(1)Crisis Management

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June 12, 2021
 

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this is Second topic relate to what is crisis management (How To Manage an International  crisis)

very simple one and translated     

 

Man has witnessed multiple crises, whether economic, social, environmental or security, since the ancient era until the limits of our present century. They were part of the local and international scene. Therefore, crisis management was found as a manifestation of human interaction with emergency or critical crises that faced human life since he tried to confront and oppose nature. . It was not known as crisis management, but it had other names such as: good management, leadership skill or decision-making, which was represented in more than one experience, including the Greek experience, which realized the importance of direct communication and dialogue with public opinion after the Peloponnesian war that occurred between Athens and Sparta. The Greek philosopher and historian Theodinis described this war as a turning point in Greek civilization. 

The concept of crisis management language and idiomatically:

Definition of management language and idiomatically:

Language: It is an insignificant feminine noun that combines a sound plural on departments, and its meaning is to rotate. For example, you have to turn the knob before the door opens, i.e. you have to turn it, and it is said: You managed so-and-so in the matter: if you tried to force him, and turned him away from the matter: if you asked him to leave it, and management: deliberation and dealing without delay.

idiomatically:Definitions of management varied according to the difference in the definition’s viewpoint and his intellectual logic from which he starts. The pioneer of scientific management, Frederick Taylor, defined management as “the exact knowledge of what you want men to know and then making sure that they do it in the best and cheapest way.” Henri Fayol defined it as “action involving forecasting, planning, organizing, commanding, coordinating and controlling”. Jhon F Mee considers management as “the art of obtaining maximum results with the least effort in order to achieve maximum popularity and happiness for both the employer and the employees while providing the best possible service to the community.” Dr. Khalil Al-Shammaa in his book Principles of Management defined it as:

Through these various definitions, we define management as that activity that aims to achieve a kind of coordination and cooperation among the efforts of a number of individuals in order to achieve a general goal. In other words, it is directing the activity of a group of individuals towards a common goal and organizing and coordinating their efforts to achieve the goal.

The concept of crisis language and idiomatically: The first origins of the use of the word crisis go back to ancient Greek medicine, and this word was used to denote the presence of an important turning point, and the existence of a fateful moment in the development of a disease, and this point results in either the patient’s recovery within a short period or his death .

Linguistically, the term crisis is derived from the Greek word krisis, which means the moment of decision, and it also refers to the meaning of sudden change, and often for the worse. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The term is also used in Chinese in the form of wei-ji, which is a word made up of two syllables, danger and opportunity, meaning that a crisis involves a danger to be avoided as well as an opportunity to be seized. In the Arabic language, the mediator lexicon defines the crisis as distress and drought, Lisan Al-Arab as “the distress, so it is said that the year or the eternity is severe for them, meaning the drought has become more severe and the good is said.” 

A dangerous and critical situation and turning point.

Unstable situations in political, economic or global affairs. And that is about to happen in a crucial change. 

A sudden change in a chronic illness, either for improvement or deterioration. 

In Webster’s Dictionary, it is defined as “a critical, unstable period or dysfunction”.

From the idiomatic point of view: the definition of the crisis differed according to the perspective or school in which it is considered. Economics defined the crisis as an accidental economic situation that affects the achievement of national goals arising from a global, regional or internal economic situation, and it needs to make all efforts to overcome it.

Sociology also defined it as a halt to the expected and organized events and disruption of customs and custom, which requires rapid change to restore balance and form habits more appropriate to the new situations imposed by the events of the crisis.

The term crisis was also used in the research of psychiatric scientists, to denote the acute psychological repercussions on the individual and his behavior, and on the group, and to refer also to the identity crisis.

While the meaning of the crisis was defined from the administrative perspective with many definitions from the point of view of administrators, Al-Khudairi defines it as “a situation faced by the organization’s management, in which events accelerate and causes are intertwined with results, during which the decision-maker loses the ability to control what is happening inside and outside the organization, which affects in a way significant impact on the organization’s performance and future.”

Izz al-Din al-Razem defines the crisis as “an unusual situation that leaves a decisive impact on the normal course of affairs, confounding the routine of life and work and disrupting the rules, regulations and basic structure of work.” The crisis, as Badr Shehab sees it, refers to “a fundamental defect in the normal course of the life of an individual, group or organization, and the crisis arises when an unexpected situation occurs for which the individual or group is unprepared.” 

