Codifying a crisis: Progressing from information sharing to distributed decision‐making

A key challenge in crisis management is maintaining an adequate information position to support coherent decision‐making between a range of actors. Such distributed decision‐making is often supported by a common operational picture that not only conveys factual information but also attempts to codify a dynamic and vibrant crisis management process. In this paper, we explain why it is so difficult to move from information sharing towards support for distributed decision‐making. We argue that two key processes need to be considered: supporting both the translation of meaning and the transformation of interests between those on the front line and those in the remote response network. Our analysis compares the information‐sharing processes in three large‐scale emergency response operations in the Netherlands. Results indicate that on several occasions the collaborative decision‐making process was hampered because actors limited themselves to factual information exchange. The decision‐making process only succeeds when actors take steps to resolve their varying interpretations and interests. This insight offers important lessons for improving information management doctrines and for supporting distributed decision‐making processes.     

Transboundary crisis management under the volcano: The case of the Icelandic ash cloud

This paper discusses the intricacies of external transboundary crises, namely those cross‐border threats whose management requires coordination among EU and non‐EU countries. Specifically, it explores the extent to which European integration theories shed light on the coordination of external transboundary crisis responses by assessing the weight and role of the actor constellations involved in the civil aviation response to the 2010 Icelandic ash cloud crisis. The use of social network analysis as a methodological tool generates novel empirical evidence on the configuration of crisis management structures. The analysis shows that many EU Member States led decision‐making, whereas supranational organizations were instrumental in the coordination of the ash cloud crisis response. The centrality of these bodies contrasts with the peripheral position of most interest groups. This paper also suggests that external transboundary crises present complex management dynamics that distinguish them from generic transboundary threats. For example, the response to the ash cloud crisis was not commanded by the European Economic Area/European Free Trade Association countries where its epicentre was located. The empirical analysis was based on information extracted from a survey to experts involved in the management of this episode, as well as from ten semi‐structured elite interviews.     

Managing Crises in the EU: Some Reflections of a Non‐EU Scholar

In recent years the EU has been increasingly involved in development and implementation of crisis policy as a component of its development and security policy. This process is seriously complicated by the EU architects, who had never conceived it as a crisis management institute. Therefore they failed to design built‐in organisational capacities into the Union to mitigate and respond to crises. In addition, the EU‐agreed overarching concept of crisis as such and EU crisis in particular is missing. Both issues remain a primary question on research and policy agendas. Provided below are some of the author's considerations and comments on these issues. It is argued that, despite the existing divergence in crisis interpretations in the EU, coherent conceptualisation is possible and approaches to this are introduced. Practical implications of generic crisis conceptualisation for EU crisis management policy are analysed. Within this context three major lessons from international experience, including that from the USA and Russia, are emphasised. These concern the issues of organisational flexibility, learning from earlier major crises and comprehensive training of crisis decision units critical for efficient crisis management policy.     

Initial Crisis Agent‐Response Impact Syndrome (ICARIS)

There has been a dramatic shift in attitude among organizations regarding the probabilities of crisis occurring. Once crises were considered the domain of the contingency management team that sought the fastest means to recovery, now the entire organization is compelled to take steps intended to mitigate conditions leading to a crisis. In this paper, the authors consider the organization's ‘first responders’ i.e., those who become involuntarily placed in the decision making process because they are the first to become aware of the conditions which indicate impending crisis simply because they are ‘on scene.’ As agents of the organization, these persons will make initial decisions well before the implementation of any formal contingency plan and because their decisions will be based on incomplete assumptions, they are likely to be in error. The impact of these initial crisis‐agent responses can cause irreparable damage to the organization, to the individuals within the organization, and to the surrounding environment. This tendency toward error is referred to as the initial crisis‐agent response impact syndrome: ICARIS. Exercising a program that prepares all employees for the initial decisions that need to be made at the moment of crisis can mitigate problems related to this issue.     

Crisis Politics in Authoritarian Regimes: How Crises Catalyse Changes under the State–Society Interactive Framework

Most studies and research on crisis management and government crises focus on nations that are advanced and democratic. Through the institutionalized mechanism of voting, the public can respond to a government's handling of a crisis without destabilizing the democratic system of government. However, the consequences of crises, particularly governance crises, in authoritarian regimes have not been adequately addressed. Drawing upon different frameworks in the field, this paper proposes a heuristic crisis development ladder and a state–society interactive framework more relevant for studying crisis management in authoritarian nations such as China. By focusing on the catalytic effect of crisis that accelerates reforms and changes, this paper argues that critical crises are politically powerful and decisive in authoritarian systems, especially in the context of an increasingly proactive civil society. This paper illustrates the crisis provoking politics that influences decision‐making under non‐democratic rule.     

