Crisis Strikes Research Articles

Tukutendereze: Contextualizing Salvation in Kigezi Sub-Region

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to contextualize the concept of salvation among the Anglican Christians in the Kigezi Sub-region. It takes time to investigate whether the salvation that Jesus offers is not enough in solving the Christians’ problems in the Kigezi sub-region and if the subjective theory of salvation that the East African revival movement espoused is relevant to the Bakiga Christians today. Methodology: The researcher employed qualitative research approach. This study was conducted in the geographical jurisdiction of Kigezi Sub-region in the present-day dioceses of Kigezi, North Kigezi, Kinkizi and Muhabura. These were the cradle of revival movement in 1930s. The population for this research was the Bakiga who are the adherents to the Anglican faith in Kigezi Sub-region. the researcher used the purposive sampling technique. The key respondents in total were 8 people who included the surviving members of 1930s and 1950s Revival movement in Kigezi Sub-region, the church leaders and ordinary Christians who are only adherents to Anglican faith. The researcher used the questionnaires and interview guides. The data was analyzed by the researcher in a descriptive way Findings: The study argues that Contextualization is central to any attempt to weave the gospel to cultures together. The context in which theology takes place shapes the form and influences the contents of the theology. All people, whether they realize it or not, are shaped by the culture in which they live. Culture even shapes a person’s reception of the Christian faith. This study asserts that no one ever meets universal Christianity in itself: we only ever meet Christianity in a local form and that means a historically, culturally conditioned form. The study concludes that there is nothing wrong in having local forms of Christianity if we remember that they are local. Unique Contribution to Theory, Practice and Policy: The study recommends that, when crisis strikes, believers should not deny the existence and potency of demonic spirits, but they should not yield to them. Instead, believers should affirm their radical commitment to the sovereign Lord. There is need for all Christians to address their cultural postulated reality of crises pastorally with seriousness, sensitivity, and respect.

What and how to train for strategic crisis management: A systematic literature review

AbstractThis article provides a systematic literature review of existing strategic crisis management training research. The review explores practices on which strategic crisis management skills to prioritize and how to train these skills to be prepared when a crisis strikes. Our research question was: How is strategic crisis management trained, and is there a best practice? In all, we identified 538 articles from 3 databases and read the abstracts. From this, we selected 41 articles based on the defined inclusion criteria and read them as a whole. In the end, eight articles were a part of this analysis. A thematic analysis based on the categorization of repetitions of concepts was used to analyse the data. The analysis resulted in two main categories: what to train, which focuses on the outcome and skills, and how to train, which focuses on the process and pedagogy. The outcome (what to train) categories were (1) related to working together, (2) related to understanding the situation, (3) related to making adequate decisions in complex contexts, and (4) related to practicalities. The process (how to train) categories were (1) training methods and (2) learning theories. A model considering three main strategic crisis management training approaches, outcome‐focused training, process‐focused training, and learning‐focused training, was developed. The latter was concluded to be the desired option, as it is a balanced approach of both outcome and process focus.

Navigating the Storm; Effective Crisis Communication Strategies

This article explores the critical role of effective crisis communication in navigating organizational challenges. It highlights the importance of proactive planning, transparency, and empathy in mitigating the negative impact of crises and preserving stakeholder trust. The introduction emphasizes the growing interconnectedness of the world and the frequency of crises faced by organizations. These crises can significantly impact reputation, operations, and even survival. The article defines crisis communication as a public relations strategy aimed at protecting an organization during a public challenge to its reputation. Following this, the piece delves into the importance of effective crisis communication. Research indicates that poorly managed communication can escalate crises into public relations disasters. The Tylenol poisoning incident of 1982 serves as a prime example, where Johnson & Johnson's swift and transparent response helped restore public trust. Effective crisis communication strategies contribute to preserving reputation, maintaining trust, ensuring legal compliance, protecting stakeholder interests, and facilitating organizational learning and improvement. The article then outlines essential steps for navigating a crisis through communication. It emphasizes the importance of proactive planning, including identifying potential crises, establishing communication protocols, and outlining response strategies. Transparency is a crucial element, as withholding information can erode trust and fuel speculation. Additionally, empathy and acknowledging the concerns of those affected by the crisis are vital for fostering understanding and support. Furthermore, the article details the creation of a crisis communication plan. This plan should establish clear objectives and key messages, assemble a dedicated crisis communication team with diverse expertise, and allocate sufficient resources for effective communication. Moving on, the article explores specific techniques for effective crisis communication. Open and transparent communication forms the cornerstone, even amid uncertainties. It highlights the need to balance transparency with responsible communication, acknowledging limitations when necessary. Regular and consistent communication updates are crucial for building trust. Timely and accurate information dissemination is equally important. Delays can create a space for misinformation to flourish. Establishing clear communication protocols beforehand ensures a swift and coordinated response when a crisis strikes. Utilizing a multi-channel approach, encompassing press briefings, social media engagement, and website announcements, empowers organizations to effectively communicate with all stakeholders. Finally, the article emphasizes tailoring messages to different stakeholders. Employees, customers, and investors will each have distinct information needs and preferred communication styles. Addressing these variations ensures effective crisis response and fosters understanding during turbulent times.

