...Behavior “A Crisis Among Us” By Elizabeth Bullock With each passing day organizations are plagued with situations that many individuals may refer as a crisis. Webster defines crisis as an unstable or crucial time or state of affairs in which a decisive change is impending; especially: one with the distinct possibility of a highly undesirable outcome (Webster.com). It seems that the term “crisis” is a term used and that is subjective, because things happen all the time. Some are good and some are bad, and just like anything else it all has to do with how you interpret it. Crises within an Organization are inevitable and with proper identification and handling of the situation, the “Crisis” can be a turning point for positive changes within the organization. When I thought about a crisis within and organizations it never occurred to me that almost anything that causes a disruption can be, and in most cases are called a crisis. As I researched the topic it spoke of societal crisis, which included natural disasters such as earthquakes, hurricanes, forest fires or even climate change (Jaques). It even went a step further and identified infrastructure disruptions that refers to regional or internal power utility disruptions, planned organizational transitions that includes layoff, reorganizations, mergers, acquisitions and strikes (Lewis). “Robert B. Irvine, president of the Institute for Crisis Management...
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...Crisis Communication in theory and practice: Analysis of cultural influence, strategy applicability, and stakeholder relevance in Australia and New Zealand Natascha Pancic A thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree Master of International Communication Unitec New Zealand, 2010 ABSTRACT This research project explores crisis communication in theory and practice in Australia and New Zealand with specific focus on cultural influence, strategy applicability, and stakeholder relevance. A mixed-method approach was used to evaluate crisis communication in its theoretical and practical constituents. The research project comprises of the two data collection methods of content analysis and in-depth interviews. The content analysis, the selected method to evaluate the theory, was conducted from published research studies in leading Australian and New Zealand Public Relations and Communication journals, the websites of the PRism journal, the Australian and New Zealand Communication Association (ANZCA), the Public Relations Institutes of Australia (PRIA) and New Zealand (PRINZ), and via the database search platform Ebsco. The content analysis provided information about the number of published articles, leading theoretical models, research methods, and research orientation. The in-depth interviews, the chosen method to investigate the crisis communication practices, were conducted with three Australian and three New Zealand practitioners...
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...COMMUNICATION STRATEGY MEMO TO: MR. WALTER MARTINSON, AEI PRESIDENT FROM: DIRECTOR OF CORPORATE COMMUNICATION SUBJECT: STRATEGY PLAN DATE: 1/11/2010 In light of the complaints from residential customers about the water taste and odor in Cobb County, the Executive Committee has authorized the development of a Strategy Action Plan by Administration that would explore issues, raise questions, and provide essential information to assist in protecting employees and customers in the event of any following incidents in the Cobb County area. At this time, The Strategy Action Plan is incorporated into a document that would contain strategies for possible, posed threats to the employees, customers, and the environment. In cooperation with the officials of the Water and Sewer Authority of Cobb County and the Georgia Department of Environmental Protection, we have made clear responses to contain the situation as a result of those efforts. It is in public record that AEI acquired Multi-Phase Equipment, which signed a contract with Wiregrass Disposal, Inc of Dothan, Alabama. Wiregrass was responsible for properly disposing the PCBs drums in a federally licensed toxic waste facility. In addition, Wiregrass was responsible for disposing all PCBs drums removed during the rebuilding and refitting process. Wiregrass was supposed to maintain both state and federal recorders regarding the material removed from the Multi-Phase Equipment site. Wiregrass did not fulfill the signed agreement...
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...Communication and Crisis HCS 320 May 20, 2013 Teresa Shook Communication and Crisis An Emergency Management Director’s job is very complex. That person is responsible for not only coordinating with other agencies, but also ensuring proper communication with them as well as the media and the public to keep them informed as to the status of the damage, cleanup efforts, and other needs as they arise. In the case of Hurricane Katrina, the director must communicate and coordinate efforts with the EPA, Red Cross, other FEMA departments, and the federal government to ensure that all proper bases are covered to monitor and coordinate the cleanup and shelter of those people affected by the hurricane. The director must also communicate with news media and the public as to the scope of the disaster, what is being done for the victims, and what the public can do to help with recovery. There are several advantages to communicating within the various organizations that are teaming up to help the victims and clean up the aftermath. The first is that each organization has its own strengths and weaknesses when it comes to certain capabilities and they can pool resources to help get things done in a timely fashion. A second advantage is that by getting the information out to different local organizations, they can begin to recruit volunteers to help with gathering food, water, or other materials for the victims quickly, and even nearby towns can begin to help set up shelter areas...
