Crisis Management – Signal detection
Summary
 Crisis Management in Hospitality Industry
 Signal Detection Model
 Advantage and Disadvantage of Signal Detection Model
 Recommendation
Introduction
 Crisis is defined “as an adverse incident or a series of events that has the
potential to seriously damage an organisation’s employees, operation,
business and reputation”, Paraskevas et al (2013:35)
 Crisis Management is set of factors designed to combat crises and to
lessen the actual damaged inflicted. (Coombos, 2011)
 There are elements that are common to most definitions of crisis:
 a threat to the organization,
 the element of surprise,
 a short decision time
 a need for change
Crisis Management in Hospitality industry
 “The Hospitality industry is prone to crises as it is highly fragmented and complex with
many interdependencies among its sectors”. (Paraskevas, 2012)
 Hospitality industry is incorporated with other industries, meaning that a wide range of
potential crisis within hotels can affect and impact others business.
 The exposure of Hospitality business to a wide range of crises, indicates a significant
challenges’ that hospitality organisation, face it in the operation.
Crisis in UK Industry
 Paraskevas (2009), 60% of organisational crises normally emit warning signals
early enough to be prevented.
 43% of companies experiencing a disaster never recover
 40% of companies that have CM plans do not have a team dedicated to disaster
recovery
 43% of companies that have a business continuity plan do not test it annually
 80% of companies have not developed CM to provide IT coverage for
business continuity
 Of those who have had a crisis, 42% STILL do not have a plan!
 yet…97% felt confident that they could respond well to a crisis
 Only 23% of businesses have no early warning of some kind; about 75% of
crises result from inappropriate action or inaction by top management (UK
Statistics, 2012).
Types of Crisis Signals
People
Communities
Special Interests
Gossip / Rumors
Personal
Networks
The Culture
Media
Consumers
Internal
External
Personal Data
Bases
PCs
IT
Remote
Sensing
Government
Monitoring
Industry
Source: Mitroff (1988)
Technical
Crises categorised by the
types of risks in terms of
their impact and
probability
Crisis Categorization
High Impact
Red Zone
I
I
I
I
Amber Zone
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
Gray Zone
I
Green Zone
I
I
I
I
Hazard Likelihood
High Probability
I
Low Probability
Low Impact
Hazard Severity
Source:Mitroff
(1988)
Stages of Crisis Management
Crises can be described in terms of stages, or relatively identifiable sequences of events and
reactions. Stages enable planners to monitor risks, progress, target stakeholders, and take
strategic action appropriate to the stage. There are many models; below are two prominent ones:
Fink’s Crisis Lifecycle
Prodromal
Crisis breakout
Risk cues that
potential crisis can
emerge
Triggering event with
resulting damage
Resolution
Chronic
Lingering
effects of crisis
Crisis no longer a
concern to
stakeholders
Mitroff’s Five Stages of Crisis Management
Signal
detection
Probing &
prevention
Damage
containment
Warning signs &
efforts to
prevent
Search risk
factors & reduce
potential for
damage
Keep from spreading
to uncontaminated
areas
Recovery
Learning
Return to
normal
operations asap
Review & critique
CM efforts for
improvements
Signals Warning
Mitroff (1988:18) observed that “long before its actual occurrence, a crisis sends off
a repeated and persistent trail of early warning signals”
“Signal Detection is a first line of defence in Crisis Management” (Paraskevas &
Altiney, 2013)
Crisis Signal Detection Model
Source: Paraskevas
et al (2013)
 Scanning for Signals

internal; the organisation’s structure, culture, and resource variables,

Task; industry force variables
 economic, technological, socio-cultural, and political-legal variables
 Capture of Signals
core detectors (employees, guests, suppliers, industry organisation;
ad hock (competitors)
and experts or consultants,
 Signal Transmission
 communication platform; Paraskevas et.al (2013)
Advantage and Disadvantage
Advantage
Disadvantage
 With clearly defined roles, organisation is
better prepared to react and prevent a wide
range of crisis signals
 Crisis signals could be dynamic and complex
and is not possible to plan and prepare for every
situation
 appropriate signal detection framework
may change its dynamic and path of crisis
 The high number of employees who participate
in the process of crisis signal detection plan
may affect smoothly and efficient coordination
in information exchange
 Strengthen organisation’s competitive
position and reputation.
 it is easier for organisation to train
employee and collect background
information’s in timely and effective
manner.
 Effective communications potentially
enhancing public perception of the
company
 Crisis management planning could be
expensive.
 Excessive focus on potential threats can divert
management focus on how to capitalize on
growth opportunities
Conclusion
 Hospitality organisation operates in complex external and internal business
environment.
 It is crucial that Hospitality organisation engages in defining and establishing,
crisis plan and crisis management team.
 Importance of focusing on communication issues framework.
 Organisations that anticipate the possibility of a crisis and prepare properly will
be better equipped to manage different situations.
Recommendation
 Organizations should redefine the role of crisis management plans and crisis
management teams.
 An effective crisis response should be viewed as a living (co-evolving) system
within the organization.
 By adopting complexity principles the organization can make this system far more
effective.
Bibliography
 Coombos W.T (2011), Ongoing Crisis Communication: Planning, Managing, and Responding, USA:
SAGE Publications, Inc
 Mitroff, I. (2004). Crisis Management leadership, US: John Wiley and Sons.
 Mitroff I and Anagnos G (2001) Managing Crises Before They Happen, New York: AMACOM.
 Mitroff I (1988), Smart Thinking for Crazy Times: The Art of Solving the Right Problems, USA:
Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc.,

Paraskevas, A. and Altinay, L. (2013),Signal Detection as the First Line of Defence in Tourism Crisis
Management, Tourism Management, 34(1), pp. 158-171
 Paraskevas, A. (2012) “Aligning Strategy to Threat: A Baseline Anti-terrorism Strategy for Hotels”,
International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, vol. 27, 7, pp. 140.
 Paraskevas, A., Altinay, L., McLean, J. and Cooper, C. P. (2013) “Crisis Knowledge in Tourism:
Types, Flows and Governance” Annals of Tourism Research, vol. 41, pp. 140-152.