Crisis Planning and Response Management
Navigate adversity with agility and foresight to emerge stronger and more resilient.
Customize for Organizations
At a Glance
- Enrollment:
- Open Enrollment
- Length:
- 8 weeks
Acquire strategies and tools for developing response and continuity plans in crisis scenarios.
The global COVID-19 pandemic underscored the need for every organization to have a business continuity plan in place. Using the pandemic scenario as our model, you will explore the measures, processes, and plans organizations can adopt to mitigate and respond to a crisis event.
Designed For
Designed for professionals who wish to improve their understanding of the means and methods of preparing for and responding to an organizational crisis event. Experienced business continuity or crisis management practitioners seeking to gain further information for building a plan swiftly will also gain valuable insights.
Learning Objectives to Become an Expert in Crisis Planning and Response
Over eight weeks, this course will empower you with concrete tools and strategies to develop a response and continuity plan before, during, and after a crisis event.
After completing the course, you will be able to:
- Conduct a threat analysis with the goal of identifying the top risks facing an organization based on its unique mission and current level of preparedness.
- Construct a basic crisis management plan within a restricted time frame based on an organization’s complexity, mission, scope, and size.
- Establish a framework of applicable and useful professional resources to assist with future plan development and execution.
- Earn a credential certifying completion from the University of Chicago and become part of the UChicago network.
Is Your Organization Prepared for Future Threats?
Learn to apply business continuity planning principles focused on crisis scenario response.
Get in TouchCrisis Planning and Response Management Curriculum
You will learn to:
- Describe the operational benefits of developing and maintaining a comprehensive crisis response plan to avoid organizational breakdown.
- Explain multiple strategies for executing a provisional crisis response plan in the midst of an unanticipated event.
- Explain the recent shift in the modern threat landscape.
- Devise and implement emergency management plans.
Online Format Features
- Self-paced interactive learning modules with a variety of engaging learning activities, assignments, and resources.
- Live sessions that bring you, your peers, and your instructor together to learn collaboratively about the current state of the field, engage with real-world problems, and explore authentic solutions.
- Continuous support from your instructional assistant, who will accompany you on your journey through the content, answer your questions, and provide feedback on your work.
Weekly Course Schedule
Learn about 9/11 as a watershed moment in crisis management, the surge in threat intensity and dissemination, global complexity and interdependence as factors contributing to crisis events, and low probability-high risk scenarios.
Explore the threat landscape, the climate emergency, the realities of a cyber-connected world, the rise of extremism and violence, and the spread of highly communicable diseases. Consider studying the past to help predict future risk, how the responsibility for preparedness continues to narrow, and when crises cascade and intersect.
Learn about balancing probability and consequences, recognizing and reducing vulnerability, determining an acceptable level of risk, differentiating between continuity and resilience, and managing disinformation.
Explore topics such as when a threat becomes an emergency, the unintended consequences and finding opportunity in a crisis, increasing understanding as a form of threat mitigation, and how to conduct a basic risk analysis.
Learn about determining the core elements and structure of the plan, engaging stakeholders during planning, preparing for the possibility of multiple simultaneous crisis events, understanding minimum required capabilities based on organizational mission, the value of scalability and flexibility, and strengthening the system to withstand impact.
Discover how to quickly determine applicable sources of information to establish proper situational awareness, identify the most critical elements of a rapidly developed plan, implement crisis communications, stay focused on short-term strategies, educate and engage stakeholders as the event unfolds, and remain vigilant, confident, and resilient.
Learn about the pillars of crisis leadership, determining and prioritizing action items, how vicarious learning can lead to successful outcomes, and how to remain resolute, creative, and human.
Examine cross-industry best practices and explore overcoming challenges as they emerge and accepting the reality of the next pandemic.
Earn a Credential in Crisis Planning and Response Management
After successful completion of this course, participants will receive credentials certified by the University of Chicago including a digital badge to recognize their achievement.
Meet Your Instructor
Our highly trained instructors are courageous thinkers and passionate leaders who leverage years of industry expertise and up-to-date knowledge of terminology, tools, and trends to deliver an unparalleled learning experience. Through their rigorous discourse, cross-disciplinary collaboration, and field-shaping contributions, they create practical solutions and pioneering innovations that enrich our world.
This instructor teaches this course regularly. Please speak to your enrollment advisor if you wish to know who the current teacher is.
Jill Ramaker, MA, MScTRM
Executive Director, Northeastern Illinois Public Safety Training Academy
Jill Ramaker is the executive director of the Northeastern Illinois Public Safety Training Academy, which provides training for disaster response, Emergency Medical Service (EMS), fire service, hazardous material, law enforcement, and public works personnel, as well as education on crisis leadership...
Career Outlook
With the advent of unprecedented global challenges such as pandemics, cyberattacks, natural disasters, and geopolitical tensions, organizations find themselves navigating an increasingly complex web of threats. The COVID-19 pandemic, in particular, served as a wake-up call, underscoring the critical need for robust crisis preparedness and response strategies. From supply chain disruptions to workforce management and public health concerns, the pandemic highlighted the interconnectedness of modern society and the ripple effects of crises across multiple domains.
The average base pay for an emergency response manager in the United States.
The estimated total cost of COVID-19-related global disruption.
The total combined amount countries need to spend over the next decade to reduce the likelihood of a repeat.
Potential Job Titles of Emergency Managers
- Business Continuity Professional
- Business Manager
- Business Owner
- Chief Executive Officer
- Crisis Analyst
- Crisis Management Consultant
- Crisis Planning and Response Manager
- Director of Emergency Management
- Director of Operations
- Emergency Management System Director
- Emergency Planner
- Emergency Response Manager
- External Affairs Officer
- Forensic Technical Data Specialist
- Global Business Continuity Manager
- Project Manager
- Risk Mitigation and Public Information Coordinator
- Safety Hazard Analyst
Of Interest
Decision-Making and Risk Management
Optimize strategic and operational decisions in a complex environment.
