The Bhopal disaster in which poor communication before , during , and after the crisis cost thousands of lives , illustrates the importance of incorporating cross-cultural communication in crisis management plans . According to American University 's Trade Environmental Database Case Studies ( 1997 ) , local residents were not sure how to react to warnings of potential threats from the Union Carbide plant . Operating manuals printed only in English is an extreme example of mismanagement but indicative of systemic barriers to information diffusion . According to Union Carbide 's own chronology of the incident ( 2006 ) , a day after the crisis Union Carbide 's upper management arrived in India but was unable to assist in the relief efforts because they were placed under house arrest by the Indian government . Symbolic intervention can be counter productive ; a crisis management strategy can help upper management make more calculated decisions in how they should respond to disaster scenarios . The Bhopal incident illustrates the difficulty in consistently applying management standards to multi-national operations and the blame shifting that often results from the lack of a clear management plan
Bhopal disaster
Bhopal disaster
Crisis management