Reading summary: Crisis Management and Communication
Mishaps and failures may cause harm to stakeholders or organizations, and crisis management tends to be a crucial organization function. It provides vital contact information on what should be carried out should a crisis occur. Effective crisis management and communication techniques are designed to handle threats subsequently, failure to which public safety significantly reduces during such events. These events include product harm to users and industrial accidents that may result in injury, loss of lives, and create financial losses to organizations.
In context, crisis management is a process that is designed to reduce the damage caused by a crisis while taking priority for human life. Crisis management can be classified into three parts: pre-crisis, crisis response, and post-crisis phases, all concerned with adequate preparation for a crisis and the best prevention techniques. The pre-crisis stage may also be identified as the warning stage, and it focuses on the prevention and development of an impending crisis. In this stage, the unknown variables are laid out, and teams are trained to handle such situations. Crisis management plans can also be set and updated annually and conduct exercises to test the crisis management team. Communication channels are also crucial in crisis management by using websites that have proved to be beneficial. Such include mass notification systems that are designed to reach individuals in the area of the impending crisis.
Crisis response is the next step that is rolled in motion after an imminent crisis occurs. In this stage, adequate communication tends to be crucial to handle the crisis effectively. The response guidelines that should be put into effect during this stage are quick, accurate, and consistent. In the post-crisis stage, the organization tries to return to its business, and it’s no longer a focal point in its day to day agendas. During this stage organization also look back and tries to reflect on what happened and try to prepare for the next crisis.
In conclusion, crisis management and communication tends to handle threats and has a primary concern to aid in public safety and reduce the damage caused. Crisis management should be molded into a learning experience since no company is entirely immune to a crisis since they are unpredictable. It also helps individuals prepare for overall outcomes and establish the appropriate lines of communication.
By learning the three stages of handling a crisis, these stages create an ideal emergency preparedness sequence that the organization keeps at bay. In relation, every individual must play their role in helping to safeguard society from the adverse consequences of an imminent crisis. These three stages thus help us identify the stage for an immediate response.