HUMAN RESOURCES PLANNING

ON TERRORISM AND CRISES

IN THE ASIA PACIFIC REGION:
CROSS-NATIONAL CHALLENGE,
RECONSIDERATION, AND
PROPOSITION FROM WESTERN
EXPERIENCES
D I A N - YA N L I O U A N D C H I N - H U A N G L I N
Since the 9/11 attacks in the United States (2001) and the two bombing events
in Bali (2002, 2005), there has been renewed interest in emergency prevention
policies in many organizations around the world. Functional terrorism preparedness requires changes in organizational thinking about external environmental threats. This shift in organizational thinking could be led by human resource departments. In order to achieve this goal, HR departments must
redefine their role in terms of crisis management, and then four key planning
measures for insuring postemergency operations should be observed. Using
system dynamics (SD) methodology, this article examines the causes of states
in which organizations operate after terrorist attacks. Based on the qualitative
analytic approach of causal loops, this article explores the major challenges for
HR development prompted by terrorism. Specifically, we focus on changes
both to organizational communication and to workforce planning and succession. These activities are a tremendous challenge immediately following a disaster. A functional HR plan must include elements for proactive alertness, the
ability to dispatch inventory, evacuation plans, and record preservation coupled with dissemination to employees and explicit employee training and
cross-cultural management. 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Correspondence to: Dian-Yan Liou, Assistant Professor, Department of Marketing & Logistics Management at Yu
Da College of Business, Taiwan, 361, #168, Shiue Fu Rd., Tan-Wen, Chao-Chio, Miao-Li, Taiwan, Phone: +886-37651188 ext. 6442, Fax: +886-37-651217, E-mail: dian728@yahoo.com.tw.
Human Resource Management, Spring 2008, Vol. 47, No. 1, Pp. 4972
2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com).
DOI: 10.1002/hrm.20197

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HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT, Spring 2008

Conceptual Background
ising incidences of global terrorism
and major criminal activities have
underscored the need for emergency
prevention policies in many organizations around the world. Until recently, sparse research focused on business
and human resource management under the
impact of terrorism in the Asia Pacific region
(Bennington & Habir, 2003). Interest in
Asian countries has grown in the wake of the
major political and economic Asian crisis in
mid-1997 and the two bombing events in
Bali, Indonesia. In the context of these crises
and the incipient recovery of international
businesses, more attention is
being paid to the need for effective HRM in the Asia Pacific reIt is important to
gion (Kismono, 1999).

explore actions
appropriate for HR

Defining Terrorism

The term terrorism has been used

frequently in mass media commuprofessionals to
nications but has not yet been
ensure the ability of consensually defined. Those in
the group being assailed, and their
an organization to
supporters, may view themselves
as freedom fighters or by some
function following a other less pejorative terms. Our
working definition of internaterrorist attack or
tional terrorism is manifold and
multidimensional. It implies the
other disaster.
threat or actual use of force or violence to attain a political goal
through fear, coercion, or intimidation (Alexander, Valton, & Wilkinson,
1979, p. 4), criminal acts intended or calculated to provoke a state of terror (United Nations, 1999), and premeditated politically
motivated violence perpetrated against noncombatant targets by subnational groups or
clandestine agents (Witschel, 2004).
It should be noted that not all terrorist activities are perpetrated on the home soil of the
terrorists enemies; they also could be conducted on foreign soil, where it is more difficult to protect the countrys interests. Two
representative instances are the bombing of
the USS Cole in Yemen and the attacks on the
U.S. military base in Saudi Arabia. Although

the effects of recent terrorist acts have spread

across the globe, the current study focuses on
Asia Pacific. Many implications, however,
may be applied to other areas in the world.
It is important to explore actions appropriate for HR professionals to ensure the ability of
an organization to function following a terrorist attack or other disaster. The challenges facing HR managers in the Asia Pacific region are
considerable. Culture change and having efficiency understood as a priority are among the
major challenges facing HR managers in both
public and private sectors (Terence, 2002).
There is a perceived need for less bureaucratic
behavior and more entrepreneurial behavior,
particularly in the public sector (Bowen,
Galang, & Pillai, 2002). To this end, we examine several sources to identify postdisaster demands experienced by some Asian countries.
We also refer to American antiterrorist measures with their many experiences, review the
relationship between emergency challenges
and planning, and, finally, discuss some crisis
management actions for business managers.

International Terrorism in Asia Pacific

Given that most early Southeast Asian terrorist groups are domestic rather than transnational and often are related to separatist
movements, counterterrorism efforts typically
have been limited to intrastate operations
with little or no cooperation among neighboring countries. In the Philippines during
the 1990s, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front
(MILF), which sought to establish an independent Islamic state in the primarily Muslim
southern province of Mindanao, launched a
series of attacks throughout the southern
Philippines that resulted in reprisals from the
army. In Indonesia, terrorism has been linked
to separatist movements in the provinces of
East Timor, Irian Jaya, and Aceh, resulting in
violent conflicts between separatist guerillas
and pro-Indonesian militias in conjunction
with a number of army units in 1999 (Chow,
2005). On Christmas Eve 2000, Islamic extremists set off bombs at 24 churches across
Indonesia, killing 19 people. Every year since
then, there has been a string of unexplained
attacks on Christians in Indonesia (Making a
Human Resource Management DOI: 10.1002/hrm

Human Resources Planning on Terrorism and Crises in the Asia Pacific Region

List, Checking It Twice, 2006).1 Unlike the

previous terrorist attacks, however, the deaths
of numerous foreigners in the Bali bombing
on October 12, 2002, thrust Indonesia into
the international spotlight.
The impact of these bombings on local
business (especially tourism) has been dramatic. Surveys by several nongovernmental
agencies have reported that businesses in
Bali with fewer than 20 employees lost more
than half their trade and laid off more than
half their staff (Elegant & Perrin, 2003). Although restaurants and cafs had enjoyed a
slight recovery after the 2002 Bali bombings
with an increase in hotel occupancy rates,
following the 2005 bombings, the number
of tourist arrivals to Bali dropped drasticallyfrom 5,000 people a day to only
2,000and cancellation rates were very
high. As Bali contributes around 40% of Indonesias U.S. $5 billion tourism revenue,
this change affected the countrys income
from the sector.
Aside from bombing, taking hostages is
one of the most common tactics utilized by
terrorists (Epps, 2005). The Philippines has one
of the highest rates of international kidnapping. President Arroyo vowed to focus on the
prosecution of the suspected kidnappers after
the brutal kidnapping and murder of CocaCola executive Betty Chua Sy. While this response has successfully held back open
hostage taking, the surreptitious kidnappings
have not yet been eradicated (Labog-Javellana,
2004). More frightening still were the abysmal
survival rates for the kidnapped victims (BBC
Monitoring International Reports, 2004).
The widespread threat of terrorism in
Asia Pacific has made international businessmen easy targets of hostage taking and has
generated fear among overseas workers, but
economic openness makes it difficult to prevent the infiltration of any country by terrorist groups. However, we should not accept
these attacks as something inescapable. The
Business Times (Time to Take the Gloves
Off, 2002) of Singapore opined:
The Bali bombing is a wake-up call. All
illusions about Southeast Asia being
free of terrorism will disappear. . . . We
Human Resource Management DOI: 10.1002/hrm

