International Journal of Mass Emergencies and Disasters March 2005, Vol. 23, No. 1, pp. 77-84 Three Essential Strategies for Emergency Management Professionalization in the U. S. Arthur Oyola-Yemaiel Director, Emergency Management Program North Dakota State University P.O. Box 5075 Fargo, ND 58105-5075 (701) 231-5847 arthur.oyolayemaiel@ndsu.edu Jennifer Wilson Co-Director, Emergency Management Program North Dakota State University P.O. Box 5075 Fargo, ND 58105-5075 (701) 231-5846 jennifer.wilson@ndsu.edu Emergency management in the United States today is not yet a profession, but as a trade it has reached the necessary institutional maturity to advance toward a profession. Emergency management is professionalizing by pursuing the principal characteristics of a profession, namely autonomy or self-regulation and monopoly or exclusiveness (Oyola- Yemaiel and Wilson 2002, 2001, Wilson 2001). We have analyzed the current status of emergency management professionalization by investigating the efforts of various organizations at the U. S. national and state levels to organize the trade as a profession. In particular, we have examined the processes of structural formation, accreditation and certification. In essence, professional status relates directly to the institutional and individual acquisition of autonomy and monopoly to exercise the trade. We conclude that hierarchical structure, individual certification, and institutional accreditation are essential strategies for emergency management to develop as a profession. Professions have two primary characteristics. First, monopoly is the exclusive right to perform certain occupational tasks. Second, autonomy is 77
78 International Journal of Mass Emergencies and Disasters self-regulation of the performance of those tasks (Rothman 1987). General attributes of professions include the exclusive power to train new members and admit them to practice, the freedom to practice the occupation according to its own standards without excessive outside interference and the power to judge its own members performance (Collins 1979). Professionalization thus requires willful organizational efforts among an occupational group in order to achieve the attributes of monopoly and autonomy. The achievement of monopoly and autonomy define the occupation as having reached professional status (Oyola-Yemaiel and Wilson 2002, Wilson 2001). Emergency management today is not yet a profession, but emergency management as a trade has reached the necessary institutional maturity to advance toward a profession. In other words, it is possible for emergency management to embark on the professionalization process by pursuing the principal characteristics of a profession namely autonomy and monopoly. We have established that formal advancement toward an emergency management profession is occurring through two basic processes accreditation and certification (individual credentialing through education and/or training) (Oyola-Yemaiel and Wilson 2002, 2001, Wilson and Oyola-Yemaiel 2001, Wilson 2001). Emergency management accreditation and certification are the mechanisms currently employed to accomplish professional status (EMAP 2003, Green 1999). Accreditation and certification processes are independent of each other, have a different nature of manifestation, and apply to different levels of analysis. Certification and accreditation act as axes around which the field of emergency management is organizing toward a profession. Yet, there are additional venues that are or could be employed to advance a field toward a profession. For the purposes of this paper we will identify and address a third strategy that we call hierarchical structure. Hierarchical structure supports the rank organization of the field and is just as important as accreditation and certification processes in emergency management professionalization. Each must be present in order for emergency management to become a true profession. Professionalization Strategy #1: Hierarchical Structure The embodiment of a rank/position within a hierarchical structure is fundamental to a profession because it recognizes the authority within each rank/position. Dahrendorf (1959) refers to the power an individual attains by simply positioning him/herself within a differential in the vertical axis of structural social stratification. Positions in the relative order of societal structure however may be ranked by prestige, class, race, etc., which translates to power in relation to those who occupy higher niches relative to others. This allows for immediate, instant and intuitive recognition by the public, elected officials and members of
Oyola-Yemaiel and Wilson: Three Essential Strategies 79 other disciplines of that individual s ability to act. These actions have three characteristics: autonomy (self-reliance), monopoly (exclusivity) and authority (self-generation). These three characteristics are essential to operationalize tasks that must be performed in emergency situations (Wilson 2001). In other words, individuals in these hierarchical positions/ranks can utilize the entitlement that the profession has obtained. In short, when emergency managers are true professionals they will be able to exercise authority and knowledge exclusively and independently of external pressures to resolve emergencies. Due to the complexity and variety of tasks that are involved in emergency management, delineating what constitutes the field is challenging. According to Drabek and Hoetmer (1991), emergency management is the discipline and profession of applying science, technology, planning, and management to deal with extreme events that can injure or kill large numbers of people, do extensive damage to property, and disrupt community life. In addition, the Emergency Management Accreditation Program (2003) defines emergency management as the preparation for and coordination of all emergency functions to minimize injury and to repair damage resulting from disasters caused by fire, flood, storm, earthquake, or other natural causes, or enemy attack, sabotage, or other hostile action. Thus, the major problem in defining emergency management today is finding the boundaries in order to accommodate professional interests in every field from structural engineering to psychological counseling for disaster workers and victims (Waugh 2000). As the field becomes increasingly complex it needs a myriad of disciplines to accomplish its mission (Oyola-Yemaiel and Wilson 2002, 2001, Wilson 2001). Since September 11, 2001, and