Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Definition
A crisis is defined as an event that by its
nature or its consequences:
constitutes a threat to vital national interests
or to the essential needs of the population;
prompts rapid decision making;
demands coordination between different
departments and organisms
Crisis Management
Crisis Management :
prevents a crisis from becoming a catastrophe.
Crisis management can be defined as a system or
methodology of solving crisis situations. We can be
sure that the actual crisis situation will differ from
our expectation.
A crisis is like a virus, the effects can be sudden
, insidious, infectious and extremely dangerous
Problem characterization
Crisis management is a very complex and not easily
predictable process. The problem can be explicated in three
claims:
Nobody knows when a crisis event will happen.
The scenario of a crisis/emergency event can be expected
and prepared for but the real situation will change it.
Our knowledge of a crisis/emergency event solution is
developed step-by-step and hour-by-hour and its
current version has to be utilized continuously in the
crisis event solution.
Crisis Planning:
Assess risks
Produce plans
Define roles and responsibilities
Appoint crisis management team
Draw up communication plan
Produce contact and organisation chart
Promote crisis-ready culture
Publish plans and conduct training
Test, review and practise
Emergency Procedures
Staff awareness
Network of experts for urgent meeting/advice
Standard Commission Decisions (safeguard
clauses) ready in all official languages
IN A NUTSHELL
Be prepared
Sooner or later you may also be involved in a
crises, which will involve a lot of extra work
What is the most likely scenario for you/your
service? Are you ready for it?
The crisis may be worse than you expected!
IN A NUTSHELL
Say the truth
People and institutions do not like facing and
managing crisis. This may lead them into halftruths, lies and evasions
What is said to the media, other bodies needs
to be updated and consistent
IN A NUTSHELL
Be visible
If the crisis is major, then Commissioner needs
to be at the site of the crisis quickly and to be
visible
Failure to show sympathy will be punished by
the media and by all members of the public and
can destroy the reputation of the Commission
Crisis Communications
Communication plan:
Core elements are:
Identifying audiences (Who?)
How communication is to take place (How?)
What messages are to be communicated (What?)