The Case of the Indiana State Fair

The case of the Indiana state fair was a clear example of what happens when an organization does not have a crisis management team, plan, strategy, or crisis organizational learning experiences. As we observed, so many individuals from separate departments did not effectively communicate with one another. It sort of reminds me of the whole Titanic disaster, only smaller in nature. Where there were so many signs, and opportunities to prevent the crises from effecting them directly. Unfortunately there were too many missed opportunities, and eventually it was a race against time, and time won!

Although tragedies such as these usually leave citizens at a loss for words, these are the events that help organizations gain some perspective from a internal and external landscape for learning. Many organizations fail to interpret certain signals, or fail to analyze important information being communicated that is vital to their decision-making. Crisis management teams/planning should be required of every organization. It is important that all the departments learn how to communicate with one another also, because these guys did not reflect that, and the consequences were 13 fatalities. If they did have a crisis management team, strategy and plan, perhaps the outcome would have been different.

According the CNN website, Sugarlands attorneys denied negligence claims calling the incident a true accident or act of God. This is a clear example of an organization that does not want to take responsibility for this crisis. This will be an example of an organization that will continue to repeat the cycle because they are in denial. This should have been the crisis that showed them that they are at risk of having to endure a catastrophi...

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...g by; First, I would make sure that their is plenty of feedback for the employees. As our text suggests, "Without feedback, learning can not occur"(Crandall, W., Parnell, J. & Spillan, J. (2013). Secondly, I would make sure that I have a great crisis management team that are well trained and drilled. Thirdly, we would have a strategy and plan for crisis events. Also, It is very important to make sure that your team members are all confident in their ability to make good decisions for the company. So many times, people are afraid to make decisions. This leads to scapegoating within the departments, and the whole blame game. That doesn't get anybody anywhere.

Works Cited

CNN Wire Staff, (Feb. 22, 2012). Sugarland Lawyers: Fans share blames for injuries in Indiana stage collapse. Retrieved from http://www.cnn.com/2012/02/21/showbiz/indiana-stage-collapse/