Cognitive mapping the topic of crisis management

Cognitive mapping the topic of crisis management

Joseph Kim-keung Ho

Independent Trainer

Hong Kong, China

Abstract: The topic of crisis management in the subject of business management is complex. By making use of the cognitive mapping technique to conduct a brief literature review on the crisis management topic, the writer renders a systemic image on the topic of crisis management. The result of the study, in the form of a cognitive map on crisis management, should be useful to those who are interested in the topics of cognitive mapping, literature review and crisis management.

Key words: crisis management, cognitive mapping, literature review

Introduction

As a topic in business management, crisis management is complex. It is thus useful to employ some learning tool to conduct its study, notably for literature review purpose. For a teacher in research methods, systems thinking and management, the writer is specifically interested in finding out how the cognitive mapping technique can be employed to go through a literature review on  crisis management. This literature review exercise is taken up and reported in this article.

On the cognitive mapping exercise for literature review

Literature review is an important intellectual learning exercise, and not just for doing final year dissertation projects for tertiary education students. On these two topics of intellectual learning and literature review, the writer has compiled some e-learning resources. They are the Managerial intellectual learning Facebook page and the Literature on literature review Facebook page. Conducting literature review with the cognitive mapping technique is not novel in the cognitive mapping literature, see Eden and Simpson (1989), Eden, Jones and Sims (1983), Open University (n.d) and the Literature on cognitive mapping Facebook page. In this article, the specific steps involved in the cognitive mapping exercise are as follows:

Step 1: gather some main points from a number of academic journal articles on crisis management. This result in the production of a table (Table 1) with the main points and associated references.

Step 2: consolidate  the main points from Table 1 to come up with a table listing the cognitive map variables (re: Table 2).

Step 3: link up the cognitive  map variables in a plausible way to produce a cognitive map (re: Figure 1) on the topic under review.

The next section applies these three steps to produce a cognitive map on crisis management.

Descriptions of cognitive map variables on the crisis management topic

From the reading of some academic articles on crisis management, a number of main points (e.g., viewpoints, concepts and empirical findings) were gathered by the  writer. They are shown in Table 1 with explicit referencing on the points.

