Crisis Management Models in Human Services Leadership

The Scope of Human Services and Emergency Management

The field of human services is a burgeoning and broadly defined discipline. It requires an interdisciplinary approach to knowledge — one that focuses on prevention as well as solving human problems — and a commitment to improving the quality of life of the population served. This field is not limited to the delivery of services; it also encompasses individuals who seek to improve accessibility, accountability, and coordination among all necessary stakeholders, including clients, government agencies, co-workers, and others (Anspach, 1991). The key challenge in the field, however, is the ability to adequately manage multiple processes and competing horizontal priorities while keeping the client's needs and advocacy at the forefront.

The context of human services management is fundamentally shaped by environmental issues: there is no single rubric appropriate for every situation, every client, or every stakeholder. Much depends on the manner in which overall goals are being met within each individual situation. The most favorable task environments are those that are most contextually appropriate, and they should be cultivated through open, cooperative, and friendly communication — regardless of the particular stress or difficulty a situation presents (Patti, ed., 2009).

Emergency services represent one important area within this broader human services landscape. These are organizations that ensure public safety and health by responding to different types of emergencies. Many engage in awareness and prevention programs; others focus on detection and reporting, liaison functions, or some combination thereof. In the macro view, the three main emergency service functions are: police (providing community safety and reducing crime against persons or property); fire and rescue services (dealing with fire, rescue, and secondary emergency situations); and emergency medical services (ambulances, trained staff, and transportation to address emergencies). Within this broad category exist a number of secondary services, including search and rescue, mountain rescue, and air search operations. Civil emergency services also respond to safety-related issues as part of their on-the-job duties or on a part-time basis — including civilian traffic control, emergency social services, disaster relief, famine relief, animal and poison control, and volunteer ambulance services.

Key Challenges Facing Human Services Organizations

Within the human services field, numerous challenges arise: governmental issues, regulatory issues, budgetary constraints, stakeholder conflicts, and pressures from HMOs and insurance providers — all of which can stress every aspect of an organization to the point where it becomes tempting to lose sight of the very reason for the work itself: serving people. The range of emergency services is incredibly broad, and in theory these services should operate in congruence with one another. In practice, this is not always the case. Hurricane Katrina stands as a stark illustration: communication and coordination between services were so poor that the Department of Homeland Security subsequently called for nationwide implementation of the National Incident Management System, additional training, and a much stronger emphasis on coordination efforts (Hardina, 2005; Haddow et al., 2011).

These issues bring to the forefront one of the central concerns in emergency management: consistent and well-considered leadership within the paradigm of crisis management and planning. In the normal course of business and civic life, most management groups are not adequately prepared to deal effectively with crisis situations — fires, natural disasters, bomb threats, or any form of willful destruction. Two recent examples that revealed just how underprepared most organizations are were the September 11 attacks and Hurricane Katrina; both were failures, in their own right, of the capacity to quickly and effectively manage crisis situations. These events changed the lives of many Americans permanently and demonstrated that business communities and communities at large are all susceptible to disaster or crisis at any time. Such disruptions can be extraordinarily costly to the economy and carry wide-ranging consequences for individuals and culture alike. Since September 11, there has been a proliferation of reports, books, academic publications, and conferences on crisis management — all aimed at helping managers develop well-considered plans to put into place when a crisis occurs (Mitroff, 2005).

There are numerous aspects to crisis management in the contemporary world: natural disasters, technological crises, confrontation crises, crises of malevolence, crises of misdeed, and workplace violence. Alongside these varied crisis types, there are, of course, numerous paradigms and theories on the most effective way to handle each. These include, but are not limited to, the Standard Crisis Management Model, Management Crisis Planning, Contingency Planning, Business Continuity Planning, Structural-Functional Systems Theory, Diffusion of Innovation Theory, and the use of apology and public relations in crisis management (Augustine, 2000).

In general, crisis management focuses on three major questions: (1) What are the most appropriate methods of response to both real and perceived crises? (2) What models and scenarios need to be defined to constitute a crisis and engage a necessary and appropriate response? (3) What communication plan and chain of command is necessary to ensure that the emergency phase of crisis management is handled appropriately? (Fink, 2000).

Since both Katrina and September 11 — and even earlier incidents such as food recalls, the Jack-in-the-Box E. coli scare, and the Tylenol poisonings — the quality of an organization's response has been directly indicative of public perception both during and after the crisis. Each organization involved, including in some cases the U.S. government, handled recent crises differently, and each received a different public response — with credibility retained or lost in direct proportion to the quality of that response.

Defining Crisis: Types and Categories

Defining crisis is necessary to establish a complete platform on which to base both theoretical and practical solutions. The major crisis categories are as follows:

Natural Crises — often called "acts of God" — are typically environmental and unpreventable: earthquakes, tornadoes, hurricanes, floods, tsunamis, droughts, and similar events that threaten property, the environment, and human life. Hurricane Katrina is a prominent example of a natural crisis.

Technological Crises are caused by human applications of science or technology. These accidents typically result from a complex breakdown of machinery or from human error. They also tend to adversely affect the environment and generate significant psychological harm and attribution of blame. The Exxon Valdez oil spill, the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, and malicious software viruses are notable examples.

Confrontation Crises typically occur when groups form and act out against another group or organization through boycotts, riots, blockades, or acts of civil disobedience. The boycott of Nike over labor practices is one example of a confrontation crisis.

Crises of Malevolence occur when an individual or group uses hostile or criminal means to express dissatisfaction or to gain an advantage over an organization. Examples include product tampering, kidnapping, the spreading of malicious rumors, terrorism, and espionage. The 1982 Chicago Tylenol product-tampering murders are a well-known instance of this crisis type.

Crises of Misdeed arise from organizational failures, skewed management priorities, deception, or management misconduct. Organizational crises occur when management takes actions that harm stakeholders or employees; skewed-management crises occur when management neglects key issues or priorities; crises of deception occur when management willfully misrepresents or conceals information; and crises of management misconduct involve blatant disregard for rules resulting in amoral or illegal behavior. Notable examples include the tobacco industry's concealment of nicotine's addictive properties, defective silicone breast implants, and the Martha Stewart securities fraud case.

Workplace Violence — Crises occur when a current or former employee becomes enraged enough to cause physical harm in or near the workplace (for the above typology, see Hillyard, 2000; Mitroff, 2005).