51

need a clear acknowledgement of the

seriousness of the problem and a concrete, cooperative, credible and wellpublicized strategy to tackle it.
According to Mitroff (2004), crisis leadership principles should be promoted by
HRM professionals as a key aspect of crisis
management. HRM must rise to the level of
the challenges, dangers, and ideological
distortion that has affected the minds and
attitudes of the groups that are behind
such violence.
In the globalization era, it is
becoming more evident that a
strategic approach to HR management will be an imperative for In the globalization
firms to enhance their competitive
era, it is becoming
advantage. This strategic perspective involves designing and imple- more evident that a
menting a set of policies and practices to ensure that a firms human strategic approach
capital contributes to the achievement of business objectives (Baird to HR management
& Meshoulam, 1988; S. E. Jackson
will be an
& Schuler, 1995). Since many of us
spend the majority of our waking imperative for firms
hours in a corporate environment,
to enhance their
and since we depend on that corporate environment to provide
competitive
our income, it is important to anticipate the implications of terroradvantage.
ist incidents on that environment
and to look at the specific threats
terrorists posed to businessmen.

Learning from Disasters

Disasters can be described as unpredictable
catastrophic changes that normally are responded to after the event, either by deploying contingency plans already in place
or through reactive response (Prideaux,
Laws, & Faulkner, 2003). Individual responses to natural and technological disasters might be similar, although not exactly
the same, as such responses to terrorist incidents. Like terrorist events, natural and
technological disasters are unpredictable environmental conditions with indeterminable frequency, intensity, and location,

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HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT, Spring 2008

and which may damage physical structures,

disrupt commerce, and create death and personal injury.
For example, while typhoons are not an
unusual phenomenon in Taiwan, the one that
occurred in September 2001 was so severe that
it disrupted some manufacturing operations
upon which Compaq depended (Mingis,
2001). Nobody but the terrorists themselves
expected attacks on Indonesias most important tourist destination, Bali. However, people
need to work in a familiar environment.
These circumstances were characterized by
tremendous amounts of uncertainty, confusion, and fear, which required fast, but sound,
decisions by many in the management community (Sayegh, Anthony, & Perrew, 2004).
Even organizations that do not
Measures that are
think of themselves as prime teruseful in responding rorist targets do not have the luxury of considering themselves exto a wide range of
empt from the need for disaster
planning. Terrorism and threats of
disasters and
war must be taken seriously in all
disaster planning scenarios. The
emergencies also
1993 terrorist bombing of the
are useful in
American World Trade Center
(WTC) taught tenants to be ready.
responding to
The WTC was probably one of the
best-prepared office facilities from
terrorist attacks.
a systems- and data-recovery perspective. The Y2K experience
greatly improved Merrill Lynchs
ability to respond to the 9/11 disaster. The
huge expenditures of Y2K yielded small dividends at the dawn of the new millennium but
were priceless on September 11 (Dignan,
2001). Without such prior effort, the information losses of 9/11 would have been much
worse. Thus, a manager with past experience
with events similar to the current crisis may
have assumptions about the cause of the crisis
through matching the current situation with
his/her existing narrative schema, and thus
might be able to make more effective decisions based on these assumptions.
Within developing Asian countries, however, workplace disaster planning has seen a
much slower implementation. The devastating, earthquake-induced tidal waves that

struck Indonesia and several other countries

in December 2004 generated some empirical
information on the experience of local governments following disasters. The key, recurrent observation from these experiences is
that the local governments of these developing nations are inundated with service demands following earthquakes and other disasters (Tierney, Lindell, & Perry, 2001). These
included demands related to housing, financial support (temporary job losses lead to applications for unemployment and other assistance), sanitation, schools and other
sectors of government responsibility.
A similar pattern has been observed following other natural and technological hazards (D. Alexander, 1993). The 2005 bomb
attacks in Bali that killed 23 people were a
further blow to the islands tourism industry,
which had been struggling to recover from
the slump it experienced after the October
2002 bombings. Similarly on August 2003,
the bomb blast at the Marriott hotel in
Jakarta that killed 14 people and left nearly
150 people injured was a dramatic demonstration that the jihad threat still exists in Indonesia (Smith, 2003). The reaction of Western countries to the bombings has been to
apply stricter warnings against travel to Indonesia. A survey of around 7,000 locals by
the UN Development Program and the
World Bank in early 2003 showed that
household incomes in Bali fell by 25% after
the bombings (Bali Takes Another Hit,
2005). It is worth mentioning that while natural and technological disasters usually generate service demands from victims and their
families, the impact of terrorist attacks is
community/nationwide, and generates
needs among a broader segment of the population (Buck, 1998).
The convincing argument for attending
to terrorist risks is the notion of multiple applicability across many hazards. That is,
measures that are useful in responding to a
wide range of disasters and emergencies also
are useful in responding to terrorist attacks.
For example, having a decision plan to evacuate employees from the workplace and
transfer operations to another location would
be useful in response to a workplace violence
Human Resource Management DOI: 10.1002/hrm

Human Resources Planning on Terrorism and Crises in the Asia Pacific Region

incident, earthquake impact, hurricane, or

flood. The same decision plan also is one
means of dealing with the destruction of a
terrorist bomb or nerve gas or anthrax attack.
Any disaster creates the need for effective
management of disaster-related challenges.
Managers with crisis management and leadership talents are highly valued in these circumstances since there is little time to gather and
consider all available information on the situation (Hymowitz, 2001). Still, the key to effective organization functioning during disasters
lies with motivated personnel who are physically able to work and who have access to the
appropriate equipment (for example, computers and vehicles) to do their jobs. Foremost,
employers must ensure basic psychological security of employees as a necessary foundation
for organizational performance. Following a
disaster, the availability of such resources in
any organization is a function of emergency
planning (Dahlhamer & DSousa, 1997).
Conceptualized as a decision situation, a
disaster may equate to an endangerment of
the organizations health and, therefore, survival. Learning from a crisis, however, also
may be interpreted in a positive lightan

opportunity for change and growth that

leads to a strengthening of the organization
(Golan, 1978). Thus, a disaster may be
viewed as a decision opportunity that, despite its potential for damage, may lead to
constructive growth if managed well.

Research Design
The aim of this article is to provide a case
study of HR practices using a system dynamics model of disaster effects and planning.
with particular focus on the Asia Pacific region under the threat of terrorism. A conceptual framework was developed to help
guide the current research design (Figure 1).

