In this book “Crisis Management” Roussi Marinov, Dr. Sc.,
discusses a direction which is new for Bulgaria and Europe called “crisis
management”. We set ourselves the goal to analyze the phenomenon called
“crisis” and the approaches to its management. More particular, we discuss the
problems of organizing, establishing, and carrying out communications in
conflict, emergency and crisis situations. We analyze the world, European and
Bulgarian experience in this respect. Of course, we are far from saying that we
can encompass all the complex problems in a book. We rather try to provoke a
certain way of thinking and to generate some new ideas in this complicated area
known as crisis management.
Talking about communications in
public relations we have in mind their present state and the trends for their
development. At the moment the possibilities of modern computer and
communications technologies are actively used to provide communications to each
person and, what is more, in such a way that the messages can be understood and
interpreted correctly by the people. The goal is to present a full information
picture of the events, based on facts. We suggest an open expert model for
management of crisis situations, based on the multimedia technologies. The
expert scheme which was developed can be continuously improved and included in
the Internet, Intranet and the national computer networks.
In a great number of cases the
management of a crisis which has arisen in a certain institution is connected
with the skill to analyze, predict and manage the legal risk. The goal, in the
long run, is to resolve the numerous legal problems which arise in situations
of sharp conflict and crisis.
The book consists of three basis
parts and appendices with several practical programs used to manage
communications in crisis and risk situations. Several tables and approaches
have been added for the research of communication situations in Bulgaria and
Europe.
The title
of the parts are as follows: “Chapter 1”“Characteristic Features of a
Crisis Situation”;“Chapter 2”“Management of crisis and Interactive
Technologies in Crisis Communications” and“Chapter” 3“Legal Aspects of
Crisis
During the last years the term “
crisis” has been widely used and became an integral part of society vocabulary,
especially in our society, but also in some of the western countries, and it is
used for characterization of different conditions. However, there is hardly
anyone who thinks over the meaning of crisis and what is there behind this
expression.
The term
“crisis” has occurred at first in medicine, and later on in psychology for
designating the critical processes in the human body or the psychological state
of the personality. During 17thand 18thcentury the
expression “crisis” began to be used for defining of some economic, social and
other processes, such as those connected with the natural phenomena and
disasters caused by them.
So the term is
not synonymous. And is often used inaccurately. The analyses carried out show
that in three of four cases when it is used by our politicians,
economists-practitioners, etc. a number of perplexities are caused. Moreover,
that the crisis management as technology has occurred in the middle of 90’s and
the specialists who practice and specialize in this field are quite few in the
world.
The concept
“crisis”, in the common sense, is a concept with negative connotation, but one
should know that every crisis has positive aspects and it develops in several
periods-before the crisis, during the crisis and after the crisis and it is a
succession of phases. This is a moment when new values and norms arise. In a
time of crisis people cannot act effectively together, but they become
receptive of new methods of action and styles of behavior
Usually, in
periods of crisis new ways of thinking or modern technologies enter society and
clash with the old arrangement, old-fashioned views and ideologies. It is known
that you can’t make something new without destroying something old. When the
new is imposed, conflicts arise, which activate the players on the social
scene. In moment of crisis it is spoken of before crisis state only in one
retrospection, but namely the state before crisis and the finding out of the
crisis symptoms are extremely important.
We speak about
crisis in society, but so that it can arise the prerequisites have been built
up for dozens of years. The period before the crisis can last alone for 5-6
years and more, which shows that most of the processes are carried out in
dark.
The individuals,
who experience the crisis on themselves, could see only a little surface layer,
what is more, this layer is not the same for all the individuals. People see
what they would like to see. That’s why, especially in time of crisis, the
often become victims of their illusions and fictions.
For the
explorers of the crisis this is an interesting period, not only of destruction,
but primarily of creation. It cannot be controlled, but can be effectively
managed..
The crisis gives
a favorable opportunity for an individual program for strengthening the role of
the personality,it’s liability and action.The survival in times of crises
depends on the activity of the creative individuals and
minorities.
