The ways organizations respond to crisis can be described in terms of the level of the individual-short, intermediate, and long term-and the level of the organization as a whole-also short, intermediate, and long range. Different kinds of response have disparate implications for organizational effectiveness and survival. Some of the most effective responses can be counterintuitive and are not especially likely to occur, e.g., decentralization in crisis situations. Based upon these considerations and empirical examples of them, several examples of both preventive and management action strategies are described as means to organizational survival and growth.
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