Managing Crisis
Many researchers have examined crisis in organizational settings (Huy, 1999; Janis, 1982;
Pearson & Clair, 1998). Sayegh et al. (2004)
synthesize this literature and yield six major
characteristics of an organizational crisis: (1)
high ambiguity with unknown causes and
effects; (2) low probability of occurring; (3)
an unusual and unfamiliar event; (4) requires

FIGURE 1. Framework Under Disaster Prevention Concept

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HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT, Spring 2008

rapid response; (5) poses a serious threat to

the survival of the organization and its stakeholders; and (6) presents a dilemma necessitating a decision that will result in positive
and/or negative change.
A terrorist event necessitates crisis management because it is a major, unfamiliar, and
unusual situation in which a manager has little time to prepare but often must make rapid
decisions. Approaches to, and the structures
associated with, crisis management have
evolved from militarist responses to warfare
and natural disasters. Contemporary conceptualizations of crisis management deal with
broader issues of prevention and mitigation, as
well as the need to manage issues related to response and recovery (Heck, 1991; Rosenthal &
Pijnenburg, 1991). Corporate initiatives to
learn from terrorist events have stemmed from
the realization that HRM needs to prepare for
terrorist crises. An important part of these
systems and activities involves the education of key personnel. As Heath (1993) observed, many Western organizations concerned with crisis management invariably
have adopted a four-stage model: PPRR (prevention, preparation, response, recovery), as
shown in Figure 2. This model is interactive
and intended to provide ongoing opportunities for learning. Education about crisis management relates closely to the preparation
aspect of the PPRR model, but as stochastic
events like 9/11 have shown, the sequence actually may begin with a response phase
(when the preparation phase is inadequate).
Responding to a crisis is a serious challenge

FIGURE 2. Crisis Management Model

because a crisis demands critical decisions that

must be made in awkward circumstances
(Janis, 1989). Moreover, crises generate barriers
to high-quality decision-making processes.
Crisis managers must solve complex dilemmas
without the information they require, in fluctuating organizational settings marked by bureaupolitics under conditions of severe stress.
For instance, crisis managers must decide during the initial phase of a crisis, with limited
and fragmented information, whether they
are dealing with the real thing or with a signal of crises to come. This dilemma has consequences for the allocation of resources. Should
all resources be committed to what appears to
be the crisis or should we wait until we have a
more complete picture of the situation? This
dilemma becomes even sharper during wars
and incidents of terrorism (Kam, 1988).
As such, the preparation, response, and recovery elements of the Crisis Management
Model are interrelated and, therefore, have a
crucial relationship to the learning purpose.
Learning is, therefore, an axiomatic and critical recurrent feature of the Crisis Management Model. This model could be strengthened by understanding system dynamics
brought from terrorist events.

Causal Loops in System Dynamics

A principal terrorist goal is to destabilize a region or country by attacking targets that disrupt normal activities and create fear. Since terrorists will adapt their strategy as a function of
available resources and their knowledge of the
vulnerability of the entity they are attacking,
the nature of the risk changes over time, leading to dynamic uncertainty (Michel-Kerjan,
2003). Despite the dynamic nature of the
global economy and the unpredictable, uncertain nature of todays business environments
(Barr, 1998; Clark, Varadarajan, & Pride, 1994;
Das & Teng, 1996; Ferris, Perrew, Anthony, &
Gilmore, 2000; Reger & Palmer, 1996; Weick,
1979), somehow the manager often is able to
quickly make an effective decision.
What are the factors that enable the manager to make the right decision under such
critical conditions? In order to understand
how HR and terrorist threats interact with
Human Resource Management DOI: 10.1002/hrm

Human Resources Planning on Terrorism and Crises in the Asia Pacific Region

each other, the current study employs the

system dynamics (SD) approach with causal
loops to depict a series of HR behaviors that
can be reasonably expected from employees
exposed to terrorist incidents. These models
are demonstrated in Figures 35. With an understanding of these behavioral models,
managers may respond more promptly and
effectively in the crucial moments.
The concept of SD, devised by Jay W. Forrester, helps analysts to realize the variation
within complicated system and to perceive

how an internal feedback loop within a system

impacts the whole systems behavior (Forrester, 1961). The SD approach begins with understanding the system of forces that creates
and sustains a problem (Roberts, 1978). A formal model is then developed as relevant data
are gathered from a variety of sources and a
rudimentary measure of understanding is
achieved. The power of the system dynamics
approach lies in its ability to incorporate the
more subjective factors that influence the
whole contingency. Factors such as changes in

FIGURE 3. Decreasing Safety Consciousness (Marais & Leveson, 2003)

FIGURE 4. Personnel Relocation and Documentation Decentralized Loops

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HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT, Spring 2008

FIGURE 5. Response and Protection Loops

quality, productivity, and motivation may be

included and represented explicitly within
causal feedback loops. The system dynamics
model offers a language using symbols and the
concepts of feedback loops to express these
factors in a rigorous, though qualitative, manner and also provides the opportunity to inTABLE

corporate simple, quantitative approximations

of their effects (Rodrigues & Bowers, 1996).
Both the system dynamics and the traditional approaches examine the same basic issues in management from very different perspectives; a summary is provided in Table I.
One of the fundamental differences between

Comparison of Characteristics of the Traditional and System Dynamics Approaches

Aspect

Traditional Approach

System Dynamics Approach

Focus

Project work and the problem

Feedback processes and the situation

Level of detail

Considerable detail in some areas

but ignores others

Little detail but attempts to capture the

whole incident

Factors considered
explicitly

The readily quantified and those

related to project work

The subjective and those related to

feedback processes

Key factor

The logic of work and its resource

requirements

Human resources behavior

Work model

A set of interrelated but distinct

packages

A continuous flow

Nature of estimates

Predictions assuming success, reflecting a desired outcome

A simulation of reality, including

human and system frailties, indicating
likely outcome

Source: Rodrigues and Bowers (1996), p. 217.

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Human Resources Planning on Terrorism and Crises in the Asia Pacific Region

the traditional and system dynamics approach is found in their models of incident
analysis: the degree of completion of the case
study. Traditional tools such as Gantt charts
and PERT/CPM view managerial work as the
sum of a set of work packages or activities,
each scheduled according to their precedence
relationships and resource requirements and
availabilities. In the system dynamics approach, the concept is modeled at a higher
level and a holistic view is adopted.
The models developed in the current
study use the format of a set of logical diagrams showing cause-and-effect relationships. On the diagram, the arrows represent
influences between the different factors. The
plus or minus sign indicates whether a positive change in the preceding factor has a positive or negative effect on the next; a + sign
indicates a positive correlation between the
events in question, while a sign indicates
a negative correlation. Depending on the polarities of causal links present, each feedback
loop can generate one of two types of effectsa snowball effect (one in which a
change in state generates action that causes a
bigger change in the state) or a balancing effect (where a change in state generates action
to absorb the change). A double bar (\\) on
the connection between two variables (factors) indicates a delay.
For an example, consider the safety consciousness versus terrorist incident to inspect
applications of feedback loops. An organization with an ideal safety culture should be able
to easily process small incidents or errors
within the system and then continue operating. By doing so, the organization and the system ultimately become stronger. As such, resilient organizations may find it necessary to
tolerate a certain level of errors, incidents,
breakdowns, and accidents to protect certain
systems against disaster (Marais & Leveson,
2003). As indicated in Figure 3, as the overall
number of incidents decreases, so does the situational awareness. The occurrence of another event will raise the awareness level. If
the awareness level is allowed to decline to
such a degree that it is negligible by the elimination of incident stimulation, it is likely
that severe consequences could result.
Human Resource Management DOI: 10.1002/hrm

