TOWARD RISK GOVERNANCE.

The article reports that crises are not accidents. They are ingrained, extremely slowly developing pathologies that can be diagnosed. They are therefore completely foreseeable and avoidable. Not a week goes by anywhere in the world without a glaring example in the news of an organizational crisis that has degenerated into a disaster. Those who have to deal with the crisis often adopt a variety of predictable responses: obstinate or embarrassed silence, outright denial of the facts, retaliation, or scapegoating. Any response is exacerbated by the urgency of the situation and by the organization's fragmented or incomplete view voluntary or otherwise of die facts. In nearly every case of corporate crisis, public confidence rapidly disintegrates. Victims, special interest groups, competitors, avowed adversaries, each of these groups has its own spin on the axiom that says the incident was preventable as soon as it becomes a reality. Each demands that the "guilty" parties be round and financial and/or legal reparations made.