The definition of crisis management is an additional compound term:

Academic interest in the study of crisis management began at the beginning of the sixties of the twentieth century, accompanied by the emergence of major crises facing society, as the crises of international conflicts and the Cold War escalated, specifically, when US Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara used this term for the first time in the John Kennedy administration. During the Cuban missile crisis in 1962, when the confrontation between the United States of America and the Soviet Union, allied with Cuba, was one of the most severe confrontations in the Cold War, this crisis almost led to the outbreak of nuclear war, so McNamara described it as managing a dangerous emergency. Then he took interest in studying the term and moved from the political framework to the social, then the economic and administrative framework. Research attempts and studies appeared to put definitions of the concept of crisis management, and we find them: 

Fahad Ahmed Al-Shaalan defined crisis management as a special administrative process that would produce a strategic response to crisis situations, through a group of pre-selected administrators who use their skills in addition to special procedures in order to reduce losses to a minimum, referring to the crisis management team. Muhammad Muhanna believes that crisis management means how to overcome crises with various scientific and administrative tools, avoid their negatives and take advantage of their positives. Nawaf Qutaish defines it as a specific technique or method used when confronting emergency situations, dealing with crises that must be confronted, and planning the method of confrontation early based on assumptions based on information that predict the occurrence of such crises.

Based on these previous definitions of crisis management and establishing them, we define a procedural definition according to which crisis management is an integrated administrative process that aims to overcome critical and decisive moments by identifying, studying and predicting their situation using scientific and administrative tools in order to deal with them with the least consequences, avoid their negatives and take advantage of their positives. .

Types of crises:

Al-Khudairi pointed out that crises have different types and divisions, and no matter how many and different their types, they can be divided as follows:

First: Classifying crises in terms of the stage of formation: the crisis at birth / crisis in the stage of growth / crisis in the stage of maturity / crisis in the stage of decline / crisis in the stage of disappearance. 

Second: Classifying crises in terms of the frequency of their occurrence: crises of a recurring cyclical nature / crises of a sudden, random, non-recurring nature.

Third: Classifying crises in terms of the depth of the crisis: shallow, shallow, marginal crises / deep, pervasive essential crises, structural impact.

Fourth: Classifying crises in terms of severity: Unbridled violent crises that are difficult to confront. They are crises that occur suddenly and violently and take the character of a resounding explosion.
Quiet, mild crises that are easy to face. They are superficial crises that are deep and marginal in impact.

Fifth:  Classification of crises in terms of comprehensiveness and impact: general crises that include all parts of the administrative entity in which the crisis occurred/special crises that are confined to one or more parts.

Sixth: Classifying crises in terms of the topic or focus of the crisis:

Material crises: they are economic, material, quantitative, and measurable in nature, and they can be studied and dealt with financially, with tools commensurate with the nature of the crisis.

Moral crises: They are crises of a psychological, personal, and intangible nature, and their dimensions cannot be easily grasped, and the crisis cannot be seen or heard, rather it can be felt.

Crises that combine the two previous types.

Crisis management stages and models:

If the organization fails to abort the crisis, it has no choice but to manage the life cycle of the crisis, and at a rate faster than the rate of its exacerbation and development. Some writers have presented practical models for managing the crisis to reduce its negatives and take advantage of its positives. Here are some of these models:

First: Steve Albrecht’s model

The crisis life cycle in its relationship to the organization is divided into the following stages through which the crisis can be managed.

1- Pre-crisis stage: The administration’s efforts are based on performing the following tasks: –
Surveying the environment and sensing potential crises that may erupt in the future.
Gathering information about these crises or problems and assessing the degree of their severity.
Take the necessary preventive measures to prevent the birth of the crisis.
Learn from the experiences of others.

2- The stage of crisis exacerbation: crises worsen on their own without the need for management assistance. However, there are some administrative environments that are preferred by crises over others, and these environments are characterized by the following features:
– Weak communication networks between departments and work sites.
Slow decision-making and bureaucracy.
Weakness of the spirit of belonging, lack of enthusiasm, and indifference.
Neglecting the study of competitors and the lack of clarity of strategic objectives.

3- Crisis management phase: It can also be called the “crisis containment” phase, and it includes the following tasks:
Recognizing the crisis. Allocating certain resources and a specific team to deal directly with the crisis. Mobilize efforts and supportive foreign aid. Develop an emergency plan to overcome the crisis radically and quickly.

4- Post-crisis phase: –
Learning from previous experiences and updating the crisis management plan based on the recent crisis, in order to lay the necessary foundations for developing a new plan for the prevention of crises and to introduce amendments to the existing plan.
Assessing the impact of the crisis on relationships and communications with clients and external parties.
Assessing the impact of the crisis on internal relations and the culture of the work environment.

Second: The Johnston & stepanavich model

The researchers William P. Johnston and Paul L. Stepanovich presented a practical model of crisis management, consisting of three stages that crisis management goes through in the organization, namely:

Planning
At this stage, the organization must plan for potential crises by relying on preventive methods in preparing to face the crisis. These preventive methods include linking crisis planning to the strategic planning process of the organization as a whole, as well as forming a specialized crisis management team and providing appropriate training and development programs for team members. .

