Looking for answers: suggestions for improving how we evaluate crisis management

Abstract Evaluating crisis management and training exercises is fundamental for the improvement of crisis management, yet most theorists and practitioners pay passing reference to the process (e.g. Albrecht, 1996 , Barton, 1993 ). While the domain of crisis management is still devloping issues of due diligence ( Albrecht, 1996 , Schreider, 1996 ) and organizational liability ( Allinson, 1993 , Cohen, 1991 , Schreider, 1996 ) suggest that crisis managers, crisis management experts, coroners, official investigators and judges need to consider how crisis management can be appropriately evaluated. Research indicates that judgements are distorted by biases ( Fischhoff, 1975 , Hogarth, 1981 , lack of organizational openness ( Allinson, 1993 ), and a need to find scapegoats ( Allinson, 1993 ) or establish blame ( Drabek and Quarentelli, 1967 ). This paper outlines a number of the aspects that need to be considered when evaluating crisis management and includes suggestions on countering the effects of hindsight judgement and temporal distortions, and a methodical approach to evaluation.