider as it determines what changes to make, including those of the Federal Emergency Management Agency's (FEMA) organizational placement, to improve the nation's readiness and ability to respond effectively to major disasters, including catastrophic disasters, regardless of cause."
Date: May 9, 2006
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
Object Type: Text
System: The UNT Digital Library
Local Government Fiscal Stress and Financial Coping Strategies Following Disasters (open access)

Local Government Fiscal Stress and Financial Coping Strategies Following Disasters

This dissertation analyzes how local governments adapt to the fiscal stress of major disasters. Unifying theories of fiscal stress with emergency management theories, the dissertation presents a model of what influences local governments coping strategy use following disasters. Using new survey data and secondary financial data on cities, counties, and school districts that experienced Hurricane Harvey, findings show that local governments adapt in a variety of ways; of 137 local governments that responded, 66 percent used some number of coping strategies, with only 5 of 62 possible strategies not being used by any local governments. For those which did adapt, they on average used 7.06 strategies, and tended to show a preference towards revenue increasing strategies and rebuilding the community through new capital projects, with less emphasis on expenditure cuts compared to some prior literature findings on fiscal stress. The results indicate that local governments step up and provide new services necessary during the recovery process, to serve their community, despite fiscal stress. A negative binomial model shows partial support for the hypotheses that local governments with lower prior fiscal condition and greater hazard exposure will use more coping strategies. The findings show mixed results on whether institutional rules that …
Date: May 2020
Creator: Winkler, Julie Georgina
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library
Economic Resilience, Disasters, and Green Jobs:  An Institutional Collective Action Framework (open access)

Economic Resilience, Disasters, and Green Jobs: An Institutional Collective Action Framework

This dissertation is about economic resilience of local governments to natural disasters. Specifically, the dissertation investigates resilience on regional level. Moreover, the dissertation also investigates growth in the green job sector in local governments. The findings indicate that local governments working with each other helps green job creation. In addition, the dissertation finds that green jobs, following disasters, experience three percent growth. This dissertation is important because it investigates the relationship between climate- related disasters and green jobs, which is an area that is under-investigated.
Date: December 2017
Creator: Ismayilov, Orkhan M.
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library
Disaster Assistance: Better Planning Needed for Housing Victims of Catastrophic Disasters (open access)

Disaster Assistance: Better Planning Needed for Housing Victims of Catastrophic Disasters

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In 2005, Hurricanes Katrina and Rita destroyed thousands of homes and displaced over 1 million people. In light of widespread Congressional and public interest in U.S. agencies' performance in assisting hurricane victims, GAO initiated work under the Comptroller General's authority to examine federal housing assistance. Specifically, this report examines (1) the extent to which the National Response Plan (NRP) clearly described the responsibilities and capabilities of federal agencies and the Red Cross; (2) the extent to which these organizations had plans for providing sheltering and housing assistance; and (3) the perceptions of victims and others regarding the assistance needed and provided. GAO reviewed the NRP and related documents, interviewed Red Cross and federal agency officials and a limited number of storm victims, and convened a group of experts to discuss these issues."
Date: February 28, 2007
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Social Media and Disasters: Current Uses, Future Options, and Policy Considerations (open access)

Social Media and Disasters: Current Uses, Future Options, and Policy Considerations

This report summarizes how social media have been used by emergency management officials and agencies. It also examines the potential benefits, as well as the implications, of using social media in the context of emergencies and disasters.
Date: September 6, 2011
Creator: Lindsay, Bruce R.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Managing the Risks of Extreme Events and Disasters to Advance Climate Change Adaption (open access)

Managing the Risks of Extreme Events and Disasters to Advance Climate Change Adaption

"This report focuses on the relationship between climate change and extreme weather and climate events, the impacts of such events, and the strategies to manage the associated risks."
Date: 2012
Creator: Cambridge University Press
Object Type: Text
System: The UNT Digital Library
Public confidence in local management officials: organizational credibility and emergency behavior (open access)

Public confidence in local management officials: organizational credibility and emergency behavior

Confidence issues create potential risks for the public in any emergency situation. They do so because credibility and associated perceptions of legitimacy and competency of organizations are determinants of human behavior in disasters. Credibility, however, is only one of numerous factors that shape response of people or organizations to a threatening event. The purposes of this paper are to review what is known about the way in which credibility and related constructs influence emergency response, discuss how this knowledge applies to radiological emergency planning, and suggest how credibility-induced risk can be minimized in emergency planning and response.
Date: January 1, 1984
Creator: Sorensen, J.H.
Object Type: Article
System: The UNT Digital Library

