Disaster in Haiti: The Role of I-O Psychologists and SIOP

By: Ted Hayes, Personnel research Psychologist, U.S. Office of Personnel Management (nothing in this essay is meant to reflect the views of the U.S. government or OPM).

The situation in Haiti is undeniably catastrophic. Port-au-Prince, Haiti’s capital, was leveled by a huge earthquake January 12, 2010.  Its population was estimated at about 3 million before the quake; there is no way of knowing the final toll, but current mortality estimates are well over 45,000. Haiti’s government has ceased to function. Its infrastructure is devastated, thus confounding relief agencies that have tried to set up distribution centers. 

Traditional I-O skill sets are seemingly useless: no one needs tests validated, there is no management structure, there is no one to survey, and there are no classes to teach.

Other disciplines and associations are not overflowing with ideas either. As of this writing (January 15), only the American Medical Association has a specific Haiti-related item on its website.  The American Psychological Association has some generic materials about managing one’s own stress at times such as these, as well as a useful webpage regarding general tips for how psychologists can help others cope with disaster-related trauma. That’s it.

There have been efforts in the past to make I-O’s aware of disaster response. For example, SIOP had a Hurricane Katrina response program in place (http://www.siop.org/KARE/default.aspx); also, a SIOP member and I-O in China blogged about his work regardng the response to the earthquakes in China in 2008 (I-O’s in the Disaster Zone: SIOP Members Use I-O Psychology to Vet Disaster Relief Volunteers).  Unfortunately, and for a variety of reasons, neither initiative outlasted the impact and memory of its initial disaster.

There will always be disasters, both natural and man-made. There will always be a need to rebuild organizations following these disasters.  Even Haiti, one of the poorest countries in the world, will eventually rebuild. What is the role if any of I-O psychology in this process?

From an individual perspective, there may be nothing for individual I-O psychologists to “do” now other than donate money to the charity of one’s choice.  Moving forward, I propose that I-O psychologists use this opportunity to build up expertise in disaster recovery among individuals and organizations.  As Ryan and Ford (in press) note, I-O psychology is at a “tipping point” in terms of its own identity.  Proactively building up competence in the psychology of organizational rebuilding is consistent with the broader goals of SIOP. It is consistent with how our APA cousins in clinical and consulting psychology have reacted to crises following hurricanes in the U.S. (Kilmer, Gil-Rivas, Tedeschi, & Calhoun, 2010). It is consistent with the needs of people and organizations that work and live through disasters, and it is part of the growth of the field both from a U.S and global perspective. 

There may be I-O psychologists who have an animus toward Haiti in particular, or have some ideological qualms with charity in general.  To them I say: go out and spend money on Haitian cigars and maybe a DVD of “Live and Let Die,” as at least the taxes you pay will help the U.S. and Haitian economies.

From an organizational perspective, I propose that SIOP develop a training program, a statement, something that addresses preparation for and rebuilding from natural disasters.  As a society whose existence revolves around studying the behavior of individuals in organizations as well as the behavior of organizational units, and given that there will be another disaster somewhere sometime, it seems like an ideal time for SIOP, as an association, to prepare its members to be competent in this arena in a manner consistent with our professional identity.

There are many specialties in the behavioral and organizational sciences, each more or less worthy of its own focus.  We will always have large-scale disasters.  There are both practice and theory roles for behavioral scientists in these disasters.  What’s yours? What’s SIOP’s?

References:

Kilmer, R.P., Gil-Rivas, V., Tedeschi, R.G., & Calhoun, L.G. (Eds.) (2010).  Helping families and communities recover from disaster: Lessons learned from hurricane Katrina and its aftermath.  Washington, D.C.: American Psychological Association.

Ryan, A.M., & Ford, J.K. (In press).  Organizational psychology and the tipping point of professional identity.  Industrial and Organizational Psychology: Perspectives on Science and Practice.

Comments

[AJ]

Great blog. I image with the economic development I/O psychologist will be in high demand for Haiti. In fact, I am working with some projects now.