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CM Lecture 1Management > Crisis Management > Elements > Why is the subject important? > Categories of crisis > Crisis in context
Crisis in context Hippocrates described a crisis as the point at which "intervention can make a difference. Possible turning point in illness" Marx argued that first you have a situation and that its existence creates its opposite. This causes a crisis, as the two situations cannot work together. From out of this arises the synthesis of a new order. It has been suggested that organisational accidents are inevitable, as humans are infallible, no matter how good the preventative systems are. From this it seems that Hippocrates' theory of choice is a false dichotomy, as accidents can't be avoided. Turner (1978) and Perrow (1984), on the other hand, argued that accidents are a result of avoidable management failure. They state that an effective organisation can manage crises with good planning and management. They discuss closed systems, firms which are in total control over their internal workings. In theory then, any form of mistake shouldn't be accepted, but in reality most firms are not entirely closed systems, as people who comprise the companies do make mistakes. Decisions crises and preventions, such as priorities, are culturally-based and so risk analysis must be seen within a set of social and cultural assumptions. Indeed, when dealing with crises, the wider system, the context needs to be considered. Many firms just focus on the current symptoms and do a band-aid job, rather than searching for the root cause. Doing this would provide a fuller understanding of the situation and increase the chances of creating a better preventative measures if there's a next time.
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