Types of Plans Needed in Crisis Management Implementation Phase

Different preparations for crisis management

Different preparations should be put in place to successfully manage a crisis during the implementation stage. The emergency response plan is one of the plans that apply to my organization; there is a need to design a strategy to protect property, people, and the environment (Emergency Response Plan, 2017). In this situation, the plans should include sheltering in place, lockdown, and evacuation, as well as contingency plans for other types of threats identified during risk assessment. Another type of plan in the organization is the crisis communication plan; essentially, a plan has to be set up to communicate with the customers, workers, stakeholders, and news media. Business has to be in a position to accurately, confidently, and promptly respond to a crisis within the hours or days that follow (Hale, Dulek & Hale, 2015). A large number audience has to be reached with information that is specific to their needs and interest (Crisis Communications Plan, 2017). The business’s image can either be negatively or positively impacted by the public perceptions of dealing with the incident.

The business continuity plan

The next plan is the business continuity plan, and in this case, this involves developing a plan that encompasses the recovery strategies intended to overcome the business disruption. Fundamentally, this plan comprises four steps, and the firsts step is to perform a business impact analysis with the aim of identifying critical or time-sensitive business processes and functions and the required resources to support them (Whitworth, 2016). The second step in to identify, record, and implement to improve business processes and functions. The third step is to form and business continuity team to manage any business disruption. The final step is to train the members of the business continuity team and to evaluate the recovery strategies, as well as the plan (Business Continuity Plan, 2017).

The IT Plan

The other one is the IT Plan; which is a plan intended to help in recovering computer hardware, electronic data, and connectivity to support the critical business functions and processes. Businesses create and manage huge volumes of electronic data or information, and much of it is important (IT Disaster Recovery Plan, 2017). The impact of losing the data could be great, and thus, it is essential to put a plan in place for data backup and to restore the electronic information.

Programs Needed

One of the programs employed in my organization during the implementation stage of crisis management is the preparedness program. The steps involved in the development of this program include planning, managing, implementing, testing, and improving the program. On this line, there are opportunities for improving the program after the occurrence of an incident. There is a need to perform a critique to evaluate the response to such incident. Consequently, the lessons learned can help in identifying the needs for making changes in the preparedness program. Moreover, the instructional guidance and best practices published by the professional societies, government websites, trade, and trade associations can be helpful resources in evaluating and improving an organization’s preparedness program. The deficiencies and gaps identified in the course of the review ought to be documented and addressed via a corrective action plan. In this case, the corrective action program ought to document the information concerning the deficiencies. Precisely, in this plan, there is a need to include a complete account of such deficiency; the action, which has to be taken; the required resources to handle the deficiency; and a rationalization for the need to have the deficiency corrected (Program Improvement, 2017). Markedly, the action regarding the deficiencies ought to be assigned to the department or person who is best suited to handle the issue. Furthermore, a due date has to be assigned, and there is a need to review the corrective action database on a regular basis with the intention to track progress (Corrective Action, 2017). Finally, there is a need to update the status column up to the time the deficiency has been effectively addressed.

Resources

There is a need to identify and assess the required resources for responding to risks, on-going business operations, and communicating in the course of and following an incident. Apparently, there several resources needed in my organization for the preparedness programs and these include facilities, people, warning and communications technologies, life safety and protection systems, equipment, pollution control systems, funding, supplies and materials, information regarding hazards, and special expertise.

A business should conduct a needs assessment to determine the required resources. The resources might come from within the organization such as trained workers, protection and safety systems, and communication facilities and equipment leased or owned by the business. Moreover, over resources that come from outside sources encompass business partners, public emergency services, contractors, and vendors. In this regard, the capability and availability of these resources have to be determined. Considerations of logistics are an imperative component of the preparedness program to make sure that the resources will become available where and when needed.

References

Business Continuity Plan, (2017). Ready Government. Retrieved from, https://www.ready.gov/business/implementation/continuity

Corrective Action, (2017). Ready Government. Retrieved from, https://www.ready.gov/business/program/corrective

Crisis Communications Plan, (2017 Ready Government. Retrieved from, https://www.ready.gov/business/implementation/crisis

Emergency Response Plan. (2017). Ready Government. Retrieved from, https://www.ready.gov/business/implementation/emergency

Hale J, Dulek R, Hale D. (2015). Crisis Response Communication Challenges. Journal of Business Communication, 42(2), 112-134.

IT Disaster Recovery Plan. (2017). Ready Government. Retrieved from, https://www.ready.gov/business/implementation/IT

Program Improvement, (2017). Ready Government. Retrieved from, https://www.ready.gov/business/program

Whitworth, P. (2016). Continuity of Operations Plans: Maintaining Essential Agency Functions When Disaster Strikes. Journal of Park & Recreation Administration, 24(4):40-63.