The Emergent Organization: Improvisation and Order in Gulf Coast Disaster Relief

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Bibliographische Detailangaben
Beteiligte: Gardner, Robert Owen
In: Symbolic Interaction, 36, 2013, 3, S. 237-260
veröffentlicht:
Wiley
Medientyp: Artikel, E-Artikel

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Umfang: 237-260
ISSN: 0195-6086
1533-8665
DOI: 10.1002/symb.70
veröffentlicht in: Symbolic Interaction
Sprache: Englisch
Schlagwörter:
Kollektion: Wiley (CrossRef)
Inhaltsangabe

<jats:p>This article employs the interactionist concept of emergence to explore volunteer behavior in organizational settings after natural disasters. Through a several‐year ethnographic study of volunteer relief groups in the Post‐hurricane Gulf Coast, I examine how emergent social groups navigate situations where interactional norms, practices, and procedures are ambiguous, unclear, or in continual flux. Grassroots volunteer groups improvised organizational decision‐making and leadership structures to develop timely and appropriate responses to the post‐disaster environment. In particular, I focus on two distinct groups of volunteers whose response to these emergent interactional structures: <jats:italic>improvisers</jats:italic> embraced the ambiguity of group norms as an opportunity to innovate and express their creativity, whereas <jats:italic>ritualists</jats:italic> rejected the lack of structure and order characterized by the volunteer organizations.</jats:p>