Gender Bias in the Reelection of Politicians (When a Crisis Strikes)

Gender Bias in the Reelection of Politicians (When a Crisis Strikes)

Collective Policy Learning in EU Financial Assistance: Insights from the Euro Crisis and Covid‐19

This article examines policy change in the EU’s financial assistance regime through a collective learning perspective. By defining a financial assistance regime as the set of rules governing the disbursement and withdrawal of funding to the member states in the context of crisis management, the article seeks to address the following research question: How can we explain the exact form of change in the EU’s financial assistance regime between the euro crisis and the Covid-19 pandemic? The article finds that financial assistance in the EU moved from “intergovernmental coordination” with the European Stability Mechanism to a form of “limited supranational delegation” with the Recovery and Resilience Facility and argues that such a change is due to a collective policy-learning process. This finding suggests that the EU tends to learn from past crisis experiences, freeing itself from established institutional constraints, only when the next crisis becomes a concrete cause for concern. However, when the next crisis strikes, the EU is indeed able to radically alter its practices based on previous policy failures.

Business continuity management and organizational resilience: A small and medium enterprises (SMEs) perspective

AbstractIn the current complex and uncertain scenarios, organizations are increasingly subjected to hazardous events and threats, which can be critical for their business operations and performance. In these settings, organizations are likely to experience high‐cost impact if they are unprepared when a crisis strikes. This is more challenging for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) that, due to their limited organizational and financial resources, are called to be resilient providing an effective response to such threats to safeguard the interests of key stakeholders and protect their reputation and brand. Business continuity management (BCM) is commonly known as one of the most effective processes used by organizations to cope with emergencies to continue or resume business operations, thus contributing to strengthen the organizational resilience (OR). Based on a critical literature review, this study provides an overview of BCM by highlighting the main implementation requirements, challenges, and contribution to enhance the OR. It also proposes a conceptual framework that shows how BCM is functional to and strongly connected with OR, especially for SMEs. Finally, implications for scholars, practitioners, and policy‐makers are provided to recall the main research evidence and inspire future investigations.

LEADERSHIP IN TIMES OF CRISIS

Leadership encircles the capability of an individual, group or organization to guide others (individuals, teams, or whole organizations). True leadership requires a personality that attracts other people, constant development of relationships with team members, possessing professional and practical knowledge and skills, experience, self-confidence, intuition and empathy. Strong leaders continuously empower other people, because they believe in their team members. Leadership skills are continuosly learned and improved not only during professional development, but throughout person’s life. Crises are inevitable events, that occur sooner or later in all the organizations. They can be triggered by different internal or external factors. Each crisis is specific and unique and requires different approaches for finding solutions. When a crisis occurs, ignoring or avoiding it, is one of the biggest mistakes for the organization. It should be accepted, resolved and used to initiate change, which is necessary for organzations’ survival and further development and growth. Having an organized, planned and structured approach to crisis management can help in damage reduction, restraing the company losses and discover inventive mechanisms to maintain the workforce’s productivity. Crisis leadership is a process that resolves the unforseeable events that happen unexpectedly and have the ability to diminish the organizational structure, to cease growth and development and lead to catastrophic outcomes. Whether the crisis will be successfully resolved, depends on how the leadership will deal with the situation. A positive approach to crisis is to accept it as an opportunity, to take responsibility, manifest confidence and implement changes which will streghtehen the organization and empower the employess to perform better and become stonger people in future. If leaders are bold and act, if they are decisive and willing to adapt their decision to the occurring conditions, they are going to have more success in resolving the crisis, compared to leaders that choose to wait and not take any action. Leadership is a vital process at all times, but when a crisis strikes, a strong leader has cardinal importance for the organization.