the creation of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) defining emergency management has become even more problematic. The rearrangement of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) within the DHS has diminished or reduced the legitimacy, credibility and authority of the emergency management trade and the individuals involved in it. For example, during the Clinton administration the FEMA director held a cabinet position (FEMA 1998). In contrast, under the current DHS structure the equivalent position has been demoted to one of five under secretaries (Under Secretary of Emergency Preparedness and Response) (DHS 2004). This demotion signifies a significant loss of power within the federal structure as additional levels must authorize policy making, project implementation and budget allocation. It is clear that both autonomy and monopoly have been reduced. There are current structural limitations in the emergency management agencies because there are no official jobs with such titles as Assistant Emergency Manager, Associate Emergency Managers, or Junior/Senior Emergency Manager, etc. For example, an Assistant Emergency Manager would be an entry-level position requiring no experience but with prerequisites of an emergency management degree and passage of state regulated
80 International Journal of Mass Emergencies and Disasters examination. An Associate Emergency Manager would be the next level up and would require the same prerequisites adding some experience in the field at the Assistant Emergency Manager level. This process would continue to reach the highest position attainable. Under this construct a true profession may be achieved by standardizing a bureaucratic emergency management structure with delineated rank and order. There is currently a loose emergency management structure in the U. S., but it must become formalized or embedded in the overall social structure by obtaining legitimacy, credibility, and authority of expertise to establish a true profession. Thus, there should be a standard emergency management structure at the federal, state, and local level. This statutory structure will support emergency management functions, which are shaped by performance standards currently specified by the Emergency Management Accreditation Program (EMAP) as regulated by the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) standard 1600 (EMAP 2003). Professionalization Strategy #2: Accreditation Established professions monitor and control their professional standing by setting standards that shape individual performance and govern advancement within the profession (Baker 1995). Professionalization is the principal means by which an occupation can be made more effective, more efficient, and more accountable to the public. Setting standards is a process of imposing controls over the trade to encourage acceptable behavior and prevent unacceptable performance. Eraut (1994) claims that all professions should have public statements about what their qualified members are competent to do and what people can reasonably expect from them. Moreover, the ability of a profession to identify with a set of standards enhances its credibility. One method of setting standards for performance is through accreditation (Oyola-Yemaiel and Wilson 2001, Wilson 2001). In general, accreditation is a process by which an organization approves an institution or a program as meeting certain predetermined criteria that are accepted as adequate tests of the level of quality of service provided (Houle 1980). In other words, accreditation is a rigorous, comprehensive evaluation process to assess an institution or program against a set of standards (Baker 1995). Periodic re-accreditation is required to ensure that standards are maintained and that the attention of the members of the institution or program is frequently drawn to a direct consideration of the ends and means of the work they do. Accreditation permits the labor trade organization to set principles to regulate the profession from within. In this way, practitioners actions and decisions are governed by universally applicable criteria. Standards are delineated that determine how all aspects of
Oyola-Yemaiel and Wilson: Three Essential Strategies 81 practice in the field are to be administered and conducted regardless of location. Thus, professional status is based on nationally applicable standards. In workplace accreditation, the aim is to ensure quality of performance through audits of both practices and accomplishments (Houle 1980). Accredited professional agencies must provide evidence that the work is performed to the highest level of proficiency so that they can be held accountable for what they do or what happens as a result of what they do (Houle 1980). Accreditation can be viewed as both a process and an outcome (Baker 1995). As a process, accreditation directs an in-depth evaluation of the labor trade agency on the basis of standards. As an outcome, accreditation can be viewed as the ultimate step toward professionalization. Once an agency conducts the evaluation, makes the changes necessary to meet the standards, and survives scrutiny, its peers perceive it as a professional organization. Thus, for many accreditation represents a culmination of a growing professionalism (Deakin 1988). Emergency management accreditation applies to emergency management programs or jurisdictions. Accreditation refers to emergency management organizational tasks and involves setting standards for performance of emergency management functions at a minimum level of proficiency (Oyola-Yemaiel and Wilson 2002, 2001, Wilson 2001). The concept of accreditation is based on the ideal that all states and localities will comply with minimum standards of performance in all phases of emergency management. This concept of compliance is an anchor as accreditation for emergency management programs is generated and supported by the Council of State Governments in partnership with FEMA/DHS (EMAP 2003). Accreditation is intended to provide assurance on the federal level that an accredited state, county or city is prepared for, can respond to, has the potential to recover from, and is mitigating against the impact of natural and technological hazards. Accreditation is creating higher standards of performance moving toward practices that require more esoteric knowledge and a highly skilled labor force. Although accreditation operates at the macro level, its effects reach individual practitioners who must perform to the standards set for the organization. Professionalization Strategy #3: Certification Another fundamental process in the pursuit of an emergency management profession that complements accreditation is certification of individual practitioners in the field, that is, the credentialing of individual emergency managers (Wilson and Oyola-Yemaiel 2001, Wilson 2001). Professionalization of emergency management requires that emergency managers should become the integrators of the theoretical and practical knowledge of the field. As stated previously, the nature of professionalization or achievement of monopoly and autonomy indicates that prac-
