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Crisis Management Definition

A crisis is an abnormal situation, or even a perception, that is beyond the scope of normal day-to-day

business and which poses threats to the operation, safety and reputation of an organisation (DBERR,

2008). Crisis management is a series of functions or processes that help to identify, study and forecast

crisis issues, and also to derive specific means that would enable an organisation to prevent or cope with

a crisis (Darling et al., 1996). It involves the systematic attempt to prevent organisational crises and/or to

manage those crises should they occur (Pearson & Clair, 1998).

http://www.siliconfareast.com/crisis-management.htm

A crisis is defined by the dictionary as a 'critical moment or turning point.'  A business book, on the other hand, might define a crisis as a substantial, unforeseen circumstance that can potentially jeopardize a company's employees, customers, products, services, fiscal situation, or reputation.  Both definitions contain an element of urgency that requires immediate decisions and actions from people involved.   Crisis Management is the process of preparing for and responding to an unpredictable negative event to prevent it from escalating into an even bigger problem, or worse, exploding into a full-blown, widespread, life-threatening disaster.  Crisis management involves the execution of well-coordinated actions to control the damage and preserve or restore public confidence in the system under crisis.   In the context of corporate governance, excellent crisis management is a 'must' whenever a crisis occurs because of the crisis' enormous potential impact on the company's reputation and financial standing.  Poor handling of a crisis situation can ruin the confidence of the customers or the public in a company and jeopardize its survival, a situation that normally takes a long time to correct, if it still is reparable at all. Such is the importance of public perception of a company's handling of a crisis situation thatmedia coverage management has become an important ingredient of crisis management.             In fact, the definition given by the American Institute for Crisis Management (ICM) for the word 'crisis' underscores the association of a crisis with media coverage by default.  ICM defines 'crisis' as "a significant business disruption which stimulates extensive news media coverage. The resulting public scrutiny will affect the organization's normal operations and also could have a political, legal, financial, and governmental impact on its business."                         Crisis management doesn't start only when a crisis arises and ends when 'the last fire has been put out'.  Crisis management requires actions before a crisis happens, while the crisis is unfolding, and after the crisis has ended. In fact, crisis management is divided into these three stages: 1) pre-incident stage, which involves identification of potential crisis situations and developing contingency plans for responding to each of them;  2)incident stage, which involves management of an ongoing actual crisis situation itself; and 3) post-incident stage, which includes corrective and preventive actions to preclude the recurrence of

the same crisis situation and business recovery actions to restore public confidence in the brand or the company.                 There are many different ideas or theories on how to best manage a crisis situation.  These differing ideas, nonetheless, have some common elements:  1) the need to anticipate potential crisis situations and prepare for them; 2)  the need to provide accurate information during a crisis; 3) the need to react as quickly as possible to the situation; 4) the need for a response that comes from the top; and 5) the need for long-term solutions. 

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Crisis management is a business plan of action that is implemented quickly when a negative situation occurs. The Institute for Crisis Management defines a business crisis as a problem that: 1) disrupts the way an organization conducts business, and 2) attracts significant new media coverage and/or public scrutiny. Typically, these criseshave the capacity to visit negative financial, legal, political, or governmental repercussions on the company, especially if they are not dealt with in a prompt and effective manner.

Over the past several years, high-profile public relations disasters (the Firestone tire problems on Ford sport utility vehicles, various product recalls, disturbing product tampering incidents) have thrown an intense spotlight on the issue of crisis management. Indeed, as companies have witnessed the damage that poor crisis management canwreak on business fortunes, a growing percentage of firms have intensified their efforts to put effective crisis management strategies in place.

Hundreds of potential threats exist for every organization. Corporate crises can take the form of plant fires, loss of competitive secrets, workplace violence, product defects, embezzlement and extortion, industrial accidents,sabotage, and natural disasters. Any of these events—as well as numerous others—can cause an immediate and prolonged financial loss to a company, require an intensive communications effort directed to investors, employees, consumers and other entities, and may present a series of regulatory, community relations and competitive challenges.

To assess whether a particular company has a higher exposure than others to categories of crisis, a company may employ a risk or crisis manager who may prepare statistical models, review industry data, or work with consultants to understand how one or more crises could impact the organization. Once this process of risk is completed, many companies then design a Crisis Management Plan (CMP) to determine how negative events can be avoided or reduced in scope. But business consultants and public relations experts counsel all companies to put CMPs in place, no matter how remote such threats seem. Indeed, many businesses are able to secure lower insurance premiums if they have written crisis management procedures in place, which is a sure indication of the importance of such plans.

Sudden Crisis and Smoldering Crisis

Robert B. Irvine, president of the Institute for Crisis Management, noted in Communication World that the Institute characterizes most business crises as one of two types: sudden crisis or smoldering crisis. "We define a sudden crisis as a disruption in the company's business that occurs without warning and is likely to generate new coverage," he said. Examples of such events include business-related accidents, natural disasters, sudden death or disability of a key person, or workplace violence.

Smoldering crises, meanwhile, are defined by the Institute as "any serious business problem that is not generally known within or without the company, which may generate negative news coverage if or when it goes 'public' and could result in more than U.S. $250,000 in fines, penalties, legal damage awards, unbudgeted expenses, and other costs." Examples of smoldering business crises include indications of significant regulatory action, government investigations, customer allegations, media investigations. "In some instances," Irvine added, "crisis situations may be either sudden or smoldering, depending on the amount of advance notice and the chain of events in the crisis."

According to Irvine, while companies need to make sure that they prepare as best they can for sudden crises, it is often the slow-burning smoldering crisis that causes the most damage to a company's image and bottom line. "You really need to be focused on the less dramatic, more complicated, and ultimately more costly smoldering crises that are likely to be brewing in your business. The problem is that these smoldering crises often are the result of management decisions, or indecisions. They may be caused be shortcuts to win contracts, questionable actions by top producers or someone who has had an unblemished record with your organization and is close to retirement. In short, they often are tough to detect and then to resolve because they directly or indirectly involve management decisions, and management has a tough time admitting errors because it reflects on their egos and abilities."

Small Businesses and Crisis Management

"A good image is a terrible thing to lose!" noted Bill Patterson in Public Relations Journal. "It has been said that 30 years of hard work can be destroyed in just 30 seconds." This grim truth is especially evident among small businesses that are rocked by crises, since they are less likely to have the deep financial pockets to weatherunpleasant public relations developments. After all, business crises often throw multiple financial blows at companies. Diminished sales as a result of unfavorable publicity, boycotts, etc. are the most widely recognized of these blows, but others can have a significant cumulative impact as well. Added expenses often come knocking in the areas of increased insurance premiums, recall/collection programs, reimbursements, attorneys' fees, and the need to retrieve lost customers through additional advertising.

