brief presentation on crisis management

1. Crisis Management

2. Definition
• A crisis is defined as an event that by its nature
or its consequences:
• constitutes a threat to vital national interests
or to the essential needs of the organization,
its stakeholders or public;
• prompts rapid decision making;
• demands coordination between different
departments and organisms

3. Key features of a Crisis
• Low probability
• High impact
• Uncertain/ambiguous causes and
effects

4. Common features of a crisis
• The situation materialises unexpectedly (strong element of
surprise)
• Decisions are required urgently
• Time is short
• Specific threats are identified
• Urgent demands for information are received
• There is sense of loss of control
• Pressures build over time
• Routine business become increasingly difficult
• Demands are made to identify someone to blame
• Outsiders take an unaccustomed interest
• Reputation suffers
• Communications are increasingly difficult to manage

5. Types of Crises
• Natural disasters
• Malevolence
• Technical breakdowns
• Human breakdowns
• Challenges
• Mega-damage
• Organizational misdeeds
• Workplace violence
• Rumors

6. Crisis Management
• prevents a crisis from becoming a catastrophe.
• Crisis management can be defined as a system or
methodology of solving crisis situations. We can be
sure that the actual crisis situation will differ from our
expectation.
A crisis is like a virus, the effects can be sudden, insidious,
infectious and extremely dangerous…

7. Problem characterizationProblem characterization
Crisis management is a very complex and not easily
predictable process. The problem can be explicated in
three claims:
• Nobody knows when a crisis event will happen.
• The scenario of a crisis/emergency event can be
expected and prepared for but the real situation will
change it.
• Our knowledge of a crisis/emergency event solution
is developed step-by-step and hour-by-hour and its
”current version” has to be utilized continuously in
the crisis event solution.

8. Purpose of crisis management:
• Prevention
• Survival
• Successful outcomes

9. Three criteria of success
• Has organisational capacity been restored?
• Have losses been minimised?
• Have lessons been learned?

10. Crisis Planning
• Assess risks
• Produce plans
• Define roles and responsibilities
• Appoint crisis management team
• Draw up communication plan
• Produce contact and organisation chart
• Promote crisis-ready culture
• Publish plans and conduct training
• Test, review and practise

11. • Plan in advance
• Rehearse via simulation
• Stipulate who the spokesperson is
• Crisis is no time to find yourself on a learning curve.
Community measures and Emergency procedures are
essential
• Planning requires that crisis can occur at any time. Nine out
of ten crisis occur when you are asleep, probably after a late
night or at a week-end!
Pre-Crisis Actions and
Preparations

12. • Pre-crisis actions costs are often (but not always) a tiny
fraction of the losses that are typically incurred by crisis for
which there has been inadequate preparation;
• It is very easy to underestimate the damage a crisis can do and
the costs it can have.
Pre-Crisis Actions and Preparations

13. • Emergency Procedures
• Staff awareness
• Network of experts for urgent meeting/advice
• Standard Decisions (safeguard clauses) ready in all official
languages
Pre-Crisis Actions and Preparations

14. Pre-crisis actions and preparations
• The crisis unfolds
• After the crisis
• In a Nutshell

15. The Crisis Unfolds
• Appointment of a press contact person who is
always available and ready to reply immediately
• Quick reaction in taking and repealing measures
• Dispatch of information in real time
• Consistency of information (everyone should
have the same story)
• Development of a detailed chronology

16. The Crisis Unfolds
• The services/officials concerned ought to show
flexibility and may have to stay late hours, work on
week-ends or report their vacations
• The work-plans and tasks should be re-organized so
as to allow for an effective management of the crisis
and all its side effects (letters, working groups…)
• Risk assessors and risk managers must work in strict
co-operation!

17. The Crisis Unfolds
• Coordination between the Units and Directorates
concerned is essential, so as to ensure that all the
aspects of the crisis are being tackled .
• Show sympathy for those affected by the crisis.

18. After the Crisis
• Promote positive stories in the media
• Analyze the management of the crisis
• Update Emergency Procedures

19. In a Nutshell
Be prepared
• Sooner or later you may also be involved in a crises,
which will involve a lot of extra work
• What is the most likely scenario for you/your
service? Are you ready for it?
• The crisis may be worse than you expected!

20. In a Nutshell
Say the truth
• People and institutions do not like facing and
managing crisis. This may lead them into half-
truths, lies and evasions
• What is said to the media, other bodies needs to be
updated and consistent

21. Role of apologies in crisis
management
• Controversial - for fear of legal outcomes
• Evidence says that a compensation and sympathy are effective
• True contrition includes sympathy for victims and offers of
compensation to offset losses or suffering

22. In a Nutshell
Be visible
• If the crisis is major, then organization needs to be at the site of
the crisis quickly and to be visible
• Failure to show sympathy will be punished by the media and by
all members of the public and can destroy the reputation of the
organization

23. Crisis Communications

24. Communication plan:
Core elements are:
• Identifying audiences (Who?)
• How communication is to take place (How?)
• What messages are to be communicated (What?)
The core process is:
• Active, two-way communication

25. The Top 12 Crises of 2015
1.Volkswagen
2. FIFA
3. Chipotle
4. Ashley Madison
5. HSBC
6. Petrobas-Dilma Roussef (company executives accepted bribes from a
cartel of 20 companies)
7. Mecca Crane Collapse
8.Starbucks (wading into the discussions around race that followed
police shootings in Ferguson and elsewhere)
9.Theranos
10. Nestle India