Acting
at this stage, the organization is facing a real crisis that requires everyone to work to deal with it effectively and efficiently, and the support of the senior management for the efforts made is the starting point for this successful dealing with the crisis. It is also important at this stage to have good communication channels in order to ensure coordination of work between the different parties in the organization and direct it towards managing the crisis effectively and getting out with the least losses. 

Learning
This stage is an opportunity for the organization to take advantage of the crises it faced in the past to raise its ability and efficiency in dealing with crises that may occur in the future.

Third: The Pearson and Mitroff Model – C. Person & I. Mitroff

This model is one of the most famous and clarified models presented by the researchers. This model consists of five stages that crisis management goes through:

1- Early Warning Signs Phase A crisis sends long before it occurs a series of early warning signals or symptoms that may predict the possibility of a crisis and unless sufficient attention is paid to these signals, it is very likely that a crisis will occur, and early warning signals represent a problem where managers receive many types of Real and important signals, in addition, each crisis sends its own alarm signals, and it can be difficult to differentiate between the signals for each individual crisis, and therefore one of the important functions of the crisis management team is to supervise the detection, tracking and analysis of alarm signals.

2- The stage of preparedness and prevention The organization must have sufficient preparations and methods to prevent crises, and the goal of crisis management at this stage is to try to prevent the occurrence of the crisis or reduce its severity, by developing different scenarios for the expected crisis events and distributing roles in a way that achieves the main objective of
crisis management and is dealing with the crisis efficiently and effectively.

3- The stage of containing or limiting the damage Sometimes it is difficult to prevent crises from occurring, this stage aims to prepare the means to help contain the effects resulting from the crisis, and the importance of isolating the crisis at this stage is clearly visible, by taking measures that limit the damage , and prevents it from spreading, to other parts of the organization that are not yet affected.

4- The stage of recovery of activity This stage includes the preparation and implementation of short and long-term (ready and previously selected) programs. The stage of recovery of activity includes several aspects, including: an attempt to recover tangible and intangible assets that have been lost. It is noted that managers predetermine the elements and processes, and individuals who are of a degree of importance, to carry out daily operations, and they can accomplish this stage efficiently. The organizations targeted for crises may make a serious mistake in focusing The internal operations ignore the impact of the crisis on the external parties, or pay attention to it late. Usually, the group operating at this stage experiences a bit of excessive enthusiasm, as the group unites and coheres in the face of a specific danger and a more specific task.

5- The learning stage This stage includes the retrieval of events and their in-depth study and drawing out lessons and lessons learned from them, in order to raise the efficiency of the organization in dealing with future crises, and then disseminate those lessons to all parties related to the organization.

Fourth: The Shaalan Model

Fahd Al-Shaalan presented a crisis management model that would deal with crises faced by institutions, reduce their negative effects, and benefit from their positive effects. This model consists of three stages:

Pre-crisis stage: Mitigating and preparing:  This stage represents taking certain preventive measures, in order to prevent the occurrence of the crisis as much as possible, or at least mitigate its effects. These measures include activities, such as: analyzing potential risks, estimating the available capabilities, benefiting from experiences Previous to achieve a higher degree of caution to prevent crises.

Crisis stage: confrontation and response
This stage is a real test of the plans prepared in advance, and of the preparations and training that preceded the crisis, the more the effort made in the previous stage was sufficient, this led to the success of crisis management in the stage of confrontation.

Post-crisis phase: rebalancing
At this phase, the organization is trying to remedy the effects of the crisis by rebuilding what was destroyed and setting controls for non-recurrence and benefiting from the crisis as lessons for dealing with the future.

Fifth: The Momni Model

The writer Nael Momani adds that the science of crisis management revolves around four main axes in order to apply it effectively, which are:

1- The mitigation phase:  the mitigation phase includes the measures aimed at removing the causes of the crisis and reducing the possibility of its occurrence and its impact on humans and the environment. This stage is considered one of the most important and most effective stages in dealing with crises at the lowest possible cost. By tempering, we mean to prevent the crisis from occurring before it occurs.

2- The stage of readiness: the  stage of readiness (precautionary) includes the measures aimed at protecting lives and property from the impact of risks that cannot be completely prevented through palliative measures. There is a need to take precautionary measures if there is a danger that is about to occur, and requires the availability of plans, procedures and necessary resources that must be prepared appropriately before the occurrence of the danger, in order to contribute to an effective response to reduce potential damage.

3- Response stage:  The third stage of dealing with crisis management includes the response stage, and it begins with the prediction of the coming danger and ends with the stability of the situation after the end of the danger.

4- The recovery phase:  It is the last phase of crisis management and starts from the end of the response phase until the society or institution returns to the normal situation it was in before the crisis occurred. to normal.