Crisis Management: Why Businesses Should Have an Active Crisis Plan

Crisis management is an integral part of any company’s strategic planning not only to prepare but also to mitigate the effects of a crisis on business continuity. In this discussion, I will design a crisis communication plan for Etihad Airways, which is the company that I work for, eight years now. It is the national airline of the United Arab Emirates, and it is based in Abu Dhabi; it is just 12 years old, and it only operates international routes. Etihad is a government-owned company; however, organizational wise, it is a semi-governmental entity (Etihad Airways, 2015).

We have come to a time where it is imperative to reset our courses associated with the safety of the employees, the safety of the brand and the longevity of the company alongside their competitive edge. As senior manager, consideration should not be limited to solely short-run solutions. It is primary for the company’s decision makers of all tiers manage the negative and positive potential of any crisis as time can carry the possibilities of unknown limits. Accommodations must be made for the entire community (Senior Management, Ergonomists, Labor Leaders, Politicians of the city, Service Staff, Human Resources and Line Management) under the company’s payroll that has been affected by this natural disaster using our revised Crisis Management Portfolio.

Identify the crisis as soon as possible once it happens and move fast towards finding a corrective measure. There are three golden rules in PR crisis communication that are fundamental in crisis control; as soon as a crisis happens, Tell it all, Tell it fast and Tell it honestly. This consideration will control the flow of the

Emergency disaster situations can be defined in three ways accidental, natural, or wilful. An accidental disaster refers to an event which is totally unexpected such as a house fire started by an electrical fault. Similarly, an illustration of a natural disaster would be the recent earthquakes which took place in Christchurch, NZ between September 2010 and February 2011 that resulted in devastating and far reaching consequences for the country. Foremost in many minds when recollecting a wilful disaster would be the terror attacks of 9.11 in the USA. A disaster of this magnitude has never been experienced during peace time in our lifetime. This essay will examine three different aspects of rescue management procedure where reports detailing disaster and emergency response must be studied to understand and improve our handling of rescue operations.

This paper analyzes Chicago Universities Emergency Operations Plan (EOP) (Chicago State University Emergency Operations Plan, 2011). The paper found that the EOP was a comprehensive crisis management plan and is in line with FEMA's NIMS. The paper specifically found the following features about Chicago's EOP:

This paper will discuss emergency response derived from the Federal Emergency Management System through the Department of Homeland Security, and the management system connecting the support entities. Additionally, it will cover the response to the terrorist attacks of 9/11, and the response to Hurricane Katrina. Specifically, this paper will look into a few areas where emergency response has failed and why. Furthermore, it will look at lessons learned from failings associated with these responses. Finally, this paper will look at what emergency response methods could improve, and a business design created to improve response efforts in the future.

Planning is a critical component in crisis recovery strategies and has been emphasized in Mental Health All-Hazards Disaster Planning Guidance from the United States Department of Health And Human Services. The significance of the planning process that involves various agencies and organizations were asserted in the interview with the Red Cross’s regional coordinator. Similar sentiments have been presented in the prescribed response plans in the article. The article asserts “individual and organizational relationships among interested parties are formed and solidified” (USDHH, 2003). This is in conformity with the responses give during the interview where it was asserted the development of fluid and cohesive response environment is dependent

Furthermore, we should allocate a budget to form a crisis management teams to manage this complex risk. It is very important for us to creating crisis management teams with high functional and simultaneous outlining a disaster recovery plan from a current template to resolve the crisis. This can assist our management easier in responding to crisis and more efficient dealing with crisis. They also can promptly evaluate to risk happen and improved the decision making in unpredictable

A., & Spillan, J. E. (2014). Crisis management in the new strategy landscape (2nd Ed.). Los Angeles: SAGE. Retrieved April 25, 2018.

During my previous four weeks of class, I have had the opportunity to experience the crisis management process throughout four simulations which explored different contexts and situations of an unfolding crisis. At its core, crisis management takes on the form of a four-step process: prevention, preparation, response, and recovery. A process, which in its entirety, relies upon notions of command, control, communication, and intelligence (t’Hart 37). In particular, simulations in intelligence analysis, crisis leadership, and crisis communication each focused and delved into a specific role of the crisis management process and required an appropriate application of leadership, communication, and analytic skill.

Disasters have become an inevitable part of businesses and organizations as well. They not only have a major effect on business and organizational continuity; they also result to an overhaul in organizational operational mechanisms (Awasthy, 2009). It is for this reason that many organizations and business resort to preparing business continuity plans and disaster recovery plans that will facilitate better disaster management in future. Effective disaster recovery plans are important to every business and organization (Thejendra, 2008).

Disaster Recovery Planning is the critical factor that can prevent headaches or nightmares experienced by an organization in times of disaster. Having a disaster recovery plan marks the difference between organizations that can successfully manage crises with minimal cost, effort and with maximum speed, and those organizations that cannot. By having back-up plans, not only for equipment and network recovery, but also detailed disaster recovery plans that precisely outline what steps each person involved in recovery efforts should undertake, an organization can improve their recovery time and minimize the disrupted time for their normal business functions. Thus it is essential that disaster recovery plans are carefully laid

During a crisis, one of the roles of a leader is to create and sustain the organization 's credibility and trust among crisis stakeholders for example like management, employees, customers, suppliers, partners, communities, investors, media, and government. Depending on the crisis situation, a leader 's goal is to assist the organization in returning to productivity. Overall, it is important to protect and sustain the organization 's reputation, brand and value in the marketplace As a HR department, they have a ways to prevent and overcome the impact of crisis management. So one of the HR strategic roles is to focus on leadership qualities such as strategic thinking, communication, empowerment, trust and integrity, considering a succession planning for crisis management and others. For example like human resource functions that will be applied to the crisis management planning. According to the SHRM 2005 (Strategic human resource management) disaster survey report, 65% of HR professionals believe that their organizations are well or very well prepared to face the crisis or disaster. On the perceptions of employees, only 50% of them think that their organizations are well or very well prepared. 85% of HR professionals indicate their organizations have some form of a formal disaster preparedness plan, and 15% do not. Organization must create a plan to make sure

The objective of this study was to develop a strategic contingency planning model to be used to fully incorporate emergency management and business continuity into organization structures. (For the purpose of this study, Emergency Management and Business Continuity were collectively referred to as “contingency planning.”) Presently, contingency planning is mainly done on an operational or tactical level. Current thinking suggests that contingency planning should be an active part of organizations’ overall strategic planning processes as well. Organizations will ultimately be better prepared for future disasters and crises.

According to Lillibridge and Klukken (1978), crisis is an event or situation that cause " 地n upset in equilibrium at the failure of one's traditional problem-solving approach which results in disorganization, hopelessness, sadness, confusion, and panic" (62). In the face of crisis, there is an urgent need to swing to action and communication is the only vehicle that can convey this message to everyone concerned. When crisis occur, communication challenges becomes worsened because the