Behavioural patterns in crisis
Crisis in companies are very nasty for all people involved. A great number of difficult decisions have to be made and - what is even more important - have to be announced and implemented. Most of the managers have little to no experience with the organization of crisis situations. In many cases this unusual situation logically results in acting which is not adequate for the situation. The following behavioural patterns can frequently be observed:
Excessive desire for action
Excessive desire for action is a phenomenon, which we often encounter. It describes a behaviour, at which a lot of activities are conducted by various players in an unplanned and uncoordinated way. Since these activities are not target-oriented in the end, they logically cannot lead to success.
Suppressing/ escaping behaviour
Everybody knows this from himself. One likes to postpone or adjourn unpleasant things. Second theatres of operations fill whole weeks in the calendar, so that - what a surprise - there is hardly or no time for the important but unpleasant subjects.
False consideration
Showing too much humanity when solving a problem is disadvantageous, because often conflicts are avoided in favour of a good atmosphere. Solutions and actions fall by the wayside.
Insufficient resoluteness
Recognizing crisis is one thing - defining measures for overcoming them is another thing. To discuss ideas and solution approaches is a good step into the right direction. However, the difficult steps are the practical measures. Frequently there is insufficient resoluteness in the implementation. Most of the turnarounds do not fail because the problems were not tackled, but because there was inadequate resoluteness in the implementation. Decisions are made, however, as soon as there is resistance, these are revised again or watered down to such an extent that they do not have the necessary effect any more.
Repair thinking
A problem, which we often observe in crisis situations is the so-called repair thinking. We experience that the management mainly "works on the symptoms". Is the sales volume not adequate? Then we have to put more pressure on the sales! Perhaps, however, the sharp fall of sales volume is the symptom for an antiquated product line? In this case it is true that the activation of sales measures can have a "calming effect" on a short-term basis, However, the slow decline of the company is predetermined!
Side recommend
Print page
Top of page