Applying Crisis Theory to Organizations: A Case Study:

doi:10.1177/105960117700200309

Home
/
Papers
/
Applying Crisis Theory to Organizations: A Case Study:

Journal Article•DOI•

Applying Crisis Theory to Organizations: A Case Study:

01 Sep 1977-Group & Organization Management (SAGE Publications)-Vol. 2, Iss: 3, pp 359-370

TL;DR: In this article, a case study of an organizational crisis is presented to illustrate the applicability of crisis theory to an organization and suggests that the major sign of a crisis is progressively rising tension, which results in emergency efforts to mobilize tension-reducing sources.

read less

Abstract: For both the administrator and the consultant, it is important to distin guish among crisis, stress, and conflict in an organization. Crisis theory, previously concerned mainly with the state of the individual, suggests that the major sign of organizational crisis is progressively rising tension, which results in emergency efforts to mobilize tension-reducing re sources. A case study of an organizational crisis is presented to illustrate the applicability of crisis theory to an organization. Factors that appear to precipitate organizational crisis and those that lead to its satisfactory resolution can be compiled from careful case studies. An awareness of such factors and of the nature of a crisis has important implications for organizational consultants and administrators. Suggestions for interven tions are offered.

...read moreread less

Citations

PDF

Open Access

More filters

Journal Article•DOI•

Synthesizing and Integrating the Crisis Literature: A Reflective Practice

[...]

Amanda G. McKendree

20 Jul 2011-The Review of Communication

TL;DR: The authors argue that reflective practices are necessary for defining crisis terms, recognizing multiple interpretations of crisis events, and avoiding a "this is that" approach to comparing crisis events. But they do not address the complexities existing among crisis concepts, theories, models, strategies and disciplinary conventions.

...read moreread less

Abstract: This essay contends that the acts of synthesizing and integrating the crisis literature are reflective practices attentive to the nuances existing among crisis terms, theories, models, strategies, and disciplinary conventions. After reviewing common approaches to synthesizing the crisis literature and the myriad of crisis definitions, theories, and strategies that exist, the author suggests reflective practice is necessary for nuancing crisis terms, recognizing multiple interpretations of crisis events exist, and avoiding a “this is that” approach to comparing crisis events. Exploring the practices of synthesizing and integrating the crisis literature informs how one interprets, understands, and learns from public crisis events.

...read moreread less

12 citations

Additional excerpts

...…crisis communication (Coombs, 2007; Coombs & Holladay, 1996, 2001, 2004), image restoration (Benoit, 2004), crisis (Gelman & Mirabito, 2005; Mandell & Zacker, 1977), chaos (Piotrowski, 2006; Seeger, 2002), stakeholder (Ulmer, 2001), narrative (Heath, 2004), and social construction theory…...
[...]

An Examination of Bias Incident Response at Postsecondary Institutions

[...]

Howard A. Gonyer¹•Institutions (1)

Bowling Green State University¹

01 Jan 2017

TL;DR: Wilson et al. as discussed by the authors conducted a general inductive study to understand how senior student affairs officers (SSAOs) have managed the response to bias on college campuses, and found that SSAOs have competing considerations and must consider all of these quickly and make the best decision.

...read moreread less

Abstract: Maureen E. Wilson, Advisor The purpose of this general inductive study was to understand how senior student affairs officers (SSAOs) have managed the response to bias on college campuses. The literature is clear about the negative effects of bias on targeted populations; however, there is a large gap in the literature when it comes to how bias incidents are managed. The goal of this study was to gain a deeper understanding about the processes SSAOs used to manage bias incidents, as well as what they learned from their experiences. Participants in this study were selected via purposeful sampling. A senior student affairs officer (SSAO) was defined as having at least one of the following criteria: responsibility for policy formation or vision planning for a division of student affairs, responsibility for resource allocation within a division of student affairs, or a wide scope of functional areas and/or large number of employees whom they supervise. Nine participants were interviewed and represented a variety of institutional types, geographic locations, and social identities. Six broad themes emerged from the data: (1) bias response; (2) outcomes; (3) response considerations; (4) challenges to bias incident response; (5) preparation for bias incident response; and (6) post-response reflection. Ten implications for SSAOs are presented as a result of the findings. First, SSAOs should develop formal bias reporting systems, as well as formal bias response plans. Second, SSAOs should form a bias response team. Third, SSAOs should consider all of the available options when determining what responses to implement. Fourth, SSAOs have competing considerations and must consider all of these quickly and make the best

