Diversity of Actions: Project Management and Risk-Based Decisions During a Global Pandemic – Monica Kay, D.B.A., PMP

RISK-BASED DECISIONS DURING A GLOBAL PANDEMIC Borders closed. Airlines grounded. Public and private schools releasing students. Universities ceasing physiDr. Monica N. Kay, PMP cal operations and moving to an on line environment. State and local gov Adjunct Professor ernments instituting social distancing and quarantine measures. News reMorgan State University ports with public officials constantly reiterating safety measures that you and your family should take to respond to a global threat. Is it war? No, but it is a stressful condition that has caused extreme measures to be taken by all people of the world. At the time of this writing the United States, as well as other countries around the world, are in the midst of a global pandemic known as the novel Coronavirus 19 or, as it has been commonly referred to, COVID-19 (Maryland Department of Health, 2020). So where does project management fit into all of this you ask? Project management fits in everywhere and in every action that must be undertaken by leaders and its citizens to respond to the disease and to provide healthcare solutions. At the forefront is the management of risks and issues, as well as stakeholder communications which lead the way as the key areas impacted by this situation, with the other project management knowledge areas falling closely behind. By leaning heavily on the tools and techniques used within all of these key steps, this represents the diversity of actions at the federal, state, and local levels as well as actions taken by a country’s government to quell the rising tide of infection among their people. When in the state of an emergency, such as the one declared for the pandemic in the United States, our world’s leaders had a limited window to react and respond to curb adverse reactions that were experienced across all borders. This is a case study meant to compare the best practices and lessons learned from a risk and issue, stakeholder and communication aspect, as well as provide diversity in a different framework, based not just on race, gender, or class, but through diversity of action in response to a worldwide crisis.

Let us take a look at the diversity of action in response to COVID-19 by the United States and other countries in implementing their risk and issue management.

Risk and Issue Management

It all starts with risks and the determination of what a country will do in taking an initial action and what it is willing to forgo when it has advanced warnings. Consider the diversity of action taken via risk mitigation strategies. In the examples below, listed at the time of writing, you can clearly see which countries took a more adverse risk approach versus a lessened risk approach and the ramifications on its citizens.

Diversity of Risk and Issue Actions

China – Recognizing they have a significant health crisis on their hands, the Chinese government commences building a 1,000-bed hospital in 10 days; alleviating huge pressures to house and care for the thousands of people who had become sick (McDonald, 2020).

Germany – Closing their borders early and instituting early testing of a significant number of its citizens (up to 120,000 a week); this ensured a lower fatality rate of 5% as compared to Italy’s 10% (National Public Radio, 2020).

Italy – Late implementation of key directions to it is citizens leads to an extreme saturation of its health care system, and war-time health decisions being made to decide who lives and who dies based on a lack of resources (e.g. access to tests, personal protective equipment and ventilators) (Donato, McKenzie, and Borghese, 2020).

United States (U.S.) – Actions were taken to close borders, reduce flights, and enlist the help of the private industry to identify innovative approaches to obtaining critical equipment (e.g. repurposing ventilators used by anesthesiologists). Additional action was taken by governors in key affected states to institute quarantine and social distancing policies to reduce the oversaturation of the healthcare infrastructure (Bernstein, 2020).

The jury is still out on whether these actions were done timely and implemented wisely.

Stakeholder and Communication Management

The management of stakeholders must be clear and direct at all levels to avoid mass hysteria and public uncertainty. This was evident with the U.S. and its communication to governors via the Governor’s Council; down to the boots on the ground that includes our first responders and healthcare infrastructure via our hospitals and labs.

Typical stakeholder communications in a project deal with the people, the processes, and the technology, where you usually have ample time to carefully consider your options, identify a thoughtful approach, understand your diverse stakeholders and implement a plan of action. During a crisis situation, such as our current pandemic, you have to perform those activities in a rapid and more

“Project management fits in everywhere and in every action that must be undertaken by leaders and its citizens to respond to the disease and to provide healthcare solutions.”

agile setting. The Red Cross provides a great 3-pronged framework for incident managers to deal with crisis situations that align closely with the Project Management Institute (PMI) stakeholder framework of identifying, managing, and monitoring stakeholder engagement via data gathering and expert judgment (Red Cross, 2017; PMI, 2017). 1. Identification of Stakeholders – public and/or private and internal and external touchpoints (i.e. media, regulatory bodies) - What information do they need to know?

2. Spokesperson – Identification of the single individual or small team that will receive and give information – Who is the person and the team?

3. Strategy – Transparency and timeliness of the communication during an incident; preplanning communication – What can you say and when can you say it? How can you alleviate the fears of your nation?

Diversity of Stakeholder and Communication Actions

Each country affected can choose to handle their communications in a way that is unique to their country, culture, and economic environment. Some countries are currently being praised for their efforts while others are being taken to task for withholding information, taking late or no action and/or not presenting a clear and unified plan for their citizens. The examples below show three very distinct ways that this current crisis has been handled. 1. China – Initial reports from China were vague and tended to downplay the veracity of the situation; leaders were conspicuously stifling news and ministrations from Chinese medical doctors. After widespread outbreaks and significant deaths from their epicenter were evident, they have taken a different stance and a more collaborative approach of communication with their citizens and other nations (Arenstein, 2020).

