Service failures as organisational crises in business travel: Origins and operational strategies as perceived by events professionals

Abstract

Justified purpose of the topic: Research on crisis management in the meetings industry only focused on the process of crisis preparedness and the perception of meeting planners towards crises, with little research carried out on the strategies adopted to manage crisis within the meetings industry. Objective: This paper explores crisis management perceptions and practices by meetings professionals from two perspectives: origins of crisis and crisis management strategies. Methodology: The study adopted an exploratory perspective through interviewing 11 Turkish meeting planners who were asked to revisit past crisis experiences through the critical incident technique. Results: Meetings were shown to be highly prone to smaller scale, operational crisis in particular. Therefore, to meeting planners crises are more about service failures than major disruptive events that question the organisation’s existence as per the traditional definition of crisis. Crises are classified using a matrix that considers the source of the crisis (internal/external) and the degree of control (controllable/non-controllable). Meeting planners tend to attribute crises events to others than themselves and perceive them as mostly uncontrollable, related third party suppliers (including venues/hotels) and clients. Crisis management strategies employed in each of the four phases of crisis (prevention/preparation, coping, recovery and learning) were carried out at an individual level, with little formalisation at the organisational level evident. Negative perceptions about the need for formalisation were reflected in the rejection of developing crisis management plans. Originality: This paper contributes to the literature by demonstrating that crisis management frameworks can be employed to examine crises that are essentially service failures. As a consequence, the distinction between the notions of service failure and crisis may be artificial rather than real. Therefore, researchers planning studies on crises-service failure should consider looking at both literatures in order to integrate both bodies of knowledge.

Empreendedorismo e catástrofes no turismo

“…The literature shows that, in order to recover from disasters and manage crises, it is necessary to understand the importance of planning for organizing efforts in events of this nature . Other studies diverge by showing that organizations are more reactive than preventive in response to crisis situations Andirin et al, 2017). Despite the divergences found in the literature, research reveals that crisis management must be based on the crisis management plan, associated with the chain of managerial actions (Giousmpasoglou et al, 2021;Liu et al, 2015).…”

Viva ou deixe morrer

“…O acúmulo de conhecimentos foi acionado também por MPE portuguesas para reagir à pandemia (Dias et al, 2020). Ademais, a constatação de que 13 das empresas pesquisadas não estabeleciam planos preventivos à crise, sugere ser esta uma situação comum não apenas ao segmento de eventos (Andirin et al, 2017), mas ao setor turístico como um todo (Chien & Law, 2003). A fala da Empresa F fortalece o exposto: "a gente fez o nosso plano de crise para poder antecipar o que viria nos próximos meses [...] uma semana antes, de fato, de começar todo esse processo".…”

“…Esta investigação, de natureza qualitativa, transversal, descritiva e exploratória (Flick, 2009), procura atender às recomendações de Andirin et al (2017), acerca da necessidade de estudos qualitativos sobre crise, e de Kraus et al (2020) que compreendem a presente pandemia como uma crise sem precedentes e cujas peculiaridades demandam abordagens exploratórias para aprofundar a temática.…”

A Influência Da Hospitalidade Na Gestão De Crise Nos Negócios Durante O Isolamento Social

“…Contudo, para retomar a normalidade e a competitividade deve-se reconhecer a importância do planejamento estratégico para gerir a crise, considerando a magnitude do evento, bem como as suas etapas: pré-crise, crise e pós-crise. Além disso, devem ser considerados aspectos como: a) são fontes de incerteza e de mudança; b) prejudicam organizações e seus stakeholders; c) são consideradas fenômenos comportamentais reconhecidos pela literatura e, dessa maneira, entendidas como sendo construídas socialmente por todos os envolvidos; d) são partes de um processo maior e não de uma ocorrência única; e e) elas englobam as ações e as comunicações na tentativa de reduzir os danos e o retorno das atividades (ANDIRIN;MOITZL;CARDOSO, 2017;BUNDY et al, 2016).…”