Category: Crisis Management

Introduction

A crisis is an extraordinary disaster that is unforeseen by people, business structures economies that cause widespread damage to human life, ordinary and social environment (the academy of management executives (1987). It threatens to cause mischief to the organization and its stakeholders. In addition, catastrophes can impinge on all sections of society. It could be caused by a wide range of factors (crises management workbook 2007). Crises management on the other hand is the attempt by people to foresee, put down measures to avoid, take action and manage emergencies when they occur (Edward P. 2005). According to the academy of management executives (1987) the field of crises management is still in the young stages of development and thus more is required to be done so as to get the required effectiveness. The authors of this article contended that crises sent prior signs before it occurs hence measures could be taken to stem it at those early stages. They however presented four distinct phases involved in effective crises management. These were prevention and mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery management. In this analysis therefore we look into a crises case regarding an ice storm that hit the New England region and parts of New York on the night of 11^th December 2008 (according to Unitil’s report of December 2008 ice storms, 2005).

The North America Ice Storm of 1998

This is an ice storm that hit North America in January 1998 and is also identified as the great ice storm of 1998 causing devastating destruction to trees and electrical infrastructure all over the area leading to long spells of power disruptions. Millions of people were left in darkness for a period ranging from days to weeks and left more than 30 people dead. In addition, the storm blocked several large cities hindering the reconstruction of the power grid. In the same way as the 2008 storm in the New England region, the 1998 storm in North America toppled down trees and electricity lines thus causing power disruption for over 4 million people in the region. The fallen snow made roads treacherous thus hindering reconstruction progress (Ice storm gazette, 98).

Scientific Developments Contribution to Crises Management: Storms Case

The science of winter storm prediction has been enhanced progressively over the past decades. According to the U.S Geological survey 2008, the United States forecast precision had improved by almost double in two decades. Fabulous developments have been made in the forecast and succeeding warnings of heavy snow events. In the 1970’s geologists could only foresee less than 12 hours advance notice for snowfall of greater amount greater than 4 inches. Currently according to the survey geologists are able to give alerts of heavy snow 3-5 days in advance and can distinguish between 4, 8 and 12 inches snowfall amount up to 3 days in advance (U.S geological survey)

The Overview

On this date, a heavy ice storm hit the region toppling down tree branches and at times whole trees onto the power lines causing power cuts to more than 1.2 electricity customers in the affected region. The worst hit region was however Massachusetts and New Hampshire who were left without power for days and even weeks. Unitil a utility company serving Massachusetts was largely affected by the crises.

It had all of its 28500 customers affected by the electric power cut. This was overwhelming for them and fast response was required. In no time their customers were at a very fast pace growing impatient with the frequent statements of the utilities central communicating center. According to the report released by Unitil in February. Unitil admitted that they had not anticipated damage of such a great magnitude to its systems. Despite having maintained a compliment full-time all year round workers for normal operations and an arrangement to get contractors and persons from other utilities, the crises at hand were overwhelming and demand for the outside workforce was extraordinary.

Unitil’s Efforts to Manage the Crises

Efforts were put in place to restore powers, the workforce was beefed up, communication was enhanced and all resources were mobilized to meet the overpowering demand of this crisis but were totally inadequate. According to the report, it took more than a week for Unitil to get considerable resources for adequately meeting the reinstatement demands. At this point, the state of preparedness of Unitil to handle emergencies of this magnitude is questionable/ not adequate. Reinstatement of the power was also time-consuming and the team ought to have been intensified in the shortest time possible. As a result of this slow response to the crises, Unitil clientele had to wait between the 11^th and 23^rd of December(12 days in the dark) when the power was finally put back in place. Unitil, therefore, had no full capability to take action in times of crisis with the speed that is due.

The communication systems available in Unitil were not adequate to handle communication in crises times; of course like this one. During the emergency, the communication gap between Unitil and its customers was actually widening every other day. They could not provide accurate restoration dates to customers. Customer’s calls as well of the public were not going through due to congestions (presumably). Customers were growing frustrated every coming day and Unitil’s frequents statements to customers were no longer believable. Customers and the public were losing confidence in the statements from the utility firm. To them, restoration and repair were taking unexpectedly long and customers were becoming impatient.

