Interactive
decision simulations (IDS) are designed to bridge the gap between
theory, intent and practical application. Interactive means the
participants will be working with one another and responding to
information and processes in the simulation. Decision means they
will exercise decision making within the context of the specific
scenario that the exercise is simulating. The IDS approach is
a simple system which allows for a clear appraisal of a plan or
procedure’s practicality and effectiveness while evaluating
the understating and ability of the persons responsible for employing
the plan.
Let us explain how
this works. First LECMgt analyzes a plan, practice or procedure.
This is used to develop a model of your particular plan or process.
Once a model has been developed a simulation can be designed to
test or evaluate that model. The simulation is used to manipulate
the model in some way to understand the real world process or
procedure.
Here is a simple example.
To test the readiness of a body of public officials in critical
decision making LECMgt designed a model that incorporated the
official’s checklist of emergency tasks. This checklist
represented the actions and procedures that each individual official
was expected to follow in an emergency. The model included a list
for each official and department with an hourly timetable that
limited the number of actions each official could be expected
to accomplish. Many of the tasks required assistance or cooperation
from other decision makers.
A simulation was designed
using a disaster scenario and requiring each official to declare
what actions they would take each hour and negotiate amongst themselves
to accomplish the tasks as a group. The simulation was designed
so that by cooperating and prioritizing the various list of actions
the entire group of tasks could be accomplished in a set period
of time. The officials were given a prescribed period of decision
time to select what actions should be taken. At the end of each
decision period the group had to announce what actions they had
taken. The simulation was further complicated with details of
a dynamic and dangerous critical incident (major hazardous materials
spill) that required constant re-evaluation of what response was
required.
The simulation was
run with the actual decision makers. The results revealed several
issues: the officials were unclear as to their responsibilities
during an emergency, this uncertainty prevented task prioritization
and slowed decision making, and finally they were unprepared to
accomplish their responsibilities as a decision making body during
a major disaster. At the end of the simulation the participants
had clearly tested their emergency action plan and evaluated their
ability to employ the plan.
The LECMgt interactive
decision simulation can help your agency or business to evaluate
your emergency preparedness planning or crisis management procedures
and test the ability of your team to use the plan. It can also
be designed to evaluate specific problems in developing new operational
plans. This system is much less expensive than conventional functional
exercises and can be repeated for a fraction of the effort. This
maybe the only way you can practically evaluate the true capabilities
of your planning and preparedness.
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