Types of Crises

A crisis can either be self-inflicted or caused by external forces.

• Examples of external forces that could affect an organization’s operations include natural disasters, security breaches, or false rumors that hurt a business's reputation.
• Self-inflicted crises are caused within the organization, such as when an employee smokes in an environment that contains hazardous chemicals, downloads questionable computer files, offers poor customer service that goes viral online. An internal crisis can be managed, mitigated, or avoided.