Terrorism: Implications for Organizations

Unlike traditional war that destroys an enemy’s resources and overtakes nations, terrorism is fundamentally about psychology. The goal of terrorist acts is to frighten civilians into aligning with a cause. Thus, we define terrorism as “politically motivated violence that is perpetrated by individuals, groups, or state-sponsored agents and intended to bring about feelings of terror and helplessness in a population in order to influence decision making and to change behavior” (Moghaddam, 2007, p. 69). It is important to keep in mind that subjective values and beliefs often serve as the catalyst for terrorist behaviors. In other words, while some may call the members of a group terrorists, others may see them as revolutionaries or freedom fighters.

A great deal of effort in the research on the ...