But business consultants and public relations professionals agree that small business enterprises can do a lot to minimize the damage done by sudden flare-ups of bad news, provided they adhere to several fundamental rules of behavior.

PREPARATION BEFORE THE CRISIS. Small businesses that are faced with public relations crises are far more likely to escape relatively unscathed if they can bring two weapons to bear: 1) a solid record as a good citizen, and 2) an already established crisis management strategy.

"Before the crisis, it is important to build good will and good relations on a daily basis," said media consultant Virgil Scudder in an interview with Communication World. "The way you are treated in a crisis, by the media and the public, will be determined in part by what they think of you at the beginning of the crisis situation." Writing in Public Relations Journal, Bill Patterson offered a similar

assessment of the importance of building a "reservoir of good will" in the community: "The most important rule in defending, preserving, or enhancing a reputation is that you work at it all year long, regardless of whether or not a crisis strikes."

The other vital component of crisis management preparation is the creation of an intelligent and forceful strategy for dealing with various crises if they do occur. "For many executives, a crisis is something that happens to someone else," wrote Patterson. "It is a distant thought that can quickly be relegated to the back of the mind, replaced by concern for profit and productivity." But business owners and managers who choose to put off assembling a CMP do so at significant risk. Indeed, the hours and days immediately following the eruption of a crisis are often the most important in shaping public perception of the event. A company that has a good CMP in hand is far more likely to make good use of this time than one that is forced into a pattern of response by on-the-spot improvisation, or one that offers little response at all in the hopes that the whole mess will just go away.

In an article for Entrepreneur, Kim Gordon outlined several steps small businesses can take to be prepared in the event of a crisis. First, companies should perform an assessment to determine their most likely sources of vulnerability. Second, they should select a company spokesperson in advance. "Pick someone who is cool under pressure, credible, good on camera, and adept at presenting a positive image for your business," Gordon stated. It may be helpful for this person to attend media training in order to practice interview techniques. Third, small businesses should prepare positive messages about their operations that can be disseminated to media contacts in the event of a crisis. These messages may include any points you want the public to keep in mind during the negative publicity, such as an impressive safety or environmental record. Finally, Gordon suggested that companies prepare a list of key people to contact in case of an emergency.

RESPONDING DURING THE CRISIS. When a crisis does erupt, prompt and proactive communication should be acornerstone of any business's crisis containment strategy. As Stephanie Smith and Kim Hunter pointed out inCommunication World, "in the throes of a crisis, effective communication is crucial to a favorable public perception. Actions taken by a communicator during the first moments of a crisis can affect perceptions of an individual or company well after the crisis is resolved."

In order to ensure that your company's perspective is heard, it is vital that you do all you can to make sure that your message is accurately presented to any media providing coverage of the crisis. "Perception is truth," wrote Patterson. "And, even though most executives don't like it, the media establishes the perception of your organization. So, in this new public relations discipline of reputation management, dealing with the media in an organized, aggressive, and timely fashion is mandatory." In addition, Scudder suggested that effective interaction with various media—radio, newspaper, television—is often predicated on realizing that representatives of those media outlets are not infallible. "There are two things you should not assume on the part of any journalist," he said. "Knowledge and perspective. Do not assume they know the facts. Tell them the facts. And if they know the facts, do not assume they know what the facts add up to."

Effective communication with media, then, is an essential element of any CMP. But consultants offer other tips as well. Following are a list of other actions that small businesses should take when confronted with a crisis management situation:

1. Be open and honest with media and customers alike—Such a stance may well garner sympathy with customers and consumers, particularly if the crisis is one over which the company has little control, such asmalicious product tampering. "Take the perspective of the

people who are out there," said Scudder. "Be candid, be truthful, and give people what they want to know."

2. React quickly—Scudder noted that a company's actions in the early stages of a crisis "will determine how the coverage of the client and the crisis goes and whether you are perceived as good guys who had an accident or bad guys."

3. Utilize only one spokesperson—Consultants can cite countless instances in which companies faced with a business crisis compounded their problems by using multiple spokespeople who gave conflicting statements. "Only one story must come from the company, and it must always be consistent," contended Patterson. "When you have several people talking to the media during a crisis, several versions of what happened usually end up in the various media. This confuses the public, often leading them to believe what you are saying is untrue."

4. Arm yourself with the facts—Companies can hurt themselves terribly when they make public statements based on incomplete knowledge of events.

5. Stay on message—Engaging in speculation and/or rambling discourses does not help your company's cause. Spokespeople should be candid without being unduly negative.

6. Do not lie or mislead the media, the public, or investigating agencies—The discovery of one single lie casts every statement that your company makes into doubt.

7. Establish and maintain contact with other important groups—Depending on the nature of the crisis, communication with employee, industry, and community groups can be a valuable part of a crisis response plan. Is the crisis likely to have an impact on the company's labor union or general work force? If so, arrange a meeting with representatives so that they can be kept informed and ask questions, and so that you can get your message across. Is your company faced with an embarrassing allegation of racial discrimination orharassment? Perhaps a meeting with local religious and/or civil leaders would help (provided, of course, that your company signals a genuine interest in hearing their thoughts, so that they do not view the meeting as acynical public relations ploy). Are your company's production processes arousing the ire of local civic or environmental groups (and the growing interest of local media)? Arranging a meeting in which they could register their concerns might relieve the situation somewhat (again, provided that your company shows a genuine interest in hearing them out and responding to legitimate concerns).

Further Reading:

Barton, Laurence. Crisis In Organizations: Managing and Communicating in the Heat of Chaos. South Western Publishing, 1993.

Bryan, Jerry L. "The Coming Revolution in Issues Management: Elevate and Simplify." Communication World. July 15,1997.

Clark, Susan. "Don't Walk Away …" Super Marketing. June 16, 1995.

Gordon, Kim. "Under Fire: Will a Crisis Take Your Company Down? Here's How Deft Handling Can Turn Public Opinion Around." Entrepreneur. April 2001.

Gorski, Thomas A. "A Blueprint for Crisis Management: Understanding What It Takes to Weather the Inevitable Storm." Association Management. January 1998.

Irvine, Robert B. "What's a Crisis, Anyway?" Communication World. July 15, 1997.

