Following typhoon Haiyan in November 2013, the government of the Philippines organized massive housing reconstruction programs that are currently facing complex implementation issues. The present s...

Challenges in Build-Back-Better Housing Reconstruction Programs for Coastal Disaster Management: Case of Tacloban City, Philippines

Purpose: Decision-making structures are commonly associated with the logistics challenges experienced during disaster operations. However, the alignment between the operational level and the decision-making structure is commonly overlooked. The purpose of this paper is to provide an analysis of the fit of both levels and its impact on performance. Design/methodology/approach: The research is developed around a case study in Mexico. Through a review of the disaster management policy in the country, interviews and secondary data, the paper provides an analysis of the current decision-making structure, the logistics activities undertaken by authorities and the impact of the alignment between both components on logistics performance. Findings: The analysis suggests that several of the challenges commonly associated with centralisation are actually rooted on its alignment with the operational level. The logistics performance is negatively affected by faulty assumptions, poorly planned procedures, inconsistent decision-making and poorly designed structures. The case showed the need to align the operational level with a centralised perspective to increase responsiveness, flexibility and the interaction between different organisations. Originality/value: This paper identifies the impact of the misalignment between the decision-making structure and the operational level on logistics performance, an area currently understudied. It moves from the current argument about the appropriate decision-making structure for disaster management to the identification of components to implement an efficient and effective disaster management system. Additionally, this paper provides recommendations for best practices in humanitarian logistics, which are applicable to Mexico and other countries using a centralised decision-making approach. © 2018, Emerald Publishing Limited.

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Decision-making and operations in disasters: challenges and opportunities

Participation has long been considered important for post-disaster recovery. Establishing what constitutes participation in post-disaster shelter projects, however, has remained elusive, and the links between different types of participation and shelter programme outcomes are not well understood. Furthermore, recent case studies suggest that misguided participation strategies may be to blame for failures. This study analysed 19 shelter projects implemented in the Philippines following Typhoon Haiyan in November 2013 to identify the forms of participation employed. Using fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis, it assessed how household participation in the planning, design, and construction phases of shelter reconstruction led to outcomes of household satisfaction and safe shelter design. Participation was operationalised via eight central project tasks, revealing that the involvement of households in the early planning stages of projects and in construction activities were important for satisfaction and design outcomes, whereas engagement during the design phase of projects had little impact on the selected outcomes.

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/disa.12405

Assessing the impact of household participation on satisfaction and safe design in humanitarian shelter projects.

Resettlement is identified as a fundamental stage in Post- Disaster Reconstruction (PDR) projects, which has proved to be crucial in determining successful or unsuccessful performance in terms of community culture. Currently, Sri Lankan PDR projects are in more severe condition due to various challenges faced by the government while providing the resettlements. Good coordination between organizations involved in resettlement and the affected communities is still hard to achieve. This problem has led to socially and culturally inappropriate resettlement outcomes, which are criticized by the affected communities. Therefore, this study intends to address the community cultural issues that were emerged in the post disaster resettlement projects in Sri Lanka. Since the community culture in Sri Lanka is different from other countries, this study should be carried out by following a proper research methodology that has the capability of addressing the research problem in detail. The investigation has been carried out by examination of the cultural issues of post-disaster resettlement projects, which have severely affected for the unsuccessful outcomes of PDR projects. Tsunami and landslide resettlement projects have been selected as the two case materials. The community cultural issues in each case have been discussed with the experiences expressed by the disaster affected community and the professionals involved in the resettlement projects. The findings disclosed in detail that majority of disaster affected communities were not satisfied with resettlements due to various cultural issues related to cultural factors like ethnicity, religion, social environment, natural environment, livelihood and lifestyle. Therefore, proper consideration of those cultural factors by resolving the identified cultural issues may direct the resettlement of Sri Lankan PDR projects to achieve successful outcomes in community cultural perspective.

Cultural issues of community resettlement in Post-Disaster Reconstruction projects in Sri Lanka

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Exploring how decision-making processes shape the TQM implementation in healthcare : comparative case studies in Iraqi hospitals

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to report the results of a study of a post‐flood reconstruction project conducted in 2003 in the village of Bousalem in Tunisia, a country that is poorly documented in reconstruction literature and that is known for its high levels of centralization in decision making. It examines the relations between project stakeholders, the structure of the team established to conduct the project (the Temporary Multi‐Organisation, TMO) and the most important concerns of end‐users. It particularly shows the drawbacks of neglecting a participatory approach and favouring instead the centralization of decision making at different levels of the TMO organisational structure.Design/methodology/approach – Users' satisfaction was assessed through technology transfer indicators, based on the qualitative analysis of several interviews with end‐users. The analysis of the organizational system was based on a qualitative analysis of the TMOs' formal and informal structuring.Findings – The resu...

Dhouha Bouraoui

Papers

Centralized decision making, users' participation and satisfaction in post‐disaster reconstruction: The case of Tunisia