The Politics of Crisis Management - Essay Example

The recent changes in climate have made many countries all over the world to start planning for a weather crisis. These preparations are meant to improve national security, build a good reputation and maintenance of a country’s infrastructure which brings about increase in the economic status of a country. In respect to an organizational crisis, it is important to manage it as it damages the company’s reputation thus making the company reap lower returns. This study analyses the current measures that have been taken in terms of managing crisis both within an organization and generally in the entire country: this will include the public perception and media coverage on crisis management (Dezenhall and Weber 2007). Crisis management deals with forecasting of any dangers and after taking measures on how to prevent crisis from happening. It is therefore important for organizations to plan in advance by putting aside resources capable of addressing the problem at hand. It can either minimize damage or enable a business to recover from a previous crisis situation. According to Boin and Stern (2005) these plans should build a company’s image by assuring the public that everything will be catered for. This is necessary as the customers and other stakeholders who may lose trust with the company under crisis. The major characteristics brought about by crisis include; lower probability of outcomes, a high impact of economic and social stability, uncertainty and differing perceptions about how the business it to be run. The damages caused when a crisis arise affect various parts of the business for example safety of members in an organization, poor health for example if there is pollution from gases in the environment. The management of crisis is comprised of the various activities used to react to disasters. Policies should also be established in order to assist in determining what events are able to lead to a disaster and the methods of responding. Communication is also involved in the process of recovering. There are various theories that are applied in the process of crisis management. One of this includes the crisis management model that involves the knowledge and skills used in dealing with an occurrence before the actual action happen. The model is analysed using processes such as management of issues arising, planning on how to avoid the occurrence and the aftermath. The other theory involves the actual planning of crisis. This is what happens and how the media reports the occurrence. The media has significantly shaped peoples opinions on several ways especially cases involving a national disaster. Most people tend to believe any perception that the media display and it is therefore very important for the public to be exposed to the right message. Evidence of the events should be displayed through videos and reports to enhance reality of the matter at hand. One of the most used sources of information is the Television and people who are used to believe in every thing that the television report are likely to have a different perception about the world and the environment around them. The media should therefore avoid being biased in their activities such as in headlines, photos, statistics and the tone used in reporting an incident. Most media services are there to spoil the image of the country or the organization. Negative perception is shown and the affected party includes the government. This leads to a shift in the countries financial status and political position. It is therefore important for the media to cover the positive side of the disaster. This will be achieved through contingency plans. The plan should ensure that chosen people are to speak to the public about the occurrence for example a team leader. The plan also involves efficient performance at the first five hours after a crisis. This should also involve quickly taking the shortest means of saving the affected victims. The information offered to the public should be real and accurate to avoid misleading everyone. The other theory includes the structural and functional systems theory. This deals with managing systems in an organization or other institutions to enable clear flow of the right information. These facilities include mobile phones, use of internet and clear network. This will help the team involved in saving the victims to work effectively and the supporter will also know the whereabouts of their friends and family members. The diffusion of innovation is another theory that is applied in the process of crisis management. The process of diffusion include various stages such as innovation of technologies, it also needs an expert who has the right skills needed in using the system, another person who is not familiar with the system and a channel of communication has to be present. This will enable information to flow from one person to another when need be. The damages may also affect the environment that surrounds the business premises for instance in case there are earthquakes or a flood. Paul (2006) describe that these three factors in the long term will affect the national security of the region and thus the economic condition. In a particular organization the damages can be specified as slowing the operations of the business where the day- to- day activities are affected. The company also looses it good reputation to the public for example if the crisis is that one of theft of the production of goods of a low quality. Due to the damage of the company’s image, credibility lowers as customers loose their loyalty. The company is therefore not financially stable and may run at a loss or debts as more customers buy from the competitors. These problems may result to legal matters where the government may decide to temporarily or permanently close the business. The government may also set up measures that the company may not be able to attain thus it is forced to either vacate the premises or to improve on its production (Hellsloot 2007, p. 168). The first actions to be taken once a crisis occur is to come up with better decisions that will significantly reduce the situation. This is by classifying the cause of the damage and analyzing ways of curbing the major causes then formulating methods of preventing the action. One example is the tsunami that took place in Northern Indonesia in 2004. The incident killed thousands of citizens as millions were injured and others were left without shelter since water swept away their homes. This occurrence has made many countries to prepare themselves incase the incident hit their own country. The Indian Ocean tsunami in Australia saw the country spend more than the country had budgeted in the year 2005/6. This reason made the country to have the need for managing crisis in case the same case is repeated. The government introduced several programs meant for; developing a center where it would be used to warn the entire public about a disaster that is about to happen. The government also planned on how to develop the sea level by managing networks around the sea. The Australian government also introduces training sessions where by the public will be educated on the best measure to take incase a disaster occur. This will enable citizens to detect danger and know how to protect their lives. It also helps the families that have been affected to move on with their daily activities by offering counseling services. The planned funds by the Australian government were also meant to enable those working on improving the technical processes and systems around the Ocean. These people include the technicians and emergency managers. The government also organized groups who would hold rallies on sensitising the public on the dangers that come with tsunami. Australian Tsunami Alert System (ATAS) has therefore been developed by involving better management which would coordinate well in detecting danger. Australia has also introduced a suite that contains data about how the marine dangers should be controlled. This brochure will help those working in the sea to study the waves and to be in a position of protecting themselves. Education interactive is also improved to help volunteers and improve employee’s skills. These programs also ensure that the right culture