A) GENERAL
1.Crisis management is the process by which an organization deals with a disruptive and unexpected event that threatens to harm the organization or its stakeholders.
2.Three elements are common to a crisis:
(2.1) a threat to the organization.
(2.2) the element of surprise.
(2.3) a short decision time
B.INTRODUCTION
1.Crisis management is a situation-based management system that includes clear roles and responsibilities and process related organizational requirements company-wide.
2.The response shall include action in the following areas: Crisis prevention, crisis assessment, crisis handling and crisis termination.
3.The aim of crisis management is to be well prepared for crisis, ensure a rapid and adequate response to the crisis, maintaining clear lines of reporting and communication in the event of crisis and agreeing rules for crisis termination.
4.The techniques of crisis management include a number of consequent steps from the understanding of the influence of the crisis on the corporation to preventing, alleviating, and overcoming the different types of crisis.
5.Crisis management consists of different aspects including:
(5.1) Methods used to respond to both the reality and perception of crisis.
(5.2) Establishing metrics to define what scenarios constitute a crisis and should consequently trigger the necessary response mechanisms.
(5.3) Communication that occurs within the response phase of emergency-management scenarios.
6.Crisis-management methods of a business or an organization are called a crisis-management plan.
7.Crisis management is occasionally referred to as incident management.
C)TYPES OF CRISIS
1.During the crisis management process, it is important to identify types of crises in that different crises necessitate the use of different crisis management strategies.
2.Potential crises are enormous, such as:
(2.1) Natural disaster
(2.2) Technological crisis.
(2.3) Confrontation.
(2.4) Malevolence.
(2.5) Organizational Misdeeds.
(2.6) Workplace Violence
(2.7) Rumour
(2.8) Terrorist attacks/man-made disasters
(2.9) Disease etc.
3.PREVENTION AND PROTECTION
3.1) Types of prevention and protection
(3.1.1) Fundamentals of occupational safety.
(3.1.2) Personal protective equipment (PPE) at the workplace.
(3.1.3) Hazard perception.
(3.1.4) Prevention of violence
(3.1.5) Compliance
(3.1.6) Economic crime
4.Natural Disaster related crises, typically natural disasters, are such environmental phenomenon as earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, floods, landslides, tsunamis, storms and droughts that threaten life, property, and the environmental itself.
5.Technological Crisis are caused by human application of science and technology. Technological accidents inevitably occur when technology becomes complex and coupled and something goes wrong in the system as a whole (Technological breakdowns). Some technological crises occur when human error causes disruptions (Human breakdowns.
6.Confrontation crisis occur when discontented individuals and/or groups fight businesses, government, and various interest groups to win acceptance of their demands and expectations. The common type of confrontation crisis is boycotts, and other types are picketing, sit-ins, ultimatums to those in authority, blockade or occupation of buildings, and resisting or disobeying police.
7.Crisis of Malevolence
(7.1) An organization faces a crisis of malevolence when opponents or miscreant individuals use criminal means or other extreme tactics for the purpose of expressing hostility or anger toward, or seeking gain from, a company, country, or economic system, perhaps with the aim of destabilizing or destroying it.
(7.2) Sample crisis include product tampering, kidnapping, malicious rumors, terrorism, cyber crime and espionage.
8.Crisis of Organizational Misdeeds - Crises occur when management takes actions it knows will harm or place stakeholders at risk for harm without adequate precautions.
9.Crises of skewed management values are caused when managers favor short-term economic gain and neglect broader social values and stakeholders other than investors. This state of lopsided values is rooted in the classical business creed that focuses on the interests of stockholders and tends to disregard the interests of its other stakeholders such as customers, employees, and the community
10.Crisis of deception occur when management conceals or misrepresents information about itself and its products in its dealing with consumers and others.
11.Crisis of management misconduct - Some crises are caused not only by skewed values and deception but deliberate amorality and illegality.
12.Workplace violence - Crises occur when an employee or former employee commits violence against other employees on organizational grounds.
13. Rumour - False information about an organization or its products creates crises hurting the organization's reputation. Sample is linking the organization to radical groups or stories that their products are contaminated.
14.Crisis Leadership - is a pioneer in crisis management, defines organizational crises as categorized as either acute crises or chronic crises.
(14.1) Sudden Crisis are circumstances that occur without warning and beyond an institution's control. Consequently, sudden crises are most often situations for which the institution and its leadership are not blamed.
(14.2) Smoldering Crises differ from sudden crises in that they begin as minor internal issues that, due to manager's negligence, develop to crisis status. These are situations when leaders are blamed for the crisis and its subsequent effect on the institution in question to improve the structure and operations of an organization.
(14.2.1) Proposed Remedy Implementation.
(14.2.2) Preparation and prevention
(14.2.3) Containment and damage control
(14.2.4) Business recovery
(14.2.5) Learning
15.Crisis Management Model - Successfully managing a crisis requires an understanding of how to handle a crisis – beginning with before they occur. There are 3 phases in any Crisis Management as shown below
(15.1) The diagnosis of the impending trouble or the danger signals.
(15.2) Choosing appropriate Turnaround Strategy.
(15.3) Implementation of the change process and its monitoring
16.Crisis Management Planning - No corporation looks forward to facing a situation that causes a significant disruption to their business, especially one that stimulates extensive media coverage. Public scrutiny can result in a negative financial, political, legal and government impact. Crisis management planning deals with providing the best response to a crisis
17.Contingency Planning - Preparing contingency plans in advance, as part of a crisis-management plan, is the first step to ensuring an organization is appropriately prepared for a crisis. Crisis-management teams can rehearse a crisis plan by developing a simulated scenario to use as a drill. The plan should clearly stipulate that the only people to speak to publicly about the crisis are the designated persons, such as the company spokesperson or crisis team members.
18.Business Continuity Planning - When a crisis will undoubtedly cause a significant disruption to an organization, a business continuity plan can help minimize the disruption.
19.Crisis Leadership Improvement: Five leadership competencies which facilitate organizational restructuring during and after a crisis.
(19.1) Building an environment of trust.
(19.2) Reforming the organization's mindset.
(19.3) Identifying obvious and obscure vulnerabilities of the organization.
(19.4) Making wise and rapid decisions as well as taking courageous action.
(19.5) Learning from crisis to effect change.
20.Public Communication in Crisis Management - Social media has accelerated the speed that information about a crisis can spread. The viral effect of social networks such as Twitter means that stakeholders can break news faster than traditional media - making managing a crisis harder.
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