During times of crises, the business and its employees usually live on the edge. In such situations, it is very natural that employees may lose both their intellectual and emotional stability. An individual may go through emotions that range between challenge and trauma. It is the role of HR to build an organizational culture that is leadership-oriented, open, proactive and not afraid of challenges, so that the employees can overcome the stress of crisis and, in fact, rise to a higher competency through learning from each crisis. Towards this end, situations are examined where the management and employees have enabled the organization to emerge stronger out of a crisis.

The world has recently seen semblances of the worst in economical terms. Businesses have had to resort to various steps to stay `afloat'. Quite a few of them have sunk without a trace. Those that have managed to stay above the drowning levels are working on strategies to sustain and get back to growth. Some of them have fought it through people, some through products and some through technology. But the true learning has been the sense of urgency, tact and planning that had to be gone into the whole exercise. Some of them treated the scene as an exigency; some were proactive when they noticed the others and some only reacted after disaster was finally at their doorstep.

A few of them have looked at it as an opportunity and taken the bull by its horns.

"Crisis as defined is the situation that is unpredictable but is not unexpected." The nature of the crisis demands attention of both special and general kinds. Crises could range between a Tsunami to a 26/11 and a business crisis like in the case of Satyam or the old Tylenol. They are broadly classified into natural or man-made. Generally, crises manifest into disasters and, in some cases, the reverse.

HRM Review, Organizational Culture, Organizational Growth, Crisis Management Mechanism, Human Resources Development, HRD, Organizational Response, Organizational Flab, Organizational Level, Intellectual Property Office, IPO.