In the firms we studied, we found only a few examples of a champion for
crisis planning prior to the crisis. We acknowledge, however, that this may be
a limitation of our data in that generally information about a crisis event only
becomes available once the crisis has occurred. A firm’s preparation and prevention activities are not newsworthy, and, therefore, it is difficult to assess
from public data sources the extent to which there are issue sellers attempting
to persuade others in their organization to develop a crisis plan.
One exemplar of issue-selling crisis preparation was Alaska Airlines’ handling of the Flight 261 crash from Puerto Vallarta to San Francisco. As a new
CEO, John Kelly was able to build a case for overhauling the company’s crisis
management plan (Springman & Pellet, 2000). Based on his personal and professional experiences with tragedy, he convinced his staff that crisis preparation
not only included operational issues, but also helped them understand the need
to plan for how to manage grief and trauma associated with airplane crashes.
Consequently, Alaska Airlines’ crisis preparation included the creation of its
Compassionate Assistance Relief Effort (CARE) program and the company’s
adoption of the Critical Incident Response Program (CIRP). CARE was established to provide emotional support for family members of passengers involved
in an accident and to coordinate efforts with the National Transportation Safety
Board. The CIRP provides stress management courses and coping strategies to
reduce psychological trauma after a crisis