Abstract
Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to investigate how training or exercises are assessed in local government emergency management organisations. Design/methodology/approach - An investigative review of the resources available to emergency managers surrounding the evaluation and monitoring of emergency management training and exercises was conducted. This was then compared with results from a questionnaire based survey of 48 local government organisations in Canada, USA, and New Zealand. A combination of closed and open ended questions was used, enabling qualitative and quantitative analysis.Findings - What each individual organisation does by way of training and the assessment of the training is unique to each organisation. Not only has the monitoring and evaluation aspect of training been overlooked in some organisations, and those that are using assessment methods are operating in blind faith that these methods are giving an accurate assessment of their training. It is largely unknown how effective the training efforts of local government organisations are.Research limitations/implications - Further study inspired by this paper will provide a clearer picture of evaluating and monitoring emergency management training programs.Originality/value - This study is the first investigation to our knowledge into the current use of diverse emergency management training for a range of local government emergency offices, and how this training impacts the functioning of the organisation’s emergency operations centre during a crisis.
Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to investigate how training or exercises are assessed in local government emergency management organisations. Design/methodology/approach - An investigative review of the resources available to emergency managers surrounding the evaluation and monitoring of emergency management training and exercises was conducted. This was then compared with results from a questionnaire based survey of 48 local government organisations in Canada, USA, and New Zealand. A combination of closed and open ended questions was used, enabling qualitative and quantitative analysis.Findings - What each individual organisation does by way of training and the assessment of the training is unique to each organisation. Not only has the monitoring and evaluation aspect of training been overlooked in some organisations, and those that are using assessment methods are operating in blind faith that these methods are giving an accurate assessment of their training. It is largely unknown how effective the training efforts of local government organisations are.Research limitations/implications - Further study inspired by this paper will provide a clearer picture of evaluating and monitoring emergency management training programs.Originality/value - This study is the first investigation to our knowledge into the current use of diverse emergency management training for a range of local government emergency offices, and how this training impacts the functioning of the organisation’s emergency operations centre during a crisis.