Phases of crises management: Unitil’s case

Disaster Preparedness

From the crises, Unitil had learned important lessons which could help them develop effective crises management strategies. In order to be repaired for storms of this magnitude, Unitil intends to carry out activities all year-round to prepare itself and the electric transmission and distribution systems for significant storms. The review and modification of the emergency recovery plan as it is indicated in Unitil’s February report will be a major score towards preparedness

Response to Crises/ Reactive Phase

Unitil is not adequately capable to respond fast to emergencies. The response to the power disruption by the ice storm was very slow. According to the customers and public it took unexpectedly long to fully respond to the emergency, mobilize available resources, and assess the damage. Retention of outside workers would be an effective measure for Unitil’s effective and first response in the future.

Recovery and Communication

Communication is a very useful and crucial tool for effective recovery. For Unitil, its current communication system is faulted by its inability to handle these particular crises. It was difficult to provide accurate power restoration dates, affected by congestion due to a large number of callers. It also failed to convince the customers that Unitil was indeed doing its best to fix the situation. The company needed to add additional call lines so as to expand it current system capable of handling a large number of callers in emergency times, changes on how the company communicates with the public during the crises times are necessary for a smooth recovery and public relation during such emergency times.

Work Cited

1. Bowdziz Edward. P, Risk Crisis and Security Management, West Sussex, England, John Willy and sons’ Ltd, 2005
2. Crisis management workbook. Office Security and Risk Management Service Fairfax County public school, 2007.
3. Ian. I et al. Effective Crises Management. New York: Industrial Crises Center. Academy of Management of Executive vol. l.3.no 1 pg 283-292, 1987
4. Uccelini Lous. w, Written Testimony, National Center for Environmental Predictions, Hearing on severe winter weather, 2006
5. Unitil’s response to December 2008 ice storm summary of DPU, 2009

Recently there has been a growth of interest in developing more sophisticated and complex training techniques for crisis management. The aim is to improve the effectiveness of those responsible for crisis management. The objective of this article is to outline and explain one of these new techniques, the interactive simulation, and to discuss some of the problems and possibilities of this approach.

Interactive simulation

Simulations have been used for a long time and have proved their worth in a variety of situations. In private sector crisis management there has been a strong tendency to use computer-based simulations which emphasize the importance of critical financial and economic indicators. The task of management is to make the appropriate changes to produce more healthy figures. But this shows a fundamental misunderstanding of the nature of crisis management. The economic indicators are no more than symptoms and no focus on them alone is to mistake the symptoms for the cause.

Simulation techniques have developed based on the belief that:

• People are the most important resource in a crisis
• Individuals can be trained to successfully recognise and cope with crisis.
• The most effective ways of dealing with crises can be refined through simulation (Pijnenburg and Rosenthal, 1991).

Two new elements can be introduced into simulation exercises which are used to help train individuals in crisis management.

The first is an interactive element, which allows the directing staff to make exercise more realistic. Decisions made by the participants become part of the exercise which all parties have to live with.

The second element is the introduction of stress to exercise. This is an essential aspect of interactive simulations, reproducing to a degree something of the pressures and strains felt in real crises.

Managers use strategic, tactical and operational goals to direct employees and resources toward achieving specific outcomes that enable the organization to perform efficiently and effectively. They take a number of planning approaches, among the most popular of which are management by objectives, single-use plans, standing plans, and contingency plans.

Management’s function in strategic planning

Strategic planning is in an inextricable manner linked or locked closely together into the complete system of management. Planning cannot be disentangled from such management functions as organizing, directing, motivating, and controlling. Strategic planning is a back-bone support to strategic management. It is not the entirety of strategic management but a major process in the conduct of strategic management. Strategic and operational management are tightly linked. Strategic management presents leadership, general course along which it has a tendency of developing, and limitations for operational management.

View of strategic planning after completion of simulation.

Using information from managerial participants, I identified components of strategic planning. Each of the simulations has been designed to correspond to complexities in the managerial positions and the organizational environment.

Furthermore, my view is that the more points in common between the simulation and criterion, the higher the validity coefficient. Simulations have predictive validity. Hundreds of organizations use assessment centres to provide information for selection, promotion, and developmental purposes.

Application of simulation at work place

Simulation component is the practice environment, which executes the defined scenario in the synthetic workplace interactively. The practice environment consists of two components, a problem environment and a synthetic workplace. The environment simulation models relevant relationships and casual dynamics in the domain where the work occurs. Whereas the synthetic workplace emulates the setting in which the job is performed at a level of fidelity appropriate for the specific training need.

