Organizational Innovations in Crisis-Relevant Groups

Abstract

The following reports from the first of a two-phase study of change in crisis-relevant organizations brought about by the possibility or occurrence of civil disorder. Based upon some preliminary observations of selected urban police and fire departments, this first phase summarizes a middle range theoretical model developed in an effort to capture the process of change when charter is threatened in an indeterminant environment. The second phase (presently ongoing) empirically examines and refines the model. As stated, the model is based on studies of change in crisis-relevant organizations as adaptations to the problems posed by the possibility of civil unrest. Organizationally, we suggest that change can be conceptualized as an intelligence processing activity, i.e., bringing technical and political information to bear upon the definition and elaboration of problems and the execution of solutions to meet these problems. The concepts, assumptions, and basic and derived propositions are presented in sequential fashion. This will be followed by some brief discussion of the conceptual logic of the model.