57

Planning for Unanticipated Crisis

Michael Hammer argues in his book The
Agenda that business executives must prepare
for a world that they no longer can predict.
There usually exists a confused concept in the
management academic circle: Natural disaster
(such as tsunami) is predicable, but a manmade event (such as a terrorist attack) is not.
However, people cannot anticipate every
threat, yet it is often these unforeseen threats
that do the greatest damage. It seems a myth
that we could consider a terrorist event as a
predicable event. For instance, could Tokyo
authorities have anticipated that
anyone would release a deadly gas
in the citys subway system? Today,
An effective crisis
in the aftermath of many terror atmanagement team
tacks around the world, we can
imagine such a senseless act. But in
should include
1995, the year in which the Aum
Shinrikyo cult perpetrated the at- individuals who are
tack, no one in Japan expected
creative,
such an attack, so there was no
plan for managing this type of
knowledgeable of
emergency. However, managers are
not helpless in the face of environthe business, and
mental conditions and should develop organizational structures powerful in terms of
and strategies to deal with them
having authority to
accordingly. In addition, management must regularly reassess strate- make decisions and
gies, especially during periods of
significant change in the external allocate resources.
environment that will potentially
affect the firm.
Like most things involving people and the
HR function, the challenge is not to allow
oneself to become overwhelmed with the
scope of the problems and the complexity
and costs of the solutions (Lincoln Jr., 2002).
During the time of impact and immediately
thereafter, one must rely on emergency officials and emergency planning to guide citizen
and employee response. According to crisis
management literature, an effective crisis
management team should include individuals
who are creative, knowledgeable of the business, and powerful in terms of having authority to make decisions and allocate resources.
Furthermore, team members should bring a

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HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT, Spring 2008

variety of unique perspectives to solving the

problem (Kaufmann, Kesner, & Hazen, 1994).
However, it is believed that when a problem arises, most HR practitioners in the Asia
Pacific region are trapped in the legal system, meaning that they have to follow the
rules set down and cannot argue creatively as
to why something different should apply
(Levesque, 2005). Therefore, an important
question lies in determining what constitutes a reasonable issue list for managerial
crisis decision making aimed at maintaining
and enhancing service delivery levels. Emergency plans should be constructed through a
defined process managed by experts in crisis
management (Drabek & Hoetmer, 1991).
A subjective, emotional component also
must be factored into every decision concerning the allocation of resources directed toward
solving the majority of peoples problems. This
component is critical to the overall success of
any implementation of HR programs created as
the result of an attack. Indeed, some literature
is available to guide such managerial emergency preparations. Soon after the bombing of
the Alfred P. Murrah building in Oklahoma
City, the U.S. Office of Personnel Management
issued a book of guidelines for managers who
must respond to traumatic incidents in the
workplace (Tyler, 1996). The crisis management and disaster planning literature has also
identified a variety of decision-making guidelines that contribute to organizational viability
following disasters (Banerjee & Gillespie,
1994). From this literature, four decision-making elements were chosen as having a direct
impact on HR functioning in the immediate
aftermath of a terrorist attack or large disaster.
These elements were selected because they account for issues related to structural damage
and personnel needs that are crucial to the
maintenance of organizational development.
The four decision elements are as follows:
1. An alternate site for operational potential;
2. Possession of a plan to protect employees
and check on family welfare;
3. Measures to enable extended hours of
operation; and
4. Developing practicable strategies and
training personnel.

These elements do not constitute an exhaustive list of decision-making challenges

for managers following terrorist attacks or
other disasters. Collectively, however, the elements address critical short-term challenges
that routinely arise following all types of disasters. Ideally, these elements will create HR
administrative structures for crisis management tasks: prevent the danger through good
enforcement intelligence and perpetrator apprehension, prepare for incidents by effective planning to respond to incidents when
they happen and to recover afterward (Lindell
& Perry, 1992). These efforts to protect personnel and property are critical to preserving
organizational functionality (R. W. Perry &
Mankin, 2005).

Operational Capability
The majority of terrorist attacks have used either explosives or incendiary explosives (R.
W. Perry & Lindell, 2003). Consequently,
structural damage is a principal outcome of
such attacks (as shown in the underside of
Figure 1). The likelihood of structural compromise can be reduced in a variety of ways
(for example, via reinforcing retrofitting),
but it is not possible to make a structure
completely disaster-proof. The ability to
strengthen a structure against explosions,
high-magnitude earthquakes, or other extreme threats requires considerable expense.
A nonstructural and considerably cheaper
approach is to plan for the temporary relocation of all or partial departmental operations. A persistent challenge for all organizations in the aftermath of a disaster is the
possession of an updated inventory of personnel, equipment, and records (Jirsa, 1993).
Essential to the strategic HRM perspective
is an assumption that a firms performance is
influenced by the set of HRM practices that
the firm has in place. Empirical evidences
from various studies support this basic assumption (J. B. Arthur, 1994; Cutcher-Gershenfeld, 1991; Huselid, 1995; Huselid &
Becker, 1996; MacDuffie, 1995). In these studies, the term operational capability has been
explained to respondents as possession of all
personnel, equipment, vehicles, and records
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Human Resources Planning on Terrorism and Crises in the Asia Pacific Region

to immediately engage in normal service activity from an alternate location.

Minimizing injuries to staff constitutes an
obvious priority in disaster planning (Kartez
& Lindell, 1990), and specifically contributes
to continuity of operations following a terrorist incident. Rather than attempt to predict
specific destruction, two generic protective
functions were identified: provisions for site
evacuation and provisions for securing
records and equipment. A third component is
the notion that the existent preparedness
measures must be communicated to employees (as shown in the left side of Figure 4).

Personnel Relocation
An organizations manager or other appropriate authority can devise a process and ultimately select a site for any relocated operations. Protective activities should focus
upon (1) the presence of a plan for relocation; (2) communication of the plan to employees; and (3) the ability to relocate operational capability.
An excellent example of testing of plans
and of test evacuation drills was demonstrated
during the terrorist attack on the World Trade
Center, when all but a few of Morgan Stanleys
3,700 employees successfully evacuated from
the second tower. Dean Witter, a brokerage
that is now part of Morgan Stanley, was one of
the organizations affected by the 1993 bomb
attack. Management decided there and then
that should the unthinkable happen again,
staff would be trained to evacuate. The staff,
who were involved mainly in processing
trades for retail investors or handling administrative matters, were trained and organized to
evacuate floor by floor. After the first airplane
crashed into the North Tower, Morgan Stanleys staff quickly and efficiently evacuated
from their 22 floors (53rd to 74th) of the South
Tower. When the second airplane hit the Twin
Towers just above the Morgan Stanley floors,
the evacuation by Morgan Stanley personnel
was well under way. Good planning and luck
contributed to this success story.
Specifically, the resistance of tourism HR
to relocation may be an enormous hurdle in
implementing business continuity plans for
Human Resource Management DOI: 10.1002/hrm

59

HR, because tourism managers have to work

with a staff in a team. While staff (including
the basic level of staff such as those of hotel
receptions and room services, as well as HR
departments, financial control, and general
and property services) might be the first
candidates for being moved, having them in
peripheral locations will mean that they do
not know the managers and vice versa.
Moreover, in some cases, tourism managers
will require certain services close to guests.
There is strong evidence that proper customer settlements need such teamwork and
that tourism companies may be
able to improve customer service
by allowing their staff and managers to interact easily (Pohl, Only those plans in
2004).
which relocation
From a crisis management
perspective, only those plans in
planning has been
which relocation planning has
been devised and communicated
devised and
to staff represent acceptable precommunicated to
paredness to smoothly undertake
a change of operational venue.
staff represent
Although stress levels generally
will be high during emergency
acceptable
operations, one can hypothesize
preparedness to
even greater stress levels and
more chaotic activity in organizasmoothly undertake
tions without detailed and communicated plans.
a change of

Documentation
Decentralized

operational venue.

