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Establishing: Communication and Decisionmaking Protocols

Communications systems consist of both physical and informational components. However, communication becomes a policy consideration for procedural issues, such as whom to contact, when, and how it often is necessary for information to flow through predetermined channels and in a designated sequence, particularly when this information is vital to decisionmaking.

Chain of Command

MRC units are organized according to different management models. Some models are more hierarchical, egalitarian, and formal than others. Regardless of the model your MRC favors, the leadership function must be located in the organization. Individuals will need to know when and who to follow, particularly during volunteer utilization and community emergency. This leadership is referred to as the chain of command. A chain of command is a hierarchical structure with clear authority; information is passed up or down through the hierarchy.

Team members understand how authority and decisionmaking responsibilities flow through their system. In this way, all involved clearly understand his or her part in the overall process and how their part is affected by those with whom the individual will be working most closely.

The expected procedures for relaying information, decisionmaking, and giving/following orders should be outlined and included as a key component of training your MRC volunteers. When working with your response partners, identify which systems to use, make, and execute decisions. Your volunteers may have to be integrated into this system. The Incident Command System (ICS) is the accepted standard system for managing incidents so that multiple agencies can integrate smoothly into the response and the response can be scaled appropriately. Familiarity with ICS is highly recommended as a competency requirement for your unit’s volunteers. There are many ICS training resources available at little or no cost.

For more information on integrating your MRC unit into a response, see the MRC Technical Assistance Series publication Coordinating With Your Local Response Partners.

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Last Updated on 8/23/2006