An Intelligent Cluster-Based Communication System for Multi-Unmanned Aerial Vehicles for Searching and Rescuing

It has been observed that the use of UAVs in search and rescue (SAR) operations is very advantageous. When, all of a sudden, a crisis strikes, UAV technology is incredibly helpful and works more effectively to identify the entire region of a disaster and identify victims trapped in the region. The deployment of a UAV network with a high battery lifespan and complete coverage of the disaster region is the primary emphasis of this article. For the efficient communication of UAVS, we suggested the intelligent cluster-based multi-unmanned aerial vehicle (ICBM-UAV) protocol. In order to discover victims swiftly and rescue those who are trapped in the afflicted region as soon as possible, ICBM-UAV uses the clustering technique smartly, which helps conserve drone batteries and performs some of the useful computations within the CH and hence helps to lessen workload on network congestion. Dividing the CMBM-UAV into two parts, the information gathering and the user equipment location identification, improves network life and makes the search and rescue operation more efficient and successful. After going to through vigorous result calculation, it is deduced that the proposed scheme has outperformed the existing state-of-the-art protocols such as AODV, OSLR and flocking mechanisms in terms of throughput, PDR, and coverage area probability by considering each scenario with and without the presence of obstacles. Hence, by delivering an exploitable estimate before reaching the victim, the proposed approach could drastically minimize the search and rescue time to save valuable lives.

The European Commission and the COVID-19 pandemic: a pluri-institutional approach

ABSTRACT According to a widely held view, the European Council decides how the EU should respond in times of crisis, since the European Council alone has the authority to lead. Other institutions, meanwhile, adopt at best a secondary role. An alternative perspective has emerged, however, which contends, first, that the European Council’s influence on the EU's crisis response is variable and, second, that other EU institutions, in particular the European Commission, are able to shape EU action, including through interventions made independently of the European Council. This article builds on this alternative view to argue that the respective role played by the European Council and the European Commisson is contingent, first, on the policy area where a crisis strikes and second, on leadership or agency on the part of the Presidents of the two institutions. The dynamics of the EU’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic support this view. Acting on its powers in public health and other affected areas, and with Commission President Ursula von der Leyen taking a highly pro-active approach to outbreak of the virus, the Commission intervened early, framed the pandemic as a crisis, and set and then expanded the EU’s agenda. Although its decision-making role was important, the European Council largely followed the Commission's lead.

When crisis strikes

When the COVID-19 pandemic reached Norway in March 2020, comprehensive action was taken by the government, leading to the lockdown of welfare institutions, schools and kindergartens, and strict restrictions on physical meetings. This had severe consequences for Child Welfare Protection services (CWP). The restrictions stopped child welfare protection home visits and professionals in other welfare institutions, which usually observe children and notify child welfare protection services, were no longer able to identify children at risk. This article, drawing on interviews with 10 social workers, explores their experience during COVID-19. Applying Lipsky’s concept of street-level bureaucrats and theories of professional identity, the article documents how COVID-19 not only restricted, but also modified social workers jobs, and led to self-reflection on their professional identity. In turn, the findings suggest the potential for beneficial changes in practices in the aftermath of COVID-19.

