As crises become more numerous, visible, and calamitous, organizations have no choice but to accept them as an inescapable reality that must be factored into their planning and decision making. This book is written for present and future crisis managers--men and women who will be drawn into that inevitable occurrence and whose performance will determine their organization's future as well as their own. It is also written for all managers because the lessons learned in crisis management add to their qualifications as policymakers and decision makers. Organized into four parts, this book: * provides a classification of seven crisis types that enables a manager faced with a crisis to place it within the most relevant category and apply the recommended strategies; * supplements the recommended strategies on how to improve management performance so that future crises can be averted; * examines the causes that lead up to crises, enabling a manager to take preventive action; * recognizes the central role of crisis communication when a crisis event occurs; * assigns critical importance to the impact of a crisis on an organization's reputation--an intangible asset that affects the long-term value and profitability of an organization; and * urges managers on all levels and different functional areas of an organization to become familiar with crisis management so they know how their actions can prevent or mitigate crises.