The corporate crisis which have made corporations take more notice of the concept of "Crisis Management" is Union Carbide's Bhopal, India plant disaster in December, 1984. This Bhopal disaster has been described as the "worst industrial disaster the world has ever known."
Since the Union Carbide-Bhopal disaster, many corporations started to consider that a similar catastrophe could happen to them. Union Carbide's Bhopal crisis, along with other corporate crises, have changed the way corporations were viewing crisis management. Corporations started to look at ways they could become better prepared to manage a crisis if and when they are hit by one.
By looking back at the way Union Carbide did manage the "worst industrial disaster ever," and ways Union Carbide could have better managed this crisis, a better understanding of true crisis management can be achieved.
For over 10 years, as the Union Carbide National SCMS Cordinator and Regulatory Compliance Specialist, on a daily basis I had to deal with the consequences of the Bhopal disaster and how it did affected Union Carbide's operations and reputation and the way this disaster has affected other companies were and are now thinking about crisis management and steps they are taking to minimize the possibility of a similar crisis happening to them.
J.Michael Dennis ll.l. ll.m
Corporate Systemic Strategist