| The purpose of this study was to examine the cognitive and affective responses and sensemaking of the leaders who were called upon to what they believed to be a bioterrorist attack. On the first Tuesday of the 2002 Winter Olympics---five months after September 11, 2001---the Biological Agent Sentry Information System (BASIS) coupled with DNA polymerase technology rendered four consecutive positive indications for anthrax. Michael O. Leavitt (former Governor of Utah), Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson, and elite local, state, and federal leaders convened to successfully contain the crisis.; The theoretical foundations of this study were grounded in concepts of interacting complex technologies, crisis management theory, the epidemiology of anthrax, sensemaking, as well as social-psychological theories regarding how anxiety is manifested at personal, interpersonal, organizational, and interorganizational levels. Karl Weick (2001) was the primary theorist utilized in this study, as well as Normal Accident Theory (Perrow, 1999), and plans and protocols in the context of crisis environments (Clark & Perrow, 1996).; A case study design was used to portray the experiences of elite participants who played key roles decision-making roles during this crisis. Data were presented in two ways: by individual "portraits" and through a cross-case analysis of emergent themes. The final chapter presented the study's findings in context of the theoretical foundations of the study.; The study is significant due to the timeliness of terrorism issues that beset this nation as well as the notion that most crises are studied from the perspective of leadership and/or system failures. Descriptions of the individual meanings and collective decision-making processes in the context of a potential terrorist event provide an examination of structures that contribute to cognitive and affective resiliency or decline during crises. |
