TRENDS & ISSUES in HOSPITALITY

Pre-Finals Reviewer

I. TRUE OR FALSE

Introduction to Disaster and Crisis Management:

Crisis management (CM) plays a vital role in restoring the tourism and hospitality industry in
crisis, including improving a tourist’s confidence, mitigating a crisis’ or disaster’s impacts on
tourism, and improving security (Beirman, 2003).

The term crisis derives form the greek word «krisis» which means decision or turning point. This
definition of the word as a decisive stage that has important consequences in the future of an
individual or a system, has been preserved up to our days and has provided the framework.

Definition of Crisis

The origins of crisis theory are usually attributed to Lindemann's classic study of grief reactions.

Components of a Crisis

SIFNEOS (1 960) has identified 4 components of an emotional crisis:

1) The hazardous event that starts the chain of reactions that lead to the crisis. Sometimes it is
a sudden unexpected event, while other times it can be a developmental change.

2) A vulnerable state of the individual which is essential for the crisis to develop.

3) The precipitating factor that is the final event or circumstance that makes the hazardous
event unbearable and results in the crisis, and

4. The state of active crisis.

Characteristics of a Crisis

An important characteristic of crisis reactions is that they are time limited. Most of them are
resolved for better or for worse within 6-8 weeks. As Lindemann pointed out behavior in crisis is
unique; it is related mainly to the crisis itself and not so much to the premorbid personality.

Crisis Stages

Caplan was the first to describe the main stages of a crisis reaction. The contributions of later
theorists have been based on Caplan's work and have basically consisted on a restatement of
his phases. According to CAPLAN (1 964) most crisis reactions follow 4 distinct phases:

1. In the initial phase the individual is confronted by a problem that poses a threat to his
homeostatic state: the person responds to feelings of increased tension by calling forth
the habitual problem-solving measures in an effort to restore his emotional equilibrium.
 2. There is a rise in tension due to the failure of habitual problem-solving measures and the
persistence of the threat and problem. The person's functioning became disorganized
and the individual senses feelings of upset and ineffectuality.
3. With the continued failure of the individual's efforts, a further rise in tension acts as a
stimuli for the mobilization of emergency and novel problem-solving measures. At this
stage, the problem may be redefined, the individual may resign himself to the problem or
he may find a solution to it.
4. If the problem continues, the tension mounts beyond a further threshold or its burden
increases over time to a breaking point. The result may be a major breakdown in the
individual's mental and social functioning.

Types of Crisis

BALDWIN (1978) has developed a classification of emotional crises that includes six types
of crisis situations:

1. Dispositional crises produced by problematic situations that can be remediated through

an appropriate management such as making a referral, providing information and/or
education, making administrative changes, etc.

2. Crises of anticipated life transitions that reflect normal life transitions over which the
person may have little control.

3. Crises resulting from traumating stress, which are precipitated by externa1 stressors or
situations that are unexpected, uncontrolled and emotionally overwhelming.

4. Maturational/developmental crises, that results from attempts to deal with interpersonal

situations that reflect internal unresolved problems.

5. Crises reflecting psychopathology, in which pre-existing or current psychopathology

complicates their resolution.

6. Psychiatric emergencies, in which general functioning is severely impaired.

Crisis Domains

After establishing that an event meets the definition of a crisis, the next step of
conceptualizing the crisis condition is determining which of the crisis domains applies to the
specific situation. A crisis typically occurs within one of four domains: (1) developmental
crises, (2) situational crises, (3) environmental crises, and (4) existential crises, each of
these crisis domains will be explored in greater depth.

 Developmental crises are events that occur within the normal process of human
development and are typically expected and somewhat predictable (Kanel, 2007).

 Situational crises ensue when an uncommon and extraordinary event occurs that is
unpredictable and uncontrollable (James & Gilliland, 2012). These events are random,
sudden, unexpected, and tend to be emergent (Slaikeu, 1990).

Situational crises may also have impact beyond the individual extending to the community at
large and may include catastrophic events. Examples of situational crises include death,
divorce, illness, terrorist attacks, job loss, sexual assault, or other crimes.
  Environmental crises may be classified as situational crises or may be considered in a
separate domain. These crises occur when a natural or human-caused disaster impacts a group
of people through no fault of their own (James & Gilliland, 2012 existential crises occur when
one’s internal conflict becomes too great to be managed through typical coping skills. Existential
crises generally result from issues related to the purpose of life, freedom, independence, or
commitment to others or oneself.

 Existential crises may occur when one is faced with the possibility of never achieving a
life goal, such as marrying or having children. Such crises may also occur later in life when
individuals reflect on their accomplishments and believe they have failed to meet their potential
or contribute enough to the greater society.

Trust and belief

Trusting a person to involves, among other things, holding a belief about the trusted person:
either the belief that the trusted person is trustworthy or the belief that she actually will.

A central divide in philosophical work on trust concerns the kind of mental state that it is taken to
be. Cognitive accounts take trust either to be constituted by, or to entail, a belief, with that belief
having as propositional content the trustworthiness of the trusted. The great majority of
philosophical accounts are non-cognitive, which deny this. The division between cognitivists and
non-cognitivists is well understood as a disagreement about which of the following intuitions is
basic.

 Interpersonal. Trust is an attitude embedded in and expressive of interpersonal

relationships. For instance, to trust someone is to respect them, and to distrust is to
slight. It is properly responsive to the reasons I have for respecting another person.
These reasons are practical.

 Rationality. Trust is vindicated when I have trusted the trustworthy and not
trusted the untrustworthy. It is properly responsive to the reasons I have for believing the
trusted to be trustworthy. These reasons are theoretical.

II. ENUMERATION (Lesson 11-week 11)

1. 10 Forces Impacting the Changing Workplace

2. Three sets of “basic commodities” or “power tools” can be acquired by members of an
organization to gain power
3. Give the 7 Technology Trends in the Hospitality Industry – Lesson 12- week 12