Crisis Management :
What is a crisis? or a disaster?
These words are used as synonyms, but they are different both, in cause and effect.
A crisis is a decisive moment at, a time of great difficulty, a disaster, a catastrophe.
A crisis is a condition of instability leading to a decisive change.
*Usually, a crisis is considered man-made, but a disaster is a natural phenomenon.
- is a change, which may be sudden, or which may take some time to evolve, that results in an urgent problem that must be addressed immediately.
- Crisis is unpredictable, not unexpected
- crisis is the process of identifying a potential issue or crisis and coordinating organizational response as necessary.
- a high level of uncertainty?
A crisis can occur in many forms, for example:
?- Natural disasters such as a storms?
- Socio-political forces such as terrorism or computer hacking
- Business causes such as the financial meltdown of an organization or sector?
- Incidents such as the leaking of sensitive personal data by government agents
- Management misconduct (e.g., leader's private life, extravagant foreign benefits) or deception (e.g., hiding or providing false information)
?Crisis Management Checklist: (Things You Should Do)
- Keep calm and do not get emotional.
- Gather the facts and prepare necessary documents.?
- Be open and honest. Share the known facts and if some facts are not yet known, say so and explain what is happening to discover them.?
- Show humanity and concern for any injured and aggrieved parties. If possible, contact them or their relatives before making public announcements.
- Offer practical help if possible, through a helpline or another emergency channel.
- Cooperate with investigators or authorities.
Announce your spokesperson.
- Communicate clearly and consistently. Do not use jargon.
- Brief all your stakeholders.
- Issue regular updates and monitor media?
Crisis Management Checklist: 5 Things You Should Not Do
- Do not speculate about events or causes. Do not go “off the record”.
- Do not close communication. The media will seek answers and find comments from elsewhere.
- Do not speak ill of or blame any injured party.
- Do not put out contradictory messages. This will confuse the media and the public, both of whom will not trust you and you will lose credibility. Such contradiction will also be subject to exploitation by reporters.
- Do not go on holiday!
*It's so crucial for organizations to communicate openly, honestly, and frequently to the media and public during a crisis. Not providing any communication encourages speculation, giving media a field day to seek information from external sources which, if not well researched, could eventually result in false and/or fake news.
consequently, crisis management can be seen as complementary to and acting in conjunction with business practices such as risk management and business continuity management