Keating, Lauren. "Proactive Approach Minimizes Damage to Image." Atlanta Business Chronicle. November 10, 2000.

Patterson, Bill. "Crises Impact on Reputation Management." Public Relations Journal. November 1993.

Simms, Jane. "Controlling a Crisis." Marketing. November 9,2000.

Smith, Stephanie, and Kim Hunter. "Virgil Scudder Tackles Crisis Tactics." Communication World. February 1997.

See also: Disaster Planning

Military Dictionary:

crisis managementTop

Home > Library > History, Politics & Society > Military Dictionary

(DOD) Measure to resolve a hostile situation and investigate and prepare a criminal case for prosecution under federal law. Crisis management will include a response to an incident involving a weapon of mass destruction, special improvised explosive device, or a hostage crisis that is beyond the capability of the lead federal agency. See also crisis; hostage; hostile. 

Wikipedia:

Crisis managementTop

Home > Library > Miscellaneous > Wikipedia

Crisis management is the process by which an organization deals with a major unpredictable event

that threatens to harm the organization, its stakeholders, or the general public. Three elements are

common to most definitions of crisis: (a) a threat to the organization, (b) the element of surprise, and

(c) a short decision time.[1] Venette[2]argues that "crisis is a process of transformation where the old

system can no longer be maintained." Therefore the fourth defining quality is the need for change. If

change is not needed, the event could more accurately be described as a failure or incident.

In contrast to risk management, which involves assessing potential threats and finding the best ways

to avoid those threats, crisis management involves dealing with threats after they have occurred. It is

a discipline within the broader context of management consisting of skills and techniques required to

identify, assess, understand, and cope with a serious situation, especially from the moment it first

occurs to the point that recovery procedures start.

Contents [hide]

1     Introduction   

2     Types of crisis   

o 2.1      Natural crises   

o 2.2      Technological crises   

o 2.3      Confrontation crises   

o 2.4      Crises of malevolence   

o 2.5      Crises of organizational misdeeds   

2.5.1      Crises of skewed management values   

2.5.2      Crises of deception   

2.5.3      Crises of management misconduct   

o 2.6      Workplace violence   

o 2.7      Rumors   

3     Crisis Leadership   

o 3.1      Sudden crises   

o 3.2      Smoldering crises   

o 3.3      Signal detection   

o 3.4      Preparation and prevention   

o 3.5      Containment and damage control   

o 3.6      Business recovery   

o 3.7      Learning   

4     Models and theories associated with crisis management   

o 4.1      Crisis management model   

o 4.2      Management crisis planning   

o 4.3      Contingency planning   

o 4.4      Business continuity planning   

o 4.5      Structural-functional systems theory   

o 4.6      Diffusion of innovation theory   

o 4.7      Role of apologies in crisis management   

o 4.8      Crisis leadership   

o 4.9      Unequal human capital theory   

5     Examples of successful crisis management   

o 5.1      Tylenol (Johnson and Johnson)   

o 5.2      Odwalla Foods   

o 5.3      Mattel   

o 5.4      Pepsi   

6     Examples of unsuccessful crisis management   

o 6.1      Bhopal   

o 6.2      Ford and Firestone Tire and Rubber Company   

o 6.3      Exxon   

7     Lessons learned in crisis management   

o 7.1      Impact of catastrophes on shareholder value   

o 7.2      Crisis as Opportunity   

8     Public sector crisis management   

o 8.1      Schools and crisis management   

o 8.2      Government and crisis management   

o 8.3      Elected officials and crisis management   

9     Professional Organizations   

10      See also   

11      References   

12      Further reading   

13      External links   

Introduction

Crisis management consists of:

Methods used to respond to both the reality and perception of crises.

Establishing metrics to define what scenarios constitute a crisis and should consequently trigger

the necessary response mechanisms.

Communication that occurs within the response phase of emergency management scenarios.

Crisis management methods of a business or an organization are called Crisis Management Plan.

Crisis management is occasionally referred to as incident management, although several industry

specialists such asPeter Power argue that the term crisis management is more accurate. [3]

The credibility and reputation of organizations is heavily influenced by the perception of their

responses during crisis situations. The organization and communication involved in responding to a

crisis in a timely fashion makes for a challenge in businesses. There must be open and consistent

communication throughout the hierarchy to contribute to a successful crisis communication process.

The related terms emergency management and business continuity management focus respectively

on the prompt but short lived "first aid" type of response (e.g. putting the fire out) and the longer term

recovery and restoration phases (e.g. moving operations to another site). Crisis is also a facet of risk

management, although it is probably untrue to say that Crisis Management represents a failure of Risk

Management since it will never be possible to totally mitigate the chances of catastrophes occurring.

Types of crisis

During the crisis management process, it is important to identify types of crises in that different crises

necessitate the use of different crisis management strategies.[4] Potential crises are enormous, but

crises can be clustered.[4]

Lerbinger[5] categorized seven types of crises

1. Natural disaster

2. Technological crises

3. Confrontation

4. Malevolence

5. Crisis of skewed management value

6. Crisis of deception

7. Crisis of management misconduct

Natural crises

Natural crises, typically natural disasters considered as'acts of God,' are such environmental

phenomena asearthquakes, volcanic eruptions, tornadoes and hurricanes, floods, landslides, tidal

waves, storms, and droughtsthat threaten life, property, and the environment itself.[4][5]

Example: 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake (Tsunami)

Technological crises

Technological crises are caused by human application of science and technology. Technological

accidents inevitably occur when technology becomes complex and coupled and something goes wrong

in the system as a whole (Technological breakdowns). Some technological crises occur when human

error causes disruptions (Human breakdowns[4]). People tend to assign blame for a technological

disaster because technology is subject to human manipulation whereas they do not hold anyone

responsible for natural disaster. When an accident creates significant environmental damage, the crisis

is categorized as megadamage.[4] Samples include software failures, industrial accidents, and oil spills.

[4][5]

Examples: Chernobyl disaster, Exxon Valdez oil spill

Confrontation crises

Confrontation crises occur when discontented individuals and/or groups fight businesses, government,

and various interest groups to win acceptance of their demands and expectations. The common type

of confrontation crises is boycotts, and other types are picketing, sit-ins, ultimatums to those in

authority, blockade or occupation of buildings, and resisting or disobeying police.

Example: Rainbow/PUSH’s (People United to Serve Humanity) boycott of Nike

Crises of malevolence

An organization faces a crisis of malevolence when opponents or miscreant individuals use criminal

means or other extreme tactics for the purpose of expressing hostility or anger toward, or seeking gain

from, a company, country, or economic system, perhaps with the aim of destabilizing or destroying it.

