Copyright © 2007 EDWARD DEVLIN, Crisis Management By: Dr. Sara Jeza Alotaibi 1 Chapter 1 THE CRISIS MANAGEMENT PLAN — WHAT IS IT?

Copyright © 2007EDWARD DEVLIN, Crisis Management

By:

Dr. Sara Jeza Alotaibi

www.drsara.co.uk 1

Chapter 1THE CRISIS

MANAGEMENTPLAN — WHAT IS IT?


Chapter 1 Outline

1.1 Introduction 1.2 What Is a Crisis? 1.3 Types of Crises1.4 How to Determine Which Crises Could

Strike Your Company1.5 Why Companies Need a Crisis

Management Plan1.6 Preventing a Crisis from Occurring


1.1 Introduction

Crisis management could be defined as ”special measures taken to solve problems caused by a crisis”.


1.1 Introduction

Crisis management planning is not a science; it is more of an art.

Science is ”knowledge covering general truths” or the operation of general laws, as obtained and tested through scientific methods.

Art is ”skill acquired by experience, study or observation.”

The Crisis Management Plan (CMP) is a documented plan detailing the actions the executives want to be taken when a crisis strikes the organization.


1.1 Introduction When a crisis has reached the acute stage, the

team will employ the following steps:

1. Take charge quickly.2. Determine the facts.3. Tell your story.4. Fix the problem.

Adhering to these steps will enable your organization to achieve control of the crisis. Remember that the key to successfully managing a crisis is to Be Prepared.


1.1.1 Plan Should Be Inclusive

Organizations are exposed to more than one type of crisis, so the plan must identify actions to be taken based on a number of different crisis scenarios.

The plan will identify these actions based on the specific ”type” of crisis.


1.1.2 Plan Viability

Unlike most other plans in the organization, the Crisis Management Plan needs the participation of executive management.

They should identify the people they feel would be in the best position to answer the key questions of What, When, Why, Where, Who, and How. This is the group consisting of the members of the Crisis Management Team (CMT).

The members of the CMT will not feel they own the plan because they were not involved in preparing it.


1.2 WHAT IS A CRISIS?

A crisis is defined in Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary as “a time of decision,” an unstable or crucial time whose outcome will make a decisive difference for better or worse.

Keep in mind that crisis does not only mean danger. It also means an opportunity.


1.3 TYPES OF CRISES

An organization can face a number of different types of crises.

The list below contains some of the incidents that can evolve into a crisis. It is by no means an all-inclusive list. There are other incidents that are not identified here, yet could be considered a crisis situation by a particular company.

Ex: Incidents that can escalate into an acute crisis include: A financial problem (cash problem, fraud, or fuzzy accounting).

Workplace violence (e.g., employees have been violently attacked while working on your organization’s property).

Acts of nature (e.g., earthquake, tornado, flood, etc.); accidents (e.g., fire, leak, lengthy power outages, etc.);


1. Market Shift: This type of crisis occurs when a manufacturer of a product finds that one of its products is no longer selling as anticipated.

2. Financial or Cash Problem: This type of crisis occurs when an organization experiences a cash problem, a difficulty meeting its obligations, or an accusation of fuzzy accounting.

3. Industrial Relations Problem: This type of crisis occurs when a manufacturer of a product finds that one of its products is being accused of injuring or killing customers.

4. Adverse International Event: This type of crisis occurs when an organization is disrupted by an international incident.

5. Workplace Violence: This type of crisis occurs when an organization experiences an assault on its employees or management personnel by another employee on the organization’s premises.

1.3 TYPES OF CRISES


1.3.2 Physical Damage Disasters: Examples

Other examples of incidents that can escalate into an acute-crisis include a physical disaster at one of your organization’s locations:

1. Acts of nature (e.g., earthquake, tornado, flood, etc.)

2. Accidents (a fire, leak, lengthy power outage, etc.)

3. Intentional acts (e.g., a bomb or arson).


As you can see, there are many different types of crises that can strike your organization.

Fact 1: You cannot prevent all crises from striking your organization. Therefore, you need to be prepared.

o Opinion 1: The best way of managing the crisis so that it does the least damage is to be prepared. A Crisis Management Plan is a resource that prepares an organization to manage a crisis successfully.

o Opinion 2: Just because an organization has developed a Crisis Management Plan, does not ensure that the executives will manage it successfully.


1.4 How to Determine Which Crises Could Strike Your Company

1. Part of the Crisis Management Planning process is to evaluate if a crisis could occur in an organization and the type of crisis with which the organization could be faced.

2. Then the organization needs to develop a strategy on how it will handle the crisis, or each of the crises if there is more than one.

3. Every organization should perform a risk analysis that will identify the most likely types of crises that could occur to their organization. This allows them to concentrate initially on building a plan to respond to the more probable crises.

4. Even after this risk evaluation step has been completed, many organizations have been faced with a crisis that was either not identified as having a high probability, or one or more that was not identified at all.


1.5 WHY COMPANIES NEED A CRISIS MANAGEMENT PLAN

When this question is raised to me, I use a comparison of the Crisis Management Plan with the organization’s Emergency Response Plan (ERP): the objective of the ERP is to safeguard employees.

The ERP tells employees what they should do when an emergency arises. What are employees expected to do during and immediately after an earthquake? A tornado? A flood? A hurricane? A bombing? A fire?

The ERP is documented. Copies of the plan are distributed to employees or posted in various locations throughout the facility. As part of the policy to keep the ERP current and ready for use, the alarms are tested frequently.

Executives must be prepared — because the news media is prepared. They are prepared to write (or speak) about your crisis. And they will continue to write and speak about the crisis until your organization gets it under control.

As soon as it moves to the acute stage, and the media knows about it, they are prepared to announce “breaking news.”


1.6 PREVENTING A CRISIS FROM OCCURRING

Preventing a crisis is the least costly and the simplest way to control a potential crisis.

Unfortunately, preventing crises or disasters from striking your organization is difficult.

As I said, preventing a crisis or disaster is difficult, if not impossible. Why?

– 1- One reason is that most organizations are threatened by a large number of crises.

– 2- Second, each type of crisis or disaster is difficult to prevent.


Any Questions?

16

S.Alotaibi @ 2014

www.drsara.co.uk

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Copyright © 2007 EDWARD DEVLIN, Crisis Management By: Dr. Sara Jeza Alotaibi 1 Chapter 1 THE CRISIS MANAGEMENT PLAN — WHAT IS IT?