Documentation of effort and expenditure is

routine practice for most organizations. Organizations that rely heavily on paper documents, such as law firms and insurance
companies, are most vulnerable to significant losses.
Terrorist attacks have forced corporate
executives and government leaders to recognize the importance of their information assets and to tackle their weaknesses.
The term information assets tends to conjure
images of desktop PCs, telecommunication
networks, Web servers, and other recognizable items of computer technology. But
many terrible terrorist attacks highlighted

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HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT, Spring 2008

the fact that information assets come in

other forms as well, and reside in other
places besides the corporate computer
room. Many are outdated authorized documentscontracts, mortgages, willsthat
are not saved in a computer databasefor
these documents have legal significance
only if they are present in hard-copy type
with ink signatures of the pertinent individuals and entities.
More important than these scraps of
paper is the human workforce. For instance,
the Wall Street trading firm Cantor
Fitzgerald lost nearly 700 of its
traders during the 9/11 attack
To make
(Yourdon, 2002). In addition to
the tragedy of these deaths, the
organizations and
company lost vast quantities of
facts, names, phone numbers, wissystems more
dom, knowledge, and tidbits of inresilient, we need to formation stored in the heads of
those 700 people.
make it easier for
For many years, records manfront-line observers agement specialists have relied on
fire-resistant filing cabinets and
to communicate
fireproof vaults as the primary
methods for protecting paper
their warnings
records onsite. Traditionally, it is
not considered feasible to protect
quickly and
these documents by sending eieffectively, without
ther the originals or duplicate
copies to a secure offsite location.
worrying about
However, if an organization is vulnerable to a terrorist attack of the
being criticized as
severity of those that occurred on
alarmists.
9/11, the most, if not only, feasible strategy to protect the records
is to get them offsite (Stephens,
2003). In the wake of these attacks, organizations should adopt the long-term goal of converting every paper-based record-keeping system to digital format as soon as resources and
priorities allow. Furthermore, organizations
must consider strategies for dispersing computer data over multiple servers and multiple
locations. The major lesson is that organizations must now take steps to make their businesses less dependent on a single office or
data infrastructure.
Moreover, obtaining headquarters reimbursement (under disaster declarations in-

cluding terrorist attacks) often demands special accounting and documentation (Ward,
Morris, & Carlile, 1989). In many cases, a
headquarters-acceptable format and practice
will substantially differ from the normal
output of branch business systems. Also,
normal documentation systems, designed
for normal circumstances, might not function effectively during an emergency, as
mentioned earlier. Thus, it is usually recommended that managers, ideally with the
help of a finance department, create a documentation system for services expended and
materials acquired and used in connection
with the emergency response process (R. W.
Perry & Mankin, 2005) because only a sufficient budget would allow the development
of a documentation system decentralized as
depicted in the upper portion of Figure 4.
Corporate crisis management teams have
the responsibility of determining the allotment of company funds for employee/company insurance policies against possible terrorist attacks.
In Figure 4, we can deduce that the external factor, in this case a terrorist attack, will
give two reinforcing cycles (indicated by a
snowball in the center of each loop). One
cycle includes physical destruction, and the
other inhibits HR development. In other
words, the personnel matters interact with
the affected organization not only in terms of
its human life under crisis circumstances, but
also in terms of the loss of documentation if
a negative event occurs. However, such damage can be reduced by adequate disaster planning and proper budgeting. When a crisis occurs, managers of the targeted business
should be able to secure records and equipment immediately. Management should inform the staff of necessary guidelinessuch
as building evacuation instructions as part of
fire code compliancemake sure employees
understand them, and have dialogue regarding when to act in an emergency.

Response and Protection

In general, it is assumed by managers that employees would follow the instructions of emergency responders at the time of an incident
Human Resource Management DOI: 10.1002/hrm

Human Resources Planning on Terrorism and Crises in the Asia Pacific Region

(R. W. Perry & Mankin, 2005), and therefore

there is no need for an actual plan in the organization, but when emergency responders
arrive, some of them have explicit responsibility for scene evacuation.
A New York Port Authority Trainmaster
dramatically illustrated this concept on September 11, 2001. Within a few moments of
the first plane hitting the WTC, and with
only sparse, sketchy information available,
Trainmaster Richie Moran accurately and intuitively perceived the situation as a threat.
He consequently made an instantaneous decision to redirect all trains servicing the WTC.
This defensive decision protected the lives of
thousands of passengers whose lives would
have otherwise been imperiled (Quick Response by Port Authority Staff, 2001). In
these cases, quick decisions must be made in
what typically is a highly charged emotional
atmosphere characterized by fear, anxiety, excitement, and conflicting interests. Michael
Hammer, the management guru who initiated the business process reengineering
movement in the early 1990s, argues in his
book The Agenda (2001) that these bottomlevel workers often are discouraged from articulating their warnings and concerns. Thus,
in order to make organizations and systems
more resilient, we need to make it easier for
front-line observers to communicate their
warnings quickly and effectively, without
worrying about being criticized as alarmists.
Collectively, emergency responders not
only must handle people, but also must address the threat contingency and undertake
measures for immediate and long-term remedy. Since there is an inevitable lag between
impact and arrival of first responders, the
delay of employee evacuation or other protective actions enhances the probability of employee injury or death (as shown on the left
side of Figure 4). Thus, for eliminating possibility for loss, organizational leaders must impartially examine their system and places that
are most likely to be attacked. This may, on occasion, necessitate changes to business procedures that harden an organization against infiltration and attack, and diminish the
likelihood of catastrophic loss. Additionally,
organizations should lay out their internal
Human Resource Management DOI: 10.1002/hrm

61

emergency response processes and linkages

with first responders such as fire, police, and
other governmental supports.