Communication Gaps in Disaster Management: Perceptions by Experts from Governmental and Non‐Governmental Organizations

The complexity of current disasters creates a challenge for crisis communication. This paper aims at identifying gaps in communication in disaster management experienced in practice in order to facilitate learning from those situations. The research was conducted using a qualitative online open‐ended questionnaire. It shows that despite the developments in the discipline, communication as an integral part of decision making in disaster management needs to be further developed. The paper provides a practical‐oriented overview of the communication constraints in complex crisis situations, which has not been provided so far. This research is part of an international project developing performance indicators for a quality measurement system for crisis communication.     

Corporate Governance in the Context of Crises: Towards a Stakeholder Theory of Crisis Management

In this paper, we take a step towards developing a stakeholder theory of crisis management. We argue that, in the context of crises, adopting the principles of a stakeholder model of corporate governance will lead companies to engage more frequently in proactive and/or accommodating crisis management behaviour even if these crisis management behaviours are not perceived to maximize shareholder value. We also propose a mechanism that may explain why the stakeholder model may be associated with more successful crisis management outcomes. We conclude by challenging the efficacy of the shareholder view in crisis and crisis‐like situations, and call for further theoretical and empirical research.     

基于智能主体的决策资源管理

随着Internet的广泛普及,人们可以随时随地获取自己想要的信息,然而海量信息却带来了一场新的知识危机,也就是说,人们被知识的海洋所淹没。知识管理技术正是解决这种知识危机的重要而有效的手段,是知识工程和信息系统中的重要研究内容。论文介绍了该技术在决策资源管理中的应用,提出了一个基于智能主体的决策支持系统的体系结构,并且详细描述了基于本体与RDF的决策资源的知识表示,最后用一个实例阐述了这种决策资源管理方法的实现过程。     

An Exploratory Model for Evaluating Crisis Events and Managers' Concerns in Non‐Profit Organisations

Few organisations avoid the experience of crisis management. Some time during their life they are confronted with some type of crisis that may strain their resources and distract them from their central mission of serving its clients. Crisis management seeks to minimise the impact of these events. Although the crisis management literature is plentiful regarding larger organisations, little has been written on this subject as it relates to non‐profit organisations. This study examines the perceptions and experiences of crisis events among non‐profit organisation managers located in the north‐eastern part of the U.S. The results reveal that only a little more than a quarter of the respondents indicated that a formal crisis management team or any plans to implement it were operating in their non‐profit organisation.     

I am one of them: Examining crisis communication from an intergroup communication approach

This study took an intergroup communication approach and examined how two types of social identities, namely organizational identity and shared ethnic identity with the victim, affect publics’ reactions to a crisis. Data collected via a quasi‐experiment showed that organizational identity affects publics’ reactions, such that internal publics perceive the organization more positively and have less negative word‐of‐mouth intention. Internal publics feel guilty even if they are not personally responsible for the crisis. Publics do not react more negatively when their ethnic ingroup members are accidentally victimized. Organizations should mitigate the internal publics’ anger and guilt and also clarify that the crisis is nonethnicity‐related when the victims happen to be ethnic minorities to avoid any misunderstanding of victims’ ethnic ingroup members.     

Emergency management information systems: Could decision makers be supported in choosing display formats?

Recent information technologies make it possible to include sophisticated three-dimensional display formats in emergency management information systems (EMIS), decision-support systems that facilitate decision making in crisis situations. However, if decision makers are to improve their decisional performance, they must correctly identify appropriate situations for using these formats. We conduct two experiments and find that, as prior research has suggested, decision makers do not choose the most appropriate display format, but their performance improves when given prospective decisional guidance. We discuss implications of these findings for EMIS design, for the training of emergency management professionals, and for future research on display formats and decisional guidance.     

The European Union's capacities for managing crises

This article draws on a comprehensive new data set of crisis management capacities at the European Union level to highlight key patterns in their development and use. Organised within the categories of detection, sense‐making, decision‐making, coordination, meaning‐making, communication, and accountability, the data show considerable accumulation of capacities in detection and sense‐making, while decision‐making capacities lag behind. We find that most capacities are sector‐oriented rather than cross‐sectoral, and reside primarily within the European Commission rather than other EU institutions. Comparing the data to previous studies, we note that capacities overall are increasing and some are undergoing evolution; for example, horizon‐scanning tools once limited to collecting information have increasingly been given an analytical, “information enrichment” function akin to sense‐making.     

Organisational Issues in Implementing an Information Sharing Framework: Lessons from the Matata Flooding Events in New Zealand

This paper presents a critical review and analysis of issues in implementing electronic data and information sharing frameworks for organisations involved in response activities during disaster. An implementation focused approach is used to understand end‐user needs and develop tools that meet their operational requirements. A case study of New Zealand roading organisations examines how information is currently shared both within and between organisations to support crisis decision‐making, and the potential benefits and implications of enhanced data and information sharing frameworks. Preliminary results show that considerable performance gains in response activities during disasters can be achieved provided technology is designed to work with and enhance existing operating structures.     