...read moreread less

8 citations

Cites background or result from "Applying Crisis Theory to Organizat..."

...crisis management theoretical framework, Mandell and Zacker (1997) argued that a crisis has a negative impact on the overall function of the organization, however this study suggests that if the organization does not function well in the first place, the under-functioning could lead to a crisis. Another challenge participants faced was the belief of some students that diversity is just a class. Administrators worked to eliminate this challenge by providing education where they could and working to create systematic changes when possible. This is consistent with Thorne’s (2014) assertion that responses to bias need to be deeper than surface level acknowledgements of the bias behavior and should include systematic changes when necessary. Pavela (2006) also supported this as he called for managers of bias to engage in critical dialogue about the incident....
[...]
...crisis management theoretical framework, Mandell and Zacker (1997) argued that a crisis has a negative impact on the overall function of the organization, however this study suggests that if the organization does not function well in the first place, the under-functioning could lead to a crisis. Another challenge participants faced was the belief of some students that diversity is just a class. Administrators worked to eliminate this challenge by providing education where they could and working to create systematic changes when possible. This is consistent with Thorne’s (2014) assertion that responses to bias need to be deeper than surface level acknowledgements of the bias behavior and should include systematic changes when necessary....
[...]
...Another definition by Mandell and Zacker (1977) added a crisis has a negative impact on the overall functioning of the organization experiencing it....
[...]
...crisis management theoretical framework, Mandell and Zacker (1997) argued that a crisis has a negative impact on the overall function of the organization, however this study suggests that if the organization does not function well in the first place, the under-functioning could lead to a crisis. Another challenge participants faced was the belief of some students that diversity is just a class. Administrators worked to eliminate this challenge by providing education where they could and working to create systematic changes when possible. This is consistent with Thorne’s (2014) assertion that responses to bias need to be deeper than surface level acknowledgements of the bias behavior and should include systematic changes when necessary. Pavela (2006) also supported this as he called for managers of bias to engage in critical dialogue about the incident. Participants also described challenges presented by social media, particularly the fact that bias incidents can spread more quickly when captured by social media, in turn impacting many more students than a face-to-face incident. This is consistent with previous studies indicating that victims can be victimized multiple times when the bias occurs on social media and that often, targeted groups are subjected to bias more frequently and for longer periods of time (Gin et al., 2017; Tynes et al., 2013). Zdziarski et al., (2007) discussed the evolution of a crisis, detailing how every crisis event begins as a critical incident but may evolve to a campus emergency, and then a disaster....
[...]
...crisis management theoretical framework, Mandell and Zacker (1997) argued that a crisis has a negative impact on the overall function of the organization, however this study suggests that if the organization does not function well in the first place, the under-functioning could lead to a crisis....
[...]

Journal Article•DOI•

The Role of Evaluation in the Organizational Evolution of a School of Dentistry

[...]

Patrick J. Nalbone, Louis G. Terkla

01 Apr 1978-Evaluation & the Health Professions

TL;DR: The setting in which systematic evaluation processes are being developed and integrated into the routine operations and decision-making functions of a health professions school is described.