The crisis has a
basic characteristic,it brings the decisions to two categorical
possibilities-development or collapse of the normal activity of the
system.
The competent
actions in emergency situations require specific organizations of the
information activity and communications, which most often are assigned by a
single centers that people’s efforts won’t be divided in two and they won’t be
hesitant.If allowed the society or the social groups to receive distorted and
repressive information,that may threaten their health and life.
For
example,during the earthquake in Strazhitza on 7 December 1986 44% of the
people,living in the region,have informed themselves about the event from
rumors,i.e. from an unreliable source of information.
In the case of
the Chernobyl accident the share of these people reaches 90% and more.The
consequences are:distorted attitude and opinion,which exist even nowadays and
here arises one of the most important problems.Although our society has perfect
specialists in disasters and emergency situations,and very good doctors,who
have carried out many interesting and qualitative studies in all these
spheres,part of this information or90% of it doesn’t reach the people.But in a
risky situation,caused by a certain disaster,the decisions are usually very
simple and elementary.
I will give you
immediately an example with one of the biggest industrial accident in the
Indian town of Bhopal in 1984,when more than 200 thousand people had been
affected by poisonous gas.The decision had been very simple-the people should
have only known to cover their respiratory organs with a wet or damp
handkerchief or gauze,but they hadn’t known that..
The basic moments
of the implications of the communications in the of crisis are the
following:the policy and the communication situation should be deeply
analyzed-the specialists call it also “analysis of the communication field”-at
the moment of crisis occurrence and the human influence should be taken into
consideration, as the personalities,drawn in the crisis,react to the situation
in a different way.
Next
trend-the care for people’s health and life has primary importance and it is
very important from communication point of view not to be allowed the creation
of psychosis or avalanche of rumors
The
next trend is -candidness,honesty and liability of the institution,carrying out
the communication with all the participants in the process,but that is possible
if trust is preliminary built up on the side of different communities, if the
media and the process connected with it are fully included and a true dialogue
between all purposeful audiences and the society as a whole is built up.For
this purpose,the achievements in the communication and computer technologies,so
that new channel information be obtained and high level of information be
achieved..
Besides
this,one modern means is the building up of electronic engineering
villages,which enable,of example,groups,training children,to dive their
missiles over the corresponding village and to choose definite site to enter,
of course,in virtual reality.
In the
process of organizing of this activity for protection of the individuals from
various risks we have in mind the whole characteristic of man,all his
spheres.Here are included the health sphere,the psychic sphere,the values’
sphere,the mental,social and conscious spheres.The institutions itself,which
implements the communications,builds up an own internal communication and
information network.
For us the
critical situation is any situation suffered by an individual
person,group,community,system,nature as a whole,and their survival depends of
their capabilities to adapt to the realities ad their creative response to the
challenges.
The outlet of
the situations varies from lethal one to survival of the individual,whereas the
survival is considered a creative process and depends on the intellectual
potential ad the intellectual capabilities if the individual himself. That is
each critical situation is looked upon as a risky, conflict situation and
respectively a highly indefinite one. Speaking of the crisis, we look upon
things in a broader sense, I.e., you can imagine two poles: the psychic crisis
is one pole, while a crisis in the galaxy is on the other pole, i.e. the extent
of the resources allocated by a country from its own budget for protection
against an asteroid attack, for example, fantastic as it is the phenomenon of
the effective communication. How shall our messages reach the audiences, the
publics. In our opinion, training covers five stages:
The first stage
covers the information given to the people.
The second stage
refers to the gaining of knowledge, so the information is more
profound.
The third stage
refers to obtaining of understanding.
The fourth stage
is related to the action.
That is, 200
million persons get the information about emergencies and protection against
them, on the other pole are 1 000 people which can actually proceed to action.
And a typical example is the Kobe in January 1995(although the Japanese
training system for protection against earthquake was the most effective and
comprehensive one)after the earthquake in Kobe the whole population, the urban
population fell into collapse, fell into panic. The Government was paralyzed.
All activities were paralyzed.
This example
shows that the problems are much more complicated that hat you can imagine.
They are rather sociological and communication problems, and the latter cover a
very large area.