Situation: Unfavourable situation

Hi, welcome to the twenty third day of The Leads Intellectual challenge: a 30-day challenge with Fatai Kareem. If you would like to know more about informative situation, read the twenty second day challenge here.

Today, he will be discussing another type of situation known as unfavourable situation. Why do management put control measures in place? Why are safety gadgets used? Why do you use password for your data? Why do you perform risk assessment?

Well, understanding unfavourable situation will enable you to answer questions like the ones above. What is unfavourable situation?

Unfavourable situation is a situation which has negative impact on a person when it occurs. It is regarded as an undesirable situation in which a person finds himself or herself in an adverse condition. It could involve danger, loss, disaster, destruction, misfortune, death, disgrace, manipulation, etc. It usually serves as a threat.

This kind of situation maybe a threat to safety, survival, growth, health, privacy, dignity, reputation, or whatever the condition maybe due to its adverse effects. Therefore, it is important to understand those things that can easily indicate its eventuality. This can be understood by conducting risk assessment and analysis.  And putting necessary measures in place in order to prevent it from occuring, or protect important things from its adverse effects when it occurs.

The protective and preventive rule of the situation is a great principle for managing unfavourable situation. What can not be prevented, should be prepared for. This is the underlying principle of protective rule of the situation. If the situation can not be stopped from occuring, then measures should be put in place to protect important things from being greatly affected by the adverse effects of the situation when it occurs. In short, preventive rule says stop or avoid the unfavourable situation. While protective rule says safeguard important things from its adverse effect.

The following steps can help you manage unfavourable situation effectively:

• Determine the eventuality of the situation. This will enable you to answer questions like: "how is it likely to happen?", "when is it likely to occur? sooner? later? unpredictable?".

• Determine the risk of its occurrence. This will enable you to answer questions like: "how is it likely to affect me when it occurs?", "who is likely to suffer or be harmed when it occurs?", "to what extent can it affect me or those people when it occurs?".

• Determine those factors that can result in its occurrence. This will enable you to answer questions like: "what can cause this situation?", "why will the situation occur?", "what is the relationship between these factors that can result in the situation?", "when are the factors at higher risk of causing the situation?", "what are the factors that can reduce their potential risks?.

• Determine those factors that can stop the situation from occuring. This will enable you to answer questions like: "how can I prevent the situation from occuring?", "what can I do to stop the situation?", "what will it cost me to prevent or avoid the situation?".

• Determine those things that will be affected when it occurs and how you can protect them. This will enable you to answer questions like: "how can I protect important things from the adverse effects of the situation when it occurs?", "what will it cost me to safeguard important things against adverse effects?", "how can minimise the risk of the situation?".

• Determine the control measures to be used. This will enable you to answer questions like: "how will I know if things are going out of hand and bring them back to normal?", "how will I manage the effect of the situation and be safe?"

Case study

1. FT & co orders for goods  from abroad, which will be delivered through ship. It has been reported that 4 out of 10 ships do sink. What can FT & co do to be safe in this situation?

2. ABCD is an area usually attacked by thugs. It is full of social unrest and crisis. How can this situation affect those living in that area? How can it affect those who want to visit the area? Would you like to live there?

3. Franklin, an investor, wants invest in XYZ company. After listening to the business pitch, he discovers that there are some inherent risk in the business. How can it affect his investment decision? How can the company convince him to invest on its business idea?

Disclaimer: All names used are for illustration purpose.

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