...read moreread less

Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to describe the setting in which systematic evaluation processes are being developed and integrated into the routine operations and decision-making functions of a health professions school. In response to pressures from both external sources and from within, a state-supported school of dentistry, the University of Oregon Health Sciences Center School of Dentistry, finds itself engaged, in an unprecedented way in the analysis, design and implementation of evaluation instruments, policies and procedures for many of its activities and levels of organization. The amount of time and effort put into the development of a &dquo;comprehensive&dquo; evaluation system by the faculty and administration has increased to such a degree that the issue of evaluation may be considered to be nearing crisis proportions. In effect it has become a problem in itself, requiring greater definition and assessment and, eventually, resolution. To understand this problem better the authors have relied heavily on the work of Daniel Stufflebeam and the Phi Delta Kappa National Study Committee on Evaluation (1971). Their book on educational evaluation and decision making provided a basis for many of the ideas in this article. Furthermore, the principles of General System Theory have been applied to establish a perspective, General System Theory is the contemporary &dquo;paradigm&dquo;l (Kuhn, 1962) that views events and things in terms of organization and struc-

...read moreread less

4 citations

Is Facebook an effective crisis communication tool for companies?: An analysis of BP's Facebook usage after the oil spill in 2010

[...]

Lan Ye

01 Jan 2014

1 citations

Journal Article•

The Counsellor, the Agency, and Organization Development

[...]

Ron McBryde

01 Jan 1988-Canadian Journal of Counselling and Psychotherapy

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present des changements theoriques and pratiques visant a appliquer le developpement de l'organisation au counseling and a d'autres organizations de services personnels.

...read moreread less

Abstract: Les processus et les methodes de counseling peuvent s'appliquer au developpement de l'organisation (OD) et certains conseillers peuvent jouer le role d'agents pour le changement de l'organisation. Toutefois, les methodes de counseling par elles-memes ne suffisent pas a des interventions completes de developpement d'une organisation. En fait, la mise en place de changements dans une agence de counseling importante et complexe, ou dans un grand centre de sante mentale, represente une intervention compliquee que necessite des connaissances supplementaires de la part du conseiller et du specialiste en OD industriel. Le present article avance des changements theoriques et pratiques visant a appliquer le developpement de l'organisation au counseling et a d'autres organisations de services personnels.

...read moreread less

References

PDF

Open Access

More filters

Book•

Identity and the life cycle

[...]

Erik H. Erikson

01 Jan 1959

TL;DR: Erikson as mentioned in this paper collected three early papers that-along with Childhood and Society-many consider to be the best introduction to Erikson's theories: "Ego Development and Historical Change", "Growth and Crises of the Health Personality" and "The Problem of Ego Identity".

...read moreread less

Abstract: This book collects three early papers that-along with Childhood and Society-many consider the best introduction to Erikson's theories. "Ego Development and Historical Change" is a selection of extensive notes in which Erikson first undertook to relate to each other observations on groups studied on field trips and on children studied longitudinally and clinically. These notes are representative of the source material used for Childhood and Society. "Growth and Crises of the Health Personality" takes Erikson beyond adolescence, into the critical stages of the whole life cycle. In the third and last essay, Erikson deals with "The Problem of Ego Identity" successively from biographical, clinical, and social points of view-all dimensions later pursued separately in his work.

...read moreread less

5,239 citations

Journal Article•DOI•

Symptomatology and management of acute grief

[...]

Erich Lindemann¹•Institutions (1)

Harvard University¹

01 Sep 1944-American Journal of Psychiatry

TL;DR: The points to be made in this paper are as follows: i.

...read moreread less

Abstract: At first glance, acute grief would not seem to be a medical or psychiatric disorder in the strict sense of the word but rather a normal reaction to a distressing situation. However, the understanding of reactions to traumatic experiences whether or not they represent clear-cut neuroses has become of ever-increasing importance to the psychiatrist. Bereavement or the sudden cessation of social interaction seems to be of special interest because it is often cited among the alleged psychogenic factors in psychosomatic disorders. The enormous increase in grief reactions due to war casualties, furthermore, demands an evaluation of their probable effect on the mental and physical health of our population. The points to be made in this paper are as follows: i. Acute grief is a definite syndrome with psychological and somatic symptomatology. 2. This syndrome may appear immediately after a crisis; it may be delayed; it may be exaggerated or apparently al)sent. 3. In place of the typical syndrome there may appear distorted pictures, each of which represents one special aspect of the grief syndrome. 4. By appropriate techniques these distorted pictures can be successfully transformed into a normal grief reaction with resolution. Our observations comprise tot patients. Included are (i) psychoneurotic patients who lost a relative during the course of treatment, (2) relatives of patients who uied in the hospital, (3) bereaved disaster victims (Cocoanut Grove Fire) and their close relatives, ( ) relatives of members of the armed forces.

