Decision-Making in Crisis Situations

This book presents concepts and methods for optimal training for decision making in crisis situations. After presenting some general concepts of decision-making during crisis situations, it presents various innovations for optimal training, such as serious games, scenario design, adapted animation of crisis exercises, observation and debriefing of exercises related to pedagogical objectives.

ProfessorSophie SAUVAGNARGUES, Teacher-researcher, Ecole des Mines d'Alès, France.

Introduction xi
Sophie SAUVAGNARGUES

Chapter 1. Concepts, Tools and Methods for Crisis Management Training 1
Sophie SAUVAGNARGUES, Dimitri LAPIERRE, Philippe LIMOUSIN, Noémie FRÉALLE, Florian TENA-CHOLLET, Pierre-Alain AYRAL, Aurélia BONY-DANDRIEUX and Jérôme TIXIER

1.1. The crisis unit at the heart of the process 1

1.2. Training for crisis units 6

1.3. Simulation of critical situations 10

1.4. The construction of crisis simulation exercises 14

1.5. The simulation and research platform of the Institute of Risk Sciences (IMT Mines Alès) 19

1.6. Conclusion 22

1.7. References 23

Chapter 2. Towards A Serious Game Within the Frame of Major Crisis Simulations for Decision-makers: How Do We Connect the DOTs? 35
Florian TENA-CHOLLET, Aurélia BONY-DANDRIEUX, and Jérôme TIXIER

2.1. Introduction 35

2.2. State of the art 38

2.2.1. Teaching strategy 38

2.2.2. Simulation strategy 39

2.2.3. Training environment 40

2.3. Methodology 41

2.3.1. Definition of Degrees of Training 41

2.3.2. Connecting the DOTs with a definition of the skills required 42

2.3.3. Skills activation by a crisis scenario 44

2.3.4. Scenario execution through a simulation 45

2.3.5. Simulation execution through a semi-virtual training environment (SVTE) 46

2.3.6. Towards serious gaming in a real infrastructure for crisis management training 49

2.4. Discussion 51

2.5. Conclusion 54

2.6. References 55

Chapter 3. Improving Crisis Exercises and Managers Skills through the Development of Scenario Design 59
Philippe LIMOUSIN, Aurélia BONY-DANDRIEUX, Jérôme TIXIER and Sophie SAUVAGNARGUES

3.1. What is a pedagogical scenario for a crisis exercise? 59

3.2. Why and for whom the script is crucial? 60

3.2.1. Stakes of scriptwriting for participants 61

3.2.2. Stakes of scriptwriting for animators 61

3.2.3. Stakes of scriptwriting for observers 62

3.3. How can we improve the pedagogical scripting of crisis exercises? 62

3.4. Methodology to develop a crisis exercise scenario 64

3.4.1. Prepare the scriptwriting 65

3.4.2. Better define the objectives to achieve 65

3.4.3. Develop the crisis scene and construct the initial spatio-temporal structure of the scenario 67

3.4.4. Insert learning levers to solicit training objectives: the obstacles 68

3.4.5. Insert stimuli to not solicit unselected objectives: support stimuli 69

3.4.6. Adjust the number of stimuli to the level and objectives of the participants 70

3.4.7. Recreate a crisis universe: crisis stimuli 70

3.4.8. Verify and validate the pedagogical scriptwriting 72

3.4.9. Prepare the scenario for animators and observers 72

3.5. Conclusion 73

3.6. References 74

Chapter 4. Elaboration of Tools to Facilitate the Scenario Development of Crisis Management Training 79
Noémie FRÉALLE, Florian TENA-CHOLLET and Sophie SAUVAGNARGUES

4.1. Introduction 79

4.2. State of the art 80

4.2.1. The limitations encountered 80

4.2.2. Analogy with interactive narratives 84

4.3. Method 87

4.3.1. Facilitation form 87

4.3.2. Management of facilitation data 90

4.4. Results 93

4.4.1. Facilitation form for the technical field team leader 93

4.4.2. The lockdown missions information flow diagram used in a simulation exercise at the communal level 96

4.5. Conclusion and perspectives 97

4.6. References 98

Chapter 5. How Can We Evaluate the Participants of a Crisis Management Training Exercise? 103
Dimitri LAPIERRE, Florian TENA-CHOLLET, Jérôme TIXIER, Aurélia BONY-DANDRIEUX and Karine WEISS

5.1. Introduction 103

5.2. Review 105

5.3. Methodology 108

5.4. Results 116

5.5. Conclusion 120

5.6. References 121

Chapter 6. Managing the Game Within Crisis Exercises 125
David GOUTX, Sophie SAUVAGNARGUES and Laurent MERMET

6.1. Introduction 125

6.1.1. The concept of Ludicity: a definition 126

6.2. Key components of Ludicity 128

6.2.1. The span of the game space 128

6.2.2. Magic circle and rabbit hole 130

6.2.3. Characters and persona 132

6.2.4. Game master 134

6.3. Manifestations of Ludicity 135

6.3.1. Engagement and pedagogy 135

6.3.2. Style of play 137

6.4. Managing Ludicity 139

6.4.1. Observing and detecting Ludicity 139

6.4.2. Using Ludicity to augment the simulation 141

6.5. Conclusions 143

6.5.1. Using Ludicity to mend the simulation 143

6.5.2. Crisis exercise or crisis simulacrum: does the exercise imitate life or does life imitate the exercise? 144

6.6. References 145

Chapter 7. Digital Training for Authorities: What is the Best Way to Communicate During a Crisis? 149
Clément LAVERDET, Karine WEISS, Aurélia BONY-DANDRIEUX, Jérôme TIXIER and Serge CAPAROS

7.1. What is a good crisis communication? 150

7.2. Information dissemination 153

7.3. Behavioral communication 154

7.4. Method 155

7.5. Results 156

7.5.1. Situation report 156

7.5.2. Editorial line: normal and crisis times 157

7.5.3. Quality of communication 160

7.5.4. Defining a crisis editorial line 163

7.5.5. Behavior, dissemination orders and crisis storytelling 164

7.6. Summary 167

7.7. Limits 167

7.8. Conclusion 168

7.9. References 169

Chapter 8. Some Perspectives Moving Forward 175
Sophie SAUVAGNARGUES, Dimitri LAPIERRE, Philippe LIMOUSIN, Noémie FRÉALLE, Florian TENA-CHOLLET, David GOUTX, Pierre-Alain AYRAL, Aurélia BONY-DANDRIEUX and Jérôme TIXIER

8.1. Introduction 175

8.2. Understanding what is played out in a crisis unit 177

8.2.1. From the observation and debriefing point of view 177

8.2.2. From the physiological and behavioral point of view 179

8.3. Developing new methods to improve learner immersion 180

8.3.1. Getting closer to reality, or modifying it 180

8.3.2. Encouraging learner engagement 181

8.3.3. Developing credible, pedagogical and interactive exercise scenarios 183

8.4. Implementing innovative complementary tools 183

8.5. Conclusion 185

8.6. References 186

List of Authors 189

Index 191