Crisis Management training in Lugano · canton of TessinCrisis management in Ticino: which activities should continue when workforce capacity falls?

In Ticino, banking, fashion, trading and Italian-speaking family businesses operate in an economy closely connected to Lombardy and the Italian market, with a substantial cross-border workforce. If disruption reduces available capacity, what criteria should determine which activities continue, slow down or stop?

What the literature establishes: threats can make choices more rigid

Barry M. Staw, Lance E. Sandelands and Jane E. Dutton (1981, Administrative Science Quarterly) present a theoretical synthesis suggesting that threats can restrict information processing and tighten control. These mechanisms encourage reliance on well-learned responses, even when circumstances call for adaptation. For business continuity, this points to a risk: preserving established priorities without checking whether they remain appropriate.

A second perspective: resources alone do not explain adaptation

Alan D. Meyer (1982, Administrative Science Quarterly) examines hospitals’ responses to a physicians’ strike. His analysis relates adaptation not only to organizational resources, but also to strategies and interpretive frameworks. Available resources therefore do not, on their own, determine how an organization navigates disruption.

The hasty conclusion: protect only the most profitable activity

One might conclude that resources should simply be concentrated on the activity generating the most immediate revenue. This would overlook obligations, the consequences of interruption and dependencies between activities. In a hypothetical trading business in Lugano, continuing to accept orders while suspending checks required for dispatch could increase the backlog rather than preserve operations. (our executive and employee training programmes)

The limits: no universal ranking of activities

These studies neither compare Ticino’s industries nor validate a single prioritization framework. A theoretical synthesis on threats and a hospital study cannot directly determine which tasks a bank or fashion business should maintain. In practice, a ranking based solely on commercial visibility can also obscure the support activities on which continuity depends.

A practical check in Lugano

Within SHR’s crisis management programme, a relevant exercise in Lugano is to simulate reduced availability of cross-border staff or a Lombardy-based partner, without presenting the scenario as an observed event. For each activity, participants record the acceptable interruption period, applicable obligations and dependencies, then decide whether to maintain, slow down or suspend it. The verifiable measure is the proportion of maintained activities whose critical dependencies all remain available in the scenario; each incompatibility should prompt a plan revision before the exercise is repeated. To go further: explore the Crisis Management training in Lugano in the canton of Ticino, or browse our executive and employee training programmes in Switzerland.

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