Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Master in Technology: Public Relations Management, Durban University of Technology, 2010. / The National Plan for Higher Education (2001) provides a framework for achieving the vision of a single co-ordinated higher education system. In order to meet the goals of this plan, various technikons and universities had to merge. Pityana (2004: 4-5) points out that, in addition to opportunities, various challenges have also emerged from these mergers. One such challenge is that higher education institutions may find themselves in tensions with their partners which may result in disagreements that could lead to crisis situations. Marconi (2005: 262) argues that, in crisis situations, the pace of the conflict accelerates dramatically. This means that the affected parties have to react very quickly or risk having their ability to protect their interests substantially reduced, hence the need for a crisis communication plan. Implicit in this plan is the importance of communication. McCusker (2006: 108) maintains that, often in crisis a situation, communication gets distorted. As a result, rumours often supplant real facts. Thus, clear communication needs to be pre-planned and increased during a crisis. This dissertation, therefore, sets out to investigate the role of communication during the planning and management of crises at higher education institutions in KwaZulu-Natal. It reports on preliminary results of in-depth interviews conducted at higher education institutions in KwaZulu- Natal and offers recommendations so that crises planning and management may be improved upon.

The diploma thesis deals with the state of readiness of the health service of the Slovak Republic for solving crisis features connected with mass infliction of the population. The crisis features are mostly connected with risk to peopleś health and lives therefore the health intervention, which increases the demands made on support of usual health care, seems to be necessary . The health service shall be ready to solve them as soon as possible with use of all necessary force and means. The thesis analyses the level of readiness of the health service for managing emergencies connected with risk to health and lives of a larger number of people. It expertises legal surroundings of health support of crisis management, it explains the basic terminology, evaluates the level of health provision of rescue works and views the impact of reorganisation of the health service on crisis health support. It complex analyses the influence of the whole real level of the health service of the Slovak Republic on solving crisis situations. The diploma thesis proposes pursuant to the performed analyses organizational measures for the better quality of the process of solving crisis features and for increasing its effectivity.

This work analyses disposable tools of business crisis management to manage crisis which are induced by natural threats and it considers possibilities of these methods using. On basis of performed analysis then in the practical part it uses the acceptable methods and tools to look for threats and risks of the firm and suggests optimal structure of crisis plan.

Diploma thesis focuses on mapping of restructuring procedure for manufacturing companies in the Czech republic. It consists of initial analysis of current firm's situation, listing of all possibilities how to deal with company's decline reflecting czech insolvency law and case studies of applied crisis management principles and methods. As a result, you recognize the most important milestones of company's rescue including the general concept of restructuring services in manufacturing companies.

Bakgrund: Olika typer av krisplaner, psykiatriska förhandsdirektiv, har använts som ett verktyg för att hjälpa patienter att kommunicera sina behov och önskemål under psykisk kris när de inte förmår göra det själva. Sedan 1980-talet har de psykiatriska förhandsdirektiven använts för att öka patientsäkerheten, personcentrering, minska vårdkonsumtion inklusive ofrivillig behandling. Syfte: Syftet var att beskriva patientens erfarenheter av krisplanering i den psykiatriska vården. Metod: En kvalitativ litteraturöversikt med systematisk ansats. Femton artiklar med kvalitativ eller mixad metod valdes ut och analyserades utifrån Thomas och Hardens metod för tematisk syntes. Resultat: Patienters upplevelse av krisplanering redovisas i sex analytiska teman; stärkt vårdrelation, autonomi och empowerment, en väg till självinsikt, trygghet och säkerhet, involvering av närstående samt svårigheter i samband med krisplanering. Det framkom att patienternas upplevelser var starkt färgade av personalens bemötande. Tidigare erfarenheter var avgörande för patientens förmåga att ingå ett samarbete med personalen i syfte att arbeta proaktivt och förhindra negativa konsekvenser av återfall. Slutsats: Krisplanens skyddande och förebyggande funktion var till nytta för såväl patienter som närstående och personal. Patienter upplevde krisplaneringen som ett verktyg för att stärka vårdrelation samt att genom ökad delaktighet utöka autonomi och empowerment. Processen utvecklade patientens kunskap om sin sårbarhet, sina förmågor och självinsikt. Det är viktigt att vara medveten om att vårdpersonalen har en stor inverkan på patienters upplevelse av krisplaneringen. / Background: Various types of crisis plans, psychiatric advance directives, have been used as a tool to help patients communicate their needs and wishes during psychological crises when they are unable to do so themselves. Since the 1980s, psychiatric advance directives have been used to increase patient safety, person-centeredness, reduce care consumption including involuntary treatment. Aim: The purpose was to describe patients’ experiences of the crisis planning in psychiatric care. Method: A qualitative literature review with a systematic approach. Fifteen articles with a qualitative or mixed method were selected and analyzed based on Thomas and Harden's method for thematic synthesis. Results: Patients' experience of crisis planning is reported in six analytical themes; strengthened care relationship, autonomy and empowerment, a path to self-awareness, safety and security, involvement of relatives and difficulties in crisis planning. It emerged that the patients' experiences were strongly colored by the treatment of the staff. Previous experiences were decisive for the patient's ability to enter into a collaboration with the staff in order to work proactively and prevent negative consequences of relapse. Conclusion: The crisis plan's protective and preventive function was beneficial for patients as well as relatives and staff. Patients experienced the crisis planning as a tool to strengthen the care relationship and to increase autonomy and empowerment through increased participation. The process developed the patient's knowledge of their vulnerability, abilities and self-awareness. It is important to be aware that the staff had a large impact on the patients' experience of crisis planning.

