Suchergebnisse

Catastrophes present leaders with complex and significant challenges that they have not previously experienced nor have had time to deeply analyse. Leaders must collaborate and demonstrate agility. To develop such leadership skills, it is useful to reflect on the experiences of people who have faced catastrophe before. This paper examines the leadership of Major General Alan Stretton AO, CBE in the aftermath of Cyclone Tracy in 1974. Alan Stretton's personal accounts and archival interviews with other leaders were reviewed as source material. These showed that he demonstrated decisiveness and courage and 'over-responded' if necessary. He worked collaboratively with community leaders and acted in a confident, empathetic and reassuring manner. He led with agility and with a focus on an overarching plan. He prioritised communication with the community and negotiated political challenges. Lessons from this experience can help to guide leaders who may be called on to lead during times of future disaster events.

This article elaborates on Wellman and Leighton's discussion of the neighborhood's role as a community and attempts to integrate it with the concept of the "community of limited liability." Although in basic agreement with Wellman and Leighton's conclusions, the article argues that their definition of community focuses too narrowly on interpersonal relations, ignoring other important community functions performed at least partially in the neighborhood. The article describes the degree to which people participate in the community functions of their neighborhood and the extent to which Wellman and Leighton's conclusions are substantiated. The data used indicate a differentiated and specialized pattern of neighborhood participation in which there are at least four independent dimensions. These findings support the "community of limited liability" concept, which says that the neighborhood continues to play a varyingly important role in peoples lives, depending on their degree of "local status" in the community.