Professional Documents
Culture Documents
19b Crisis Management
19b Crisis Management
A presentation by
Bruce Hugman
Consultant to the Uppsala Monitoring Centre
Pretoria, September 2004
What is a crisis?
In general?
For an organisation?
For government or
bureaucracy?
For a private
company?
In healthcare?
In drug safety?
Topics
The nature of crisis
Crisis management model
Planning
Risk assessment
Risk management
Crisis communications
Risk Communications
Key features of a Crisis
Low probability
High impact
Uncertain/ambiguous causes and
effects
Differential perceptions
High level threats:
Safety
Health
Environment
National security
Specific threats to
organisation:
Operational viability
Reputation
Credibility
Financial stability
Legal action
Consequential effects:
Uncertainty/ambiguity
Urgency of response
Strategic effects of decisions
Common features of a crisis:
The situation materialises unexpectedly
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
Purpose of crisis
management:
Prevention
Survival
Successful
outcomes
Successful outcomes:
Positive balance of success/failure
Incident Success outcomes Failure outcomes
Immature crisis
response
Mature crisis
management
Intrinsic crisis:
Total situation as seen by neutral observer
with all the facts
Crisis Management Model
Antecedent
conditions
Immature crisis
response
Mature crisis
management
Immature crisis
response
Mature crisis
management
OR
Technical Emotional
Intelligence Intrinsic crisis Perceived crisis Intelligence
Crisis
Management Mature crisis
Implementation management
Complete a
risk
assessment
Produce Promote
plans to crisis-ready
address risks culture
Publish plans
and conduct
training
Test, review
and practice
Message Options [What?]
1) Full apology
2) Corrective action
3) Ingratiation
4) Justification
5) Excuse
6) Denial
7) Attack the attacker
What does the world want to
see?
Acceptance of responsibility
Willingness to take positive steps
Message Options:
1) Full apology
2) Corrective action
3) Ingratiation
4) Justification
5) Excuse
6) Denial
7) Attack the attacker
Critical activities:
Initial response
Lines to take
Initial response:
Tell the truth as it is known
Facts beyond question
Actions being taken
Acknowledgement of
emotions/psychological needs
Lines to take:
Essential responses planned
Each new authorised response is logged
Database
Book
Wallchart
Message board
Question Is there a specific risk Is the medicine
to aged patients from known by any
the medicine in other trade
question ? names?
Source / Date Regional Health Feature editor
Authority secretary Daily News by
by phone 1/2/02 phone 2/2/02
Immature crisis
response
Mature crisis
management
Technical Emotional
Intelligence Intrinsic crisis Perceived crisis Intelligence
Crisis
Management Mature crisis
Implementation management
Complete a
risk
assessment
Produce Promote
plans to crisis-ready
address risks culture
Publish plans
and conduct
training
Test, review
and practice
End of Part 3
Part 4:
Communicating Risk
Communication of risk
Very poor public grasp of risk and risk
statistics
Confusion between
relative/absolute/reference/
attributable risk
Variable perception/tolerance of
different kinds of risk
Fantasy of a ‘safe drug’
Perception of risk
Factors increasing intolerance:
Involuntary - e.g. exposure to pollution rather
than voluntary, such as smoking or playing
dangerous sports
Unfairly distributed - some benefit whilst other
suffer
Inescapable - cannot be avoided by one’s
personal actions
Unfamiliar - arising from a novel source
Man-made - from other than natural sources
continued…
Perception of risk
Factors increasing intolerance:
Hidden/irreversible - e.g. effects damaging but
concealed for years
Affects posterity - threatens children, births or
future generations
Particularly dreadful - e.g. distressing
symptoms or social rejection
Victims identifiable - e.g. a particular blood type
or social group
Scientifically obscure - new or rare
Contradicted - argued by responsible sources
Problematic issues in drug
safety:
Adverse effects
Risk as a concept in medicine
Benefit-harm
Effectiveness-risk
Public health versus profit
Access to medicines
continued...
Problematic issues in drug
safety:
Individual patient variation and
susceptibility
Polypharmacy
Relationship of allopathic and traditional
medicines
Resistance
Diagnostic errors
Prescribing errors
Compliance issues
Risk Factors for Government
Officials
Political expediency
Culture of secrecy
Accountability
Bureaucracy and inertia
Hierarchy
Process versus performance
Complexity
Workload
Corruption
Summary
Topics covered:
The nature of crisis
Crisis management model
Planning
Risk assessment
Risk management
Crisis communications
Learning from experience
and good luck!
(though luck has nothing to do with good
crisis management!)