Table 1: Main points from the crisis management literature and referencing

Main points from the crisis management literature	Referencing
Point 1: "The most fundamental question in considering any real or potential crisis situation is "How can the crisis be treated in a logical and orderly manner?".	Mitroff, I.I. and C.M. Pearson. 1993. Crisis Management: A Diagnostic Guide for Improving Your Organization's Crisis-Preparedness, Jossey-Bass Publishing, San Francisco.
Point 2: "No crisis ever reveals all the information necessary to analyze it perfectly or completely. Critical assumptions must be made, and equally critical questions must be raised, at every step along the way".	Mitroff, I.I. and C.M. Pearson. 1993. Crisis Management: A Diagnostic Guide for Improving Your Organization's Crisis-Preparedness, Jossey-Bass Publishing, San Francisco.
Point 3: "Virtually all crises are caused by simultaneous breakdown in interactions among technology, people and organizations".	Mitroff, I.I. and C.M. Pearson. 1993. Crisis Management: A Diagnostic Guide for Improving Your Organization's Crisis-Preparedness, Jossey-Bass Publishing, San Francisco.
Point 4: "The question of who is affected is equally important in analyzing the case [of crisis] and recommending actions. Which members of the organization may have helped cause the crisis or make it more likely? Which employees should be notified about this particular situation? Who ought to have  detected the crisis before its full-blown eruption?".	Mitroff, I.I. and C.M. Pearson. 1993. Crisis Management: A Diagnostic Guide for Improving Your Organization's Crisis-Preparedness, Jossey-Bass Publishing, San Francisco.
Point 5: "The only thing certain about the business world today is that managers must prepare for uncertainty. Crises are negative incidents that can cause the demise of an organization. The tragic events of 9-11 have shown that we  can never take safety and normalcy for granted".	Chong, J.K.S. 2004. "Six steps to better crisis management" Journal of Business Strategy 25(2), Emerald: 43-46.
Point 6: "Crisis management is a critical part of contemporary strategic management. It is essential to ensure an organization's stability and viability for continued existence before any growth objectives can be pursued. Crisis-prone companies, especially, need greater preparedness for dealing with disasters".	Chong, J.K.S. 2004. "Six steps to better crisis management" Journal of Business Strategy 25(2), Emerald: 43-46.
Point 7: "Effective crisis management requires  a systematic and disciplined approach based on vigilance, managerial sensitivity, and a good understanding of the importance of careful planning and organizational readiness".	Chong, J.K.S. 2004. "Six steps to better crisis management" Journal of Business Strategy 25(2), Emerald: 43-46.
Point 8: There are six key steps to improve a company's crisis-preparedness: step 1 - coping; step 2: rethinking; step 3: initiating; step  4: sensing; step 5: intervening; and step 6: sandbagging.	Chong, J.K.S. 2004. "Six steps to better crisis management" Journal of Business Strategy 25(2), Emerald: 43-46.
Point 9: "...few organization can effectively prepare for, let alone cope with, the wide spectrum of potential crises .... that loom in strategic moves, organizational routines or corporate change".	Sheaffer, Z. and R. Mano-Negrin. 2003. "Executives' Orientation as Indicators of Crisis Management Policies and Practices" Journal of Management Studies 40(2) March: 573-606.
Point 10: "...the fragmented inter-disciplinary nature of organizational crises contribute to the lack of theoretical integration and thus deficient clarity in terms of how crises are conceptualized. This broad supposition stems, in part, from  the fact that crises are not isolated occurrences. Rather, they constitute an outcrop of complex and systemic interrelatedness amongst various triggers".	Sheaffer, Z. and R. Mano-Negrin. 2003. "Executives' Orientation as Indicators of Crisis Management Policies and Practices" Journal of Management Studies 40(2) March: 573-606.
Point 11: "... crisis preparedness is a function of a simultaneous confluence of corporate orientations and strategies  that bear on the wider domain of management".	Sheaffer, Z. and R. Mano-Negrin. 2003. "Executives' Orientation as Indicators of Crisis Management Policies and Practices" Journal of Management Studies 40(2) March: 573-606.
Point 12: "Crisis preparedness is a state of corporate readiness to foresee and effectively address internal or exogenous adversary  circumstances with the potential to inflict a dimensional crisis, by consciously recognizing and proactively preparing for its inevitable occurrence".	Sheaffer, Z. and R. Mano-Negrin. 2003. "Executives' Orientation as Indicators of Crisis Management Policies and Practices" Journal of Management Studies 40(2) March: 573-606.
Point 13: "Crisis management is no longer primarily a function of the corporate communication department. To address effectively the variety of risks and complex issues that corporations face today, crisis management must be mandated from the top of the organisation and driven and implemented by all key business functions jointly. Crisis management needs a corporate custodian that ensures plans and skills are up to date throughout the organisation".	Sapriel, C. 2003. "Effective crisis management: Tools and best practice for the new millennium" Journal of Communication Management 7(4): 1-8.
