- Joined
- Aug 29, 2008
- Messages
- 26,416
- Points
- 113
Give credit when it's due, Sg Inc did well to weather terrorism threats in 2001/2 and then the Sars in 2003. Pap was still the reliable party when voters went to the polls in 2006.
Then one morning in feb 2008, South east asia's most wanted terrorist broke out of our maximum security prison and disappeared. In the hours that followed, a nation-wide manhunt was mobilised. The island country lived in fear for the next few months as South East Asia's most wanted terrorist could not be located. Thank god Msk was recaptured a year later before he could carry out a revenge attack.
All operations carry risks of lapses, accidents and failures. With globalisation and decentralisation (outsourcing), big companies today have placed crisis management planning as an important discipline to deal with business volatility. Crisis scenarios are drawn up and their mitigation measures are implemented.
Business statisticians will tell you that the Mas Selamat escape (or crisis on a similar scale) is bound to happen. Given a long enough timeline, all organisations will one day have to deal with a major threat.
But the seeds of Sg inc's decline were actually planted by the reactions that followed.
1) no change in appointment for the responsible commander
2) collective silence in parliament by party members
3) State media campaign: "what to do? it has already happened."
4) public accused of complacency
In summary, there was no blame allocated to the leadership. And this has bred a culture of passiveness in the administrative office. The top brass now know they will not be touched when the next crisis happens.
No accountability = no incentive to preserve their jobs. No fear of survival. No motivation to think 3 steps ahead.
Instead of thinking out crisis scenarios and fixing them, all they have to do is come up with excuses.
Then one morning in feb 2008, South east asia's most wanted terrorist broke out of our maximum security prison and disappeared. In the hours that followed, a nation-wide manhunt was mobilised. The island country lived in fear for the next few months as South East Asia's most wanted terrorist could not be located. Thank god Msk was recaptured a year later before he could carry out a revenge attack.
All operations carry risks of lapses, accidents and failures. With globalisation and decentralisation (outsourcing), big companies today have placed crisis management planning as an important discipline to deal with business volatility. Crisis scenarios are drawn up and their mitigation measures are implemented.
Business statisticians will tell you that the Mas Selamat escape (or crisis on a similar scale) is bound to happen. Given a long enough timeline, all organisations will one day have to deal with a major threat.
But the seeds of Sg inc's decline were actually planted by the reactions that followed.
1) no change in appointment for the responsible commander
2) collective silence in parliament by party members
3) State media campaign: "what to do? it has already happened."
4) public accused of complacency
In summary, there was no blame allocated to the leadership. And this has bred a culture of passiveness in the administrative office. The top brass now know they will not be touched when the next crisis happens.
No accountability = no incentive to preserve their jobs. No fear of survival. No motivation to think 3 steps ahead.
Instead of thinking out crisis scenarios and fixing them, all they have to do is come up with excuses.
