Provides the theoretical framework on how to manage crises in organizations. The author connects crisis management theories with practical examples from Chinese companies and how they contribute to better crisis management not only in Chinese organizations, but also in organizations from other countries.
This book describes various crisis situations in transitional China, and by analyzing the unique characteristics and backgrounds of emergencies and crisis, it argues that crisis management has become a major challenge for the Chinese governments. It then discusses the chronology of crisis, organizational behaviors and the decision-making processes to construct a modern crisis management system in detail, to shed light on the creation of a strategic design and institutional framework of crisis management in China. In so doing, it provides not only insights into the dynamics of crisis decision-making and communication, but also solutions for possible problems specific to a transitional political regime in China.
In this timely book about the current state of research and practice of emergency management in China, the authors take as their basic premises that we now live in a risk society and that our collective ability to deal with disasters and their aftermath is more important than ever. Set within a multi-disciplinary framework that places risk, disaster and crisis, the three phases of emergency management, on an analytical continuum, and drawing on empirical data obtained through surveys, observations, and interviews, the study not only provides a thorough overview of recent progress in our theoretical understanding of the subject but also offers insights on how scientifically informed policies can improve the way emergency management is done in China.
This book looks at the then-nascent emergency management sector in China, specifically the 2003–2012 period, that arose from the 2003 SARS crisis and subsequently set the stage for its responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. Covering not only the amended and new laws and regulations at the national level, the book also includes the rearrangement and creation of the organizational structures, as well as the response plans for individual emergencies that were either recrafted or created during this period. Beyond chronicling the milestones and products of this transformation, this book highlights the key ideas and ideals that guided the various stakeholders, from the governing elites to the policy experts during this process. The book demonstrates how definitions of emergency management and emergency categories, as well as other ideational objects, were initially either absent or weakly developed, but were refined to the extent that they helped corral disparate actors into China’s new organizational field of emergency management.
This book studies the variety of organizational strategies selected to cope with critical uncertainties during crises. This research formulates and applies an institutional sense-making model to explain the selection of strategies for coping with uncertainties during crises to answer the question why some organizations select a rule-based strategy to cope with uncertainties, whereas others pursue a more ad hoc-based strategy. It finds that the level of institutionalization does not affect strategy selection in the initial phase of responding to crises; that three rigidity effects can be identified in the selection of sense-making strategies once organizations have faced the failure of their selected strategies; that discontinuities in the feedback loop of sense-making do not necessarily move organizations to switch their sense-making strategies, but interact with institutionalization to contribute to switching sense-making strategies. This book bridges the gap between institutional thinking and crisis management theorizing. A major step forward in the world of crisis management studies! ——Professor Arjen Boin, Leiden University, the Netherlands In a world of increasingly complex, sociotechnical systems interacting in high-risk environments, Professor Lu’s analysis of how organizations manage uncertainty is both timely and profound. ——Professor Louise K. Comfort, Director, Center for Disaster Management, University of Pittsburgh, USA Prof. Lu greatly enhances our understanding of how organizations cope with uncertainty and make sense of their challenges under the pressures of catastrophe. ——Dr. Arnold M. Howitt, Faculty Co-Director, Program on Crisis Leadership, Harvard Kennedy School, USA This book provides not only a theory of crisis management but also a key concept around which research and practice can be conducted. ——Professor Naim Kapucu, Director of School of Public Administration, University of Central Florida, USA A generic institutional model for analyzing and managing hazards, disasters and crises worldwide. ——Professor Joop Koppenjan, Erasmus University Rotterdam, the Netherlands This book has done an excellent job in opening the black box of how organizations make sense of the crisis situations they face and develop strategies to respond. It should be read by all of us who wish for a peaceful and safe world. ——Professor Lan Xue, Dean of School of Public Policy and Management, Tsinghua University, China
The continuation of China’s successful rise depends considerably on the capacity of the Chinese government to prevent and manage a wide range of potential and actual crises, which could, if mishandled, have serious adverse consequences for China. These potential crises are both domestic - where the example of the collapse of the Soviet Union is well understood and remembered in China - and, increasingly, as a result of China’s ever closer involvement in the global system. This book presents a comprehensive overview of crisis management in China, and examines China’s mode of managing economic, political and military crises, as well as natural disasters, ethnic-minority issues, environmental and public health problems. In each area it considers the nature of potential crises and their possible effects, and the degree to which China is prepared to cope with crises.