Reference

Pijnenburg. B., & Rosenthal. U. (1991). Crisis management and decision making: simulation oriented scenarios. Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Kluwer Academic Publishers.

In order to manage the crisis in the most efficient way, it is necessary to develop a plan for its prevention. In turn, crisis planning relates to the management process as it requires structural approach and strategic perspective (Crandall et al., 2010). In particular, effective crisis prevention presupposes the understanding of several distinctions, including the analysis of external factors and internal attributes for the development of long-term and distinctly opportunistic strategies.

In the case of a disaster, internal attributes are the community’s assets that play a crucial role in its prevention and response. According to Beaulieu (2002), “the long-term development of a community rests on its ability to uncover and build on the strengths and assets of its people, institutions, and informal organizations” (p. 1). As resources and talents exist in any community regardless of its social, economic, and political peculiarities, asset mapping may be regarded as an efficient tool for their assessment. The evaluation of available assets is essential for communication between them for the provision of efficient response. For instance, the development of relationships between service agencies, national and local crisis responding organizations, state and local affiliates, and even governments is required for efficient planning that allows to minimize the consequences of a disaster in the case of its occurrence. The following map represents the assets of Pennsylvania that may contribute to crisis prevention and management.

The map demonstrates the availability of a well-developed institutional system in Pennsylvania that may be highly efficient in the case of crisis response within the framework of collaboration between people, organizations, and authorities. Its assets may provide a multifaceted approach to the solution of any crisis-related issue. For example, in the case of an emergency, political institutions will develop responsive and preventative measures and exercise control over their implementation, educational institutions will spread awareness, economic institutions will contribute to solutions financially, and family, civil, and religious institutions along with international, state, and local non-profit organizations will support the population.

First of all, political institutions elaborate on policies and regulations for preparedness for various disasters. For instance, in collaboration with the departments of health and education, the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency (PEMA) (n.d.) is responsible for guidance to help “communities and citizens mitigate against, prepare for, respond to, and recover from emergencies including natural disasters, acts of terrorism, or other human-made disasters” (para. 2). If an emergency occurs, state and local authorities create a recovery plan, while numerous non-profit organizations and volunteers work in collaboration with each other and help citizens with food, water, clothing, medications, and accommodation.

It goes without saying that efficient crisis management frequently requires partnership with national organizations, such as Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster (VOAD). First of all, National VOAD has affiliates across the country in multiple states, including Pennsylvania. In the case of a disaster, Pennsylvania VOAD acts according to the standards developed by National VOAD – in particular, it collaborates with other associations and non-profit organizations “that mitigate and alleviate the impact of disasters” (Pennsylvania Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster, n.d., para. 1). Moreover, it promotes collaboration and communication, fostering the delivery of essential services to people affected by the crisis.

There are multiple ways in which Pennsylvania VOAD may collaborate with the state’s institutions for efficient response. For instance, National VOAD creates materials related to Disaster Case Management (DCM) that provide essential information for its affiliates about emergency preparedness and response. While VOAD’s programs cannot be regarded as guidance for state and local governments, they have an opportunity to implement the organization’s practices in their official recovery plans. In addition, in collaboration with educational institutions, VOAD may educate the population regarding appropriate activities in the case of an emergency to avoid human losses. Moreover, VOAD may partner with non-profit associations and foundations, for instance, with Pennsylvania Assistive Technology Foundation (PATF), to elaborate on efficient measures in order to support disabled people in the case of an emergency. Finally, VOAD may collaborate with civil, religious, and family institutions to provide support for citizens, attract volunteers, or initiate donations.

References

Beaulieu, L. J. (2002). Mapping the assets of your community: A key component for building local capacity. Southern Rural Development Center, Mississippi State, MS, 1-14.

Crandall, W. R., Parnell, J. A., & Spillan, J. E. (2010). Crisis management in the new strategy landscape. SAGE Publications.

Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency (PEMA). (n.d.). About PEMA. Web.

Pennsylvania Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster. (n.d.). About us. Web.

Introduction

Throughout this essay, the article by Van der Wal under the title “Being a Public Manager in Times of Crisis” is about the management of resources during a stressful period. The COVID-19 outbreak has been called “the worst calamity since World War II” (“Coronavirus: Greatest test,” 2020). The public health problem quickly became political, economic, and social. This rare circumstance will decide how robust and hopeful civilizations are and how much confidence in their actions the government can give to the people. Administrators must be self-sufficient and competent to improve administrative capability. The academic paper is devoted to the undervalued administrative representatives that lead society through challenging times (Van der Wal, 2020). This essay discusses three important attributes that a general manager must possess to succeed. This paper aims to provide valuable information so that general managers can effectively handle their clients, political representatives, and cooperative networks in times of crisis.

