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CHAPTER 19
Crisis management in the internet
mediated era
David Phillips
This chapter looks at crisis and issues management from an internet mediated perspective.
It examines how transparency, porosity and agency influence both the nature of
issues and crisis and how they extend the range and speed which such corporate problems
can materialize. By reviewing how internet tools such as email and web pages can
be deployed in an escalating crisis situation, the author shows how the internet can be
applied (or not as the case may be) to aid crisis management. Finally the chapter looks
at a range of internet crises faced by a variety of organizations that have occurred in
recent years and offers some ideas for planning against such eventualities.
The nature of crisis
The nature of organizational risk has two elements
and it is worth dwelling on them and
their nature to help understand the range of
concerns that need to be considered in crisis
and issues management. The elements are:
• crisis which threatens the survival of the
company/organization;
• an issue which is a normal process of
management which is an exception to
daily routine.
Crisis
A crisis can be sudden and unexpected which
can be handled by a person on the spot with
direct responsibility and training or, often,
good common sense. It may be an event
that requires the co-operative effort of more
people and which may require bringing
people in to work from home or it may require
a team of colleagues and outside
agencies/contractors. At its worst, a crisis can
be because of a major sudden disaster.
Alternatively, a crisis can be caused through
an issue running out of control. This form of
latent crisis is by far the most frequent cause
for corporate disaster and is also, by far, the
most difficult to manage.
The best defence against most crises is in
the effective day by day management of
issues.
© 2004 Sandra Oliver for editorial matter and selection;
individual chapters, the contributors