the principles governing crisis management resemble those governing other strategic planning.the trick is learning to think about potential crisis as logically as you think about other business issues.monitoring early warning signals,for example,is not so different from monitoring competitors'signals.planning recovery mechanisms is not so different from planning formal change procedures in response to new technologies.most senior managers will not find crisis planning enormously difficult or foreign,but they will need to overcome a strong reluctance to confront the possibility of disaster.
to conclude,let me add that one of two assumptions underlies any discussion of organizational crises.the first is this:organizations don't create the crisis they face;crises just happen to them.here's the other:organizations do create the crises they face in the special sens that the kinds of early warning,prevention,damage limitation,recovery,and learning mechanisms they institute are one of the most important factors affecting what kinds of crises.
which assumption you choose will make a big difference in how well your organization handles its next crisis,let alone which crises it will face to begin with.