About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline
LOG IN
LOG IN

5 J. Int'l Humanitarian Action 1 (2020)

handle is hein.journals/jinthuma5 and id is 1 raw text is: Knox Clarke and Campbell Journal of International Humanitarian Action https://doi.org/1 0.1186/s41018-020-00068-2 (2020) 5:2 Journal of International Humanitarian Action Decision-making at the sharp end: a survey of literature related to decision-making in humanitarian contexts Paul Knox Clarke'' and Leah Campbell' Introduction Decision-making lies at the core of any humanitarian re- sponse. An effective response requires a series of deci- sions: on whether and where to intervene, on the scale and nature of the intervention, and on how to best allo- cate resources, coordinate with other agencies, and maintain the safety and security of affected people and of humanitarian staff. Given the importance of decision-making, it is sobering to observe how critical evaluations are of the ability of hu- manitarian leaders to make decisions. Decision-making is often slow (Adams et al. 2015; Agulhas Applied Know- ledge 2015; Murray et al. 2015; Quasmi 2015; Sanderson et al. 2015; UNICEF 2015; Darcy 2016a); disassociated *Correspondence: pknolOCarke@gma l.com Centre for Deveopment and Emergency Practice, Oxford Brookes Gipsy Lane Campus, Oxford OX3 OBP, UK Full list of author information is available at the end of the article C Springer Open versity, from strategy (Hayles 2010); opaque (Murray et al. 2015; Ambroso et al. 2016); and unaccountable (Agulhas Applied Knowledge 2015; Clarke et al. 2015; Darcy 2016b). Overall, humanitarian decision-making has been characterised as 'informal, emergent, ad-hoc and reactive' (Comes 2016: 2, see also Maxwell et al. 2013). Despite these reported failures, relatively little aca- demic attention has been given to decision-making in humanitarian response. Much of the work that does exist points to gaps in understanding: lack of knowledge about what decisions are made, by whom and how (Hayles 2010; Maxwell et al. 2013; Heyse 2013). Beyond this, the majority of academic attention has tended to focus on a small number of specific areas, particularly supply chain and logistics (e.g. Gutjahr and Nolz 2010; Yu and Lai 2011; Villa 2019) and the quality and use of information in decisions (e.g. Bradt 2009; Darcy et al. © The Author(s). 2020 Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Abstract In a humanitarian response, leaders are often tasked with making large numbers of decisions, many of which have significant consequences, in situations of urgency and uncertainty. These conditions have an impact on the decision-maker (causing stress, for example) and subsequently on how decisions get made. Evaluations of humanitarian action suggest that decision-making is an area of weakness in many operations. There are examples of important decisions being missed and of decision-making processes that are slow and ad hoc. As part of a research process to address these challenges, this article considers literature from the humanitarian and emergency management sectors that relates to decision-making. It outlines what the literature tells us about the nature of the decisions that leaders at the country level are taking during humanitarian operations, and the circumstances under which these decisions are taken. It then considers the potential application of two different types of decision-making process in these contexts: rational/analytical decision-making and naturalistic decision- making. The article concludes with broad hypotheses that can be drawn from the literature and with the recommendation that these be further tested by academics with an interest in the topic. Keywords: Decision-making, Leadership, Complexity, Uncertainty

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Short-term subscription options include 24 hours, 48 hours, or 1 week to HeinOnline.

Purchase Access

Contact us for annual subscription options:

Contact Us

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

Log In

profiles profiles most