Human Factor Preparedness for Decentralized Crisis Management and Communication in Cyber-Physical Systems

Abstract

Crises are influencing the corporate sustainability. Long-term stakeholder value built in decades can be ruined by a middle scale crisis. In the new world of cyber-physical systems, scholars emphasize the decentralized, human–machine cooperation based disturbance handling. From information technology and communication (ICT) point of view the cyber-physical systems are ready for a sustainable, decentralized crisis management. The aim of the article is to present results of a research that has as objective to study the readiness of the human component of cyber-physical systems for a decentralized crisis management approach in industrial organizations. Two highly regulated industries—automotive and pharmaceutical industry- was selected; in all the studied organizations the continuous human-machine cooperation is a reality. The sample consisted of 151 respondents and a questionnaire-based survey was used. The study revealed the need for guidance and education for the personnel regarding the roles and competences of the different departments regarding the relationship with certain stakeholders. The study also reveals that apart from some explicitly regulated by law areas—fire safety, occupational health and safety, and some issues related to technological failures—the studied organizations are not prepared for unexpected situations. Also, our survey revealed that the members of the organization, others than top managers, are not prepared to handle ‘off the job-description’ situations.

Knowledge management based on information technology in response to COVID-19 crisis

“…Increasingly threatened by emerging global-health crises, healthcare organisations are facing increasingly severe and complex operational challenges (Burkle, 2019). These crises demand organisations' prompt responses in order to appropriately handle the challenges they cause and to make appropriate decisions to deal with the events in order to minimise the potential damages they cause (Bakos et al, 2019). Many CM frameworks have been proposed to offer valuable guidelines for helping organisations respond to crises.…”

“…Consequently, healthcare professionals can reduce their risks of getting infected and achieve coordinated consultation practices while satisfying the medical needs of the quarantined persons. During the highly transmittable virus outbreak, telemedicine mechanisms can be applied to address the issues of social distancing and medical care in a touchless and innovative way to ensure that CM efforts can not only minimise the damage caused by the crisis but also assure the short-term flexibility and long-term sustainability of the society (Bakos et al, 2019).…”

Exploring Negative Spillover Effects on Stakeholders: A Case Study on Social Media Talk about Crisis in the Food Industry Using Data Mining

“…Organizational crisis is "a major, unexpected event, foreseen or unpredicted, that threatens the sustainability of the organization and can have meaningful consequences for the future of the organization." [1]. Thus, firms' crisis situations have a high influence on corporate sustainability.…”

“…One of the effects of crisis situations is their considerable influence on the relationship between business and stakeholders, as these relationships are important to achieve organizational objectives and maintain sustainability [2]. Therefore, recognizing the stakeholders involved in the issues raised by the public while discussing a crisis may help firms' short-term resilience to crisis and maintain long-term sustainability [1].…”

Decentralized Enterprise Risk Management Issues under Rapidly Changing Environments

“…The companies are branches of large multinational organizations. In fact, this research is part of a larger, in-depth investigation started in 2017 and finished in 2019 (Bakos and Dumitras , cu 2017;Bakos et al 2019), and at the same time is a pilot for a quantitative research which will to take place in September-December 2021. While the focus in our previous research was on how the companies are prepared for unexpected events, now there is a slight extension to include the study of the organization's risk assessment methodologies.…”