Disasters, Smart Growth and Economic Resilience: An Empirical Analysis of Florida Cities

Access: Use of this item is restricted to the UNT Community
This dissertation examines the relationship between economic resilience, disaster experience, and smart growth policies at the local government level. The study is based upon three research questions that examine spatial distribution of economic resilience in Florida cities, and examines the impact of disaster experience, and smart growth policies adopted by local governments on economic resilience. Based upon the bounce-forward approach (Cowell, 2013; Klein et al. 2003), economic resilience is defined using three dimensions—economic stability, economic equity, and economic diversity. The spatial analysis is conducted by mapping economic resilience scores across 780 Census Designated Places in Florida through standard deviation method of classification, and conducting cluster-outlier analysis. Results suggest difference in economic resilience within coastal and inland communities—with higher scores mostly situated inland. East Central Florida, Tampa Bay, and South Florida were identified as high economic resilience clusters, and Northwest Florida was identified as low resilience cluster. Impact of disaster experience, and smart growth policies on economic resilience was examined based upon logic of focusing events by Birkland (1997, 2010). Data was collected from the U.S. Census, the National Climatic Data Center, and the Energy Sustainable Florida Communities Survey conducted by Florida State University in 2009. Results suggest significant association between …
Date: August 2019
Creator: Chatterjee, Vaswati
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library
Sources of Organizational Resilience During the 2012 Korean Typhoons: an Institutional Collective Action Framework (open access)

Sources of Organizational Resilience During the 2012 Korean Typhoons: an Institutional Collective Action Framework

The objective of this proposed research is to test whether interorganizational collaboration contributes to the ability of an organization to bounce back swiftly from disasters. The research questions are examined from the Institutional Collective Action (ICA) perspective. The general argument of this dissertation is that organizational resilience can be explained by interorganizational collaboration. The ICA framework, specifically, identifies two general network structures to explain strategies that can be adopted to minimize collaboration risks: bonding and bridging structures. This dissertation focuses on how governmental and nongovernmental organizations in South Korea collaborated. The data was collected from the southeastern tip of the Korean Peninsula in August of 2012, and January of 2013. The 2012 Typhoons devastated the area after the first data set was collected in August 2012, causing the loss of estimated US$ 730 million and 29 fatalities. Afterward, the second survey was administrated in January of 2013 to gauge respondents’ views on how organizations responded to the disasters. This dissertation consists of three essays. The first essay presents a brief overview and assessment of the current research on resilience. The second essay empirically tests the sources of organization resilience. The third essay examines the dynamic nature of interorganizational ties by …
Date: May 2015
Creator: Jung, Kyujin
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library
Effects of Disasters on Local Climate Actions: Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation Actions (open access)

Effects of Disasters on Local Climate Actions: Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation Actions

This dissertation investigates the effects of natural disasters and political institutions on municipalities' climate change policies. Although most theoretical frameworks on policy adoption highlight the roles of extreme events as exogenous factors influencing policy change, most studies tend to focus on the effects of extreme events on policy change at the national level. Additionally, the existing theoretical frameworks explaining local policy adoption and public service provision do not pay attention to the roles of extreme events in local governments' policy choices. To fill those gaps, this dissertation explores the roles of natural disasters and political institutions on municipal governments' climate change policies. It does this by applying the theory of focusing events to local climate mitigation and adaptation actions. Based on the policy change framework, the political market model, and the institutional collective action frameworks, this dissertation develops and tests hypotheses to examine the effects of natural disasters and political institutions on municipalities' climate mitigation and adaptation policies. The dissertation uses 2010 National League of Cities (NLC) sustainability surveys and the 2010 International City/County Management Association (ICMA) sustainability survey to test the hypotheses. Analytical results show that floods and droughts influence local climate change policies and suggest that local governments …
Date: December 2017
Creator: Kim, Kyungwoo
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library
Air Force Organizational Principles (open access)

Air Force Organizational Principles

White paper about Airforce organizaional principles.
Date: June 15, 2005
Creator: United States. Department of Defense.
Object Type: Text
System: The UNT Digital Library
Capitol Hill Security: Recent Actions and Organizational Responsibilities (open access)

