Handbook of Corporate Communication and Public ... - Blogs Unpad

an event, the greater the probability that
the event will occur in the future. Therefore,
organisation should and must continue
to evaluate reliance on technology
and to prepare for crises in advance. The
anticipatory model of crisis management
suggest the possibility that crises could be
held in check through an understanding of
preconditions and instituting action plans
to counteract the precondition effects.
‘In nearly every global disaster situation, it is
the case that at some level or another, information
was available which could have prevented
the disaster from happening’, wrote
Allison in 1993. However, the information was
either possessed by those with authority to act
upon it but who did not act; or it was not possessed
by those with the authority to act and it
was not sought out by those in authority; or it
was possessed by those who did not have the
power to act on it but not shared by them with
the parties who did possess the authority to act
upon it; or it was shared with the parties who
possessed the authority to act on it but the parties
with the requisite authority did not take
the information seriously enough (p. 40). Thus
the will to communicate relies to some extent
on the existing culture of a bank and its available
expertise not only in speaking and providing
information through the media during the
crisis and afterwards but also in taking responsibility
for ensuring the existence of free flowing
information through excellent continuity
planning.
This responsibility relies heavily on an
understanding of chain of command when the
informal system of influence mentioned
earlier is clearly inappropriate due to the
impact of uncontrollable time constraints.
During a crisis and particularly during a disaster,
each individual in the communication
operational chain must know to whom s/he is
responsible and there should be units of different
managerial sizes for different purposes
and all units will have been simulated and
practised under health and safety regulations.
Clearly this span of control must not be excessive
but must be organized so that real control
is maintained like an army in war time. In
other words, the open system of normal
management practice will click into a closed
system based on military-style organization
and co-ordination principles. In wider civilian
terms where organizations must liaise with
local authorities, this means that the scalar
concept which views an organization as a
group of grades arranged in sequence with
the superior grades carrying authority and the
lower grades carrying no authority, becomes
irrelevant. The unity of command will belong
to the people trained as members of special
emergency communication and continuity
planning teams.
On 19 June 2003 the British government’s
cabinet office released a draft ‘Civil
Contingencies Bill’. For the first time this will
provide a single statutory framework for civil
protection and emergency planning in the
United Kingdom. When enacted it is highly
likely that the bill will impose a duty to undertake
risk assessments in respect of emergency
planning. At local authority level, a major
emergency plan (MEP) is drafted in accord
with the agreed procedures and practices
given in the Major Incident Procedures Manual
published by the London Emergency Services
Liaison Panel (LESLP). The manual is made
available to all on the Metropolitan Police
website.
The MEP provides guidance to those
responsible for managing and co-ordinating
the council response to a major emergency. It
is geared towards the set up of the Emergency
Co-ordination Centre and the roles of key
personnel internally and externally.
© 2004 Sandra Oliver for editorial matter and selection;
individual chapters, the contributors