Sample crises include product tampering, kidnapping, malicious rumors, terrorism, and espionage.[4][5]

Example: 1982 Chicago Tylenol murders

Crises of organizational misdeeds

Crises occur when management takes actions it knows will harm or place stakeholders at risk for harm

without adequate precautions.[4] Lerbinger[5] specified three different types of crises of organizational

misdeeds: crises of skewed management values, crises of deception, and crises of management

misconduct.

Crises of skewed management values

Crises of skewed management values are caused when managers favor short-term economic gain and

neglect broader social values and stakeholders other than investors. This state of lopsided values is

rooted in the classical business creed that focuses on the interests of stockholders and tends to view

the interests of its other stakeholders such as customers, employees, and the community.

Example: Sears sacrifices customer trust[clarification needed]

Crises of deception

Crises of deception occur when management conceals or misrepresents information about itself and its

products in its dealing with consumers and others.

Example: Dow Corning’s silicone-gel breast implant

Crises of management misconduct

Some crises are caused not only by skewed values and deception but deliberate amorality and

illegality.

Example: Martha Stewart fraud case

Workplace violence

Crises occur when an employee or former employee commits violence against other employees on

organizational grounds.

Example: DuPont’s Lycra[clarification needed]

Rumors

False information about an organization or its products creates crises hurting the organization’s

reputation. Sample is linking the organization to radical groups or stories that their products are

contaminated.[4]

Example: Procter & Gamble's Logo controversy

Crisis Leadership

Erika Hayes James, an organizational psychologist at the University of Virginia’s Darden Graduate

School of Business, identifies two primary types of organizational crisis.[6] James defines organizational

crisis as “any emotionally charged situation that, once it becomes public, invites negative stakeholder

reaction and thereby has the potential to threaten the financial well-being, reputation, or survival of

the firm or some portion thereof.” [7]

1. Sudden crisis

2. Smoldering crises

Sudden crises

Sudden crises are circumstances that occur without warning and beyond an institution’s control.

Consequently, sudden crises are most often situations for which the institution and its leadership are

not blamed.

Smoldering crises

Smoldering crises differ from sudden crises in that they begin as minor internal issues that, due to

manager’s negligence, develop to crisis status. These are situations when leaders are blamed for the

crisis and its subsequent effect on the institution in question. [8]

James categorizes five phases of crisis that require specific crisis leadership competencies.[8] Each

phase contains an obstacle that a leader must overcome to improve the structure and operations of an

organization. James’s case study on crisis in the financial services sector, for example, explores why

crisis events erode public trust in leadership. James's research demonstrates how leadership

competencies of integrity, positive intent, capability, mutual respect, and transparency impact the

trust-building process. [9]

1. Signal detection

2. Preparation and prevention

3. Containment and damage control

4. Business recovery

5. Learning

Signal detection

Signal detection is the stage in a crisis in which leaders should, but do not always, sense early warning

signals (red flags) that suggest the possibility of a crisis. The detection stages of a crisis include:

Sense-making: represents an attempt to create order and make sense, retrospectively, of what occurs.

Perspective-taking: the ability to consider another person's or group's point of view.

Preparation and prevention

It is during this stage that crisis handlers begin preparing for or averting the crisis that had been

foreshadowed in the signal detection stage. Organizations such as the Red Cross's primary mission is

to prepare for and prevent the escalation of crisis events. Walmart has been described as an

emergency relief standard bearer after having witnessed the incredibly speedy and well-coordinated

effort to get supplies to the Gulf Coast of the United States in anticipation of Hurricane Katrina.

Containment and damage control

Usually the most vivid stage, the goal of crisis containment and damage control is to limit the

reputational, financial, safety, and other threats to firm survival. Crisis handlers work diligently during

this stage to bring the crisis to an end as quickly as possible to limit the negative publicity to the

organization, and move into the business recovery phase.

Business recovery

When crisis hits, organizations must be able to carry on with their business in the midst of the crisis

while simultaneously planning for how they will recover from the damage the crisis caused. Crisis

handlers not only must engage in continuity planning (determining the people, financial, and

technology resources needed to keep the organization running), but will also actively pursue

organizational resilience.

Learning

In the wake of a crisis, organizational decision makers adopt a learning orientation and use prior

experience to develop new routines and behaviors that ultimately change the way the organization

operates. The best leaders recognize this and are purposeful and skillful in finding the learning

opportunities inherent in every crisis situation.

Models and theories associated with crisis management

Crisis management model

Successfully defusing a crisis requires an understanding of how to handle a crisis – before it occurs.

Gonzalez-Herrero and Pratt created a four-phase crisis management model process that includes:

issues management, planning-prevention, the crisis, and post-crisis (Gonzalez-Herrero and Pratt,

1995). The art is to define what the crisis specifically is or could be and what has caused it or could

cause it.

Management crisis planning

No corporation looks forward to facing a situation that causes a significant disruption to their business,

especially one that stimulates extensive media coverage. Public scrutiny can result in a negative

financial, political, legal and government impact. Crisis management planning deals with providing the

best response to a crisis.[10]

Contingency planning

Preparing contingency plans in advance, as part of a crisis management plan, is the first step to

ensuring an organization is appropriately prepared for a crisis. Crisis management teams can rehearse

a crisis plan by developing a simulated scenario to use as a drill. The plan should clearly stipulate that

the only people to speak publicly about the crisis are the designated persons, such as the company

spokesperson or crisis team members. The first hours after a crisis breaks are the most crucial, so

working with speed and efficiency is important, and the plan should indicate how quickly each function

should be performed. When preparing to offer a statement externally as well as internally, information

should be accurate. Providing incorrect or manipulated information has a tendency to backfire and will

greatly exacerbate the situation. The contingency plan should contain information and guidance that

will help decision makers to consider not only the short-term consequences, but the long-term effects

of every decision.[10]

Business continuity planning

When a crisis will undoubtedly cause a significant disruption to an organization, a business continuity

plan can help minimize the disruption. First, one must identify the critical functions and processes that

are necessary to keep the organization running. Then each critical function and or/process must have

its own contingency plan in the event that one of the functions/processes ceases or fails. Testing these

contingency plans by rehearsing the required actions in a simulation will allow for all involved to

become more sensitive and aware of the possibility of a crisisis. As a result, in the event of an actual

crisis, the team members will act more quickly and effectively.[10]

Structural-functional systems theory

Providing information to an organization in a time of crisis is critical to effective crisis management.