American schools are becoming increasingly diverse. With the increasing diversity in school enrollment, professionals are faced with the challenge of providing culturally sensitive services in all areas, including crisis intervention planning. Additionally, language differences also affect help-seeking behaviors and may serve as a strong barrier to effective service delivery. Taking into account individual school and district demographics, schools must consider strategies to best meet the needs of students and families from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds. As a starting point, this thesis provides an overview of the literature on school crisis response. Current demographics in U.S. public schools, the perceptions of school safety, and crisis intervention planning will be discussed. Cultural perspectives of trauma will be addressed, considering community resources, help-seeking behavior, and language barriers. Interviews with open-ended questions were conducted with 10 Spanish-speaking parents. Questions were based on the following categories: parents' overall views of schools safety, help-seeking behaviors, and perceptions of school crisis planning. The discussion section reviews the resulting themes. Themes drawn from parents' interviews will inform this particular school's crisis intervention planning and improve supportive services for Spanish-speaking families. Although this research focused on one particular school, information is discussed in a broader sense, offering suggestions to improve cultural sensitivity and reduce language barriers in school-based crisis planning efforts.

Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Master in Technology: Public Relations Management, Durban University of Technology, 2010. / The National Plan for Higher Education (2001) provides a framework for achieving the vision of a single co-ordinated higher education system. In order to meet the goals of this plan, various technikons and universities had to merge. Pityana (2004: 4-5) points out that, in addition to opportunities, various challenges have also emerged from these mergers. One such challenge is that higher education institutions may find themselves in tensions with their partners which may result in disagreements that could lead to crisis situations. Marconi (2005: 262) argues that, in crisis situations, the pace of the conflict accelerates dramatically. This means that the affected parties have to react very quickly or risk having their ability to protect their interests substantially reduced, hence the need for a crisis communication plan. Implicit in this plan is the importance of communication. McCusker (2006: 108) maintains that, often in crisis a situation, communication gets distorted. As a result, rumours often supplant real facts. Thus, clear communication needs to be pre-planned and increased during a crisis. This dissertation, therefore, sets out to investigate the role of communication during the planning and management of crises at higher education institutions in KwaZulu-Natal. It reports on preliminary results of in-depth interviews conducted at higher education institutions in KwaZulu- Natal and offers recommendations so that crises planning and management may be improved upon. / National Research Foundation

Syftet med examensarbetet är att bidra med kunskap om hur förskollärare och rektorer i förskolan resonerar och agerar när det gäller barn i sorg, vilka förutsättningar och planer som finns för detta arbete samt hur detta arbete skulle kunna utvecklas. Metoden som användes var kvalitativa intervjuer med fem förskollärare och en rektor och frågorna handlade bland annat om hur man bör arbeta kring barn i sorg och hur deras resonemang kring krisplanen såg ut. Teorin som används i arbetet utgår från Cullbergs teori som behandlar olika stadier som barn i sorg genomgår. Resultaten visade att varken handlingsplaner eller krisplanerna specifikt handlade om barn i sorg. Resultatet visade även att det fanns olika erfarenheter av arbetet med barn i sorg samt hur det hanterats men att förskollärarna såg att det hade varit önskvärt med vidare utbildning inom ämnet / The purpose of the degree project is to contribute with knowledge about how preschool teachers and principals at the preschool reason and act when it comes to children in grief, what conditions and plans exist for this work and how this work could be developed. The method used was qualitative interviews with five preschool teachers and one principal and the questions were about how to work around children in grief and their reasoning about the crisis plan. The results showed that neither the action plans nor the crisis plans were specifically about children in grief. The results also showed that there were different experiences when working with children in grief and how it was handled, but that the preschool teachers saw that further education in the subject had been desirable

Title: Crisis Planning in the Ministry of Interior of the Czech Republic. Aims: To describe the mechanism of emergency planning in the Ministry of Interior of the Czech Republic, focused on the valid legislation. Mention crisis management bodies, which are involved in this issue. To characterize the integrated rescue system and develop the organizational structure of the Police of the Czech Republic and Fire Rescue Service of the Czech Republic, as two key executives of the Ministry of Interior. Mention the application area of typical activities for the Czech Police and Fire Rescue Service of the Czech Republic. Method: Use available sources of information to organize activities and tasks of the Ministry of Interior of the Czech Republic in the field of emergency planning. Keywords: the Integrated Rescue System, crisis plan, crisis management, emergency situation, emergency status. Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)

