The Crisis Management Capabilities and Preparedness of Organizations: A Study of Iranian Hospitals

摘要

There is evidence from recent crises that the preparedness for and response to undesired problems on the part of organizations is directly related to their relevant capabilities and their willingness to actively manage such problems. In this context, hospitals compared to other organizations are more viable to suffer damages if a crisis occurs. This study was done at 41 Iranian hospitals in Iran, whose directors and general were each interviewed and asked questions about the hospital's capabilities to respond to crises and its preparedness for such crises. The interview responses of these subjects show that most of them were not familiar with what is involved in crisis management, although most of them did say they had crisis management plans and crisis committees in their hospitals. Most of the respondents believed that if a crisis occurred in the hospital, patients, personnel and documents will be the first victims of the crisis. The study makes clear that having a crisis plan and a crisis committee without knowledge of crisis management does not help managers to cope with undesired problems. Moreover, results show that older managers were more familiar with crisis management in other countries, defined their responsibilities to include setting up crisis committees and took crises more seriously than their younger counterparts.