WHEN IT HITS THE FAN: Managing the Nine Crises of Business

by ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 25, 1986

Scientific management"" frequently overlooks ways to deal with crises. The authors propose that the time has come to stop planning our way out of crises and to start managing them effectively. Once managers accept a crisis as a normal circumstance, the next step is to find a treatment for it. Meyers says there are nine distinct types of business crises: public perception, sudden market shift, product failure, top management succession, cash, industrial relations, outside attack, adverse international events, and regulation and deregulation. The formula to weather them? Take charge, understand the circumstances, define the problem, rank the options, move decisively, eliminate the cause, and prevent reoccurrence. Ahhh, were it so easy, we would all be successful CEOs. The author contends that there are few surprises in business and that just about everything that happens before, during and after a crisis is predictable. While the unmanaged crisis works its way through a company's system like a disease, an early detected and aggressively managed crisis greatly reduces both pain and damage. A well-managed crisis even produces heroes. While the book is simplistic, it is readable and the authors successfully juxtapose theory and examples. Is the book useful? Most managers can no doubt learn something from it, or be reminded of what they already know.

Pub Date: Nov. 25, 1986

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 1986

Categories: NONFICTION