How do groups react to unexpected threats? Crisis management in organizational teams

Despite the increasing dependence on teams, there has been little research on crisis management in organizational teams in the corporate sector. In this study which is based on quantitative and qualitative analyses of 30 crisis cases, the prevalent types of crises were identified and effective strategies used for team crisis coping were explored. The results showed that 90% of team level crises were caused by external or environmental factors rather than internal disturbances. Reflecting the dominant cause of crisis events, the effectiveness of crisis management was strongly affected by teams’ external activities. Suggestions based on the results are made for managing contemporary organizational teams operating in highly competitive, uncertain, and threatening environments.