Crisis Management in a Pandemic Era

The social and economic impacts from the COVID-19 pandemic will continue to affect all of us.  The death toll and other consequences from this crisis are alarming.  Certain impacts are still difficult to estimate.  A few important lessons can be discerned, though, at this stage in the international crisis.

As a retired management professor, I know that the topic of crisis management has long been covered in undergraduate and graduate courses in business management and public administration. Textbooks and teachers have emphasized how important risk analysis and crisis management are.  Part of the role of top managers and administrators is assuming responsibility for adequate preparation for potential crises.   We teach approaches for scanning and assessing the social, economic, scientific and technological environments of organizations whose future will be affected by these shifting conditions.  Logistics, transportation models, and supply chain management are critical concerns for crisis management.  Also critical are communication approaches with affected public and private sector stakeholders.

During and after major crises, performance assessment of managerial responsiveness and effectiveness should continue.  Managers and administrators learn by subjecting their crisis planning and actions to critical review by both institutional insiders and outsiders.  These administrators should also examine and learn from the best practices of other institutions and organizations in coping with crises.  They learn in crises, as well, about who truly are “essential” employees and their key roles in organizational survival and success.

Much has already been written, often critical, concerning federal and particular states’ preparation and response for this deadly global pandemic.  Less has been shared regarding how well particular large and small businesses have responded.  Our federal and state governments can share more in common with larger corporations than with smaller businesses related to crisis management.   Both governments and corporations usually have well-educated staff members who support top administrators with crisis  research and advisement.  Smaller business owners and managers often do not have specialized staff or this expertise themselves.    

Many of us can roughly evaluate certain “outcomes” of effective crisis management, such as continuing organizational prosperity, quality of services rendered, etc.   Yet it is more difficult for us to assess the “process” of crisis management within governments and corporations.  We are living in a world where top administrators and managers often seem more concerned with managing or “spinning” public perceptions of their performance in a time of crisis.  Declining confidence revealed in many polls of government and corporate leadership reflects public cynicism that many stakeholder concerns are really being well addressed.

Top administrators in large organizations often do have talented scientists, economists and other professionals in key advisory roles.  Their insights can be lost or poorly utilized in crises, though, when the internal politics of self-interest or cronyism dominate.   Power can corrupt, and ineffective leadership can result.    

Education and training programs for managers emphasize stakeholder management instead of overwhelming focus on owner or stockholder interests.  If key employees, suppliers, and customers do not believe top administrators are providing them with quality outcomes, they will withdraw from these relationships, with dire bottom-line results.  Despite the emphasis given to crisis management in college classrooms, I must admit failures by public and business administration educators to have that much impact on actual student learning and practice.  Sure, we require our students to read textbooks, listen to lectures, discuss cases, and take tests on crisis management and related concerns.  But what we more often produce is shallow learning, rather than deeper learning experiences.  If new learning isn’t well integrated into existing values and actually practiced, it can become quickly forgotten or pushed aside.  

What is often rewarded and learned in some corporate and governmental cultures is narrower, more biased, and short-range thinking by administrators.   Topics such as ethical and environmental concerns, crisis management, and longer-term strategic thinking can easily become devalued by administrators focusing heavily on short-term, bottom-line results.  This can be particularly true in the private sector where many top managers often assume high leadership positions just years prior to their retirement.  Their attention can be so much on a few bottom-line numbers, and their achieving personal rewards for these numbers, that successive CEOs poorly invest in their organization’s long-range future.      

The performance of government leaders is continuously being evaluated by key stakeholders, including citizens who vote.  The performance of corporate managers is also being evaluated by customers, investors, suppliers, employees, and other stakeholders.  Crises are important tests of leadership skills and performance.

We have an important responsibility for evaluating the overall performance of our government and private sector leaders.  We make important choices when we decide to vote for certain political candidates.  We also make choices, whether we fully realize the importance of these choices, when we are investors, customers, suppliers, or employees of corporations and businesses. 

As a result of the current pandemic and threats associated with climate change, there have been calls recently urging Americans to make more informed choices as voters, customers and investors.  For example, we see arguments raised to support local, area, and regional suppliers of high-quality goods rather than our buying imported goods that are often a bit less expensive.   This has been particularly the case regarding support of our state crawfish, honey, and other agricultural products.

We are all investors.  Our votes and other civic duties are investments in the health and future of our communities, states, and nation.  Our purchases of goods and services are a type of voting and investment regarding which companies will survive and thrive.  Our selections of particular companies for which we are employees or stockholders are also important investments for our future personal health and prosperity and for those of others.   We need to make smarter investments, particularly as we witness leadership performance in times of crisis.