Multicultural Crisis Communication: Towards a Social Constructionist Perspective

Crisis communication is a field dominated by case studies and is lacking of systematic knowledge and theoretical framework analysis. Functionalist and objectivist perspectives have dominated the field even though there are exceptions. This may be one reason why multicultural approaches to crisis communication, increasingly relevant in contemporary society, are very few and undeveloped. The aim in the article is to give a critical analysis of research that has been done on crisis communication as well as intercultural public relations and develop a different theoretical framework. We propose the use of ethnicity, focusing collective cultural identity as dynamic, relational and situational in crisis theory and practice. Ethnic differences seem to escalate during crises. Media use and access are also discussed. A Swedish survey shows, among other things, that people with a foreign background read mainstream newspapers more seldom than average Swedes, but that the access to Internet and mobile phones is very high. Based on a social constructionist epistemology, the article ends with four proposals for future research and practice in multicultural crisis communication: (1) audience‐orientation – focusing sense‐making, (2) a proactive and interactive approach – focusing dialogue, (3) a community‐focused approach – focusing a long‐range pre‐crisis perspective and, (4) an ethnicity‐approach towards intercultural communication.     

基于JAVA的安全管理信息系统设计

运用B/S和C/S模式相结合的混合模式开发了安全管理信息系统,具体介绍了系统的7个模块及功能,结合实际开发的系统,论述了该系统的设计与实现,该系统能逐步实现更多信息的计算机管理和信息管理决策支持系统,并能方便地并入其他计算机网络,实现信息共享。     

Crisis Communications Management on the Web: How Internet‐Based Technologies are Changing the Way Public Relations Professionals Handle Business Crises

This article analyses how Internet‐based technologies can help companies to: monitor their business environment online in search of potentially conflictive issues that need to be managed (issues management); to prepare a crisis communications plan that considers the Internet side of today's business landscape (crisis communications planning); to respond adequately to crises should they arise by using all available online tools (crisis response); and to establish appropriate Internet‐based actions once the crisis dies down (post‐crisis). The article also questions whether the traditional one‐way corporate approach and tone is still suitable in the new, more participative, online business environment, or whether companies should use a different tone, language, and attitude when engaging with their audiences on the Internet in a crisis situation.     

Ein selbstregelnder Informationsbeschaffungsalgorithmus zur Vermeidung von Auswahlbedauern bei multiperspektivischen Entscheidungsfindungen

In a world filled with an increasing number of choices people must carefully select the information they acquire in order to make sound decisions that they will not regret in the future. This ranges from everyday life decisions to those made by experts in the business world. The authors introduce a novel information acquisition algorithm based on the value that information has when preventing a decision maker from regretting his or her current decision. The main features of the model include the capacity to account for different risk attitudes of the decision maker as well as his or her forward-looking behavior, the ability to assess choice objects (projects or products) defined by multiple characteristics and a self-regulation mechanism for the information acquisition process, even in the absence of information acquisition costs. The main properties of the algorithm are examined numerically.     

Applying 2-Tuple Multigranularity Linguistic Variables to Determine the Supply Performance in Dynamic Environment Based on Product-Oriented Strategy

Supply performance assessment is not only the core mechanism for supplier management, but also the major task for enterprises in implementing supply chain management. Consequently, supply chain system implementation should rely on the results of supply performance assessments to supervise suppliers. However, supply performance assessment is always concerned with numerous supply behaviors, and the information obtained from these supply behaviors often varies during the measurement timeframe. Because of uncertainty and inaccuracy, the numerical data are not appropriate for demonstrating dynamic information. This study employs 2-tuple multigranularity linguistic variables to deal with dynamic information appropriately and assess supply performance, and even permits decision makers to introduce different linguistic terms (linguistic scale) based on consideration of supply behavior characteristics. The 2-tuple multigranularity linguistic variables present the information via linguistic and numeric results, both where the linguistic result could express the variation of dynamic information appropriately, and where the numerical result could further reflect the difference based on the same linguistic result to improve the sensitivity. Additionally, this study also employs a fuzzy linguistic quantifier to simulate the decision criteria based on the product strategy to further obtain the modified linguistic ordered weighted averaging operator with maximum entropy that will be exercised to aggregate the 2-tuple linguistic information. This investigation provides decision makers with rapid access to complete, and integrated information on the practical supply performance of suppliers as appropriate.     

A Schematic View of Crisis Threat Assessment

Given the short time available for decision‐making during a crisis, a schema is considered useful to organizations both for making sense of crisis situations and for developing an effective crisis plan. As an effort to bridge the existing ‘objective’ and ‘subjective’ approaches in crisis classification, a schematic view of assessing crisis threats is elaborated in this study and a new instrument for empirical measurement is further developed. The study is based on a triangulated research design. Based on inductive research and a questionnaire survey, we developed a schematic framework using a measuring instrument for assessing crisis threats that has four dimensions: command incompetence, environmental pressure, information ambiguity, and coordination difficulties. Then, a comparative case study was used to justify the schematic framework.