To build administrative capacity, public administrators must be self-sufficient and competent. This article under the study is dedicated to those general managers who serve as the “unsung administrative heroes” who guide us through difficult times (Van der Wal, 2020). When it comes to dealing with crises, general managers must handle all interested parties successfully. This scientific work outlines three crucial qualities that general managers must have to succeed in this job.

Generally, management must deal with “unknowns” in terms of projected results and needed skills, methodologies, and criteria. The VUCA notion is intended to convey and portray in this research work (Van der Wal, 2020). Although volatility and unpredictability are becoming more well-known, they remain tough to cope with on one’s own (Van der Wal, 2020). They require a certain measure of agility, vision, and long-term strategic planning to succeed. To sufficiently navigate complex and confusing situations, experimentation and piloting are required as specialists with diverse skills and perspectives (Van der Wal, 2020). Managers in the public sector who are tasked with reacting to external and internal factors where there are no clear solutions have difficulties in today’s volatile and uncertain operating conditions.

These same circumstances also provide new opportunities for public service delivery or administration innovation, which may be achieved via collaboration with people who want to change pioneers from various industries. These days, a common saying is that organizations should never squander a good crisis. Public managers must possess a wide range of skills to take advantage of new possibilities. Examples are used throughout this paper to show the importance of the development of critical competencies in today’s crisis environment. COVID-19 shows how difficult it is in the present context. In a divided political setting like the United States, where municipalities and states push, execute, and phase activities in distinct ways, ideological opponents of differential lockdown measures may be insensitive to evidence-based counter-frames (Van der Wal, 2020). It is also worth noting that despite the fact that maintaining public awareness is of particular importance, officials should also contribute to the establishment of acceptable isolation measures. These actions should be directly based on permission from experts in the field of medicine and epidemiology.

Theories

The article is illuminated and influenced by Public Management and New Federal Governance. The market is believed to be diagonally structured by New Public Management (NPM), with competition, the pricing mechanism, and contractual connections as the key mechanisms for managing it (Van der Wal, 2020). Extreme NPM interpretations provide arguments that private-sector management practices are the most effective. Others say that market-like conditions are the most effective way to supply basic services (Van der Wal, 2020). New Public Management is built on network theory and social capital. It recognizes the link between people who provide public services and those who formulate policy.

Evidence

This section provides evidence-based information on a public manager’s competencies amidst a crisis. Stakeholder Engagement and Storytelling might be implemented to acquire the public’s confidence, and public managers need to understand how their citizens will view their ideas and activities (Van der Wal, 2020). Managers can map stakeholder behaviors and interrelationships before designing management strategies. A key objective is to build broad support while reducing opposition influence (Van der Wal, 2020). Public managers must become active storytellers to gain citizen support. Rather than stated, an argument must be skilfully framed (Van der Wal, 2020). General Managers must increasingly persuade other stakeholders to adopt their policies, projects, ideas, services and policymakers.

Managing Political Masters with Political Astuteness

A government official should have the opportunity to be allowed to express the truth without fear of ostracism. Under challenging circumstances, public managers must maintain a long-term vision while maintaining institutional integrity and policy consistency. Institutions’ strengths and beliefs should not be overlooked (Van der Wal, 2020). Bureaucrats gain power and influence by continuously providing outstanding policy recommendations. Furthermore, that was before the emergence of the internet (Van der Wal, 2020). An urgency requires public managers to provide a crucial recommendation to elected officials; in other words, leading is critical in many industries.

During a crisis, public managers must keep their calm and maintain institutional and policy continuity. Political responses to current unrest have exacerbated it, making the rapid and efficient implementation of pandemic reactions harder (Van der Wal, 2020). With the crisis, top administrators must do more than just “emergency management” to maintain institutional coherence and impartiality (Van der Wal, 2020). Some argue that being politically aware means ignoring essential institutional qualities and ideals.

