INTRODUCTION

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: 1) threat to the organization;

2) the element of surprise; and

3) short decision time. 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. 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.

The credibility and reputation of organizations is heavily influenced

by the percepetion 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 focus 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. Potential crises are enormous, but crises can be clustered. Categorized seven types of crises: 1) Natural disaster - typically natural disasters considered as'acts of God,' are such environmental phenomena as earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and floods, landslides, tidal waves, storms, and droughts that threaten life, property, and the environment itself. 2) 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). Samples include software failures, industrial accidents, and oil spills.

3)

Confrontation - 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. 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 kidnapping, malicious rumors, terrorism, and espionage. Crisis of skewed management value - are caused when managers favor shortterm 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. These companies sacrifices customer trust.

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6) Crisis of deception - occur when management conceals or misrepresents information about itself and its products in its dealing with consumers and others. 7) Crisis of management misconduct - are caused not only by skewed values and deception but deliberate amorality and illegality. Example: Financial Scandal.

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: Sensemaking: 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. The Organizations primary mission is to prepare for and prevent the escalation of crisis events. 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 recovery phase. 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. The art is to define what the crisis specifically is or could be and what has caused it or could cause it.

10 STEPS TO MAKING IT WORK

1. LEARN MORE
Audience or target-group identification Successful planning Public and Media perception of the company Competitors Good planning Specific List of what the Company wants to achieve Self examination

2. MAKE A LIST - include every possible crisis, including (but surely not
limited to) the following: Financial Scandal Physical Disaster Labor Troubles Riot Foreign site nationalization or expropriation Succession Crisis, and Product tampering

3.

THE PLAN The development of the actual document that must be followed when a crisis occurs, and assigning people to carry out tasks. It has to have a degree of flexibility that fits into the organizational structure. The document itself will contain all the necessary steps to execute the plan. Its distribution must be limited to those people who will need to use it or will need to know how it works. Pick the people who are responsible and can act on their own when circumstances may require it. This point is placed at the top of the list because it must permeate the entire planning and execution process. The people who will form the Crisis Management Team must know who they are and what they will be expected to do when the black day arrives. It must include key members of the organizations regular management group. There must be at least one person who can speak for the organization without having to call someone higher up for permission. The top Public Relations Executive must be on the team, someone form the Law Department and Technical people.

4. WHO DOES WHAT

The roles of each member of the team must be made crystal clear. It is of important that the top management fully understand what will happen in a crisis. They will continue to manage the organization but the team is going to manage the crisis. And that responsibility must be matched with an appropriate grant of authority.
During crisis, media can be very abrasive in questioning. So be on the look out for people on the team who might not know how to handle them responsibly.

5.

THE LAWYERS
While it is essential that the Law Department has a representative on the Crisis Team, it is equally important that the role of the lawyer be supportive and neither be combative nor obstructionist. One early defense in their view is to give out as little information as possible about potentially damaging problem to the media or anyone else. When top management has to make a choice between what its lawyers advise and what crisis managers say, the former will almost always prevails.

6.

MEDIA TRAINING

Everyone on the team should be trained to meet the media. Learning how to deal with the news media during the height of crisis is not the time to take lessons.

7.

PUBLIC RELATIONS EXPERTISE

It is always good to have a good and strong Public Relations Department with vital credentials in a company which will provide a wide range of expertise and will not fear advising a leader to stay away from the media in those cases where the executive has a poor media-relations history.

8.

THE PRESS KIT As a starting point, a press kit must contain, as a minimum, the following: 1. 2. 3. 4. A copy of the organizations annual report; Any relevant facilities brochure; Biographies and photos of top management; and The names and numbers of authorized spokesperson and designees.

The kit should be put together well in advance of any crisis.

9.

THE MEDIA LIST

It helps if there is some information contained in the plan about the media personnel who may cover the crisis. This requires a dedicated and continuing effort to meet the editors and reporters who cover the industry. The list of news people must be constantly updated.

10.

GETTING READY In some organizations, and this will largely depend on what kind of business is involved, the crisis team may be sent to the site of disaster at any hour of the day or night. A Crisis Management Plan must be treated with utmost importance, religiously updated and tested.

SUMMARY
There must be a list of things to be done before a crisis occurs. Once it does and whatever it is, there are critical steps broken down into 10 steps, as follows: 1. Alert and mobilize the team immediately upon learning of the crisis. The team members must be briefed, and depending on the type of crisis, which can be done at corporate or organizational headquarters, at the site of crisis or en route to it.