Structural-functional systems theory addresses the intricacies of information networks and levels of

command making up organizational communication. The structural-functional theory identifies

information flow in organizations as "networks" made up of members and "links". Information in

organizations flow in patterns called networks.[11]

Diffusion of innovation theory

Another theory that can be applied to the sharing of information is Diffusion of Innovation Theory.

Developed byEverett Rogers, the theory describes how innovation is disseminated and communicated

through certain channels over a period of time. Diffusion of innovation in communication occurs when

an individual communicates a new idea to one or several others. At its most elementary form, the

process involves: (1) an innovation, (2) an individual or other unit of adoption that has knowledge of or

experience with using the innovation, (3) another individual or other unit that does not yet have

knowledge of the innovation, and (4) a communication channel connecting the two units. A

communication channel is the means by which messages get from one individual to another.

Role of apologies in crisis management

There has been debate about the role of apologies in crisis management, and some argue that apology

opens an organization up for possible legal consequences. "However some evidence indicates that

compensation and sympathy, two less expensive strategies, are as effective as an apology in shaping

people’s perceptions of the organization taking responsibility for the crisis because these strategies

focus on the victims’ needs. The sympathy response expresses concern for victims while compensation

offers victims something to offset the suffering."[12]

Crisis leadership

James identifies six leadership competencies which facilitate organizational restructuring during and

after a crisis. The first entails building an environment of trust. Another competency entails reforming

the organization’s mindset. A third competency includes identifying obvious and obscure

vulnerabilities of the organization. Two other competencies include making wise and rapid decisions as

well as taking courageous action. The final competency is learning from crisis to effect change. Crisis

leadership research concludes that leadership action in crisis reflects the competency of an

organization, because the test of crisis demonstrates how well the institution’s leadership structure

serves the organization’s goals and withstands crisis. [8] Developing effective human resources is vital

when building organizational capabilities through crisis management executive leadership.[13]

Unequal human capital theory

James postulates that organizational crisis can result from discrimination lawsuits. [14] James’s theory of

unequal human capital and social position derives from economic theories of human and social capital

concluding that minority employees receive fewer organizational rewards than those with access to

executive management. In a recent study of managers in a Fortune 500 company, race was found to

be a predictor of promotion opportunity or lack thereof.[15] Thus, discrimination lawsuits can invite

negative stakeholder reaction, damage the company's reputation, and threaten corporate survival.

Examples of successful crisis management

Tylenol (Johnson and Johnson)

In the fall of 1982, a murderer added 65 milligrams of cyanide to some Tylenol capsules on store

shelves, killing seven people, including three in one family. Johnson & Johnson recalled and destroyed

31 million capsules at a cost of $100 million. The affable CEO, James Burke, appeared in television ads

and at news conferences informing consumers of the company's actions. Tamper-resistant packaging

was rapidly introduced, and Tylenol sales swiftly bounced back to near pre-crisis levels.[16]

Johnson & Johnson was again struck by a similar crisis in 1986 when a New York woman died on Feb. 8

after taking cyanide-laced Tylenol capsules. Johnson & Johnson was ready. Responding swiftly and

smoothly to the new crisis, it immediately and indefinitely canceled all television commercials for

Tylenol, established a toll-free telephone hot-line to answer consumer questions and offered refunds or

exchanges to customers who had purchased Tylenol capsules. At week's end, when another bottle of

tainted Tylenol was discovered in a store, it took only a matter of minutes for the manufacturer to

issue a nationwide warning that people should not use the medication in its capsule form.[17]

Odwalla Foods

When Odwalla's apple juice was thought to be the cause of an outbreak of E. coli infection, the

company lost a third of its market value. In October 1996, an outbreak of E. coli bacteria in Washington

state, California, Colorado and British Columbia was traced to unpasteurized apple juice manufactured

by natural juice maker Odwalla Inc. Forty-nine cases were reported, including the death of a small

child. Within 24 hours, Odwalla conferred with the FDA and Washington state health officials;

established a schedule of daily press briefings; sent out press releases which announced the recall;

expressed remorse, concern and apology, and took responsibility for anyone harmed by their products;

detailed symptoms of E. coli poisoning; and explained what consumers should do with any affected

products. Odwalla then developed - through the help of consultants - effective thermal processes that

would not harm the products' flavors when production resumed. All of these steps were communicated

through close relations with the media and through full-page newspaper ads.[18]

Mattel

Mattel Inc., the toy maker, has been plagued with more than 28 product recalls and in Summer of

2007, amongst problems with exports from China, faced two product recall in two weeks. The company

"did everything it could to get its message out, earning high marks from consumers and retailers.

Though upset by the situation, they were appreciative of the company's response. At Mattel, just after

the 7 a.m. recall announcement by federal officials, a public relations staff of 16 was set to call

reporters at the 40 biggest media outlets. They told each to check their e-mail for a news release

outlining the recalls, invited them to a teleconference call with executives and scheduled TV

appearances or phone conversations with Mattel's chief executive. The Mattel CEO Robert Eckert did

14 TV interviews on a Tuesday in August and about 20 calls with individual reporters. By the week's

end, Mattel had responded to more than 300 media inquiries in the U.S. alone."[19]

Pepsi

The Pepsi Corporation faced a crisis in 1993 which started with claims of syringes being found in cans

of diet Pepsi. Pepsi urged stores not to remove the product from shelves while it had the cans and the

situation investigated. This led to an arrest, which Pepsi made public and then followed with their first

video news release, showing the production process to demonstrate that such tampering was

impossible within their factories. A second video news release displayed the man arrested. A third

video news release showed surveillance from a convenience storewhere a woman was caught

replicating the tampering incident. The company simultaneously publicly worked with the FDA during

the crisis. The corporation was completely open with the public throughout, and every employee of

Pepsi was kept aware of the details.[citation needed] This made public communications effective throughout

the crisis. After the crisis had been resolved, the corporation ran a series of special campaigns

designed to thank the public for standing by the corporation, along with coupons for further

compensation. This case served as a design for how to handle other crisis situations.[20][citation needed]

Examples of unsuccessful crisis management

Bhopal

The Bhopal disaster in which poor communication before, during, and after the crisis cost thousands of

lives, illustrates the importance of incorporating cross-cultural communication in crisis management

plans. According to American University’s Trade Environmental Database Case Studies (1997), local

residents were not sure how to react to warnings of potential threats from the Union Carbide plant.