Hostage Rescuing
Times of crisis are likely to involve a disruption of environmental contingencies such
that previously effective behaviors no longer
are supported by the new contingencies. Employees need rules to guide their behavior effectively in such an eventuality. In keeping
with the advice of Pelaez and Moreno (1998),
these rules ought to be explicit, accurate, simple, and ought to come
from a respected, reliable source.
When there is little time to re- Emergency planning
spond and lives may depend on
related to family
split-second decision making, employees need to be provided with
settlement should
accurate instructions that will increase their chances of responding
include provisions
successfully.
For example, even with appro- for quick access to
priate precautions and security
some level of
preparation, a businessperson still
may suffer the calamity of kidnap- psychological care
ping, hostage taking, or violent
as a means of
crimes. When such an incident occurs, the company first should verabating immediateify the incident and then send a
member from the crisis manageonset disaster
ment team to the scene to assess
syndrome.
the situation, collect all necessary
information, represent the victim
and his/her family to negotiate
with the terrorists, and report to top management. There should always be a clear line of
communication during a crisis.
For negotiation purposes, consider hiring
a professional negotiator to communicate
with kidnappers at all times, both in negotiating a ransom and in verifying the victims
health and safety. It is wise to hire a public relations (PR) representative to create a crisis
communication plan in the event of an emergency. During a crisis, this professional would
maintain communication with the media
during and after the crisis situation. This PR
spokesperson should be well prepared for any
press conferences and interviews, conveying

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HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT, Spring 2008

a clear message that the company is doing all

it can to protect the victim and his/her family. In the long run, these actions may save
the companys reputation.
Figure 4 shows that the more successful
the negotiation is with the terrorist, the less
injury it will cause to the hostage. A common perception is that people will flee in
panic and suffer from psychological dependency and disaster shock (Fischer, 1998a,
1998b). This perception, however, is not supported by the evidence (Quarantelli, 1998).
Disaster literature has pointed out that in the
immediate aftermath, people
confronted with disaster are
thinking, reacting beings who
Disaster literature
tend not to be frozen in fear, not
has pointed out that to engage in panic flight, and not
to engage in irrational behavior
in the immediate
(Tierney et al., 2001). Empirical
evidence has confirmed that emaftermath, people
ployees would instead develop a
high loyalty and positive relaconfronted with
tionship to the company in times
disaster are
of crisis (Harvey, 1993).
With this acknowledgment,
thinking, reacting
we elaborate on the possible
beings who tend not range of terrorist victims likely
reactions. An appropriate portrait
to be frozen in fear,
of people confronted with a disaster challenge (including certain
not to engage in
death) is that of the passengers on
panic flight, and not United Airlines Flight 93, who
once they understood the threat,
to engage in
organized and attacked their hijackers, risking death in a plane
irrational behavior.
crash rather than play a part in an
attack on Washington, D.C.

Providing family information for employees

is important to decrease anxiety (but is frequently neglected). It is clear that no manager would intentionally expose employees
to the added stress of not knowing about
their family following a crisis. Employees
will perform more effectively if they are reassured that their families are not in danger (as
shown in the upside of Figure 5).
Ideally, family members of the victims
should be notified and updated regularly
throughout the crisis. If there is any reason
that other family members of the victims
could be targeted, the family members should
be transported to a secure location. But it is
not easy, in most cases, for crisis management
authorities in the Asia Pacific region to include such provisions in a jurisdictional plan.
Thus, many managers would be left to improvise a system in the aftermath, which is almost a mission impossible. For example, employees given time in a crisis to contact their
families may find that telephone land lines
and wireless cell phones are not functioning
or are inundated, or their families may have
been temporarily relocated. Another complication may be simply that there is no time
available to release employees. Even though
managers often try to find some means of
contact and reassurance under such conditions, a very small degree of preplanning,
even as simple as counseling employees about
the issue of family contact, can eliminate the
challenge or reduce it substantially. Despite
these challenges, emergency planning related
to family settlement should include provisions for quick access to some level of psychological care as a means of abating immediate-onset disaster syndrome.

Employee Family Settlements

In the immediate impact period, one should
expect intense anxiety responses. Anxiety is
especially enhanced by the unfamiliar. Terrorist events that involve the use of chemical, biological, and radiological agents introduce the unfamiliar; many of these agents
are undetectable by normal human senses
and produce both immediate and delayed
negative outcomes (Mankin & Perry, 2004).
The right side of Figure 5 shows such a view.

Measures for Extended Operations

Sheffi (2001) notes that one major challenge
of international terrorism on supply-chain
management is the aftermath of terrorist attacks. Delivery lead times become less reliable
and demand forecasts become uncertain. As
we saw in the aftermath of the September 11
attacks in the United States, companies such
as Ford were unprepared for the possibility
that the Canadian border would be closed for
Human Resource Management DOI: 10.1002/hrm

Human Resources Planning on Terrorism and Crises in the Asia Pacific Region

a week, halting the shipment of parts and

materials between various manufacturing facilities located on either side of the border. In
response, management began to question the
wisdom of lean operations using just-intime processes. Some companies are ordering parts in larger quantities and increasing
safety stocks to keep their assembly lines
moving just in case their inbound transportation is disrupted (Sheffi, 2001) (as
shown in the top portion of Figure 6).
Since companies cannot afford to maintain redundant employees just in case,
companies should ensure that their knowledge is backed up. Critical processes should
be documented and these documents made
available. When appropriate, cross training
should be part of any preparedness effort (as
shown in the left side of Figure 6). In addition, firms are vulnerable to attacks on their
own facilities but also to attacks on their suppliers, customers, transportation providers,
and communication lines. In this regard, a
list of equipment and records allows effective

loss reporting, assessment of loss impact on

operations, and determination of needs (replacements) for sustained service delivery.
Following any disaster, business organizations should implement extended work
hours as a means of achieving cleanup and
refitting the organization to resume business (Lindell & Perry, 1998). For instance,
because dealing with the devastating aftermath of the tsunami of 2005 in Asia Pacific
was an entirely new experience for the Thai
people, the crisis was too great for the public authorities alone to manage. Departmental operations may be extended with
the use of volunteers (Gillespie, Sherraden,
Streeter, & Xakour, 1986) (as shown in the
right side of Figure 6). Volunteers may come
from the general public or from staff without critical duties, or possibly from retired
employees. Consequently, there is often a
potential pool of volunteers available to
supplement the organizational workforce
following a disaster. Additionally, volunteers could be called in from around the

FIGURE 6. Development and Training Loops for Extended Operations

Human Resource Management DOI: 10.1002/hrm

63

64

HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT, Spring 2008

world. Unfortunately, because of a lack of

experience in crisis volunteer management,
the skills of many of these volunteers are
not used to their fullest.
The aspects of HRM that are most significant for volunteer management are recruitment, selection, orientation, job allocation,
and compensation. Performance evaluation
and volunteer development can help to improve performance in the long run but are not
so important in the first months of crisis volunteering. Cross-cultural management is also
important in managing an international workforce. In the aftermath of the
tsunami disaster, volunteers from a
wide range of political, national,
The aspects of HRM and religious backgrounds came
together to work for the common
that are most
good (How HR Can Help, 2005).
For example, the Taiwan husignificant for
manitarian organization Tzu Chi,
founded by Dharma Master Cheng
volunteer
Yen in 1966, is focusing its relief
management are
efforts on helping the victims of
the devastating earthquake and
recruitment,
tsunamis in Sri Lanka, Indonesia,
Thailand, and Malaysia on Decemselection,
ber 26, 2004. Besides giving medorientation, job
ical care for the victims at the
medical post, Tzu Chi physicians
allocation, and
and volunteers also make house
visits to attend to victims who are
compensation.
unable to come to the medical
post (Taiwan Buddhist Tzu Chi
Foundation, 2005). Used in this
way, and with appropriate supervision, volunteer support can become an important supplementary workforce. A roster of volunteers
should be developed in normal times, and
volunteers should be trained in the operations
they would be involved in during an emergency. Periodic checks should be made to ensure that the roster is current, and periodic
training and refresher training of volunteers is
advisable.

