This document provides an overview of crisis management. It discusses the history of crisis management and how crises have evolved with factors like globalization and urbanization. It also defines crisis management and lists its objectives and importance, advantages, disadvantages, and challenges. The document outlines the process of crisis management planning and how to plan for unknown events. It provides guidance on managing a crisis, including maintaining composure, communicating facts, and monitoring media coverage. Effective crisis planning and response are necessary to help organizations survive crises.

1. Chapter 1: Crisis management
Table of contents:
1. History of crisis management.
2. Definitions of crisis management.
3. Objectives and importance of crisis management.
4. Advantages of crisis management.
5. Disadvantages of crisis management.
6. Process (how to plan for the unknown).
7. Challenges in crisis management.
8. Managing the crisis.

2. References:
History
(http://darpg.nic.in/darpgwebsite_cms/Document/file/crisis_management3.pdf)
Definitions
(http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/crisis-management.html)
(http://www.investopedia.com/terms/c/crisis-management.asp#axzz1psq8X3Un)
(http://www.2knowmyself.com/goal_setting/definition_of_crisis_management)
(http://www.siliconfareast.com/crisis-management.htm)
Objectives
(http://stedavies.com/2006/03/the-importance-of-crisis-management/)
(https://www.intrapoint.com/index.php?c=57&kat=Importance+of+Crisis+Management)
(http://www.google.com.eg/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=objectives+of+crisis+management&source=web
&cd=3&ved=0CDsQFjAC&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nifc.gov%2FPIO_bb%2Fcritical_incidents%2
FCrisis_LeadershipCrisis_Comm.ppt&ei=IatrT-
j1HIOw0QXmupDXBg&usg=AFQjCNG2QziAjvjPWv7xcGOOoiCRf9mcJg&sig2=EENs_N_aD3GuOK3
WC6PfRA)
Advantages and disadvantages of crisis management
(http://www.ehow.com/info_8009519_advantages-crisis-management-team.html)
Process (how to plan for the unknown)
(http://www.continuitycentral.com/feature0397.htm)
Challenges in crisis management.
(http://www.slideshare.net/GRFDavos/davosbrefinal-oldpptx)
Managing the crisis
(http://strengtheningnonprofits.org/resources/guidebooks/Managing_Crisis.pdf)

3. History:
Natural disasters and crises have been an integral part of human history
right from the dawn of civilization. The rise and fall of the Indus Valley and
Babylonian civilizations are a testimony to this. In the early days, individuals
and communities would lead the response to crisis. However, with the
emergence of the modern welfare state and the 20th century trends of
globalization, urbanization, large-scale migrations of human population and
climate changes, the nature of crises facing nations has increased both in
magnitude and complexity.
For example, while the frequency of calamities may have remained
unchanged, increasing population densities and urbanization have resulted
in greater impact on human lives and property. In the field of public health,
while science has secured a major victory over epidemics, new strains of
viruses and drug resistant micro-organisms have emerged raising the
scepter of global pandemics of new and more deadly diseases. Similarly,
while frequency of wars has declined, modern weapons and mass
urbanization have increased manifold the human crisis caused by such
conflicts. The scourge of terrorism has created new types of crises and
increasing dependence on communications and computer networks have
increased the threat of newer emergencies in case these are disabled by
accident or design. Further, phenomena like modernization, information
explosion, transnational migrations, and the economic interdependence
among nations have all contributed to extending the impact of crisis
situations over larger areas.

4. Crisis Management Definitions:
Crisis Management:
Is the process by which an organization deals with a major 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.
Crisis Management:
Actions taken by an organization in response to unexpected
events or situations with potentially negative effects that threaten
resources and people or the success and continued operation of
the organization.
Crisis management includes the development of plans to reduce
the risk of a crisis occurring and to deal with any crises that do
arise, and the implementation of these plans so as to minimize
the impact of crises and assist the organization to recover from
them.
Crisis Management:
Set of procedures applied in handling, containment,
and resolution of an emergency in planned and coordinated steps.

5. Crisis Management:
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.
Crisis Management:
The act of planning for crisis and unexpected situations by
forecasting bad scenarios that could happen and then suggesting
a solution to each one of them.

