Crisis in retrospect- Crisis Comm reflection 6

Today I read an article on NPR.com about the story of the first black man to attend LSU in 1953. Although it was a historical narrative unrelated to crisis communication, it got me thinking about the perspective we gain on crises in retrospect; and even more so about how the contexts of time and place can impact the nature of a crisis.

In modern times, if a school were to refuse admission to a person based on their race, ethnicity, or any other attribute they would receive a great deal of backlash on a national level. The integrity of the school would be in question, their would be protests by students, by organizations, by celebrities, etc. It would cause a reputational degradation of the institution.

However, in the south in the 1950's it was commonplace to see colleges refuse minority students

My guess is that colleges today probably don't have crisis management plans for this kind of incident (and in reality they may not have had them in 1953 either), but on the contrary they have plans ready for school shootings, riots and other on-campus violence, or other types of reputational threats. The culture of higher education has shifted thus shifting what types of crisis could potentially impact them. The same goes for any organization. To have a pulse of the external environment can really make a difference in crafting an effective CMP.

Maryann shared with us in class on Tuesday that Maersk was mostly prepared for pirates to take a ship captive. She said "it was not a matter of if, it was a matter of when." It seems to me that when I watch the news or read articles about companies or organizations undergoing crisis, there is usually a sense that the organization was out of touch with reality until the worst happened. There are always signs when a crisis smolders, so why do so many choose to turn a blind eye?

I'm thinking back on school crises that I have seen in my lifetime- particularly Columbine and Virginia Tech. On both occasions there were signs that the individuals who masterminded the attacks were troubled. Fellow students realized, parents realized, teachers realized- and yet, no preventative measures were taken to avoid what ended in heartbreaking tragedy.

How can an organizations' members be better attuned with the indicators of a crisis? Does it always take retrospective perspectives to help us learn and prepare for the next crisis? How can the context of our larger environment help plan for looming crises?