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Knowing Your Audience

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Knowing Your Audience
Jennifer Bankston
BCOM/275
April 15, 2013
Jamey Pippert

If you are a company who deals with dangerous work on a daily basis, you need to know who you are dealing with at all times. It is important to know what kind of audience your workers families would be and what kind of audience your actual employees are. When disaster strikes in a company, there are many measures that need to be taken.
When the Chilean copper mine collapse occurred, there was a lot to take into consideration. The collapse happened on Thursday, August 5, 2010. A collapse caused a cave-in in the mine and trapped 33 of its workers 2,300 feet underground (Weik, J. 2010, August 6). A crisis of this magnitude calls for immediate attention before the story gets out and people get misinterpreted information about the incident. There are various ways to go about talking about an incident like this.
The rescue mission would have gone in place right away. This would mean that communication within the company would have to occur. To effectively communicate a potentially fatal crisis you would have to go about it in a very careful way. The employees of the company would need to be notified. Mining is a dangerous job and anyone who works in the industry knows the potential risks of what could happen (LiveScience, 2013). That being said, no one ever expects it to happen to them or someone in their own company. The job of communicating the crisis to the rest of the employees at the company would need to be done in a very tactful way. The most effective way to do it would be to call a company meeting in a conference room or wherever there is enough space to fit everyone. The boss of the company should be the one telling the employees what happened and give as much detail as necessary to convey the importance of what has happened. By letting the employees know face-to-face, the boss is showing compassion and empathy towards what has happened. The employees need to know that everything is being done to rescue the trapped miners so the other people of the company feel safe and secure in their own jobs.
The families of the trapped miners would need to be notified as soon as there was enough information to give out. There would need to be a plan of rescue set in place before loved ones knew what was going on. Telling a loved one that their husband or father or brother is trapped thousands of feet underground is a difficult task and needs to be done as carefully as possible. In this situation, the crisis at hand is very delicate because when the miners were trapped no one knew for awhile whether or not the men had survived. The boss of the company along with other people of that operating crew would need to bring in the closest relatives of the men trapped and tell them face-to-face. The families are going to be pained and have many questions they would like to eagerly get answered.
In a crisis event, you would not want to use communication to employees and family members via email, phone, text, or word of mouth. The parties involved need to be told face-to-face because of how delicate the situation is (Ulmer, R). The idea of someone close to you dying at their daily job is sickening and does not want to be thought of. But the truth of the matter is that it’s reality. The employees and families need to feel a sense of security that can only be felt through a proper channel of communication.
There are a couple things to follow up on after relaying a message such as the coal mining incident. You want to make sure that the families are still coping well with the situation and that you keep them up to date on whatever is happening as far as the rescue mission. If the company hears any good news pertaining to the rescue mission it needs to be relayed to the loved ones right away to help ease their minds. This also goes for the employees of the company as well. The employees are just as concerned about their fellow co-workers and need reassurance to continue doing the best job they can do. Negative information needs to be contained for as long as possible so that it does not stir unnecessary drama in an already dramatic instance.
It is the boss’s role to make sure everyone is coping well and to make sure that the rescue crew is doing everything in their power to get the team out safe. It is the employee’s job to keep everything to there selves and not let false information leak out to the media. It is the family’s role to keep their loved ones feeling safe and secure by sending messages to them if possible and staying calm.

References
LiveScience. (2013). Chile mine collapse: Facts about the amazing survival story. Retrieved from http://www.mnn.com/earth-matters/wilderness-resources/stories/chile-mine-collapse-facts-about-the-amazing-survival-story
Ulmer, R, Sellnow, T, & Seeger, M 2007, Effective crisis communication: moving from crisis to opportunity, Sage publications, London.
Weik, J. (2010, August 6). Over 30 workers trapped after Chilean copper mine collapse. Metal Bulletin Daily, (224), 65.

Draft Two
News release to employees: The conference is being held in an auditorium with all employees present. The interaction is face-to face. The boss is giving the release.
Hello everyone. We have just received word that our Chilean mining team has just had a cave in. I know this news is very upsetting and we need to keep each and every worker in our thoughts and prayers as long as keeping their families in mind as well. We have a rescue mission already set in place. We are working around the clock to make sure our workers out there are alive and safe. This is a very difficult time and I know a lot of you are very close. In order to rescue the workers we need everyone’s help. I know this is hard for everyone including myself but we need all of you to continue doing your job in hopes that we can bind together and rescue our fellow co-workers. If anyone has any questions regarding this incident please direct them towards myself. The press is going to be asking a lot of questions and we do not need any more bad publicity. Try to avoid talking about the situation outside of the working force. Thank you everyone and God Bless.
Interaction between the company and the families who have loved ones trapped under ground. The interaction is face-to-face between the families and the boss of the company.
Hello everyone. We are so grateful to see everyone here because of the incident that has just occurred. I am here to inform you that your loved ones have been trapped in a cave that they were working on. There was a cave-in and it trapped all 33 men underground. We have no word of anything yet. The rescue team has been set in place and will be working around the clock to rescue all of the workers. I know this is a difficult time for all of you and my condolences go out to each and every one of you. Those men down there mean a great deal to me and everyone who works here. I can promise you we will do everything in our power to bring them home. Once information has been gathered regarding the incident we will send out an email to all the families involved and give everyone an up-to-date on what is going on. We need each and every one of you to bind together in prayer and stay positive. Hope and faith is what we need more than ever right now. If you have any questions or need any further assistance you can call me or my staff here anytime. Thank you for coming out and again we are so sorry for this horrible event that has occurred. God Bless.

Draft Two:

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