Resourcing Strategies for a Robust Response: A Case Study of the Environmental Agency of Abu Dhabi, UAE

Abstract

The Environment Agency of Abu Dhabi (EAD) is a competent authority founded 24 years ago to protect and preserve Abu Dhabi Emirate’s (the Emirate) environment. One of EAD’s roles is to address environmental incidents, which will lead to sustainable economic growth. The EAD disaster response mechanism has mainly targeted the main city of Abu Dhabi, being the federal capital of the United Arab Emirates (UAE). However, other areas (e.g., Al Dhafra and Al Ain regions) are also deemed main cities within the Emirate, where two EAD offices are located, both of which lack the skilled emergency resources required to respond to environmental incidents. Jasem Al Shehhi (Al Shehhi), the EAD’s Emergencies and Crises Manager, is responsible for establishing environmental response teams in both regions to reduce the response time taken to respond to incidents within those regions. However, since they lack competent environmental emergency responders in both regional offices, Al Shehhi is finding it difficult to resource the professional emergency workforce. Should Al Shehhi take advantage of adopting an internal resourcing approach utilizing the human capital available at EAD headquarters who possess expertise and knowledge in the emergency management field and relocating them to EAD regional offices? Or should he embrace an external resourcing strategy by hiring new experienced workers? Which resourcing strategy would contribute to achieving the EAD vision to reduce the emergency response time in both regions?