Point 14: "A crisis is, by definition, 'an event, revelation, allegation or set of circumstances which threatens the integrity, reputation, or survival of an individual or organisation. It challenges the public's sense of safety, values or appropriateness".	Sapriel, C. 2003. "Effective crisis management: Tools and best practice for the new millennium" Journal of Communication Management 7(4): 1-8.
Point 15: "When the risk management process addresses issues and is integrated with the issues management process in the organisation, the crisis prevention capability is noticeably enhanced".	Sapriel, C. 2003. "Effective crisis management: Tools and best practice for the new millennium" Journal of Communication Management 7(4): 1-8.
Point 16: "Not all crises are  preventable. However, having  effective risk and issues  management  processes  in place will help organisation foresee, plan scenarios, be more proactive and decide  on whether to take, treat, transfer  or terminate the risk".	Sapriel, C. 2003. "Effective crisis management: Tools and best practice for the new millennium" Journal of Communication Management 7(4): 1-8.
Point 17: "A comparison of organizational responses to crisis situations such as Tylenol tamperings  and the Exxon Valdez oil spill illustrates that some firms have managed crisis more effectively than others".	Reilly, A.H. 1993. "Preparing for the worst: the process of effective crisis management" Industrial & Environmental Crisis Quarterly 7(2): 115-143.
Point 18: "Crisis research to date has relied heavily on a single method of study: the case study.... While case studies do provide substantial depth of analysis, they can be difficult to compare".	Reilly, A.H. 1993. "Preparing for the worst: the process of effective crisis management" Industrial & Environmental Crisis Quarterly 7(2): 115-143.
Point 19: "The literature provides no generally accepted definition of crisis.... , and attempts to categorize types or forms of crises have been sparse. Although some researchers have  examined multiple forms of crises..., others  have viewed crises as a single phenomenon... or have concentrated on only one manifestation of crisis".	Reilly, A.H. 1993. "Preparing for the worst: the process of effective crisis management" Industrial & Environmental Crisis Quarterly 7(2): 115-143.
Point 20: "Tourism and the vast travel industry that has grown up to facilitate it are particularly prone to external shocks beyond the control of its managers. Internal corporate shocks such as financial irregularities by contrast are also important to the industry".	Evans, N. and S. Elphick. 2005. "Models of Crisis Management: an Evaluation of their Value for Strategic Planning in the International Travel Industry" International Journal of Tourism Research 7: 135-150.
Point 21: "External shocks, such as wars, hurricanes, terrorist attacks, pollution, adverse publicity and accidents, can have a dramatic and speedy effect  upon levels of business in the travel industry. The external shocks can quickly develop into crises and indeed can be and should be viewed as a central concern of the competent managers in the industry".	Evans, N. and S. Elphick. 2005. "Models of Crisis Management: an Evaluation of their Value for Strategic Planning in the International Travel Industry" International Journal of Tourism Research 7: 135-150.
Point 22: "In broad terms crisis management can be viewed simply (and easily remembered) as involving the '4Rs' of a four-stage process of: reduction, readiness, response and recovery".	Evans, N. and S. Elphick. 2005. "Models of Crisis Management: an Evaluation of their Value for Strategic Planning in the International Travel Industry" International Journal of Tourism Research 7: 135-150.
Point 23: "A common element of all crises is that they can harm organizational stakeholders such as consumers, employees, nearby communities, and the natural environment.... Inevitably, crises focus attention on corporate public, social, economic, legal and ethical responsibilities...., and raise questions about 'how corporations should be governed and managers out to act'".	Alpaslan, C.M., S.E. Green and I.I. Mitroff. 2009. "Corporate Governance in the Context of Crises: Towards a Stakeholder Theory of Crisis Management" Journal of Contingencies and Crisis Management 171(1), March: 38-49.
Point 24: ".. an organization's ability to prevent or effectively respond to a crisis depends on the accuracy of that organization's assumptions and knowledge concerning its stakeholders' behaviour in the context of crises".	Alpaslan, C.M., S.E. Green and I.I. Mitroff. 2009. "Corporate Governance in the Context of Crises: Towards a Stakeholder Theory of Crisis Management" Journal of Contingencies and Crisis Management 171(1), March: 38-49.
Point 25: Organizational  crises are "low-probability, high-impact situations that [are] perceived by critical stakeholders to threaten  the viability of the organization and that [are] subjectively experienced by these individuals as personally and socially threatening'".	Alpaslan, C.M., S.E. Green and I.I. Mitroff. 2009. "Corporate Governance in the Context of Crises: Towards a Stakeholder Theory of Crisis Management" Journal of Contingencies and Crisis Management 171(1), March: 38-49.

