Crisis Identification and Aversion Scale: Crisis Leadership Competencies – Pre-Crisis Stages

Background

Mitroff (2004), Fink (1986), and Wooten and James (2008) postulate that there are stages of crisis that expand beyond the actual event. Mitroff (2004) describes it as four stages, including signal detection, preparation and prevention, damage control and containment, and business recovery. Wooten and James (2008) add a fifth stage, called learning and redesign. Fink (1986) described four stages of a crisis, which he identifies as the anatomy of a crisis: the prodromal crisis stage, the acute crisis stage, the chronic crisis stage, and the crisis resolution stage. This literature supports that a crisis event is not the only aspect of a crisis, but rather there are pre-and post-crisis stages that must be considered.

Furthermore, Mitroff (2004) and Wooten and James (2008) postulate that crisis leaders focus on crisis identification and aversion, and when aversion is not possible, crisis leaders focus on developing an organization that is more resilient and stronger post-crisis. That said, the increase in organizational crises over the past couple of decades is human-induced, thus creating an opportunity for leaders to prevent a crisis from occurring (Pearson & Mitroff, 1993). A recent study showed that 50% of leaders believe their role in the crisis is to minimize damage and get back to business as usual (DuBrin, 2013). There has been little research on crisis leader competencies and even less on competencies needed to lead successfully through all stages of a crisis (Bonnvillian, 2013). There is currently no other instrument that measures leadership ability pre-crisis or post-crisis but rather only leadership attributes during the crisis event.