Keeping the lights on: A conceptual framework for understanding crisis management capability in the public sector

Abstract

Whether a crisis is big or small, if it is not handled effectively, it can have serious implications for a company's short-term operations and even threaten its long-term sustainability. In the public sector, where companies provide essential services such as electricity, the stakeholder and customer-service aspects of an organization's crisis management capability (CMC) are of particular importance. A proposed framework comprising strategic human resources development, organizational behavior in preparation for and response to a crisis, and government's attributes as a stakeholder can be used to assess the CMC of a public-sector organization. According to the framework, the organization's strategic human resources development will have a direct impact on CMC, while organizational style and the role of government will moderate the relationship between the enterprise's strategic human resources development and its ability to manage a crisis.