Icehotel or Wonderland? Reimagining the United States’ National Incident Management System

Lisa Wier and Tony Mcaleavy
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Lisa Wier: Fire and Emergency Management Program, Oklahoma State University, USA
Tony Mcaleavy: Assistant Professor, Oklahoma State University, USA

Journal of Business Continuity & Emergency Planning, 2025, vol. 18, issue 3, 281-302

Abstract: Disasters and catastrophes are increasing in frequency, severity and complexity, meaning that effective multi-organisational response has never been more pertinent. The United States’ National Incident Management System (NIMS), which includes the on-scene Incident Command System (ICS) component, is mandated for use at all levels of government and is often framed, somewhat narrowly, as a mechanistic hierarchy or an organic network. The related literature is divergent: academic critiques are lamented for lacking real-world insights whereas practitioner accounts are, unfairly, dismissed as anecdotal, meaning that novel insights that inform future preparedness are needed. Accordingly, this conceptual study reimagines NIMS/ICS using pragmatism, metaphorical analysis — informed by Morgan’s seminal organisational metaphors, Pinto’s ‘Icehotel’, and McCabe’s ‘Wonderland’ metaphors — and symbolic logic. This paper demonstrates that NIMS/ICS is both mechanistic and organic, and much more at the same time. They engender much-needed novel and innovative perspectives which can be embedded within training and education activities to address the increasingly complex nature of disasters and catastrophes.

Keywords: National Incident Management System; Incident Command System; disaster and catastrophe; complexity; organisations; metaphor (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: M1 M10 M12 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:aza:jbcep0:y:2025:v:18:i:3:p:281-302

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