is observed in order to unite the communities involved (Venette 2003). Since the Indian Ocean tsunami emphasised how the world is so susceptible to certain kind of risks, the introduced complex measures facilitates analysis on the technological methods to be employed to make people to be watchful. One of the introduced technologies is the use of GSI (Geographic information system) which may assist in saving the lives of the people affected as well as their belongings. Tsunami has can be described as a natural occurrence that involves the movement of waves arising from rising water levels in the ocean or sea. The disaster can also be caused by other natural calamities such as earthquakes, landslide or land eruptions. The mitigation of such kinds of risks involves many aspects to be involved such as physical, technical and social factors. Physically it is important to involve people in observing the trends occurring at the environment. This involves observing how the waves, hurricanes and eruptions behave and recording information that can be analysed to come up with a better model of dealing with the problem. Ulmer et al. (2006) describes that technical aspects are used in designing and constructing models that will help to stop the occurrence of a disaster such as flood. This will involve building of valleys for better drainage. Social aspects will involve the use of planning skills on how the land around the ocean will be used and the method of analyzing predictions. It will also involve the calculation of costs to be used in the process. The whole process is meant to achieve a common goal of reducing the number of the affected people by half. According to Smith and Dan (2002) crisis management will involve the use of a certain cycle which consists of three phases. These include; pre-disaster stage, the disaster stage, and post disaster stage. Pre-disaster stage involves the analysis of risks where by possible risks are identified and planned. The disaster stage involves how the people involved will react in reference to the occurrence. The last stage will involve post disaster where healing of events and restoration takes place. If the above are put into action then better assessment will analyse the frequency of the risk, its magnitude and where it is to occur. Preparedness is a process that involves measures meant to prevent an occurrence such as a disaster. This process involves building structures, installing warning signs, and improving services involved in saving lives such as provision of water, power, food and first aid kit etc. Individuals should also be prepared by being told when to vacate an area that may be likely to be affected by a disaster. It also include keeping kits necessary for emergency cases and improving the home environment by for example planting trees that will reduce on heavy wind blowing around the house. The government should therefore aim at sensitising their citizens on these methods of preparedness. Since the major cause of the disaster was led by the different levels in technologies in the affected countries. The major strategy is to balance the se systems in every country especially those that have not implemented the GSI system. Other causes included failure to acquire enough information thus resulted to data duplication as many countries were not able to access the right systems. Political instability also resulted to making the problems worse as the governments in different countries differed in ideologies. These countries lacked updated information thus they could not mange their crisis in relation to their counterparts. The introduction of GIS has enabled people to have everything put in place such as database and should be modernized to get up to date information. The right resources should be available to cater for emergencies and to facilitate the work of GIS system. The other type of perception that GIS has tried to handle is by involving more people to use the available technology as this will enable more corporation among members. The countries have also agreed to corporate and handle the issues that affect them most especially the social and political ones. It is therefore necessary to start up programs that will facilitate peaceful talks in order to implement the activities meant to achieve this unity. Institutions should also be in a position of coming together so as to employ the proposed actions these institutions should include; governments, private institutions and the communities.GIS should be internationally implemented to maintain the expected results. These installations should be made quickly for the expertise to be able to hasten the process of solving the disaster at hand and any that may come in future (Erickson 2006). NASA has helped to research and to introduce a prototype that will be used in predicting the magnitudes of waves. Department of Homeland Security 2007 show this is achieved by installing better GPS techniques that will enable to save peoples lives and property. According to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) the countries that are most vulnerable include those located near coastal regions such as Hawaii, Alaska, etc. The other department involved in warning the public of any danger was the Western State Emergency Department. This system was working but had some computer problems thus failed to deliver the expected message. Warnings about a volcanic eruption had been sent to the public in terms of siren but the system was however screaming when the disaster happened. It was reported that the system had not been programmed properly thus it released an alarm though it had been expected to play music. Integrated management systems have also been introduced to deal with uncertainties. This system is meant to give people confidence on how to deal with disasters in terms of communications. The system involves combinations of other solutions such as records management, media analysis, and a forensic video analysis. FEMA has also published the characteristics involved in responding to a calamity. However, for this features to be effective more education, communication and cooperation should be involved. Conclusion These factors show the importance of planning and mitigating a problem. To analyse the future outcomes, decision makers should look at the current situation and involve better expertise who will be capable of analysing the problem and through implementing better strategies and policies. The first step is to involve every country in the process of implementing the system used in detecting whenever a disaster in about to happen. This is because disaster happening is inevitable and one does not necessarily know where it is meant to hit next. The government also has a responsibility of working with their neighbors in order to ensure coordination in implementation of the emergency systems. This will enhance preparedness all over the regions around the coastal region. Better reporting methods should be employed to avoid spoiling the image of the region as this may also increase national insecurity. References Boin, A Hart, P & Stern, E 2005, The politics of crisis management: Public leadership under pressure. New York: Cambridge University Press. Department of Homeland Security, Federal Emergency Management Agency (September 2007). National response plan. Dezenhall, E & Weber, J 2007, Damage control: Why everything you know about crisis management is wrong, Portfolio Hardcover. Erickson, A 2006, Emergency response planning for corporate and municipal managers, 2nd ed. Burlington, MA: Elsevier, Inc. Hellsloot, I 2007, The politics of crisis management: Public leadership under pressure, Journal of Contingencies and Crisis Management, vol. 15, no. 3, pp. 168–169. Paul A 2006, Emergency response planning for corporate and municipal managers, 2nd ed. Burlington, MA: Elsevier, Inc. Smith, L & Dan, M 2002, Before crisis hits: Building a strategic crisis plan, Washington, DC: AACC Community College Press. Ulmer, R Sellnow, T & Seeger, M 2006, Effective crisis communication: Moving from crisis to opportunity. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. Venette, SJ 2003, Risk communication in a high reliability organization: Inclusion of risk in decision making, Proquest Information and Learning. Read More