The Road More Traveled: Evacuation Networks in the US and Japan

When crisis strikes, where do evacuees go? This question affects how policymakers and first responders allocate their time, funds, and resources after disaster. While past research compared evacuation rates of cities within the same disaster, evacuation among different types of disasters remain under-examined. This mixed methods study compares evacuation patterns from 7,631 cities among 10 major disasters in the US and Japan between 2019 and 2020, combining social network analysis, modeling, and visualization. This study highlights that evacuation from some hazards is more alike than others; large, sprawling disasters, including some storms, fires, and power outages trigger both clustered and dispersed evacuation networks, while smaller, focused disaster result in mainly dispersed evacuation networks. Further, cities with similar levels of social capital tend to see greater evacuation between them. By uncovering the different shapes and drivers of evacuation networks across different disasters, scholars can clarify where evacuees go and which kinds of cities need additional support after crisis.

Surveillance and the experience of the COVID-19 pandemic for formerly incarcerated individuals.

To date, most criminal justice research on COVID-19 has examined the rapid spread within prisons. We shift the focus to reentry via in-depth interviews with formerly incarcerated individuals in central Ohio, specifically focusing on how criminal justice contact affected the pandemic experience. In doing so, we use the experience of the pandemic to build upon criminological theories regarding surveillance, including both classic theories on surveillance during incarceration as well as more recent scholarship on community surveillance, carceral citizenship, and institutional avoidance. Three findings emerged. First, participants felt that the total institution of prison “prepared” them for similar experiences such as pandemic-related isolation. Second, shifts in community supervision formatting, such as those forced by the pandemic, lessened the coercive nature of community supervision, expressed by participants as an increase in autonomy. Third, establishment of institutional connections while incarcerated alleviated institutional avoidance resulting from hyper-surveillance, specifically in the domain of healthcare, which is critical when a public health crisis strikes. While the COVID-19 pandemic affected all, this article highlights how theories of surveillance inform unique aspects of the pandemic for formerly incarcerated individuals, while providing pathways forward for reducing the impact of surveillance.

The surveillance of systemic cancer therapy access amidst the COVID-19 pandemic: the power of good data.

The surveillance of systemic cancer therapy access amidst the COVID-19 pandemic: the power of good data.

A comprehensive bibliometric analysis of entrepreneurship and crisis literature published from 1984 to 2020

Entrepreneurship has enormous economic and social power, but when a crisis strikes, exploring the relationships and impacts between entrepreneurship and crisis (E&C) is a topic that still needs to be considered in a turbulent economic environment. This study aims to explore the topic of E&C by means of bibliometric analysis with the aid of visualization tools. From 1984 to 2020, 1044 documents were indexed according to the Web of Science database. Through the bibliometric analysis of the retrieved literature, the main statistical characteristics and cooperation networks in this field are revealed. Next, research topics, hot spots, and development trends are revealed through keyword analysis. Finally, policy implications and research opportunities are proposed to provide references for other scholars.

Who Will Stay When Crisis Strikes? Venture Capitalist Threat-Defiant Learning Response to Ventures in Crisis

Firms often depend on relationships with other firms to access important resources. When a crisis strikes a firm, continuation of those relationships can be jeopardized, as many indirectly affected...

Going Viral: The 3 Rs of Social Media Messaging during Public Health Emergencies.

Going Viral: The 3 Rs of Social Media Messaging during Public Health Emergencies.

Rumor has it: The role of social ties and misinformation in evacuation to nearby shelters after disaster

When crisis strikes, why do some communities utilize evacuation shelters more than others? This mixed methods study draws on a new dataset of almost-daily tallies of evacuees at 660 local shelters following Japan’s 2018 Eastern Iburi Earthquake in Hokkaido to create a large-N time-series cross sectional (TSCS) dataset of local, short-distance evacuation. We pair time-series cross-sectional data models with qualitative comparative analysis (QCA) of nine affected municipalities to examine why some shelters see higher evacuation rates than others. While past studies have used Facebook user data, post-hoc surveys, or ad-hoc roadside interviews to measure evacuation, this study uses meticulously recorded shelter attendance data to draw inferences about evacuation behavior. Controlling for types of shelters, damage levels, infrastructure quality, social vulnerability, governance capacity, and community resources, we find that in affected communities, stronger bridging social ties, especially when aided by linking ties, motivate greater evacuation to shelters. In unaffected communities, stronger bonding and bridging ties encourage potentially unnecessary evacuation, helping spread rumors during blackouts. These results highlight the necessity of clear, transparent communication with the public, and fostering trust in government during crises.

