How the Social Identity Approach Can Improve Interoperability in Multi-Agency Emergency Response Teams

Abstract

Major incident inquiries and research highlight persistent problems in interoperability. Evidence points to failures in the ability of responders from different organisations to work effectively together, which hinders collaborative efforts. Recently, researchers have argued that one reason why collaboration problems exist when different teams are required to work together is due to multiple identities within the overarching team. Whilst this perspective has been applied to other teams operating in extreme conditions, such as military teams, the evidence in emergency response teams has been scarce. In this paper, we summarise results from a programme of research in which the Social Identity Approach was applied to interoperability in the emergency services to better understand the role of social identities in collaboration, and to develop recommendations for training and policy. The findings from this programme of research show that, (1) shared identity among responders from different services improves interoperability; (2) factors such as strategic communication, context-driven salience processes, and interaction-driven salience processes can facilitate this shared identity; (3) structural barriers, cultural differences, and historically strained relationships can impede shared identity development; and (4) there is a need for psychological factors to be incorporated into interoperability training, which can be delivered either online or in-person. Based on this programme of research, we make five recommendations to improve interoperability in multi-agency teams, focusing on integrating social identity processes into training, promoting leadership practices that foster shared identity, addressing structural barriers to shared identity, developing support systems for emotional and social needs, and fostering inter-team collaboration and communication.