Operating manuals printed only in English is an extreme example of mismanagement but indicative of

systemic barriers to information diffusion. According to Union Carbide’s own chronology of the incident

(2006), a day after the crisis Union Carbide’s upper management arrived in India but was unable to

assist in the relief efforts because they were placed under house arrest by the Indian government.

Symbolic intervention can be counter productive; a crisis management strategy can help upper

management make more calculated decisions in how they should respond to disaster scenarios. The

Bhopal incident illustrates the difficulty in consistently applying management standards to multi-

national operations and the blame shifting that often results from the lack of a clear management

plan.[21]

Ford and Firestone Tire and Rubber Company

The Ford-Firestone Tire and Rubber Company dispute transpired in August 2000. In response to claims

that their 15-inch Wilderness AT, radial ATX and ATX II tire treads were separating from the tire core—

leading to grisly, spectacular crashes—Bridgestone/Firestone recalled 6.5 million tires. These tires

were mostly used on the Ford Explorer, the world's top-selling sport utility vehicle (SUV).[22]

The two companies committed three major blunders early on, say crisis experts. First, they blamed

consumers for not inflating their tires properly. Then they blamed each other for faulty tires and faulty

vehicle design. Then they said very little about what they were doing to solve a problem that had

caused more than 100 deaths—until they got called to Washington to testify before Congress.[23]

Exxon

On March 24, 1989, a tanker belonging to the Exxon Corporation ran aground in the Prince William

Sound in Alaska. The Exxon Valdez spilled millions of gallons of crude oil into the waters off Valdez,

killing thousands of fish, fowl, and sea otters. Hundreds of miles of coastline were polluted and salmon

spawning runs disrupted; numerous fishermen, especially Native Americans, lost their livelihoods.

Exxon, by contrast, did not react quickly in terms of dealing with the media and the public; the

CEO, Lawrence Rawl, did not become an active part of the public relations effort and actually shunned

public involvement; the company had neither a communication plan nor a communication team in

place to handle the event—in fact, the company did not appoint a public relations manager to its

management team until 1993, 4 years after the incident; Exxon established its media center in Valdez,

a location too small and too remote to handle the onslaught of media attention; and the company

acted defensively in its response to its publics, even laying blame, at times, on other groups such as

the Coast Guard. These responses also happened within days of the incident.[24]

Lessons learned in crisis management

Impact of catastrophes on shareholder value

One of the foremost recognized studies conducted on the impact of a catastrophe on the stock value

of an organization was completed by Dr Rory Knight and Dr Deborah Pretty (1995, Templeton College,

University of Oxford - commissioned by the Sedgewick Group). This study undertook a detailed

analysis of the stock price (post impact) of organizations that had experienced catastrophes. The study

identified organizations that recovered and even exceeded pre-catastrophe stock price, (Recoverers),

and those that did not recover on stock price, (Non-recoverers). The average cumulative impact

on shareholder value for the recoverers was 5% plus on their original stock value. So the net impact on

shareholder value by this stage was actually positive. The non-recoverers remained more or less

unchanged between days 5 and 50 after the catastrophe, but suffered a net negative cumulative

impact of almost 15% on their stock price up to one year afterwards.

One of the key conclusions of this study is that "Effective management of the consequences of

catastrophes would appear to be a more significant factor than whether catastrophe insurance hedges

the economic impact of the catastrophe".

While there are technical elements to this report it is highly recommended to those who wish to

engage their senior management in the value of crisis management.[citation needed]

Crisis as Opportunity

To address such shareholder impact, management must move from a mindset that manages crisis to

one that generates crisis leadership. [6] Research shows that organizational contributory factors affect

the tendency of executives to adopt an effective "crisis as opportunity" mindset. [25] Since pressure is

both a precipitator and consequence of crisis, leaders who perform well under pressure can effectively

guide the organization through such crisis. [26]

James contends that most executives focus on communications and public relations as a reactive

strategy. While the company’s reputation with shareholders, financial well-being, and survival are all at

stake, potential damage to reputation can result from the actual management of the crisis issue.

[6] Additionally, companies may stagnate as their risk management group identifies whether a crisis is

sufficiently “statistically significant”. [27] Crisis leadership, on the other hand, immediately addresses

both the damage and implications for the company’s present and future conditions, as well as

opportunities for improvement. [8]

Public sector crisis management

Corporate America is not the only community that is vulnerable to the perils of a crisis. Whether a

school shooting, a public health crisis or a terrorist attack that leaves the public seeking comfort in the

calm, steady leadership of an elected official, no sector of society is immune to crisis. In response to

that reality, crisis management policies, strategies and practices have been developed and adapted

across multiple disciplines.

Schools and crisis management

In the wake of the Columbine High School Massacre, the September 11 attacks in 2001, and shootings

on college campuses including the Virginia Tech massacre, educational institutions at all levels are

now focused on crisis management.[28]

A national study conducted by the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) and Arkansas

Children’s Hospital Research Institute (ACHRI) has shown that many public school districts have

important deficiencies in their emergency and disaster plans (The School Violence Resource Center,

2003). In response the Resource Center has organized a comprehensive set of resources to aid schools

is the development of crisis management plans.[citation needed]

Crisis management plans cover a wide variety of incidents including bomb threats, child abuse, natural

disasters, suicide, drug abuse and gang activities – just to list a few.[29] In a similar fashion the plans

aim to address all audiences in need of information including parents, the media and law enforcement

officials.[30]

Government and crisis management

Historically, government at all levels – local, state, and national – has played a large role in crisis

management. Indeed, many political philosophers have considered this to be one of the primary roles

of government. Emergency services, such as fire and police departments at the local level, and

the United States National Guard at the federal level, often play integral roles in crisis situations.