2.

3. Germany – Chancellor Merkel’s immediate action in Germany to communicate clear directions, impact, and actions for the citizens of her country, demonstrated by having the citizens see it as “their task” to restrict movement in their country in the utmost extreme conditions to save lives. Being the ultimate leader and project manager for her nation she stated in her address of the German citizens that, “no one is expendable, everybody counts, and that requires efforts from all of us…distance is the [new] expression of care” (Delahunty, 2020). Italy – This country took smaller steps to communicate the crisis and contain it regionally, with an effort to minimize the economic effects of a reduction of workforce, primarily in their trade, services, and tourism, that would have sustained heavy negative impact. That lack of communication led to the current state of having to respond to multiple “red zones” of outbreak because its citizens did not clearly understand the actions that they needed to take (Varvelli, 2020). United States – Our nation has taken a multi-faceted approach at both the federal, state and local levels, with each communication aligning (and sometimes not) with the national effort. The President and his task force have given overall directives that governors should implement, as needed, based on their state’s current statistics around the number of cases, deaths and perceived threat to their immediate area. Currently, the heavily impacted areas such as California, Washington (state), and New York have governors managing their state’s risks by making key communications and decisions that will result in life or death situations for U.S. citizens.

“No one is expendable, everybody counts, and that requires efforts from all of us… distance is the [new] expression of care.”

What all these examples have shown is that any communication done in a piecemeal or non-stakeholder-based fashion -- based on clear and informative data -- may hamper overall minimization of contagion (Zhong, 2020). With all of these actions in play, where does this leave our nation, our states, and our citizens? From a leadership perspective, a country’s leader (an ultimate project manager) must use all of his or her resources in assessing and responding to risks timely, identifying key stakeholders in the delivery of the actions, and the communication of those actions to monitor events to provide quick responses to those who are in need. In many cases, most project managers do not have to deal with life and death scenarios; however, in this case, they do. Here is hoping for a better future and predicting optimism that all nations will come through this with minimal loss of life as possible and continued purpose. We shall see.

References: Arenstein, Seth. (2020, February 13). China’s Communications of Virus Illustrates Poor Crisis Response. Retrieved from: https://www.prnewsonline.com/communications-China-update

Bernstein, Leandra. (2020, March 31). Checkpoints, Arrests: These States are Enforcing Stay-at-home Orders. Retrieved from: https://foxbaltimore.com/news/coronavirus/checkpoints-arrests-these-states-are-enforcing-stay-at-home-orders

Delahunty, Stephen. (2020 March 25). Angela Merkel Praised for Direct, Vivid and Emotional Crisis Communications. Retrieved from: https://www.prweek.com/article/1678205/angela-merkel-praised-direct-vivid-emotional-crisis-comms

McDonald, Joe. (2020, February 3). Built in 10 Days, China’s Virus Hospital Takes 1st Patients. Retrieved from: https://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory/built-10-days-chinasvirus-hospital-takes-1st-68715909

Maryland Department of Health (2020). Corona Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Frequently Asked Questions. Retrieved from: https://phpa.health.maryland.gov/Documents/coronavirus_FAQ.pdf

National Public Radio (2020). Why Germany’s Coronavirus Death Rate is Far Lower Than in Other Countries. Retrieved from: https://www.npr.org/2020/03/25/820595489/ why-germanys-coronavirus-death-rate-is-far-lower-than-in-other-countries?utm_source=- facebook.com&utm_campaign=npr&utm_medium=social&utm_term=nprnews

Project Management Institute (PMI). (2017). A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide). 6th ed. Newtown Square, PA: Project Management Institute, Inc. Retrieved from: https://www.pmi.org/pmbok-guide-standards/foundational/pmbok

Red Cross. (2017). Crisis Communication Do and Don’ts. Helpful Communication Guidelines for Crisis Response. Retrieved from: https://www.readyrating.org/Resource-Center/ All-Resources/crisis-communication-dos-donts?utm_source=AnonOnPageLink&utm_ medium=Link&utm_term=AnonUser&utm_content=ResourceLinks&utm_campaign=AnonOnPageLink Spiske, Marcus (Photographer). (2020). Corona Virus Statistics on Screen; Free for use license accessed on April 13, 2020 from: https://www.pexels.com/photo/coronavirus-statistics-on-screen-3970330/

Sv_Sunny (Graphic Designer). (2020). Diverse Crowd Group People Wearing Medical Masks Protection Coronavirus Epidemic; Licensed on April 11, 2020, from: https://www. istockphoto.com/vector/diverse-crowd-group-people-wearing-medical-masks-protection-coronavirus-epidemic-gm1212792262-352200091?clarity=false

Varvelli, Arturo. (2020, March 11). Uncharted Territory: Italy’s Response to the Coronavirus. Retrieved from: https://www.ecfr.eu/article/commentary_uncharted_territory_italys_ response_to_the_coronavirus

Zhong, Rui. (2020, March 17). China and the U.S. Blame Each Other for the Coronavirus. But Both Countries Made Similar Mistakes. Retrieved from: https://www.washingtonpost. com/politics/2020/03/17/china-us-blame-each-other-coronavirus-both-countries-madesimilar-mistakes/