With a set of main points collected, the writer produces a set of cognitive map variables. These variables are informed by the set of main points from Table 1. These variables are presented in Table 2.

Table 2: Cognitive map variables based on Table 1

Cognitive map variables	Literature review points
Variable 1: Factors that promote interest in crisis management.	Point 5: "The only thing certain about the business world today is that managers must prepare for uncertainty. Crises are negative incidents that can cause the demise of an organization. The tragic events of 9-11 have shown that we  can never take safety and normalcy for granted". Point 6: "Crisis management is a critical part of contemporary strategic management. It is essential to ensure an organization's stability and viability for continued existence before any growth objectives can be pursued. Crisis-prone companies, especially, need greater preparedness for dealing with disasters". Point 9: "...few organization can effectively prepare for, let alone cope with, the wide spectrum of potential crises .... that loom in strategic moves, organizational routines or corporate change". Point 13: "Crisis management is no longer primarily a function of the corporate communication department. To address effectively the variety of risks and complex issues that corporations face today, crisis management must be mandated from the top of the organisation and driven and implemented by all key business functions jointly. Crisis management needs a corporate custodian that ensures plans and skills are up to date throughout the organisation". Point 20: "Tourism and the vast travel industry that has grown up to facilitate it are particularly prone to external shocks beyond the control of its managers. Internal corporate shocks such as financial irregularities by contrast are also important to the industry".
Variable 2: More intellectual knowledge on crisis management	Point 3: "Virtually all crises are caused by simultaneous breakdown in interactions among technology, people and organizations". Point 10: "...the fragmented inter-disciplinary nature of organizational crises contribute to the lack of theoretical integration and thus deficient clarity in terms of how crises are conceptualized. This broad supposition stems, in part, from  the fact that crises are not isolated occurrences. Rather, they constitute an outcrop of complex and systemic interrelatedness amongst various triggers". Point 11: "... crisis preparedness is a function of a simultaneous confluence of corporate orientations and strategies  that bear on the wider domain of management". Point 12: "Crisis preparedness is a state of corporate readiness to foresee and effectively address internal or exogenous adversary  circumstances with the potential to inflict a dimensional crisis, by consciously recognizing and proactively preparing for its inevitable occurrence". Point 14: "A crisis is, by definition, 'an event, revelation, allegation or set of circumstances which threatens the integrity, reputation, or survival of an individual or organisation. It challenges the public's sense of safety, values or appropriateness". Point 19: "The literature provides no generally accepted definition of crisis.... , and attempts to categorize types or forms of crises have been sparse. Although some researchers have  examined multiple forms of crises..., others  have viewed crises as a single phenomenon... or have concentrated on only one manifestation of crisis". Point 25: Organizational  crises are "low-probability, high-impact situations that [are] perceived by critical stakeholders to threaten  the viability of the organization and that [are] subjectively experienced by these individuals as personally and socially threatening'".
Variable 3: Effective crisis management practices	Point 1: "The most fundamental question in considering any real or potential crisis situation is "How can the crisis be treated in a logical and orderly manner?". Point 2: "No crisis ever reveals all the information necessary to analyze it perfectly or completely. Critical assumptions must be made, and equally critical questions must be raised, at every step along the way". Point 4: "The question of who is affected is equally important in analyzing the case [of crisis] and recommending actions. Which members of the organization may have helped cause the crisis or make it more likely? Which employees should be notified about this particular situation? Who ought to have  detected the crisis before its full-blown eruption?". Point 7: "Effective crisis management requires  a systematic and disciplined approach based on vigilance, managerial sensitivity, and a good understanding of the importance of careful planning and organizational readiness". Point 8: There are six key steps to improve a company's crisis-preparedness: step 1 - coping; step 2: rethinking; step 3: initiating; step  4: sensing; step 5: intervening; and step 6: sandbagging. Point 15: "When the risk management process addresses issues and is integrated with the issues management process in the organisation, the crisis prevention capability is noticeably enhanced". Point 16: "Not all crises are  preventable. However, having  effective risk and issues  management  processes  in place will help organisation foresee, plan scenarios, be more proactive and decide  on whether to take, treat, transfer  or terminate the risk". Point 22: "In broad terms crisis management can be viewed simply (and easily remembered) as involving the '4Rs' of a four-stage process of: reduction, readiness, response and recovery". Point 24: ".. an organization's ability to prevent or effectively respond to a crisis depends on the accuracy of that organization's assumptions and knowledge concerning its stakeholders' behaviour in the context of crises".
Variable 4: Positive outcomes of crisis management practices	Point 21: "External shocks, such as wars, hurricanes, terrorist attacks, pollution, adverse publicity and accidents, can have a dramatic and speedy effect  upon levels of business in the travel industry. The external shocks can quickly develop into crises and indeed can be and should be viewed as a central concern of the competent managers in the industry". Point 23: "A common element of all crises is that they can harm organizational stakeholders such as consumers, employees, nearby communities, and the natural environment.... Inevitably, crises focus attention on corporate public, social, economic, legal and ethical responsibilities...., and raise questions about 'how corporations should be governed and managers out to act'".
Variable 5: Learn from crisis management practices	Point 17: "A comparison of organizational responses to crisis situations such as Tylenol tamperings  and the Exxon Valdez oil spill illustrates that some firms have managed crisis more effectively than others". Point 18: "Crisis research to date has relied heavily on a single method of study: the case study.... While case studies do provide substantial depth of analysis, they can be difficult to compare".