Capitol Hill Security: Recent Actions and Organizational Responsibilities

This report includes recent actions and organizational responsibilities related to Capitol Hill Security.
Date: February 3, 2004
Creator: Stathis, Stephen W.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Small Business Administration: Additional Steps Needed to Enhance Agency Preparedness for Future Disasters (open access)

Small Business Administration: Additional Steps Needed to Enhance Agency Preparedness for Future Disasters

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Small Business Administration (SBA) is the federal government's primary provider of disaster loans to businesses, homeowners, and renters. In a previous report (GAO- 06-860), GAO found that SBA's limited information systems planning contributed to delays in processing disaster loans for the victims of the 2005 Gulf Coast Hurricanes (Katrina, Rita, and Wilma). To provide further insight into how SBA's disaster preparedness could be enhanced, this second report, initiated under the Comptroller General's authority, assesses other logistical issues (e.g., staffing and space acquisition) that may have affected the efficiency of the agency's response to the hurricanes. Specifically, this report (1) assesses SBA's logistical planning efforts prior to the Gulf Coast hurricanes and current planning efforts and (2) discusses SBA's outreach services to hurricane victims. GAO reviewed disaster planning reports, interviewed SBA officials, and visited the Gulf Coast region."
Date: February 14, 2007
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Education-Related Regulatory Flexibilities, Waivers, and Federal Assistance in Response to Disasters and National Emergencies (open access)

Education-Related Regulatory Flexibilities, Waivers, and Federal Assistance in Response to Disasters and National Emergencies

This report is intended to inform Congress of existing statutory and regulatory provisions that may aid in responding to future disasters and national emergencies that may affect the provision of or access to education and highlight the actions of previous Congresses to provide additional recovery assistance. This report reflects the most recently available guidance, as of the date of publication, related to education-related disaster response and flexibilities. It will be updated should new or additional statutes be enacted or guidance be issued.
Date: September 8, 2017
Creator: Granovskiy, Boris & Hegji, Alexandra
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Education-Related Regulatory Flexibilities, Waivers, and Federal Assistance in Response to Disasters and National Emergencies (open access)

Education-Related Regulatory Flexibilities, Waivers, and Federal Assistance in Response to Disasters and National Emergencies

This report is intended to inform Congress of existing statutory and regulatory provisions that may aid in responding to future disasters and national emergencies that may affect the provision of or access to education and highlight the actions of previous Congresses to provide additional recovery assistance. This report reflects the most recently available guidance, as of the date of publication, related to education-related disaster response and flexibilities. It will be updated should new or additional statutes be enacted or guidance be issued.
Date: February 28, 2018
Creator: Granovskiy, Boris & Hegji, Alexandra
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Financial Market Preparedness: Improvements Made, but More Action Needed to Prepare for Wide-Scale Disasters (open access)

Financial Market Preparedness: Improvements Made, but More Action Needed to Prepare for Wide-Scale Disasters

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In February 2003 reports, GAO identified actions needed to better prepare critical financial market participants for wide-scale disasters, such as terrorist attacks. To determine progress made since then, GAO assessed (1) actions that critical securities market organizations took to improve their ability to prevent and recover from disruptions, (2) actions that financial market and telecommunications industry participants took to improve telecommunications resiliency, (3) financial regulators' efforts to ensure the resiliency of the financial markets; and (4) SEC's efforts to improve its program for overseeing operations risks at certain market participants."
Date: September 27, 2004
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Hurricane Katrina: Better Plans and Exercises Needed to Guide the Military's Response to Catastrophic Natural Disasters (open access)

Hurricane Katrina: Better Plans and Exercises Needed to Guide the Military's Response to Catastrophic Natural Disasters

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Hurricane Katrina was one of the largest natural disasters in U.S. history. Despite a large deployment of resources at all levels, many have regarded the federal response as inadequate. GAO has a body of ongoing work that covers the federal government's preparedness and response to hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Due to widespread congressional interest, this review was performed under the Comptroller General's authority. It examined (1) the extent to which pre-Katrina plans and training exercises reflected the military assistance that might be required during a catastrophic, domestic, natural disaster, (2) the military support provided in response to Katrina and factors that affected that response, and (3) the actions the military is taking to address lessons learned from Katrina and to prepare for the next catastrophe."
Date: May 15, 2006
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library