Critical decisions for crisis management: An introduction

In the presence of crisis, such as global COVID-19 pandemic crisis, governments have more and more take critical decisions to cope with consequential environmental threats in the presence of highly restricted time. This chapter provides a simple description of techniques of decision making in different environments/conditionsof crisis management and how that process is influenced by manifold social, economic and/or technical factors; ultimately it is presented how the approach of improvisation can support the process of decision-makingto cope with unforeseen and new events, rapid changes, turbulent environment and/or specific situations of emergency.Keywords. Critical decision, Decision making, Decision support, Uncertainty, COVID-19, Crisis management, Problem solving, Bounded rationality, Improvisation.JEL. F21, F68, O53, K23