82 International Journal of Mass Emergencies and Disasters titioners have acquired a level of expertise that legitimates their actions. Legitimation at the societal level results in the exclusion of others from performing similar activities (Larson 1978). This legitimation is reached by convincing the public as well as the decision-makers that because of the nature of their intellectual and practical skills the job has to be done exclusively by those who have proven their ability. The process of certification thus includes a variety of forms of on-the-job training as well as credentialing by higher education institutions (Houle 1980). Education and training become an important set of tools to upgrade the theoretical conceptualization of the occupation (Oyola-Yemaiel and Wilson 2002, 2001, Wilson and Oyola-Yemaiel 2001, Wilson 2001). Moving toward an academic or theoretically based body of knowledge inaccessible to the rest of society is accomplished through exclusive instruction. The development of certification standards ensures that all certified practitioners would have mastered a common set of competencies. Education and training thus closes the loop so that individual members of the occupation can assert their domain and thus become autonomous self-regulators of their trade. Certification originally was devised for the purpose of establishing the capability of individuals to practice in a profession (Green 1999, Norcini and Shea 1993). Today, certification is also applied to determine the degree of competence of the individual not only at the entry level but also throughout his/her career. Through certification, individual practitioners goals and idiosyncrasies are synchronized to help promote group status and social mobility. In this way, the individual emergency manager acquires respectability from the outside world. Thus, the aim of collective efforts of occupation members to increase the social status of the occupation is in part individualistic. Although the goal and the means to achieve the goal are collective, it is through the upgrading of an occupation with attempts to control the individual members that this involves that prestige is to be attached to the professional roles, and by extension, to their occupants (Larson 1978). In the aggregate then recognition and respectability magnifies itself when political pressures are applied to steer policies that help advance the practice. In practical terms the power to lobby for legislated monopoly is dependent upon respectability acquired by a recognized capacity to handle the trade. This is directly related to education and training as applied to performance standards. In other words, the strength of the voice of the emergency management community is directly related to the public recognition and legitimation of their expertise. It is clear then that although certification applies to individual emergency managers, the implications of certifying emergency managers bear upon the parent organizations and institutions. In short, credentialing through certification upgrades the institutional domain helping to monopolize and self-regulate the emergency management trade.
Oyola-Yemaiel and Wilson: Three Essential Strategies 83 Conclusion Ideally a professional emergency manager is an individual who has attained a baccalaureate or graduate degree in emergency management, has passed a state regulated emergency management association exam, and occupies a position entitled emergency manager. The latter implies different statutory job-related positions within the field. Like other established professions, career service emergency managers should occupy ranked positions and have responsibilities associated with the rank. Emergency management hierarchical structure must be statutorily established and should be homologous for all agencies at the national, state, and local levels of government. Advanced education and specific knowledge are only one element needed to advance toward a profession but are certainly not enough for an occupation to become such. The same is true for standards of performance. Closure is reached when accreditation and certification are interrelated so that performance of individual practitioners meets or surpasses the minimum standards for the practice. The occupations members are granted legitimate and exclusive rights to exercise their expertise as well as the autonomy to self regulate. Establishment of a structural, hierarchical order through the creation of specific ranks for emergency management functions is the third principle element to advance toward a profession. Emergency management hierarchical structure will guarantee advancement of practitioners within the profession allowing for legitimacy of position at the individual level to exercise monopoly and autonomy. This presupposes a concerted strategy of all the participant organizations to coordinate their efforts, compliment and support each other s actions, and achieve their individual strategic goals in a timely manner so that an interlocking structure is constructed permitting them ultimately to attain autonomy and monopoly. Elements sine qua non a profession would not exist. Thus, it is clear that structure, accreditation and certification, although in many ways different processes that operate somewhat independently from one another, are three fundamental strategies for emergency managers to gain hegemonic control of the occupation. References Baker, Stephen A. 1995. Effects of Law Enforcement Accreditation: Officer Selection, Promotion, and Education. Westport, CT: Praeger. Collins, Randall. 1979. The Credential Society: An Historical Sociology of Education and Stratification. New York, NY: Academic Press. Dahrendorf, Ralf. 1959. Class and Class Conflict in Industrial Society. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
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