Developing Practicable Strategies

and Training Personnel
As regards recent Asia Pacific terrorist disasters,
Indonesias tourism sector has experienced

hard times since the Bali terrorist bombings of

2002, and similar bombings of the JW Marriott
Hotel and the Australian Embassy in Jakarta in
the following years. The tourism and transport-related industries such as hotels, restaurants, retailing, airlines, cruises, travel agencies, and taxi services were severely hit. The
morale of the workers in many affected companies was very low, and anxieties set in.
Clearly, the development of organizational policy promoting awareness of threats
to operational continuity and of decision
support elements would be helpful. A key
issue here, as addressed by previous research
(e.g., Lavigna, 2002), is the support from the
central government. For example, southern
Thailand has endured much violence, including bombs and riots. However, millions
of visitors around the globe still feel it is safe
to visit Thailand. The key to Thailands success lies in its governments strong political
will and commitment to supporting the
countrys tourism industry, an economic
backbone (Widiadana, 2005). The country,
through its aggressive U.S. $65 million
amazing Thailand campaign, has carved
an impressive image among world travelers,
attracting more than 12 million visitors to
the country despite the tsunami and unrest
in the south. Another neighbor, Malaysia,
also launched an integrated and successful
Truly Asia campaign.
In contrast, to stimulate the recovery of
ruined tourist businesses, the central government of Indonesia immediately formulated a
Bali for the World campaign aimed at luring visitors back to the island. However, the
results were pitiful. The Bali for the World
campaign is evidenced only by T-shirts and
car stickers now, said Putu Agus Antara, former chairman of the Bali Tourism Board and
a senior tourism and textile industry professional. Indonesia, the largest country in
Southeast Asia, unfortunately has allocated
only U.S. $1 million for promotional activities. Such a perfunctory policy would not
prove to the private sector that its government is committed to the reactivation and
reconstruction of the tourism industry. This
situation is not new, as traditionally, most
tourism and hospitality organizations emHuman Resource Management DOI: 10.1002/hrm

Human Resources Planning on Terrorism and Crises in the Asia Pacific Region

ploy unskilled labor to face the high demand

for their services during the summer months
(peak season). As a result, the service level is
low. Additionally, job security and the training and qualification of the workforce are
highly affected by inferior administrative
management.
Practically, governments should assist
the tourism industry to recover from terrorist acts through a variety of financial incentives such as grants, loans, and tax credits.
For example, as a result of the WTC terrorist
attacks, U.S. airlines started losing billions in
U.S. dollars, and several of them were in danger of being bankrupt within a year. To help
them recover from these losses, the U.S.
Congress passed the Airline Stabilization Act,
giving the industry billions of dollars in economic subsidies.
The appearance of Asian tourism discussed above reflects the changing nature of
the industry, as seen by the needs of the different tourism segments and the alteration
in the habits of traveling as a result of major
events such as terrorism attacks on popular
tourist destinations. These challenges call for
a new approach to HR management, more
flexible labor laws, and a heightened concern for the security and dignity of those
working in the industry. These changes, in
turn, will have lasting impacts on the relationships established between tourism industry professionals and their customers.
Thus, it is evident that a search for new
talent is the major challenge for the service
industry in the Asia Pacific region. In particular, HRM practices such as employee participation, empowerment, and job redesign, including team-based production systems,
extensive employee training, and performance-contingent incentive compensation,
are widely believed to improve organizational performance (Pfeffer, 1994). These
ideas lead the need for HRM in various industries in the Asia Pacific region. This need
can be addressed by two key practices (Costa,
2004).
The first practice is the continuous enrichment of human capital. Terrorism has affected the way that organizations conceive
of and treat learning. In the post-terrorist
Human Resource Management DOI: 10.1002/hrm

65

era, many organizations have opted to implement technologically mediated learning,

particularly online learning (Hosie & Smith,
2004) such as video conferencing, Web conferencing, learning content management
systems, and the use of digital storage technologies (e.g., CD-ROMs, DVDs).
Communication is instantaneous in
todays digital world, but we forget about the
human communication required, not to mention the bureaucratic processes of analysis, review, and approval. Thus, the weather forecaster in the field may spot the whirling
funnel of an oncoming typhoon,
and he may have a cell phone for
relaying the information back to
Emphasizing value
his office. But the call might be received by a secretary who has to
creation through
walk down the hall to communicate the message verbally to a suemployee
pervisor, who then has to convene a committee to discuss the
development,
severity of the typhoon and then
knowledge
get the approval of the department chief before declaring an
management, and
emergency to the local police and
news media. This entire process
intellectual capital
might invoke yet another set of
bureaucratic activities (in this would help prepare
case, among the police and news
the organization for
media) before the sirens are
sounded and the warning mesthe challenges
sages appear on television screens.
posed by more
Therefore, emphasizing value creation through employee developthreatening
ment, knowledge management,
and intellectual capital would
circumstances.
help prepare the organization for
the challenges posed by more
threatening circumstances.
The second critical HR practice is the development of multidisciplinary teams. Researchers have observed that todays organizations are becoming increasingly social in
nature, with managers and employees coordinating work efforts in a team-based modality rather than working independently in a
rigid hierarchical structure (Ferris et al.,
2000). Since it is the human force that initiates changes and innovations, HR legitimately is assigned the lead function within

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HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT, Spring 2008

the organization. Managers should promote

teamwork through the development of multidisciplinary teams aimed at providing a
higher level of service while acting as nests
of complementary skills and competencies
across the organization. These teams, by
means of coaching programs and the leverage
of their members experiences, could integrate and disseminate best practices throughout the organization, thus leading to the
achievement of synergies and higher performances (DeRosa, Hantula, Kock, & DArcy,
2004). This attitude of challenging the status
quo of the organization should
help create the cultural conditions
for continuous improvement.
Since the motivation
and targeting

Discussion and Conclusion

Much of what has been written

about terrorism in relation to HR is
is poorly understood, in regards to the 9/11 attacks in
the United States, and little attenour inability to place tion has been given to HR management in developing countries
a reliable probability
(W. Arthur Jr., Woehr, Akande, &
Strong, 1995). However, terrorism
on an attack should
will continue to occur in countries
be enough incentive around the world unless we resolve the underlying causes. Terfor preparedness
rorists may strike anywhere. Conrather than passivity. sequently, there is no calculus, no
logic, and no guessing that permits emergency managers to accurately assess the terrorist threat to
a specific geographic locale. Since the motivation and targeting strategy of terrorists is
poorly understood, our inability to place a reliable probability on an attack should be
enough incentive for preparedness rather
than passivity.
A constellation of at least three phenomena may be drawn from our study. First, one
can look to natural and technological disasters
for clues regarding HR challenges in a disaster
situation, realizing that the consequences of
terrorism may be similar. Second, managers,
like the public at large, recognize the reality of
the threat of terrorist attacks, but as a group
feel such incidents are unlikely to directly impact them. Third, given the observed level of
strategy of terrorists

