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Textbook Decision Making in Humanitarian Operations Strategy Behavior and Dynamics Sebastian Villa Ebook All Chapter PDF
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Edited by
Sebastián Villa · Gloria Urrea
Jaime Andrés Castañeda · Erik R. Larsen
Decision-making
in Humanitarian
Operations
Strategy, Behavior
and Dynamics
Decision-making in Humanitarian Operations
Sebastián Villa • Gloria Urrea
Jaime Andrés Castañeda • Erik R. Larsen
Editors
Decision-making in
Humanitarian
Operations
Strategy, Behavior and Dynamics
Editors
Sebastián Villa Gloria Urrea
School of Management Kelley School of Business
Universidad de los Andes Indiana University
Bogotá, Colombia Bloomington, USA
© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer International
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Preface
propose that scholars can understand those challenges better and find
potential ways to mitigate them by using other methodological
approaches, such as behavioral operations and simulation.
Behavioral operations emphasize the use of experiments to allow a better
understanding of the factors that affect performance in real operations.
Common results show that people are prone to decision-making biases and,
consequently, display poor performance, even when they have the opportu-
nity to identify and correct errors. People’s bounded rationality explains
biases, which are related to deficiencies in our mental models. Traditional
models in humanitarian operations assume unbounded rationality, while
behavioral models of bounded rationality propose heuristics, rules and
norms to explain and understand people’s behavior. Such understanding
can be used within a humanitarian setting to improve decision-making.
Research into humanitarian operations has increased during the last
10 years and is one of the hottest topics in the operations management
field. Similarly, from the behavioral perspective, there is a growing body of
literature trying to understand human behavior in operations. We provide
here an opportunity to study human behavior in the humanitarian con-
text. There has been limited research analyzing humanitarian operations
systematically, including their dynamics and behavioral aspects. This book
provides a novel and provocative approach by integrating the humanitar-
ian operations field with the typical strategic decisions and operational
biases faced by people when making their decisions in different contexts.
The book also proposes new avenues for future research that can become
building blocks for the creation of future publications in top academic
journals. Moreover, as courses in humanitarian logistics continue to cap-
ture the attention of many universities and humanitarian organizations
around the world, this book provides novel and up-to-date teaching mate-
rial for these kinds of introductory courses and training programs.
Part I: Strategy
The second part of the book introduces several behavioral aspects that
impact operational decision-making, extending the same line of thought
to explore behavioral biases in humanitarian operations. It introduces
behavioral operations and experiments by discussing single and multi-
agent operational problems, followed by additional applications such as
quantal theory and the framing effect.
The chapter on “Behavioral Experiments in Single-Agent Operational
Problems”, by Castañeda, introduces behavioral experiments to study
operational decision-making, followed by a discussion of decision-
making biases in single-agent problems and several implications for
humanitarian operations.
Preface ix
The third and final part of the book introduces system dynamics and
agent-based modeling and discusses how these modeling techniques can
be used to study dynamics and decision-making in humanitarian opera-
tions. The chapters in this part explain the system dynamics methodol-
ogy and apply it to collaboration and relief distribution. The book
finishes with an introduction to agent-based modeling and a final appli-
cation of both simulation methods in a context with heterogeneous
decision-makers.
The chapter “Modeling Disaster Operations Management Problems
with System Dynamics”, by Delgado-Álvarez and Olaya, discusses how
system dynamics can be used as a tool to study humanitarian operations
problems. The authors introduce the main concepts of the system dynam-
ics methodology and illustrate its application to humanitarian operations
through a model of water supply after a disaster.
x Preface
We would like to express our gratitude for the support we receive from
our sponsors and institutions. The research for this book was supported
by (i) the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNF), Doctoral Mobility
Fellowship program, grant numbers P1TIP1_171887 and
P1TIP1_178664, (ii) the School of Management at Universidad de los
Andes, FAPA Project number P17.100322.016, and (iii) Universidad del
Rosario, Small Grants research fund, grant number PR-N/A 064.
We thank all our contributors. Their commitment, and critical and
constructive views have significantly improved the quality of the book
and its potential impact on researchers and practitioners interested in the
fields of humanitarian logistics and behavioral operations.