The next step is to relate the cognitive map variables to make up a cognitive map on crisis management. The cognitive map and its explanation are presented in the next section.

A cognitive map on crisis management and its interpretation

By relating the five variables identified in Table 2, the writer comes up with a cognitive map on crisis management, as shown in Figure 1.

These cognitive  map variables, five of them altogether, are related to constitute a systemic image of crisis management. The links in the cognitive map (re: Figure 1) indicate direction of influences between variables. The + sign shows that an increase in one variable leads to an increase in another variable while a -ve sign tells us that in increase in one variable leads to a decrease in another variable.  If there no signs shown on the arrows, that means the influences can be positive or negative. Readers are referred to the Literature on crisis management Facebook page for more  information on the topic.

Concluding remarks

The cognitive mapping exercise captures in one diagram some of the main variables involved in crisis management. The resultant cognitive map promotes an exploratory way to study crisis management in a holistic tone. The experience of the cognitive mapping exercise is that it can be a quick, efficient and entertaining way to explore a complex topic such as crisis management in business management. Finally, readers who are interested in cognitive mapping should also find the article informative on this mapping topic.

Bibliography

1.      Alpaslan, C.M., S.E. Green and I.I. Mitroff. 2009. "Corporate Governance in the Context of Crises: Towards a Stakeholder Theory of Crisis Management" Journal of Contingencies and Crisis Management 171(1), March: 38-49.

2.      Chong, J.K.S. 2004. "Six steps to better crisis management" Journal of Business Strategy 25(2),Emerald: 43-46.

3.      Eden, C. and P. Simpson. 1989. "SODA and cognitive mapping in practice", pp. 43-70, in Rosenhead, J. (editor) Rational Analysis for a Problematic World, Wiley, Chichester.

4.      Eden, C., C. Jones and D. Sims. 1983. Messing about in Problems: An informal structured approach to their identification and management, Pergamon Press, Oxford.

5.      Evans, N. and S. Elphick. 2005. "Models of Crisis Management: an Evaluation of their Value for Strategic Planning in the International Travel Industry" International Journal of Tourism Research 7: 135-150.

6.      Literature on cognitive mapping Facebook page, maintained by Joseph, K.K. Ho (url address: https://www.facebook.com/Literature-on-cognitive-mapping-800894476751355/).

7.      Literature on crisis management Facebook page, maintained by Joseph, K.K. Ho (url address: https://www.facebook.com/Literature-on-crisis-management-218671161964065/).

8.      Literature on literature review Facebook page, maintained by Joseph, K.K. Ho (url address: https://www.facebook.com/literature.literaturereview/).

9.      Managerial intellectual learning Facebook page, maintained by Joseph, K.K. Ho (url address: https://www.facebook.com/managerial.intellectual.learning/).

10. Mitroff, I.I. and C.M. Pearson. 1993. Crisis Management: A Diagnostic Guide for Improving Your Organization's Crisis-Preparedness, Jossey-Bass Publishing, San Francisco.

11. Open University. n.d. "Sign graph" Systems Thinking and Practice (T552): Diagramming, Open University, U.K. (url address: http://systems.open.ac.uk/materials/T552/) [visited at April 10, 2017].

12. Reilly, A.H. 1993. "Preparing for the worst: the process of effective crisis management" Industrial & Environmental Crisis Quarterly 7(2): 115-143.

13. Sapriel, C. 2003. "Effective crisis management: Tools and best practice for the new millennium" Journal of Communication Management 7(4): 1-8.

14. Sheaffer, Z. and R. Mano-Negrin. 2003. "Executives' Orientation as Indicators of Crisis Management Policies and Practices" Journal of Management Studies 40(2) March: 573-606.