To help coordinate communication during the response phase of a crisis, the U.S. Federal Emergency

Management Agency (FEMA) within the Department of Homeland Security administers the National

Response Plan (NRP). This plan is intended to integrate public and private response by providing a

common language and outlining a chain-of-command when multiple parties are mobilized. It is based

on the premise that incidences should be handled at the lowest organizational level possible. The NRP

recognizes the private sector as a key partner in domestic incident management, particularly in the

area of critical infrastructure protection and restoration.[31]

The NRP is a companion to the National Incidence Management System that acts as a more general

template for incident management regardless of cause, size, or complexity.[31]

FEMA offers free web-based training on the National Response Plan through the Emergency

Management Institute.[32]

Common Alerting Protocol (CAP) is a relatively recent mechanism that facilitates crisis communication

across different mediums and systems. CAP helps create a consistent emergency alert format to reach

geographically and linguistically diverse audiences through both audio and visual mediums.[citation needed]

Elected officials and crisis management

Historically, politics and crisis go hand-in-hand. In describing crisis, President Abraham Lincoln said,

“We live in the midst of alarms, anxiety beclouds the future; we expect some new disaster with each

newspaper we read.”[citation needed]

Crisis management has become a defining feature of contemporary governance. In times of crisis,

communities and members of organizations expect their public leaders to minimize the impact of the

crisis at hand, while critics and bureaucratic competitors try to seize the moment to blame incumbent

rulers and their policies. In this extreme environment, policy makers must somehow establish a sense

of normality, and foster collective learning from the crisis experience.[33]

In the face of crisis, leaders must deal with the strategic challenges they face, the political risks and

opportunities they encounter, the errors they make, the pitfalls they need to avoid, and the paths

away from crisis they may pursue. The necessity for management is even more significant with the

advent of a 24-hour news cycle and an increasingly internet-saavy audience with ever-changing

technology at its fingertips.[33]

Public leaders have a special responsibility to help safeguard society from the adverse consequences

of crisis. Experts in crisis management note that leaders who take this responsibility seriously would

have to concern themselves with all crisis phases: the incubation stage, the onset, and the aftermath.

Crisis leadership then involves five critical tasks: sense making, decision making, meaning making,

terminating, and learning.[33]

A brief description of the five facets of crisis leadership includes:[34]

1. Sense making may be considered as the classical situation assessment step in decision

making.

2. Decision making is both the act of coming to a decision as the implementation of that decision.

3. Meaning making refers to crisis management as political communication.

4. Terminating a crisis is only possible if the public leader correctly handles the accountability

question.

5. Learning, refers to the actual learning from a crisis is limited. The authors note, a crisis often

opens a window of opportunity for reform for better or for worse.

Professional Organizations

There are a number of professional industry associations that provide advice, literature and contacts to

turnaround professionals and academics. Some are:

1. Turnaround Management Society (International / Focus on Europe)

2. Institute for Turnaround (England)

3. Turnaround Management Association (International)

4. Institut für die Standardisierung von Unternehmenssanierungen (Germany)

See also

Common Alerting Protocol

Contingency plan

Crisis

Cross-cultural communication

Emergency services

Emergency management

Federal Emergency Management Agency

ISO/TC 223 Societal Security

Management

Management by exception

Risk Management

Social Responsibility

References

1. ̂  Seeger, M. W.; Sellnow, T. L., & Ulmer, R. R. (1998). "Communication, organization and

crisis".Communication Yearbook 21: 231–275.

2. ̂  Venette, S. J. (2003). Risk communication in a High Reliability Organization: APHIS PPQ's

inclusion of risk in decision making. Ann Arbor, MI: UMI Proquest Information and Learning.

3. ̂  "Incident or crisis? Why the debate?".

4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Coombs, W. T. (1999). Ongoing crisis communication: Planning, managing, and

responding. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

5. ^ a b c d e Lerbinger, O. (1997). The crisis manager: Facing risk and responsibility. Mahwah, NJ:

Erlbaum.

6. ^ a b c "Crisis Leadership". Retrieved 2010-06-22.

7. ̂  James, E. (Spring 2007). "Leadership as (Un)usual: How to Display Competence InTimes of

Crisis".Leadership Preview. Retrieved 2010-06-22.

8. ^ a b c d James, E. (Spring 2007). "Leadership as (Un)usual: How to Display Competence In

Times of Crisis".Leadership Preview. Retrieved 2010-06-22.

9. ̂  James, Erika; Roberts, J (2009). "In the wake of the financial crisis: rebuilding the image of

the finance industry through trust". Journal of Financial Transformation 125 (2): 601–

7. PMID RePEc:ris:jofitr:1382.PMC 236121. Retrieved 2010-06-22.

10.^ a b c "Rigor and Relevance in Management". 12Manage.com. Retrieved 2007-10-11.

11. ̂  Infante, D.; Rancer, A., & Womack, D. (1997). Building communication theory (3rd ed.).

Prospect Heights, IL: Waveland Press.

12. ̂  Coombs, W. T. (2007). Ongoing Crisis Communication: Planning, Managing, and

Responding (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

13. ̂  James, E.; James, E. H. (Vol. 10, No. 3, 2008). "Linking Crisis Management and Leadership

Competencies: The Role of Human Resource Development". Advances in Developing Human

Resources 10: 352.doi:10.1177/1523422308316450. Retrieved 2010-06-22.

14. ̂  James, Erika; Lynn Perry Wooten (2010). "Why Discrimination Lawsuits Are a Noteworthy

Crisis". Leading Under Pressure. Routledge Academic.

15. ̂  James, Erika (Sept. – Oct. 2000, Vol. 11, No. 5). "Race-Related Differences in Promotions and

Support: Underlying Effects of Human and Social Capital". Organizational Science 11:

493.doi:10.1287/orsc.11.5.493.15202. Retrieved 2010-06-22.

16. ̂  Dezenhall, E. (2004-03-17). USA

Today. http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/editorials/2004-03-17-dezenhall_x.html.

Retrieved 2007-10-08.[dead link]

17. ̂  Rudolph, B. (1986-02-24). "Coping with catastrophe". Time. Retrieved 2007-10-06.

18. ̂  Dwyer, S. (May, 1998). ""Hudson, we have a problem!" - Hudson Food's inability to handle a

crisis management program". Prepared Foods. Retrieved 2009-04-30.

19. ̂  Goldman, A.; Reckard, E. (2007). LA Times. http://www.latimes.com/business/printedition/la-

fi-pr18aug18,0,3471349.story?page=1&coll=la-headlines-pe-business. Retrieved 2007-10-13.

[dead link]

20. ̂  "The Pepsi Product Tampering Scandal of 1993". Retrieved 7 September 2009.

21. ̂  Shrivastava, P. (1987). Bhopal: Anatomy of a Crisis. Ballinger Publishing Company.

22. ̂  Ackman, D. (2001). Forbes. http://www.forbes.com/2001/06/20/tireindex.htm. Retrieved

2007-10-14.[dead link]

23. ̂  Warner, F. (2002). "How to Stay Loose in a Tight Spot". Fast Company. Retrieved 2007-10-

15.

24. ̂  Pauly, J. J.; Hutchison, L. L. (2005). "Moral fables of public relations practice: The Tylenol and

Exxon Valdez cases". Journal of Mass Media Ethics 20 (4): 231–

249. doi:10.1207/s15327728jmme2004_2.

