Crisis Management।।

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. The study of crisis management originated with large-scale industrial and environmental disasters in the 1980s. It is considered to be the most important process in public relations.

🔹Three elements are common to a crisis: 

➖a threat to the organization

➖the element of surprise

➖a short decision time

🔹INTRODUCTION🔹

Crisis management is a situation-based management system that includes clear roles and responsibilities and process related organisational requirements company-wide. The response shall include action in the following areas: Crisis prevention, crisis assessment, crisis handling and crisis termination. 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.

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. Crisis management consists of different aspects including:

➖Methods used to respond to both the reality and perception of crisis.

➖Establishing metrics to define what scenarios constitute a crisis and should consequently trigger the necessary response mechanisms.

➖Communication that occurs within the response phase of emergency-management scenarios.

Crisis-management methods of a business or an organization are called a crisis-management plan. A British Standard BS11200:2014 provides a useful foundation for understanding terminology and frameworks relating to crisis, in this document the focus is on the corporate exposure to risks in particular to the black swan events that result in significant strategic threats to organisations. Currently there is work on-going to develop an International standard.

Crisis management is occasionally referred to as incident management, although several industry specialists such as Peter Power argue that the term "crisis management" is more accurate.

A crises mindset requires the ability to think of the worst-case scenario while simultaneously suggesting numerous solutions. Trial and error is an accepted discipline, as the first line of defense might not work. It is necessary to maintain a list of contingency plans and to be always on alert. Organizations and individuals should always be prepared with a rapid response plan to emergencies which would require analysis, drills and exercises.

The credibility and reputation of organizations is heavily influenced by the perception of their responses during crisis situations. The organization and communication involved in responding to a crisis in a timely fashion makes for a challenge in businesses. There must be open and consistent communication throughout the hierarchy to contribute to a successful crisis-communication process.

The related terms emergency management and business continuity management focus respectively on the prompt but short lived "first aid" type of response (e.g. putting the fire out) and the longer-term recovery and restoration phases (e.g. moving operations to another site). Crisis is also a facet of risk management, although it is probably untrue to say that crisis management represents a failure of risk management, since it will never be possible to totally mitigate the chances of catastrophes' occurring.

🔹Types of crisis

➖Natural disaster

➖Technological crisis

➖Confrontation

➖Malevolence

➖Organizational Misdeeds

➖Workplace Violence

➖Rumours

➖Terrorist attacks/man-made disasters

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