Crisis Management

What Does Crisis Management Mean?

The identification of threats to an organization and its stakeholders, and the methods used by the organization to deal with these threats. Due to the unpredictability of global events, organizations must be able to cope with the potential for drastic changes to the way they conduct business. Crisis management often requires decisions to be made within a short time frame, and often after an event has already taken place. In order to reduce uncertainty in the event of a crisis, organizations often create a crisis management plan.

Unlike risk management, which involves planning for events that might occur in the future, crisis management involves reacting to an event once it has occurred. An oil company for example, may have a plan in place to deal with the possibility of an oil spill, but if such a disaster actually occurs, the magnitude of the spill, the backlash of public opinion and the cost of cleanup can vary greatly and may exceed expectations.