Rethinking on Emergency Command Decision-making Mechanism

Rethinking on Emergency Command Decision-making Mechanism

Emergency command and decision-making is the core of emergency management, which is related to the direction and success of emergency disposal. At present, China's emergency command and decision-making mechanism has been gradually established. However, there are still some problems, such as the mechanism sometimes fails, the authority of instructions is weak, and the scientific nature of instructions is difficult to guarantee. The main reasons lie in four aspects: the level of command and decision-making system is not smooth, the authority of command and decision-making institutions is unclear, the organization members are unprofessional, and information collection is passive. This can be optimized from three aspects: rationalizing the organization system of emergency command and decision-making, promoting the standardized construction of emergency command and decision-making mechanism, and improving the support system of emergency command and decision-making mechanism. Command refers to ordering and scheduling. Decision-making refers to deciding strategies or methods. The core of command is decision. Herbert simon, a famous American psychologist, once said: "Decision-making is the core of management, which is composed of a series of decisions, and management is decision-making."

[1] Therefore, emergency command and decision-making is the core of emergency management. Based on the characteristics of emergencies, compared with the conventional command and decision-making mechanism, the emergency command and decision-making mechanism requires leaders to have higher unity and authority, the distribution of leadership levels is flatter, and the instruction formation procedure is more streamlined to ensure the efficiency of emergency command and decision-making and win time for emergency disposal and rescue. Broadly speaking, the emergency command and decision-making mechanism is not unique to the emergency treatment and rescue stage (in-process treatment), but runs through all aspects of emergency management, including prevention in advance and recovery afterwards (starting the plan, lifting the early warning, etc.). ). The emergency command and decision-making mechanism referred to in this paper is a narrow sense, which refers to the process that emergency management agencies and their leaders organize, lead and comprehensively coordinate all kinds of emergency activities at lower levels with the help of certain scientific methods and means after an emergency occurs, and after comparing and weighing a number of feasible schemes, they choose or combine to formulate the best scheme and put it into practice [2].

In recent years, the organizational system of China's emergency command and decision-making has been clearly defined. In accordance with the requirements of the People's Republic of China (PRC) Emergency Response Law and other laws and regulations, governments at all levels have established various emergency command institutions, stipulating their membership, daily offices and corresponding powers and responsibilities, which embodies the requirements of "unified leadership, comprehensive coordination, classified management, graded responsibility and territorial management" and provides organizational guarantee for the construction of emergency command and decision-making mechanism. Generally speaking, emergency command and decision-making institutions are divided into two categories according to their functions: one is comprehensive command and decision-making institutions, which are in the position of chief commander, principle leader and rear commander; The second is the on-site command and decision-making body, which is responsible for the on-site command and disposal of the incident, belonging to the specific headquarters and the front headquarters. Although the Emergency Response Law of People's Republic of China (PRC) stipulates the functions of different command organizations, in the actual operation process, the determination of command and decision-making organizations and their relationship are still unclear and need to be further improved.

First, the problems existing in China's emergency command and decision-making mechanism "The more common or fatal the crisis, the more effective it needs to be dealt with. Decisions made in a crisis are very important, and most of them are irreversible "[3]. It can be seen that command and decision-making is related to the direction of emergency action and has a very important position. Without a well-functioning command and decision-making mechanism, command and decision-making will be like water without resources and a tree without roots. At present, China's emergency command and decision-making mechanism has the following problems.

(a) The operation of institutions sometimes fails.

The emergency command and decision-making organization is the center of issuing orders, and its efficient operation is directly related to the success or failure of emergency disposal and rescue. At present, it is difficult for emergency command and decision-making institutions to give full play to their expected role due to factors such as lax organizational system, inadequate emergency drills, untimely and incomplete information reports. For example, in April of 2065438+2004, benzene in tap water in Lanzhou exceeded the standard, and emergency headquarters was established more than 20 hours after the incident. In addition, because emergency response and rescue work involves many departments and units (such as internal administrative organs, local governments, military, social organizations, volunteers and other parties), the relationship is criss-crossed, and coordination is difficult, which often appears chaotic, especially in large-scale and complex emergencies. For example, in the Wenchuan earthquake in May 2008, tens of thousands of people in Qingping Township, Mianzhu City were trapped and in urgent need of rescue and transfer. The information was reported to Mianzhu City Command on the evening of May 12. However, due to the inability of the headquarters to mobilize troops, it only took 49 hours to wait for the rescue team, which led many buried people to miss valuable rescue time.

(2) The authority of the instruction is weak. China's normal administrative management system is "regular", while the administrative emergency management system is "compartmentalized". The emergency command and decision-making institutions are included in the normal administrative management institutions, which makes the comprehensive emergency command and decision-making institutions lack independence. In addition, due to the large number of departments involved in the on-site disposal and rescue of emergencies, the forces of all parties are different, so how to coordinate and command all parties has become the key and difficult problem faced by emergency command and decision-making institutions. Especially for the emergency command organization authorized temporarily, before the relevant leaders arrive at the scene, all departments often act in their own way and have different policies and decrees [4]. Repetition, prevarication, disorder and confusion in the work are exposed completely, which greatly dispels the authority of the instructions of the emergency command and decision-making institutions and reduces the quality and efficiency of emergency rescue and disposal. In fact, in the event of large-scale emergencies, the actual development of emergency work is often difficult to be maintained by the emergency management system, and ultimately it can only be completed by a highly unified party and government leadership system.

(3) The scientificity of instructions is difficult to ensure the variability of emergencies, which requires greater flexibility in emergency command and decision-making, but the correctness of instructions largely depends on the personal qualities of leaders. Leaders are calm, rational and decisive, and have strong safety awareness, professional awareness and rule of law literacy, so the correctness of command and decision-making is often more guaranteed; On the contrary, it is easy to go wrong. For example, in the "July 23rd" extraordinarily serious railway traffic accident on the 201kloc-0/yongwen line, Wang Feng, former executive deputy director of Shanghai Railway Bureau and member of the Standing Committee of the Party Committee, simply prepared to bury the damaged locomotive and scattered parts in the pit according to the previous disposal method, but did not know that this would destroy the site, hinder the investigation and analysis of the accident and cause bad social impact. It must be admitted that it is difficult to ensure its professionalism, scientificity and standardization by placing too much responsibility for dealing with complex and diverse emergencies within administrative organs and leading individuals. To this end, China has gradually introduced the expert consultation and consultation system to change the command and decision-making mode based on experience or "centralized". However, at present, the participation of experts, professional technical institutions, unofficial consulting institutions and other organizations mostly stays in the emergency preparation or monitoring stage, and the participation in command and decision-making in the emergency response and rescue stage is very limited, so it is difficult to effectively ensure the authority of experts' participation, and there is no rigid participation system.

Second, the reasons for restricting the benign operation of the emergency command and decision-making mechanism

(1) The level of command and decision system is not smooth. First of all, the establishment of command and decision-making institutions often conflicts with the daily management system of administrative organs. In China, the command and decision-making institutions mostly belong to the centralized emergency command and decision-making mode centered on emergency committees and special headquarters. For example, according to Beijing's overall emergency plan, general emergencies (level IV) and major emergencies in non-key areas (level III) are decided by the emergency committee of the incident area or relevant departments; Major emergencies in key areas (Grade III) are decided by the relevant special headquarters and relevant municipal departments; Major emergencies (Grade II) and particularly major emergencies (Grade I) shall be handled by the relevant special headquarters and relevant departments of the city, and the Municipal Emergency Committee shall be responsible for the unified command of emergency handling. In addition, you can also set up a field headquarters as needed. This centralized command and decision-making model should have a strong authority, but because the traditional administrative management in China is a "compartmentalized" management model, the dispersion between departments and the concentration of emergency command system, the vertical management structure and the flat command structure inevitably contradict each other, and it is difficult to switch freely in actual operation, which greatly reduces the authority and efficiency of emergency command and decision [5]. Secondly, the comprehensive emergency command and decision-making body lacks independence. Comprehensive emergency command and decision-making institutions are subordinate to administrative organs. For example, the emergency office is located in the government office (room), and the special headquarters is located in the relevant functional departments. This arrangement easily leads to the overlapping and confusion of daily administrative management and emergency command and decision-making functions. In addition, as far as the objectives and functions of the first-level people's government are concerned, its professional level is really difficult to cope with the complicated emergencies at present, which is also inconsistent with the development trend of the current world scientific emergency command and decision-making model.

Finally, some temporary emergency command and decision-making institutions lack continuity. Temporary emergency command and decision-making institutions are set up temporarily according to the needs of the site, and dissolved after the incident is resolved, which has the advantages of low operating cost, flexibility and convenience, but there are also problems such as people-oriented, pragmatic tendency and weak awareness of rules. The absence of the subject of legal responsibility is not conducive to the accumulation of experience in emergency response, which deviates from the direction of emergency rule of law in the long run [6].

(b) The functions and powers of the command and decision-making bodies are unclear.

First of all, the decision-making subject of emergency command is vague and difficult to define clearly. The main body of emergency command and decision-making is based on the severity of emergencies. Although the emergency level is stipulated in the plan, the words "general", "significant" and "particularly significant" are uncertain legal concepts after all, and it is often difficult to distinguish them accurately in practice. In addition, expressions such as "setting up on-site headquarters according to needs" also leave a large room for discretion, which is directly related to the distribution and granting of command and decision-making power, and to the level and efficiency of command and decision-making institutions. Secondly, the division of powers between the emergency Committee and the special command is vague. For example, according to the provisions of the Beijing Overall Emergency Plan for Emergencies, the Municipal Emergency Committee set up a special emergency headquarters for emergencies, and the special emergency headquarters specifically directed the emergency handling of particularly serious and major emergencies in this city, and directed, coordinated or assisted the emergency committee or relevant departments in the incident area to carry out emergency handling of related major and general emergencies according to law. When the on-site headquarters was established, the office of the relevant special headquarters of the city was incorporated into it. In the case of vague standards and large discretionary space, the distribution of emergency command and decision-making power will be more arbitrary, and sometimes even the phenomenon of multi-head command will appear, which will affect the efficiency of command and decision-making. Finally, emergency offices and other special offices may have problems such as repeated management. The special headquarters office is usually set up under the relevant functional departments of the city and is the permanent office of the special headquarters. Its daily work and policies are consistent with those of various departments, but coordination with the emergency office is relatively lacking. In the daily management of emergency office and special headquarters office, it is inevitable that there is duplication of administration, which not only wastes resources, but also easily leads to the phenomenon of multi-head policy.

(iii) unprofessional members of command and decision-making bodies. By combing the existing relevant emergency laws, it can be seen that the local emergency committee is the leading body of local emergency management, with its office located in the general office of the government, and its members include the principal responsible persons of the government at the corresponding level, the responsible persons of relevant departments and the relevant responsible persons of local troops. The Emergency Committee has a Secretary-General, a Deputy Secretary-General and a Deputy Secretary-General. These positions are usually held concurrently by the relevant leaders of the Party Committee and the government. Therefore, the emergency command and decision-making body is essentially an administrative organ. Objectively speaking, the emergency knowledge structure and professional level of administrative personnel are certainly not as good as those of professional institutions, experts and scholars, so it is difficult to master all kinds of emergency knowledge quickly and skillfully. At present, the relevant laws and plans give experts the right to participate mainly in policy formulation or risk assessment before emergencies, and the mandatory provisions for their participation in emergency command and decision-making are weak, or hard conditions are set for experts to participate. For example, the "Beijing Overall Emergency Plan for Emergencies" stipulates that the expert advisory group can only provide scientific and effective decision-making consultation plans for relevant emergency response work when particularly serious and major emergencies occur; Or the provisions are abstract and difficult to implement, such as the overall emergency plan for emergencies in Hubei Province. If necessary, the expert group will participate in the on-site emergency response of public emergencies. For the first case, the emergency plan sets strict access standards, that is, only when the emergency is extremely serious and the event level reaches Grade I or II can the conditions for experts to participate be met; This provision also excludes the possibility of experts participating in level III or IV emergencies. Judging from the frequency and degree of emergencies, the probability of I-II emergencies in reality is much lower than that of III-IV, so from the perspective of probability theory, the frequency of experts participating in emergency command and decision-making is very low, and the space for participation is very small. In the second case, it seems more difficult to define the standard of "necessity". This monotonous and closed personnel will greatly weaken the scientific, rational and democratic nature of emergency instructions.

(d) Intelligence gathering is relatively passive. In the article "Strategic Issues in China's Revolutionary War", Comrade Mao Zedong once expounded the command and decision-making: the deployment of commanders is correct.

From the right decision, the right decision

From the right judgment, the right judgment

From the necessary and thoughtful investigation and coherent thinking of various investigation materials [7]. Anthony Quinton, former director of the Counter-Terrorism Office in the State Council, once said that without accurate and up-to-date information, it can neither be used as the basis for crisis decision-making nor take necessary countermeasures [8]. It can be seen that the formation and issuance of emergency decision-making instructions is based on comprehensive and accurate information collection and scientific research on the information already mastered. It can be said that the accuracy of information is directly proportional to the correctness of instructions. However, in the emergency response and rescue stage, the fragmented and incomplete information is in sharp contrast with the requirements of accurate and efficient emergency command and decision-making. This asymmetry increases the difficulty of emergency command and decision-making, resulting in the information dilemma of decision-makers making instructions according to information. At present, China's emergency command and decision-making institutions obtain information.

Sources mainly rely on subordinate reports, narrow and passive. In case of omission, concealment, late reporting and false reporting, the command and decision-making will be greatly affected.

Third, ways to improve the emergency command and decision-making mechanism.

(1) straighten out the organizational system of emergency command and decision-making. Dealing with emergencies involves many departments and needs to integrate and link resources such as personnel, funds, equipment, materials and technology. The failure of organization members to reach an agreement on crisis handling methods and opinions in time is an important reason for the delay or even failure of emergency management. It can be seen that emergency command and decision-making is a systematic project of multi-resource integration. In such a huge and complex system, we must establish an efficient, authoritative and smooth institutionalized command and decision-making system, which is unified and coordinated to control the complex situation. This is entirely based on the natural advantages of institutionalized organizations, because institutionalized organizations are more suitable for making resolutions than non-institutionalized organizations [9]. First, scientifically set the level, scope and mode of emergency command and decision-making institutions. Judging from the characteristics of emergencies and the experience of various countries, the overly lengthy and complicated emergency command and decision-making system is not only inconvenient to judge and determine the specific emergency response of the executive body, but also time-consuming to transmit instructions due to too many levels; On the other hand, if there are too few levels, it will be complicated and weaken the command efficiency. In this regard, the emergency command and decision-making system should be simplified as much as possible, and its level should be 2-3. In the scope of command (the number of subordinate departments and personnel under the jurisdiction of the commander), it is necessary to determine a reasonable command span, so that the number of commanded objects is consistent with the level and ability of the commander. In addition, from the experience of developed countries, the emergency command and decision-making system is mainly centralized (vertical) and decentralized (network). In terms of characteristics, the two models have their own advantages and disadvantages. The former is more conducive to overall control, while the latter is more conducive to coordination and connection. In this regard, we should balance and unify these two modes, concentrate on command at the level, and ensure the authority of instructions; Decentralize command professionally to ensure the scientificity of instructions [2] 207. Second, it is necessary to give the comprehensive command and decision-making department relative independence. At present, local emergency committees and special headquarters offices are located in the government and its relevant departments, and the heads of emergency committees and special headquarters are concurrently held by the government and relevant departments. However, at present, there are two main problems in this system: first, the level of emergency command and decision-making institutions is often parallel to various government functional departments and lacks authority; Second, the emergency command and decision-making institutions lack independent legal status, and rely on the administrative organs responsible for daily administrative affairs in terms of personnel, staffing and funds. Practice has proved that this will easily lead to the weakening of emergency command and decision-making institutions such as emergency committees and special headquarters, thus exposing problems such as inadequate peacetime and wartime transformation, lack of command authority, and multiple emergency rescue command and decision-making strategies. In this regard, the author suggests that the emergency command and decision-making system can be reorganized and adjusted. There are two specific ways: first, the standing body of the Emergency Committee "Emergency Office" is listed separately, and it is no longer located under the government office (room), so that it has independent institutional establishment and legal status, and it is higher than all government functional departments in administrative rank, or it can refer to the practice of "light power" in ancient history according to law to ensure the high authority of command and decision-making; The second is to break the current pattern of placing the permanent organization of the special headquarters under various functional departments and put it under the emergency office instead. This can not only avoid the duplication of previous work and waste of resources, but also facilitate the implementation of one-way command decision-making and make the command decision-making system more clear and concise [12]. After the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the state set up emergency management departments at the central and local levels. Based on this, it should give the emergency command organization a certain degree of independence, make it a normal command department, and overcome the disadvantages that temporary command and decision-making institutions are not conducive to experience accumulation and deviate from the rule of law at will. Third, it is necessary to clarify the functions and powers of the command and decision-making bodies, and further supplement and refine the criteria for dividing the types and levels of emergencies. At present, the level of emergency command and decision-making institutions in China is mainly set according to the degree of harm and the scope of influence of emergencies. Therefore, setting a clear and specific division standard can effectively avoid the delay in the establishment of emergency headquarters due to vague judgment when emergencies occur. On the basis of the above-mentioned emergency command and decision-making system, we should reorganize the relationship between command and decision-making institutions at all levels, clarify the main units, cooperative units and their jurisdiction areas that deal with specific incidents, standardize the power subordination and the scope of responsibilities of relevant personnel, and form a command and decision-making system with clear relationship, reasonable division of labor and smooth operation.

(2) Promoting the institutionalization of emergency command and decision-making mechanism is the basis and basis of rescue and disposal actions, and deviation of direction will inevitably lead to deviation of actions. The variability of emergencies determines that the relevant administrative emergency laws and regulations will inevitably lag behind and be blank, thus showing the flexibility and flexibility of emergency command and decision. However, in the case that the current law is "unfounded in law", the commanding decision-makers often face a dilemma: if the instructions are not issued in time, emergencies will be difficult to contain; However, if the instruction is issued in time, it is easy to be labeled as "ultra vires", "non-programmed" and "illegal", and the instruction made may not be optimal or even wrong under the tight time. Because of the nature of individuals seeking advantages and avoiding disadvantages, commanding decision makers may hesitate to shirk their responsibilities in the decision-making process. In order to overcome the arbitrariness of current command and decision-making, it is necessary to establish a standardized and stylized command and decision-making process, which can not only provide operational steps for work, but also provide a legal framework for emergency command and decision-making. First, through authorization legislation, the emergency command and decision-making with vague or even blank contents in relevant administrative emergency laws and regulations are authorized, giving emergency command and decision-making institutions broad discretion to avoid the legality of legal decision-making by entities being questioned. Of course, the operation of emergency command and decision-making power should be restricted by the principle of proportionality, so as to avoid the new risk that the expansion of power will lead to the abuse of power and the legitimacy will be questioned. The second is to try to formulate a local "Emergency Command Decision Guide" and try it out internally. The content of the guide should focus on the division of functions and workflow, such as specifying when to hold a press conference. When the time is ripe, the guide can be upgraded to local regulations. Third, establish an ex post facto ratification system and an exemption system to eliminate the worries of commanders and decision makers, so that they can give priority to how to control and eliminate the negative impact of emergencies when making decisions, and no longer become timid because they are worried about personal responsibility. What the commanding decision-makers should do at the moment of the incident is rational command and decisive decision-making. As for whether the decision is correct and legal, it needs to be ratified afterwards. The filing system put forward by relevant national laws can be regarded as the supervision and restriction of the legislature on the emergency command and decision-making power of administrative organs, but the current administrative emergency regulations need to further refine the time limit, method and review power of filing [12]. At the same time, the law should exempt the command and decision-making organs and their personnel from their responsibilities to the maximum extent. If there is an error in the instruction issued, as long as the duty of reasonable care and prudence is fulfilled, the accountability can be reduced as appropriate.

(3) Improve the support system of emergency command and decision-making mechanism. First, establish and improve the information support platform for emergency command and decision. Stephen breyer, a famous American scholar of administrative law, believes that information is the lifeblood or blood of control policy [13]. The information the commander has is the realistic basis for giving orders. At present, the channel for superiors to obtain information is mainly the reports of subordinates. Once the subordinates fail to report, conceal or report late, the timeliness and correctness of command and decision-making will be greatly reduced. Therefore, the information that commands decision-making

Source channels should be simplified and diversified. The development of internet intelligent technology provides convenience for information acquisition and transmission, and greatly improves the rapidity and accuracy of emergency command and decision-making mechanism based on information. At the same time, eliminate the phenomenon of "information island" [14] and "information island", break the information monopoly boundary between departments, and establish the information communication and sharing mechanism among regions, departments, departments, industries and military regions. The second is to establish and improve the intelligent support platform for emergency command and decision. In the process of emergency rescue and disposal, the command and decision-making institutions should actively attract experts and scholars, and it should be mandatory for industry experts to participate in decision-making when dealing with professional problems. Its functions are as follows: first, it can provide scientific ideas, suggestions and opinions for commanders from a professional perspective, and avoid decision-making mistakes caused by narrow thinking; Second, as a representative of the public, it can supervise the whole process of command and decision-making, and prevent commanders from losing their power constraints because of broad authorization and moving towards rule by men because of blindness and randomness. Third, improve the command and decision-making ability of commanders. Emergency command and decision-making has high requirements for commanders, who must make key decisions under the pressure of time and high uncertainty [15], especially in the case that the actual situation and emergency plan can not be effectively docked, the confidence, flexibility and emergency response ability of commanders will directly determine the success or failure of emergency response [16]. This requires emergency commanders to have the ability to accurately apply policies and regulations, make decisive decisions, organize and coordinate, and be flexible. Therefore, it is also a very important subject to cultivate and improve leaders' command and decision-making ability. Specifically, it includes: first, improve the awareness of the rule of law of command and decision makers. With the improvement of the administrative emergency legal system, commanders and decision makers should change their previous working methods and act in strict accordance with the law. Even if the law is not explained in detail and there is room for discretion, they should uphold the spirit of the rule of law, scientific norms and the principle of proportionality and find the best balance between rights and efficiency. The second is to strengthen the sense of responsibility of commanding decision makers. In the face of emergencies, the words and deeds of the chief executive reflect the emergency management level of the first-level government and the practice of serving the people. Therefore, we must attach importance to and strengthen the responsibility and style construction of commanding decision makers. In the face of crisis, we should not shrink from cold feet and perfunctory things, but should be brave enough to take responsibility and face contradictions and challenges. The third is to improve the professional quality of command and decision makers. Command and decision-making institutions are the center of emergency response, and command and decision-makers are the core of this center. In order to effectively improve the professional quality of commanding decision-makers, we can organize regular training drills and check and accept the learning results, so that they can be familiar with the work flow, authority and responsibilities, improve their overall planning ability and comprehensive coordination ability, and be calm, coordinated, orderly, calmly commanding and decisive in the face of emergencies. Courage, ability and responsibility are the basic qualities of an excellent command and decision maker. It should be emphasized that the above-mentioned plan to improve the command and decision-making mechanism must be clearly defined in the form of law through the distribution of rights and obligations of all parties, so as to ensure that the optimization of the command and decision-making mechanism can obtain sufficient stability.

Source: decision-making and information