planning, a large proportion of organizations

are likely to be confronted with many operational impediments following a terrorist attack
or any large-scale disaster.
Most terrorist incidents in the world
have resulted in building damage or quarantine and occupant evacuations. These
conditions routinely produce the need for
operational relocation and planning for
personnel evacuations. Furthermore, workplace documentation and inventory systems are tied to the safety and preservation
of equipment, records, and the work environment, and also are critical in the recovery period where restorative funding is
available interorganizationally.
Generally speaking, many organizations
have begun to earnestly plan to recover computer systems and business operations following disasters, adopting such measures as
offsite record storage and computer backup
sites (Hues & Barnes, 1999). But most emergency planning has placed much less emphasis upon protecting employees and their
ability to function at work (R. W. Perry &
Lindell, 1996). In an emergency, most organizations studied have had no plans for loss of
workplace, potential personnel shortages
due to injury, operational difficulty because
of records and equipment loss, and difficulty
extending work hours, as well as challenges
in documenting losses and expenditures during a recovery period. Aside from enhanced
awareness of the danger, no concrete action
had been taken to preserve the workplace.
Managers in such organizations would face
the prospect of engaging in a salvage operation to locate equipment and records, determine functionality, and re-deploy before
they could resume service delivery.
The most precious resource of nearly every
company is the knowledge of its workers. In
connection with emergencies, an accurate accounting of employees is necessary to determine needs for search and rescue, for welfare
reporting to families, and for establishing
postevent staffing. Indeed, HR departments
can potentially perform a critical role not only
in planning for emergencies, but also in assisting during emergency situations through adjustments in employee policies, benefits, comHuman Resource Management DOI: 10.1002/hrm

Human Resources Planning on Terrorism and Crises in the Asia Pacific Region

munications, and deployment of psychological counselors to work with management and

employees. Managers also must have a procedure to account for employees and work with
families to cope with the enormous stress that
accompanies disasters.
HR departments generally are responsible
for training and education, and this responsibility could be extended to working with
departments in training for emergency preparedness and communicating emergency
plans to departmental employees. HR departments already have established routine
contacts with managers on other personnel
issues and have capability for training and
educational functions.
Only organizations that plan in advance
for their integration into department operations can effectively use volunteers. It is not
generally possible to find volunteers with specific training who would be critically useful to
a given department following a disaster. Thus,
since there is no time for serious training during an emergency response, volunteers are
best suited to cover routine tasks as a means of
either freeing trained employees to execute
functions requiring more skill or providing
rest to other employees. Obtaining a firm
commitment from various leaders to interact
with one another on a regular basis and encouraging the shedding of distrust and territoriality would further improve organization
and communication. Joint training exercises,
seminars, and conferences could be beneficial
in this regard. Other lessons learned, such as
managing convergence and emergence for
commercial, industrial, and tourist areas, may
require new ways of thinking and new approaches to crisis management.
To facilitate crisis management, the HR
function must be accepted as a key component and strategic partner in the emergency
planning, and operations of organizations.
Different operating cultures lead to differing
perceptual frameworks in assessing problems
and their solutions. The wants of branches
are frequently left unfulfilled by personnel offices, leading to antagonism between the two
(J. Perry & Mesch, 1997). As a result, the role of
HR departments in assisting branches with
emergency planning becomes an afterHuman Resource Management DOI: 10.1002/hrm

67

thought, if given a thought at all. In an era

when the terrorism risk is substantial and another terrorist attack on the world is virtually a
certainty, we can ill afford to allow antagonisms to impede HR departments and other
departments from creating a strategic alliance
for protection. The barriers to a meaningful
partnership for HR management with emergency planning are formidable and reflect the
same obstacles to more broadly participating
in strategic planning for various disasters. As
we rethink emergency preparedness, the role of the HR department needs to be rethought as well
Since there is no
as an integral part of this process.
Since terrorism response is
time for serious
particularly critical in the tourism
training during an
sector, any possible solution to increase skills and to develop an inemergency
tegrated approach to the training
and qualification of HR must be
response,
part of a national strategy. The
qualification of new tourism pro- volunteers are best
fessionals should be conducted
suited to cover
through specialized education
and training, supported by new
routine tasks as a
methodologies and teaching practices so as to prepare future promeans of either
fessionals.
freeing trained
Organizational responses to
terrorist attacks may differ by geoemployees to
graphic region. A few citizens of
Western nations might argue for
execute functions
greater worker empowerment and
involvement in the decision-mak- requiring more skill
ing processes at the firm level
or providing rest to
(Pucik, 1997). However, the profile of organizational behavior in
other employees.
some Asian countries is quite different than that of Western countries. Blindly introducing Western
HRM practices that reflect an instrumental
view of personnel not only may be ineffective, but it also may be an affront to the humanity2 of people outside a Western tradition
(T. Jackson, 2002).
HR managers also must consider constraints imposed by various government
regulations. These regulations may result in
significant inefficiencies for HR managers
used to focusing on fair compensation and

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HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT, Spring 2008

worker development (Lowe, Milliman,

Cieri, & Dowling, 2002). HR professionals
must rise to the challenge of quickly and effectively determining the course of action
to solve a myriad of time-sensitive personnel problems. Solutions to problems will
vary depending on company and management style, philosophy, and capabilities. An
adequately developed corporate culture is
also beneficial. It ensures that the organizations fundamental principles and values
are internalized. A developed corporate culture thus fosters the conformity of the individual employees reactions with the organizations reactions (Glaesser, 2004).
An interesting question for further research concerns how these managerial
processes relate to conventional questions
regarding learning and prevention. Organizations often appear to fail to learn (Lagadec,

1997), refuse to learn (Perrow, 1999), learn

only in symbolic ways (Clarke, 1999), or
learn in very slow ways. The challenge for
HRM researchers is to identify the conditions
with terrorism and crises issues that facilitate
effective learning and improvement in future performance.
Accomplishing this task is easier said than
done. If human intelligence is not sufficient
to choke off terrorism, the circulation between HR and terrorism will be endless, as in
the causal loops illustrated earlier in this article. We have made one attempt to contribute
to the consideration of behavioral analyses as
important features of the HR management directions now required as organizations confront their obligations during times of terror.
The templates and guidelines discussed will
assist HR in helping management and employees get through the difficult times ahead.

DIAN-YAN LIOU has a PhD in technology management from Chung Hua University, Taiwan. He received an MBA from Dallas Baptist University and currently works on the application of system dynamics. He is also an assistant professor in the Department of
Marketing & Logistics Management at the Yu Da College of Business, Taiwan. He has
been interested in the areas of innovation management and marketing strategy and has
just published his tenth book, Product Management: Strategic Marketing Perspective.
His papers have appeared in Technological Forecasting & Social Change and other journals. He also has had hundreds of articles published in newspapers and magazines in
order to share ideas with the general public in Taiwan.
CHIN-HUANG LIN has a PhD in science management from the National Chiao Tung University, Taiwan. Currently, Dr. Lin is an associate professor and also the director of human
resources at Chung Hua University, Taiwan. His research interests are in the areas of system dynamics, technology, and production management. He is also involved in many national research projects and presents at academic conferences. His articles have appeared
in Technovation, Technological Forecasting & Social Change, and other journals.

NOTES

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