Crisis management : aligning scripts and actors : strengthening crisis response capabilities by minimising process deviation

Abstract

The present business resilience paradigm has expanded to embrace the processes and routines employed by a business to remain viable, sustain growth and recover (if required) in what for many people has become a complex global operating environment. Sutcliffe (2003, p. 2) defines resilience as "the maintenance of positive adjustment under challenging conditions" and the combination of proactive routines such as enterprise risk management and reactive routines such as crisis management create the overarching umbrella of business resilience. Whether they are proactive or reactive, ostensive routines form the framework and script from which organisations operate and strive for such 'positive adjustment'. The business challenge, particularly in crisis management, is to ensure the effective interpretation and performance of ostensive routines during events that have the potential to play out on the world stage. This research examines an observed phenomenon in business, which is the deviation between ostensive and performative routines during crisis management responses. Human nature is such that there will often be a difference between the script and the performance. In crisis management, issues are created when the gap between the performance and ostensive routine grows too large, or, following an acting metaphor, where actors forget what they have practiced in rehearsals and create their own script. Such deviation has been observed repeatedly and most critically in the first 24 to 48 hours of a response when it is arguably the most important period in which to follow the script and apply the correct routines. The aetiology of deviations between a crisis management script and its production is the focus of this research. This addresses a gap in the crisis management literature which, while spread across multiple streams including leadership and teams, is at times incoherent. Utilising a case study approach focusing on the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) sector, this research analyses the potential causes of process deviation. In evaluating two specific dynamics the research collected empirical data to address the question of how ostensive and performative routines interact in a crisis management situation and what factors contribute to deviations from ostensive routines. By answering this question, a theory is developed to explain the deviation.

Date of Award	2019
Original language	English