25. ̂  James, E.; James, E. H. (Vol. 44, No. 1, 2008). "Toward an Understanding of When Executives

See Crisis as Opportunity". The Journal of Applied Behavioral Science 44:

94. doi:10.1177/0021886307313824. Retrieved 2010-06-22.

26. ̂  James, Erika; Lynn Wooten (2010). Leading Under Pressure. Routledge Academic.

27. ̂  "The Wall Street Journal Community". Retrieved 2010-06-22.

28. ̂  "Campus Security Summit" (RealMedia Streaming Video).

29. ̂  "Crisis management". Kansas City Public Schools. 2007.

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Education. 2002. Retrieved 2007-10-15.[dead link]

31.^ a b "Quick Reference Guide for the National Response Plan (version 4.0)" (PDF). May 2006.

32. ̂  "Emergency Management Institute Home Page".

33.^ a b c Boin, A.; P. Hart and E. Stern (2005). The politics of crisis management: Public leadership

under pressure. New York: Cambridge University Press.

34. ̂  Hellsloot, I. (2007). "Review of "The politics of crisis management: Public leadership under

pressure" by A. Boin, P. Hart, E. Stern and B. Sundelius". Journal of Contingencies and Crisis

Management 15 (3): 168–169.doi:10.1111/j.1468-5973.2007.00519.x.

Further reading

Barton, L. (2007). Crisis leadership now: A real-world guide to preparing for threats, disaster,

sabotage, and scandal. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.

Borodzicz, Edward P. (2005). Risk, Crisis and Security Management. West Sussex, England: John

Wiley and Sons Ltd.

Coombs, W. T. (2006). Code Red in the Boardroom: Crisis Management as Organizational DNA.

Westport, CT: Praeger.

Office of Security and Risk Management Services (October 2007). "Crisis Management

Workbook". Fairfax County Public Schools.

Davidson, M.N. (2005). Ethics in Human Resource Management, in P.H. Werhane, R. E. Freeman

(Eds.), Blackwell Encyclopedic Dictionary of Business Ethics. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing.

Davidson, M.N. (2004). "Leading in Black and White: Working across the Racial Divide in Corporate

America".Personnel Psychology 75 (2).

Davidson, M.N. (2004). "Here and There: A Conversation about Identity". Industrial-Organizational

Psychologist 41(3).

Davidson, M.N. (2004). "Diversity that matters". Batten Briefings 3 (1).

Davidson, M.N. (2003). "Making the Tough Calls: Negotiating Exclusion in Inclusive and Diverse

Organizations".Industrial-Organizational Psychologist 41 (1).

Davidson, M.N. (2003). "Leveraging Difference for Organizational Excellence". Batten

Briefings 2 (1).

Davidson, M.N. (2002). "Inclusion and Power: Reflections on Dominance and Subordination in

Organizations".Industrial-Organizational Psychologist 40 (1).

Davidson (2001). "Diversity and inclusion: What difference does it make?". Industrial-

Organizational Psychologist39 (2).

Davidson, M.N. (2001). "The impact of race on styles of dealing with conflict". Sex Roles 45 (5/6).

Davidson, M.N. (2001). "Mentoring in the preparation of ethnically diverse graduate

students". Review of Educational Research 71 (4).

Davidson, M.N. (1999). The role of emotion in negotiation: The impact of anger. In R.J. Bies, R.J.

Lewicki, B.H. Sheppard, (Eds.), Research on Negotiation in Organizations. Greenwich, CT: JAI Press

Inc..

Davidson, M.N. (1999). "The value of being included: An examination of diversity change initiatives

in organizations". Performance Improvement Quarterly 12 (1).

Dezenhall, E. (2003). Nail 'em!: Confronting high-profile attacks on celebrities & businesses.

Amherst, New York: Prometheus Books.

Dezenhall, E.; Weber, J. (2007). Damage control: Why everything you know about crisis

management is wrong. Portfolio Hardcover.

Erickson, Paul A. (2006). Emergency Response Planning for Corporate and Municipal

Managers (2nd ed.). Burlington, MA: Elsevier, Inc..

Ferdman (2002). "Inclusion: What can I and my organization do about it?". Industrial-

Organizational Psychologist39 (4).

Ferdman (2002). "Drawing the line: Are some differences too different?". Industrial-Organizational

Psychologist 39(3).

Fink, S. (2007). Crisis management: Planning for the inevitable. Backinprint.com.

Friedman, R.A. (2001). "Managing diversity and second-order conflict". Journal of Conflict

Management 12 (2).

Friedman, R.A. (1999). The role of emotion in negotiation: The impact of anger. In R.J. Bies, R.J.

Lewicki, B.H. Sheppard, (Eds.), Research on Negotiation in Organizations. Greenwich, CT: JAI Press

Inc..

Mitroff, Ian I.; Gus Anagnos (2000). Managing Crises Before They Happen: What Every Executive

Needs to Know About Crisis Management. New York: AMACOM.

Mitroff, Ian I. (2003). Crisis Leadership: Planning for the Unthinkable. New York: John Wiley.

Mitroff, Ian I. (2005). Why Some Companies Emerge Stronger And Better From a Crisis: Seven

Essential Lessons For Surviving Disaster. New York: AMACOM.

Public Relations

Review 35 (1). http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/03638111. "contains a

collection of articles on crisis management.".

Department of Homeland Security, Federal Emergency Management Agency (September

2007). "National Response Plan".

Smith, Larry; Dan Millar, PhD (2002). Before Crisis Hits: Building a Strategic Crisis Plan.

Washington, DC: AACC Community College Press.

Smith, Larry; Dan Millar, PhD (2002). Crisis Management and Communication; How to Gain and

Maintain Control (2nd ed.). San Francisco, CA: International Association of Business

Communicators.

Ulmer, R. R.; Sellnow, T. L., & Seeger, M. W. (2006). Effective crisis communication: Moving from

crisis to opportunity. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

External links

Crisis management and business continuity planning . 2007. United Kingdom Government Business

Link.

Crisis Manager Newsletter, a free collection of 600+ articles on crisis management-related topics.

Crisis Management and Communication Entry  Institute for Public Relations article

CRISIS MANAGEMENT AND BUSINESS CONTINUITY  A short program offered at MIT

TURNAROUND MANAGEMENT ASSOCIATION  Certifying Body for Certified Turnaround

Professionals/Crisis Managers

The International Research Group on Crisis Communication  Publications and crisis institutions

database

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