Boin and Lagadec (2000)

Management > Crisis Management > Lectures > Independent Research > Boin and Lagadec > Crisis change > Modern crisis

Modern crisis

A modern crisis is a complex tangle of events and consequences, which are difficult to predict and affect not just a part of the organisation, but society at large. Problems cannot be clearly defined in terms of space, time, actors and costs. Everything becomes uncertain, blurred and knowing what to do next is extremely difficult to determine.

The fact is, that "crisis" means just that - out of "normal" management control.

The response to a modern crisis is not just technical or local; it is an exectutive task.

Managers need to be trained to identify points of weakness in the company in order to prepare for this new typology of crisis:

1. Organisational weakeness causes failure - a firm that has no mechanisms of increased vilgilence, no collective training and no mobilising of essential networks is heading for disaster. An audit will assess the chances of a firm's survival during a crisis.
2. Reflexes promising defeat - non-prepared firms tend to avoid facing the warning signs until it is too late. When the crisis hits, chaos ensues as a result of the denial culture.
3. Costly unpreparedness - when faced with uncertain events, many firms use established procedures, even if they are counter-productive, in the search for certainty. Managers tend to avoid the situation, resulting in a distinct lack of leadership.
4. The amnesia syndrome - problems will recur if people in companies, post-crisis, act as if nothing happened, changing little. The root causes of the crisis are not dealt with.

Anticipated resilience

Prepare for the unknown