Systemic crises are as a result of a collapse in the operations of a system. This often results in losses or problems that may overwhelm the operations of the entire system hence causing a breakdown. The occurrence of such systems affect a number of individuals depending on their magnitude hence the need to identify strategies that can restore the situation back to normal. This paper identifies two specific systemic crises discussed in the course module and analyzes their similarities and differences. The crises discussed in this paper include crisis/hostage negotiation and school-based crises. There is also a discussion on the intervention strategies used in each of the crises.
Crisis/Hostage Negotiation
Crisis negotiation refers to crises that occur as a result of human intervention on issues that are beyond their comprehension. They are influenced and caused by frustrations and lack of desired outcome from a particular system. For instance, an individual may face a hostage negotiation crisis as a result of a poor the hostage wanting to cause a revolution. This is the case of a terrorist. Some of the most common hostage takers include mentally disturbed persons; estranged person; institutionalized individuals; and wronged person. These types of hostage negotiation have an overwhelming effect on victims and cause psychological torture or even loss of life when the crisis addressed in an improper manner.
Schools are always well-organized and perform with great efficiency when the prevailing conditions are normal and under control. However, a crisis presents a different situation and schools are faced with unusual demands. This means that there is an urgent need for the system to respond to unexpected demands that may even be unusual. A crisis affects both members of staff and students in different ways hence making it difficult to come up with an effective crisis intervention response. In most cases, the school may underestimate the overall impact of the crisis or even be overwhelmed by its magnitude. Schools can address such crises in an effective manner by having a preplanned and systematic organizational model that direct decisions.
Similarities
The occurrence of both home-made and hostage negotiation crises is always unexpected in the sense that they are unpredictable to the victims. Different systems may develop different strategies and plans to address such crises but the time of their occurrence is never sure. This is evident from the fact that the occurrence of both hostage negotiation and school-based crises affects individuals by a large magnitude in terms of physical abuse or psychological torture. Victims are caught unawares hence suffer immensely from the effects of such crises.
Repetition
Hostage negotiation is perceived to have a greater magnitude compared to school-based crisis. This is based on the fact that hostage negotiation involves a long process when addressing the crisis compared to school-based crisis. The other reason is that its effects have far reaching implications compared to those of a school-based crisis. For instance, it may take up to a year for a hostage negotiation to bear fruit (Smith, 2005). A hostage negotiation is considered as a security concern because the life of an individual is at stake. On the other hand, bullying in school takes a relatively shorter time to intervene compared to hostage negotiation and the life of a victim is rarely at stake (James, 2008).
Intervention Strategies
Specific systemic crises have different strategies of intervention. This is because they are unique in their own rights and occur under different circumstances hence requiring different approaches to address them. For instance, bullying can be addressed using punishment or counseling whereas a hostage negotiation can be intervened through effective communication and negotiation.
On the basis of the contrasts provided above, it is evident that the magnitude of any crisis is determined by the level of impact it has on a system. It is also evident that different intervention strategies apply to different crises.
Intervention Strategies
There is a similar in the intervention strategies used in the different crises. Counseling applies in both crises whereby victims are given advice on how to overcome bad memories o their experiences (Logue, 2006). However, the intervention strategies are different in the sense that those used during school-based crisis are narrow in magnitude because they involve few processes. Hostage negotiations have broader intervention strategies because of the lengthy processes involved.
Systemic crises have different effects on individuals and systems hence they require a number of intervention strategies. These strategies depend on the magnitude of the crisis and vary from crisis to crisis. An analysis of school-based crisis and hostage negotiation crises indicate that there exists difference and similarities in their characteristics as well as their intervention strategies (Echterling, 2005).
References
Echterling, L. G. (2005). Crisis intervention: promoting resilience and resolution in troubled times. New York: Pearson/Merrill Prentice Hall.
Logue, J. N. (2006). The public health response to disasters in the 21st century: Reflections on
Hurricane Katrina. Journal of Environmental Health, 69(2), 9-13.
James, R. K. (2008). Crisis intervention strategies (6th ed.). Belmont, CA: Thomson Brooks/Cole.
Smith, D. C. (2005). Organizing for disaster preparedness. Journal of Community Practice, 13(4), 131-141.
