Affiliations: [a] TiasNimbas Business School and Tilburg School of
Politics and Public Administration, Tilburg University, The Netherlands | [b] TiasNimbas Business School, Public and Non-Profit
Department, Tilburg University and B&A; Consulting, The Netherlands | [c] Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Abstract: In this article we have tried to establish how the nature of
professional routines affects the ICT supported standardization and scripting
of work performed by operators in Dutch colocated emergency response control
rooms. In this type of multidisciplinary emergency control room three
professions – police, fire rescue services and ambulance services –
share the same technical facilities and are housed under the same roof. In the control rooms under study, efforts to create a more
integrated control room are accompanied by a pursuit to further script and
standardize operator intake and dispatch routines with the help of ICTs. Findings suggest that important impediments to the ICT supported
scripting and standardization of operator intake and dispatch routines are not
of a Human-Machine Interface (HMI) nature, but can mainly be attributed to
differences in the nature of each of the three disciplines' professional
routines themselves. These impediments are primarily related to ostensive as
well as performative aspects of distinct sets of routines in the colocated
control room.
Keywords: Emergency response control room, colocated control room, emergency response services, ICTs, professional routines, inter-organizational collaboration