...read moreread less

2,717 citations

Journal Article•DOI•

Identity and the Life Cycle.

[...]

Louis L. Lunsky

01 Sep 1966-JAMA Internal Medicine

TL;DR: This monograph is the first of a series published under the rubric ofPsychological Issuesthat deals with the analytic theory of behavior and is the theme of all of Erik Eriksen's unique contributions.

...read moreread less

Abstract: This monograph is the first of a series published under the rubric ofPsychological Issuesthat deals with the analytic theory of behavior. The republication of this selected paper was deemed necessary because of its pregnant observations and because of repeated references to it in both the psychiatric literature and discussions. The title is self-explanatory and is the theme of all of Erik Eriksen's unique contributions. Eriksen believes each man completes a continuum of individual life cycles. With each life cycle there is an emergence of socially definable identity. Identity formation is dependent on the process by which society identifies the young individual. The social process moulds generations in order to be reinvigorated. This interdependence of the individual aspiration and societal striving is indispensable to human life. The author adumbrates a concept of epigenesis by which he synthesizes and "dovetails psychosexual and psychosocial" development. He believes in the innate development

...read moreread less

2,514 citations

"Applying Crisis Theory to Organizat..." refers background in this paper

...The stress-inducing situation can be said to have engendered what Erikson (1959) has called an &dquo;accidental crisis ....
[...]
...The stress-inducing situation can be said to have engendered what Erikson (1959) has called an &dquo;accidental crisis ... periods of psychological or behavioral upset precipitated by life hazards involving a sudden loss of basic supplies, the threat of loss, or challenge associated with the…...
[...]

Book•

Principles of preventive psychiatry

[...]

Gerald Caplan

01 Jan 1964

1,913 citations

"Applying Crisis Theory to Organizat..." refers background in this paper

...…(1974) states simply that general criteria for adaptive crisis outcomes have been infrequently reported (for individual crisis), one may infer with Caplan (1964) that &dquo;the outcome of the crisis depends on the resolution of conflicting sources during the period of disequilibrium&dquo; (p. 53)....
[...]
...The pressure on each worker to change &dquo;constitutes an important problem which he can for the time being neither escape nor solve with his customary problem-solving resources&dquo; (Caplan, 1964, p. 53)....
[...]
...CRISIS THEORY Crisis theory is generally recognized as having been most influenced by Lindemann (1944) and Caplan (1964), with subsequent contributions by many researchers....
[...]
...Progressively increasing frustration influences the integrity of the organism and interferes with functioning (Caplan, 1964)....
[...]

Journal Article•DOI•

Symptomatology and management of acute grief

[...]

Erich Lindemann¹•Institutions (1)

Harvard University¹

01 Sep 1963-Pastoral Psychology

TL;DR: In this article, a definite syndrome with psychological and somatic symptomatology, acute grief is defined and examined in patients who lost a relative during the course of treatment, including psychoneurotic patients, relatives of patients who were in the hospital, bereaved disaster victims (Cocoanut Grove Fire) and their close relatives, and their relatives of members of the armed forces.

...read moreread less

628 citations

"Applying Crisis Theory to Organizat..." refers background in this paper

...CRISIS THEORY Crisis theory is generally recognized as having been most influenced by Lindemann (1944) and Caplan (1964), with subsequent contributions by many researchers....
[...]