The 6 Phases of CM

LECTURE 13
CRISIS PHASES
The 6 Phases of CM
Mitroff offers a five-stage model for crisis management: “(1) signal detection, seek to
identify warning signs and take preventative measures; (2) probing and prevention,
active search and reduction of risk factors; (3) damage containment, crisis occurs and
actions taken to limit its spread; (4) recovery, effort to return to normal operations;
and (5) learning, people review the crisis management effort and learn from it.”
(1) Signal detection

Monitoring and heeding of early warning signals that point to the possible
occurrence of a crisis. The explosion of the space shuttle Challenger is a prime
example of a crisis whose early warning signals were ignored. The Report of the
President's Commission on the Space Shuttle Accident uncovered a comprehensive
trail of memos before the event clearly explaining that the O-ring was improperly
designed and hence could cause a catastrophic failure of the shuttle.
The difficulty, of course, is that organizations are bombarded with signals of all kinds.
However, it has been found that organizations that are crisis prepared make a point
of constantly probing and scrutinizing their operations and management structure
for warnings of potential crises. In other words, they do not leave the detection of
important signals to chance. Instead, they put in place mechanisms to increase the
chances of early detection.
(2) preparation/prevention/probing
Doing as much as possible to avoid crises and to prepare better for those that still
manage to occur. This phase does not imply that all crises can be prevented; instead,
it emphasizes that the adage "if it isn’t broke, don't fix it" has no place in CM.
Those organizations that can be classified as crisis prone exhibit a very different
"mind-set" from those that can be classified as crisis prepared. As in the phase of
signal detection, preparation/prevention/probing in crisis-pre-pared organizations is
the careful and constant probing of operations and management structures for
potential "breaks and cracks" before they become too big to "fix." An example of a
lack of attention to preparation/ prevention/ probing is Union Carbide's chemical
explosion in its Bhopal, India, plant, during which thousands of people died because
they had not previously been made aware of a basic safety response (i.e., covering
one's nose and mouth with rags to avoid ingesting methyl isocyanate gas).
(3) Damage containment

Intended to keep a crisis from spreading to other, uncontaminated parts of an
organization or its environment. A tragic example is the environmental costs of the
Exxon Valdez oil spill, which were intensified by both poor damage containment
mechanisms, such as inefficient oil-skimming equipment, and ineffectual damage
containment activities, as well as the time lost in communicating among divisions of
Exxon. A critical point regarding damage containment mechanisms and activities is
that they are virtually impossible to invent during a crisis.
Rather, effective CM requires the continued development and testing of CM

capabilities before a crisis. In short, effective CM is proactive, not reactive.
(4) Business recovery
During the recovery phase, crisis-prepared organizations implement short-term and
long-term business recovery programs to facilitate the resumption of normal
business operations. Programs designed for this purpose include the identification of
minimal services and procedures needed to resume business, the reassignment of
people to new jobs, and the designation of alternative operating sites.
(5) Learning
Reflection on and examination of the lessons that have been learned from the
organization's own crisis experiences, as well as those of other organizations. Many
organizations gloss over this phase because of the mistaken belief that an
examination of the past will "only reopen old wounds." But almost exactly the
opposite has been found to be true. Following a crisis or near disaster, crisis-
prepared organizations examine and compare the factors that enabled them to
perform well with those that impeded their CM performance, without assigning
blame. By contrast, crisis-prone organizations emphasize finding blame instead of
learning lessons.
A valid CM audit assesses how well an organization is performing on each of these

phases. (The scoring system used is a relatively simple one. Every yes that an
organization gives to a particular component adds a one to its score. In comparison,
the scoring system for the preceding variable types is much more complicated and is
explained in Chapter 5.
http://cpor.org/phasescrisis.cgi

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LECTURE 13

(1) Signal detection

(3) Damage containment

Rather, effective CM requires the continued development and testing of CM

A valid CM audit assesses how well an organization is performing on each of these

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