Special mentions must go to Professor Rico Maggi of Università della
Svizzera italiana (USI), Professor Alfonso Pedraza-Martinez and the
Operations and Decision Technologies (ODT) department at Indiana
University, Elena Katok and her team at University of Texas at Dallas,
and to our colleagues at the Department of Management at Aarhus
University. Thank you all for your support and guidance. It has been
fantastic to have had the opportunity to collaborate with and learn from
all of you.
We also thank Tatiana García, and all our families and friends for giv-
ing us unconditional support and continuous encouragement. This proj-
ect would not have been possible without them.
xi
xii Acknowledgements
Sebastián Villa
Gloria Urrea
Jaime Andrés Castañeda
Erik R. Larsen
Contents
Index 313
Notes on Contributors
xvii
xviii Notes on Contributors
xxiii
xxiv List of Figures
xxv
Part I
Strategy
1
Logistics Preparedness and Response:
A Case of Strategic Change
Marianne Jahre and Martine Jahre
1.1 Introduction
At 08:50 on the morning of the 9th of October, 2005, an earthquake
measuring 7.6 on the Richter scale struck Pakistan. The affected area was
almost 30,000 square kilometers, nearly was the size of Belgium, with
tremors felt from Kabul to Delhi. In Pakistan, 73,000 people were killed,
and more than 120,000 people injured. Approximately 3.5 million peo-
ple were left homeless.
When a disaster occurs, it is up to the country’s government to decide
if international assistance is needed. In order for the International Red
Cross and Red Crescent Movement to step in, the country’s government
and its Red Cross / Red Crescent National Society (NS) must ask for
assistance. Following the 2005 earthquake, it was immediately clear that
M. Jahre (*)
BI Norwegian Business School, Oslo, Norway
M. Jahre
Department of Political Science, University of Copenhagen,
Copenhagen, Denmark
the Pakistan Red Crescent Society (PRCS) would require both regional
and international assistance. The situation was complicated because half
the affected population was in the disputed territory of Kashmir and the
other half in the North West Frontier Province. By their mandate, the
response had to be conducted by the International Committee of the Red
Cross (ICRC) and International Federation of Red Cross and Red
Crescent Societies (IFRC), respectively, for each of these areas.
PRCS staff responded immediately, providing rescue and first aid sup-
port. Within 24 hours an IFRC logistician was on the ground, later
joined by other specialists (water sanitation, health, relief, etc.) to form a
Field Assessment Coordination Team (FACT). The ICRC and the IFRC
jointly deployed a four-man logistics Emergency Response Unit (ERU)
from the Danish and British NS. The ERU team and the IFRC logistics
coordinator worked with PRCS members to set up and assess main sup-
ply routes into the country, the logistics infrastructure, and available sup-
pliers of transport and warehousing services. The findings of this
assessment were combined with assessments of initial relief needs, mainly
shelter and medical assistance. The logistics team then published a list
of initial needs (called a mobilization table) for NS and other donors to
pledge against. It was agreed at this point that one main supply route
would be set up for all entities, with IFRC responsible for all goods
received in Islamabad, and ICRC responsible for transport and storage to
a break-bulk point at Mansehra, from which goods moved to their respec-
tive operational areas.
With the logistics personnel in the Geneva Headquarters (GVA HQ)
managing pledges and procurement, the logistics team in Pakistan started
receiving, storing, and forwarding the items for distribution to the
affected population from day three after the event. This was done in coor-
dination with the other major players on the ground. At the same time,
IFRC mobilized a number of regional logisticians to complete the logis-
tics team and identified the number of support resources such as vehicles
and generators that would be required.
In spite of the immense effort by all involved, the operation had a
number of challenges. First, there were multiple rounds of distribution.
The procurement process for some items that were not pre-positioned,
and were not on the original purchase order, did not allow for a compete
Logistics Preparedness and Response: A Case of Strategic Change 5
This chapter discusses the strategic change project with the purpose of
providing a better understanding of the concept of logistics preparedness
6 M. Jahre and M. Jahre