6. Objectives and importance of crisis
management:
Understand the nature of a crisis.
Understand impact of a crisis on individuals and how it
effects communication
Learn tools for managing and communicating
information in a crisis.

7. Advantages of crisis management:
Robust crisis management plans can equip organizations to
withstand threats to their survival better.
Awareness of potential threats can put an organization in a
better position to take early action, often helping to avoid
more serious problems.
Effective crisis management plans can help companies to
achieve improved levels of regulatory compliance.
Appropriate planning for potential industry-wide crises can
give a company the upper hand over ill-prepared
competitors.
Effective communications during a crisis can help determine
how the company’s core values and beliefs have helped it to
overcome a major challenge, potentially enhancing public
perception of the company.
Literally save lives, save money and save an organization
from devastation. Any organization that isn’t prepared for a
crisis will be constantly at risk.
limit any damage that an organization might face
Determine which crises an organization is likely to face and
the possibility of each.
It prepares you to the bad event so that when it happens
you don’t panic nor give an emotional decision.

8. Disadvantages of crisis management:
Crisis management planning may seem expensive.
Attempts to plan exhaustively for every conceivable threat
can be counterproductive.
Excessive focus on potential threats can divert management
focus on how to capitalize on growth opportunities for the

9. Process:
Crisis management: HOW TO PLAN FOR THE UNKNOWN
One of the clear lessons that needs to be learned from the many and varied
crises and disasters that the world has seen since the start of the new
millennium is that it is not possible to predict every incident that will
impact your company. This makes scenario-based business continuity
planning a risky activity in its own right! And such an approach will lead to a
false sense of security.
So, as business continuity planners, how do we deal with a novel or
unexpected incident, especially when there is nothing in the text books or
existing methodologies to provide guidance? The answer is to have a well
chosen, highly trained, frequently exercised crisis management team,
coupled with strong and clear crisis management plans.
In order to deal with the unknown, a two phased planning approach is
necessary:
Phase 1 – Pre planning (Risk assessment and mitigation)
Phase 2 – Crisis assessment and management planning (Incident resolution)

10. Challenges in crisis management:
Situational conditions:
Diversity: emergency response missions vary widely (e.g. local, regional or
trans-border) - the required skills and the forms of cooperation are
interrelated
Interdependency: teams partly depend on each other to perform their
adaptability and creativity
Dynamic: Rapid changing conditions, importance of improvisations,
adaptability and creativity
Uncertainty: a lack of information can lead to ambiguous assessments and
wrong decisions
Duties and responsibilities:
Organizational challenges in the search and rescue phase:
Goal setting: the assessment of the situation, the derived mobilization of
the sources (based on an accurate estimation of need)
Problem solving: emergency managers have to innovate, adapt and
improvise because plans and procedures often don t fit the circumstances
Anticipation: effective emergency management captures the need to
anticipate future problems, creating their solution before they occur.

11. Managing the crisis:
12 ways to handle a crisis publicly
Keep cool
o Calm atmosphere allows clear and strategic thinking
Find out the facts immediately
Be credible. State the facts clearly to all
Get to the media before the media get to you
Tell the correct story before others tell their versions
o It is better you tell bad news
Prepare a situation fact sheet
o Useful for media
o Forces management to marshal facts
o Useful for staff
Monitor key radio and TV news and newspapers
Equip and train articulate staff as spokespersons
o Do this well in advance
Review all internal communication about the crisis
o In-house memos often turn up in the media
Before crisis, develop relationship with journalists
o “Truth well told is your best defence”
As soon as crisis breaks, Director sends letter fully explaining facts
o Send to donors, partner institutions, the board, and Minister

12. Use press releases to provide perspective
First 24 hours of crisis are critical
o What you do can fundamentally affect your reputation
o What you do can enhance (or hinder) ability to deal with crisis
Preparing for crisis situations and responding appropriately to them if they
occur can mean the difference between closure and survival, or even
flourishing. After all, crises can be fertile opportunities for learning and
change if an organization is equipped with the right tools to handle them.
There are two sides to managing any crisis:
-Planning and response.
-Organizations that anticipate the possibility of a crisis and prepare properly
will be better equipped to manage such situations or avoid them
altogether.