STATES OF EMERGENCY - Patrick Lagadec

2. Organizations with their backsto the wallMost commonly, the crisis comes as a surprise. It is there before anyone,including the most directly implicated officials, notice it. Too late and toobrutally, each organization realizes it has been plunged into a situation that isdelicate, to say the least:- The organization faces very serious problems that it finds overwhelming,- It is under heavy pressure from the outside,- It is torn by violent internal strife,-There is no respite to deal with these problems one by one - to thecontrary, the organization finds itself planted squarely and durably in thespotlight and summoned to communicate perfectly during what is the mosttrying moment in its history,- It also finds itself set up against other organizations, which are in thesame state of disarray.The technicians can offer no immediate answers. Managers no longerknow what orders to give, public relations officials watch their planscrumble, and headquarters don't know exactly when or where they shouldintervene - meanwhile, unrelenting pressure on the organization, and on thesystem of organizations implicated, is building.When under siege, organizations often tend to stumble into a briar patch,and they proceed to become more and more deeply entangled, until theirsituation becomes untenable.