What is Crisis Communication/Management?

What is Crisis Communication/Management?
Course: CM299 Crisis Communication/Management
Date: May 26th, 2013

What is crisis?

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What is Crisis Communication/Management?
Crisis is a sudden and unexpected event leading to major unrest. It is an emergency situation which disturbs individuals as well as leads to instability. It could affect an individual, group, organization or society on the whole.
What are the characteristics of crisis?
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Crisis is a sequence of sudden disturbing events harming for example an organization.

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Crisis generally arises on a short notice.

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Crisis triggers a feeling of fear and threat amongst individuals.

Why or how crisis occurs?
Crisis can arise due to and not limited to any of the following reasons:
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Technological failure and Breakdown of machines lead to crisis. Problems in internet, corruption in the software, errors in passwords all result in crisis.
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Crisis arises when employees do not agree to each other and fight amongst themselves.

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Crisis arises as a result of boycott, strikes for indefinite periods, disputes and so on.

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Violence, thefts and terrorism at the workplace result in organization crisis.

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Neglecting minor issues in the beginning can lead to major crisis and a situation of uncertainty at the work place.
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Illegal behaviors such as accepting bribes, frauds, data or information tampering all can lead to crisis.

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Crisis arises when organizations fails to pay its creditors and declares itself a bankrupt organization. 2

What is Crisis Communication/Management?
Crisis management is the art of dealing with sudden and unexpected events which disturbs individuals, employees and organizations. It is the process of handling unexpected and sudden changes in organization culture and is called crisis management.
Crisis Management prepares individuals to face unexpected developments and adverse conditions in an organization or event with courage and determination. It helps those who are responsible or in charge to devise strategies to come out of uncertain conditions and also decide on the future course of action. It also helps individuals affected by a crisis to feel the early signs of crisis, warn them against the aftermaths and take necessary precautions.
To be successful in managing a crisis situation, one must be familiar with the five stages of crisis which are:
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Detection;
Prevention/Preparation;
Containment;
Recovery;
Learning.

Detection: The detection phase begins with noting warning signs of the crisis event. This is the most important stage of all as it recognizes the event of crisis and can either be solved or ended forever, or it can expand and lead the way to complete destruction.
Preparation & Prevention: During this stage the crisis handlers begin preparing for or stopping the crisis event to try and prevent the escalation of crisis events. .
Containment: The goal of crisis containment is to limit the reputational, financial, safety and other threats to firm survival throughout the crisis event. Crisis handlers usually work thoroughly during this stage to bring crisis to an end as quickly as possible to limit the negative publicity to the organization and move on to the recovery stage.

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What is Crisis Communication/Management?
Recovery: When crisis occurs, affected organizations must be able to carry on with their business in the midst of the crisis while simultaneously planning for how they will recoer from the damage the crisis caused.