Limited Effect of Generalized Systematic Lockdown on Urgent Orthopedic and Limb Trauma Surgery in a Geographical Area Mildly Affected by the First of SARS-CoV-2 Pandemic: A Multicentric Study (Limited Effect of Lockdown in an Area Mildly affected by the Pandemic)

Purpose: The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic led to a systematic lockdown of populations in many countries along with the reorganization of care systems to respond to this unprecedented health crisis. This study determined (i) the number of urgent surgical operations carried out during the lockdown in a region of France mildly affected by the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, and (ii) the types of surgery concerned (main characteristics). Methods: A retrospective, comparative, observational, multicentric study of urgent orthopedic and limb trauma surgery during lockdown was conducted. It included three reference care centers of which two were teaching hospitals. A comparison was made with data for the same period in 2019. For each patient, the following data were collected: date of surgery, age, sex, place of residence, and standardized descriptors used to classify the injury anatomically, context in which the injury occurred, and SARS-CoV-2 PCR status. Results: 1098 patients underwent surgery against 1266 over the same period in 2019, a non-significant difference of −13.3% (p = 0.11) [−39.2% in Week 13 (p = 0.02), +7.6% in Week 19 (p = 0.16)]. Except for bone injuries of the hand and wrist (+13.4%, p = 0.07), a decrease in activity was observed for all anatomic locations, and especially for the distal radius (−55.8%, p = 0.001), ankle (−40.5%, p = 0,01). The context in which the injury occurred changed, with in particular a significant decrease in the number of sport accidents (−80.0%, p < 0.001) and road traffic accidents (−41.8%, p = 0.04), and an increase in DIY and gardening accidents (+62.7%, p < 0.001). Conclusion: The decrease in emergency surgery was much less marked in this geographical area mildly affected by the pandemic. Health policy that sets ways to ensure continuity in the care needed by the population must be adapted locally when a global health crisis strikes. Level of proof: 4 – Descriptive epidemiological study.

Who Will Stay When Crisis Strikes? VC Projected Event Schemas on Ventures in Crisis

We explore how organizational cognition based on knowledge structures or schemas determines how organizations respond to adverse events that they encounter in their partners. Specifically, we develop the concept of a projected event schema to study how organizations make decisions related to crises affecting their partners. We theorize that in order to make decisions as to a partner’s crisis event, the focal organization will project its event schema onto the partner. That projected event schema includes the focal organization’s general experience, specific experience with the partner, and experience with similar crises. We test this concept through a study of how venture capitalists (VCs) project their event schemas on entrepreneurial ventures experiencing a lawsuit in the VCs’ decision whether to continue to invest in the ventures. The context is particularly relevant given the limited resources that entrepreneurial ventures have and the advice, legitimacy, and financial resources that VCs provide to those ventures, especially when the ventures face a crisis. In our empirical study incorporating 528 VC investment decisions, we find support for VCs’ projected event schemas on ventures involved in lawsuits. Our work contributes to the literature on cognition, entrepreneurship, and crisis management.

Lessons From COVID-19 Responses in East Asia: Institutional Infrastructure and Enduring Policy Instruments

Existing commentaries on government responses to COVID-19 have focused on such factors as competent leadership, policy instruments, or cultural dispositions. Yet, few have provided a synthesis that examines how these factors relate to each other. This article fills this gap in the debate by comparing COVID-19 responses among five advanced economies in East Asia: Taiwan, Hong Kong, South Korea, Singapore, and Japan. Although agile actions and competence of top leadership are necessary to confront an unprecedented crisis, they are by themselves insufficient. Equally critical is whether a society has the necessary institutional infrastructure in place when a crisis strikes. Policy instruments are more likely to succeed when existing institutional infrastructure supports their administration and implementation. For an instrument to generate enduring impact, it must be compatible with a polity’s underlying culture; instruments that accommodate the underlying cultural orientations are more likely to elicit public cooperation and voluntary compliance over time. Policy instruments must also address equity issues by reaching marginalized groups across all layers of the population. Progress in emergency management may be visible in mainstream society but masking brewing problems among marginalized groups. A comparison across the five advanced economies in East Asia yields several implications for comparative research and policy.