<p><strong>Bakgrund och problemdiskussion:</strong> I dagens samhälle är det inte längre frågan om en organisation kommer drabbas av kris, utan frågan är snarare när och hur väl förberedd organisationen är för att kunna hantera den. Tsunamin som inträffade annandag jul 2004 var en kris av tidigare sällan skådat slag, den drabbade det svenska samhället i allmänhet och resebranschen i synnerhet. Resebranschen är starkt omvärldsberoende och dess aktörer kan aldrig vara tillräckligt väl förberedda på en kris. För att stå bättre rustad inför kommande kriser, bör organisationer efter en kris eftersträva att dra lärdomar av sina erfarenheter.</p><p><strong>Problemformuleringen</strong> för denna uppsats lyder: Hur kan researrangörer förbättra sin organisatoriska kompetens utifrån sina erfarenheter av en kris?</p><p><strong>Syftet</strong> med uppsatsen är:</p><ul><li>Att kartlägga researrangörernas arbete med crisis management och vilka delar av detta arbete som har förändrats efter Tsunamikatastrofen. </li><li>Att identifiera och jämföra de olika lärdomar researrangörerna dragit till följd av Tsunamin. </li><li>Att diskutera och ge förslag till hur lärandet av kriser kan tillvaratas och leda till förändringar, t.ex. i form av förbättrade rutiner i krisberedskapen och höjd kompetens i organisationerna.<em> </em></li></ul><p><strong>Metod:</strong> För vår studie har vi använt en kvalitativ forskningsansats, vårt angreppssätt är deduktivt och vi har utfört semi-strukturerade intervjuer för insamlingen av vårt empiriska material. Intervjuerna tog sin utgångspunkt i vår undersökningsmodell som påvisar hur krisförloppets faser - före, under och efter – påverkar den organisatoriska kompetensen. Urvalet av studieföretag består av researrangörerna Ving och Fritidsresor.</p><p>I vår <strong>empiri</strong> kartläggs hur researrangörerna idag arbetar med crisis management och vilka delar av arbetet som förändrats efter Tsunamin. I <strong>analysen</strong> ser vi att researrangörernas krisberedskapsarbete till stora delar överensstämmer med teorierna inom området, men hur lärprocesserna skiljer sig något åt organisationerna emellan.</p><p><strong>Resultat och slutsatser</strong> av vår studie är att lärprocesser redan under krisen inleddes hos researrangörerna. Genom att åtgärda de brister som upptäcktes under Tsunamin har nya rutiner, system och arbetssätt inom vissa områden lett till förbättringar i krisberedskapen. Båda organisationerna har dragit lärdomar av det som hänt, men fokus på förändringsarbetet har för Ving legat på strukturkapital och för Fritidsresor på humankapital. Båda studieföretagen har infört krisövningar, men inte genomgående på alla nivåer. Det är först vid nästa storskaliga kris som det kommer att visa sig huruvida den organisatoriska kompetensen har ökat.</p><p> </p> / <p><p><strong>Background and rationale: </strong>In the world we live in today the question is no longer ’if’ an organization will face a crisis, but ’when’ and ’how prepared’ is the organization to deal with it. The Tsunami that happened on December 26th 2004 was a disaster of unprecedented magnitude. It had an impact on the Swedish society in general and the travel industry in particular. As the travel industry is very susceptible to impacts by external factor, its participants can never be too prepared to face a crisis. In order to be better prepared for future crisis, organizations should seek to learn from their experiences.</p><p><strong>The research question</strong> for this dissertation is: How can tour-operators improve their organizational competence by using experiences from a crisis?</p><p><strong>The aim</strong> of the dissertation is:</p></p><ul><li>To map the tour-operators’ crisis management work, and which parts of this work has changed as a result of the Tsunami. </li><li>To identify and compare the differences in the lessons learned by the tour-operators from the Tsunami.</li><li>To discuss and give recommendations on how experiences from crises can be used and lead to change, i.e. in better crisis management routines and higher organizational competence</li></ul><p><strong>Methodology: </strong>We have used a qualitative research method in our dissertation, our approach is deductive and for the gathering of empirical data, we have made semi-structured interviews. Our research model has been the base for the interviews. Our model shows how the different phases of a crisis – before, during and after – influence organizational competence. The selected companies for our research are the tour-operators Ving and Fritidsresor.</p><p>In our <strong>field study</strong> we map how the crisis management of the tour-operators is functioning today, and which parts of this work has changed as a result of the Tsunami. In our analysis we see that the tour-operators crisis management work in large parts coincides with the theories in the area, but there are differences in the learning processes of the organizations.</p><p><strong>Results and conclusions</strong> drawn from our research are that the learning processes of the tour-operators already start during the crisis. By addressing the deficiencies observed during the Tsunami, new routines, systems and work processes have improved their preparedness for crisis. Both organizations have learned, but the focus at Ving has been on structural capital and at Fritidsresor on human capital. Both have introduced crisis rehearsals, but not throughout the whole organization. Whether the organizational competence to handle a big crisis has improved will be seen as the next large crisis occurs.</p><p>.</p><p><em> </em></p>