Organization responsible: Tilburg University

People involved:

• Willem Muhren (PhD student)
• Bartel van de Walle (coordinator)

Project description:

Typically, at the early stages of a crisis, decision makers will be confronted with decisions characterized by irreversibility. In addition, communication and decision processes will go across a variety of organizations. The dynamic characteristics of this cross-boundary communication, decision and collaboration are the theme of this project.

The main objective of this research program has shifted from a focus on irreversible decision making to a focus on Sensemaking. During the course of our research we have realized that actors in crisis situations do not really face problems of decision making – in which they have all the options and have to decide on which option to choose – but rather they face problems of Sensemaking – getting a good picture of what is happening and finding out which options they have.

Our research focuses on special instances of crisis situations, namely the humanitarian response to large scale natural disasters. Initial qualitative research through interviews and observation has revealed that actors need IS support for Sensemaking in these situations.
Our theoretical research involves a literature study in two domains: Sensemaking and Group Support Systems. Sensemaking literature is mainly situated within the domain of social sciences, although recent applications in the Information Systems domain have emerged. Group Support Systems literature is dispersed widely.

We will resume our research program by conducting quantitative research, especially in the realm of United Nations Disaster Assessment and Coordination (UNDAC) teams in humanitarian crises, where their Sensemaking activities can possibly have an extremely significant impact on human life.

The main research questions are as follows:

• How do humanitarian actors make sense of their situation?
• Which communication and information patterns are important for humanitarian actors?
• What are the current state, shortcomings and potential benefits of information systems for Sensemaking support in humanitarian crises?
• How should an information system (group support system) be designed to support UNDAC teams in their Sensemaking activities?

We will conduct research using quantitative and qualitative methods in order to understand how information systems should be designed to support Sensemaking by humanitarian actors. We will identify real cases of Sensemaking in the context of humanitarian crises, through the contacts with ISCRAM and the United Nations. This will likely involve several international on-site visits and observation studies.

Publications: