Many people have a concept of what emergency management is, typically shaped by their own experiences or aspirations, but it is so much more. I think a part of the seeming identity crisis emergency management suffers as well as the issues expressed by some that emergency management isn’t a recognized profession stem from that the fact that so much of emergency management is actually a unified effort of an amalgamation of other professions. So let’s consider what emergency management actually is. The list below is not exhaustive and is largely formed around common professions, major activities, and areas of academic study.

• Grants management
• Accounting
• Procurement
• Logistics
• Equipment Maintenance
• GIS
• Information Technology
• Planning
• Document Development and Publishing
• Marketing
• Communications
• Public and Media Relations
• Community Outreach
• Volunteer Management
• Instructional Design and Delivery
• Data Analysis
• Engineering
• Project Management
• Policy and Political Science
• Business/Public Administration
• Organizational Management and Leadership
• Consulting and SME
• Academics and Research
• Physical Sciences (Geology, Meteorology, Earth Science, etc.)
• Social Sciences (Sociology, Anthropology, etc.)

These are all distinct functions and major activities/professions I’ve seen in emergency managers and emergency management agencies. Many emergency managers do a lot of these, while some focus on a few or even just one. Some of these activities may be outsourced to other agencies or to the private sector. Yet any of the items on the list taken out of the context of emergency management are then no longer (at least directly) emergency management. This may be a permanent state for someone holding one of these positions, or perhaps they are brought into the realm of emergency management on more of an ad-hoc or temporary basis. On the other hand, the application of these activities within emergency management often requires them to have knowledge of the areas of emergency management in which they are being applied.

Defining what emergency management is and does without the context of these other professions/activities is difficult. There is a big part of emergency management that is less defined and tangible, filling in the gaps and connective tissue between and among all of these; harnessing and focusing the collective capabilities toward distinct efforts across preparedness and the five mission areas, by way of a highly complex effort which we encapsulate with one simple word – coordination. So oddly enough, emergency management is all of these, yet it is also something else.

I think the recognition of this will go a long way for us, helping to progress the profession while also being less rigid in our approach to pigeon-hole what an emergency manager is.

© 2021 Timothy Riecker, CEDP

Emergency Preparedness Solutions, LLC®