This book analyzes the ways in which the Chinese government and military responded to the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake in Sichuan province. It adopts a comparative and historical perspective in studying the responses of the Chinese government in the first critical 72 hours, the mobilization of the People’s Liberation Army and its difficulties, the assertive and important role of the non-governmental groups which established a partnership with the state in the rescue operations, and the process and politics of reconstruction. The book is rich in materials, including comparative case studies of the Tangshan earthquake in 1976, the outbreak of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome in 2003, the earthquakes in Haiti, Chile and Myanmar, and the contrasts with the Japanese earthquake tsunami in 2011. Researchers, government officials, policy analysts, seismic specialists, journalists and students will find this book extremely useful, conceptually insightful and practically policy-relevant.
We live in an uncertain world characterized by the occurrence of unexpected incidents in different corners of the globe which can have widespread adverse consequences. It is therefore vital to be prepared for, and attempt to prevent or mitigate the negative effects of such crises through crisis management tools and organizational learning practices. According to the current literature, the tourism and hospitality industry has been exposed to dramatic impacts from human-induced crises and natural disasters during past decades. The repercussions are manifested in the form of business failure, economic losses, tarnished destination image, physical damage to infrastructure and facilities, psychological effects, and other undesirable outcomes. Many of these crisis events are recurrent and their effects can be averted or ameliorated through practicing organizational learning and engaging in preparation activities. However, limited attempts have been made by industry players to detect early warning signals, learn from crises and prepare for the next ones. Despite the important contributions in terms of 'lessons learned' from historical analyses, they usually provide little information on how tourism organizations facing the crisis attempted to manage it proactively and what they did reactively (Paraskevas and Quek, 2019). Comprehensive sources in this field is thus necessary to fill this gap. Few research studies are available to discuss organizational learning in the process of tourism crisis management. A comprehensive collection of book chapters concentrating on both theory and practice will shed some light on this issue and propose recommendations for future investigation. Hence, the aim of this publication is to discover various aspects of organizational learning in tourism and hospitality crisis management and discuss future prospects. The book will be the main resource for future research in the field of tourism crisis management and organizational learning. There would be several reasons for such demand. First, this subject is relatively new in the hospitality and tourism field, covering many critical aspects of organizational learning in tourism crisis management. This novelty and in-depth discussions of practical lessons across the globe could be of great interest to both academics and practitioners alike. In recent years, many tourism and hospitality firms have applied the essence of crisis management and organizational learning in their contingency planning and crisis management frameworks. Tourism and hospitality managers have fully realized the importance of learning from previous crises and thus applied these learning strategies in their preparation programs. Therefore, they would be very eager more than before to use this material and recommend it to colleagues, employees, etc. Another potential demand would be academics, students and researchers in the both fields of organizational learning and tourism crisis management. Most universities and tourism institutions either directly or indirectly have developed new curriculums on tourism crisis management at Masters and PhD levels with special focus on organizational learning and preparation. This book will be of great interest for these people as previous resources are relatively outdated and furthermore, they did not cover the subject of organizational learning in details.
Using examples from the UK, Europe, America, Australia and Asia, this book provides an analysis of the latest thinking and practice in dealing with extreme and sudden reductions in demand for specific tourist destinations or products. It shows that managerial responses, including problem solving and market recovery steps, vary in effectiveness and that recovery may be slow after initial problems are overcome.
The Asia-Pacific region is one of the most vulnerable to a variety of natural and manmade hazards. This edited book productively brings together scholars and senior public officials having direct experience in dealing with or researching on recent major natural disasters in the Asia-Pacific. The chapters focus on disaster preparedness and management, including pre-event planning and mitigation, crisis leadership and emergency response, and disaster recovery. Specific events discussed in this book include a broad spectrum of disasters such as tropical storms and typhoons in the Philippines; earthquakes in China; tsunamis in Indonesia, Japan, and Maldives; and bushfires in Australia. The book aims to generate discussions about improved risk reduction strategies throughout the region. It seeks to provide a comparative perspective across countries to draw lessons from three perspectives: public policy, humanitarian systems, and community engagement.