The pre-crisis stage
When someone in an organisation discovers a critical situation, they usually bring it to the attention of their supervisors/managers. This is known as either the pre-crisis warning or precursor. At this point in time, the critical situation is known only inside the organisation and is not yet visible to the general public.
When managers are told of the critical situation, their job is to analyse it to determine if it has the potential to become serious. If managers are then comfortable with it and feel it will be resolved without any action on their part, they will not take any action. If, on the other hand, they see the critical situation as a serious problem requiring intervention, they will take action to mitigate it.