Leveraging and Empowering Collective Networks

Individuals, non-profits, companies, charities, and social enterprises must work more closely together in crises. Managing partners with different aims, norms, working styles, worldviews, and motivation require managers to bring them together (Van der Wal, 2020). However, public managers may struggle to persuade their government to participate, especially once the “we’re all in this together” zeal passes and despite decades of talk about “whole-of-government” and “joined-up governance” (Van der Wal, 2020, p. 757). A broad range of goals, values, standards and working styles must be brought together for cooperation to succeed. For instance, consider how governments first fought over the procurement of medical equipment, the backing of specific sectors, and efforts to get vaccinations, all of which were areas where cooperation would have been beneficial.

Cooperation requires bringing together diverse objectives, attitudes, norms, and working styles. Consider how governments battled over medical equipment, sector support, and immunizations, all areas where collaboration might have been advantageous (Van der Wal, 2020). Several medical equipment manufacturers used the scarcity to hike prices dramatically. It is crucial while working with multilevel and supranational organizations like UN agencies and international health organizations (Van der Wal, 2020). Although the research focuses on intergovernmental collaboration, many challenges and opportunities are universal.

Strengths and Weaknesses

Uncertain issue definitions, complicated causes, competing aims and the absence of conventional solutions are all characteristics of complex problems. A multi-actor approach is the best way to address these issues: Make the most of the resources, Spur innovation, and create a sense of shared responsibility for cooperative solutions. In addition to their complexity, many circumstances are marked by turbulence, including the unforeseen, irregular, unpredictable, and unknown (Van der Wal, 2020). Chaos in hydrodynamics, such as that seen in stormy weather or the turbulence in river currents, is a natural fit for this model. In modern culture, the state service is often challenged with contentious topics (Van der Wal, 2020). A few instances are terrorist acts, climate change-related floods and droughts, and the global economic crisis. The COVID-19 outbreak is a more recent example. The author’s content is superb, giving the best approaches and skills for crisis management.

Conclusion

The paper finishes with four demonstrations for public officials in times of crisis. To supplement more conventional administrative talents, recruit and train current cohorts to improve their communication abilities and social media savvy. To achieve long-term support and legitimacy from stakeholders (both supporting and adversary), organizations should make an effort to engage them. A central position in conflicting advice streams aimed at political masters allows for a more critical posture when necessary, maintaining a nodal position.

It is vital to balance rigidity and adaptability when collaborating with various stakeholders and industries while also realizing that obtaining extra value through (ad hoc) partners will not eliminate all hazards. The work teaches the public manager how to work in a crisis without much uncertainty and failure. This literary work can also be characterized in a clear and concise form. The public manager’s competency is shown via stakeholder interaction and storytelling. The author’s content is superb, giving the best approaches and skills for crisis management. This essay covers political savvy, collaborative networks, stakeholder engagement, and storytelling. These are the most critical duties of a Public manager amid a crisis.

References

Coronavirus: Greatest test since World War Two, says UN chief. (2020). BBC.

Van der Wal, Z. (2020). Being a public manager in times of crisis: The art of managing stakeholders, political masters, and collaborative networks. In Public Administration Review, 80(5), 759-764.

During any crisis, the leaders of a company need to show their commitment and support both their employees and clients. In these devastating circumstances, as the representatives of the executive leadership team, we will try to promote positive changes, correct the mistakes that have been made recently, and encourage our workers to improve all our systems, especially the safety standards (Holtom et al., 2020). We assure you that our actions and communication will be transparent, and we, as leaders, are fully involved in the situation, sharing the responsibility for the crisis.

We are ready to receive any feedback from both our employees and customers, and our communication with the workers will be more frequent. For our staff members, there is a secure inner communication channel through which you can anonymously or non-anonymously leave your comment, which will then be addressed by the relevant department. Further, our clients can contact our customer service line at 1-800-123-1234 or by emailing customerservice@fast&fit.com. The feedback and information that we receive about the recent situation will be used to upgrade and enhance all our systems.

To alter the negative consequences of the crisis and enhance our situation, we need to create a video message in which our company will express our concerns and regrets about the tragic death of a young child. In the video, we will talk about the new safety measures that our company will adopt to make sure that such a situation will never happen again. Additionally, we will apologize to the family and friends of the child, our current or potential clients, employees, and the whole community for not justifying their trust. We will show our video message daily for some time on our Instagram and Facebook pages and our website. What is more, we will ask several TV channels, including the news channels, to show our video apology every day.

Reference

Holtom, B., A. C. Edmondson, D. Niu. (2020). 5 tips for communicating with employees during a crisis. Harward Business Review. Web.