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...On the Crisis Management of the Modern Enterprise BIAN Tingting1, 2, TAN Zhanglu2 1 School of Management, Beijing Union University, Beijing, China, 100101 2 School of Management, China University of Mining &Technology, Beijing, 100083 teacherbian@126.com Abstract: Modern enterprises are facing more and more crisis from the external environment. This paper starts from the four major foreign crisis management theories, then analyzes the main problems of the enterprise crisis management in our country, finally it raises the three aspects ideas of the modern crisis management. The three aspects are named crisis prevention, crisis resolving and summer up after crisis. From the three aspects, we should strengthen the crisis management, and control the deterioration of the crisis in time to ease the crisis finally to turn crises into opportunitiesin order to minimize or avoid the loss of the enterprise caused by crisis. Keywords: Modern enterprise, crisis, crisis management 1 Introduction With the acceleration of economic and social globalization, internal and external business environment becomes more complex and changeable, and are full of uncertainty. This uncertainty has brought the potential for the enterprise crisis. Today's economic and social development is more than ever vulnerable to social conflict, terrorism, technological disasters, and financial crisis. Crisis exists anywhere and anytime...
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...QUESTION: Crisis management is a very important strategy, to build and maintain good PR. Identify one major crisis that a particular retail organization experienced. State how it was managed, what did they do write or wrong how would they have improved their strategy DEFINITION OF A CRISIS Crisis management is the process by which an organization deals with a major event that threatens to harm the organization, its stakeholders, or the general public Fink, S. (2007). The study of crisis management originated with the large scale industrial and environmental disasters in the 1980s. Three elements are common to most definitions of a crisis: (a) a threat to the organization, (b) the element of surprise, and (c) a short decision time. Barton, L. (2007)argues that "crisis is a process of transformation where the old system can no longer be maintained." Therefore the fourth defining quality is the need for change. If change is not needed, the event could more accurately be described as a failure or incident. In contrast to risk management , which involves assessing potential threats and finding the best ways to avoid those threats, crisis management involves dealing with threats before, during, and after they have occurred. It is a discipline within the broader context of management consisting of skills and techniques required to identify, assess, understand, and cope with a serious situation, especially from the moment it first occurs to the point that recovery procedures start...
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...Nhi Nguyen 1 Toyota Communicating Through Crisis INTRODUCTION Since September 2009, the famous vehicle manufacture Toyota has suffered a severe crisis due to unintended quality problems in its cars. In responding to the crisis, Toyota has recalled more than 10 million vehicles worldwide for accelerator pedal, carpet and floor mat flaws that may cause unintended acceleration. This catastrophe has led to millions of dollars in settlements and U.S. fines, as well as hundreds of product liability lawsuits against the automaker, threatening the company’s previous reputation of good quality cars, as well as the brand image built up over time. This research paper aims to elaborate on the Toyota crisis in order to understand why Toyota faces an escalating crisis and how they deal with the crisis, and evoke lessons from Toyota scandal. ABOUT TOYOTA MOTOR CORP. Toyota is one of the world’s largest automakers, based in Toyota, Aichi, Japan. Since its establishment in 1937 in Japan, Toyota has a long history of building safety, reliable and high quality vehicles. Today, the company manufactures vehicles and parts at 53 production sites in 27 countries and regions around the globe, with a variety of sub-brands categories such as Lexus, Yaris, Corolla, Camry, Toyota trucks, and the world’s first gas/electric hybrid Prius, etc. (toyota.com). Its vehicles have been well known for quality, reliability and fuel efficiency. According to the article, “Accelerating into trouble,” from the Economist...
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...Leadership Course Paper Topic: Crisis Management Instructor: Mr. Cleamon Moorer Introduction: I decide to work on a topic of Crisis Management. It is the process of preparing for and responding to an unpredictable negative event to prevent it from escalating into an even bigger problem, or worse, exploding into a full-blown, widespread, life-threatening disaster. Crisis management involves the execution of well-coordinated actions to control the damage and preserve or restore public confidence in the system under crisis. Crises are no longer an aberrant, rare, random or peripheral feature of today’s society. They are built into very fabric and fiber of modern societies. While not all crises can be foreseen, let alone prevented, all of them can be managed far more effectively if we understand and practice the best of what is humanly possible. Crisis management is no longer only for those assigned to the task; it is for each and every person. Every experience of a disaster has shown how ordinary people have to rise to the challenges of a crisis. Crisis management efforts should be directed towards helping the organization recover and rise from the embers of the crisis and ensure continuity. The field of crisis management deals with human-caused crisis and natural disasters. It’s hard for human to stop natural disasters to happen but definitely with the advancement of technology we can now take some pre steps to cause a big loss. While human-caused crisis are not inevitable. They...
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...Communication to Manage Crisis HCS/320 Communication to Manage Crisis Those who work in hospitals have to face crisis. It may happen in the emergency room or even in the manager’s office. Hospital employees need to be ready for such events. Coombs 1999 states that no organization can guarantee that they will not have any crisis. According to Reynolds 2006, crisis may occur internally or externally for the organization but when it occurs people’s lives may be at stake and at the same time the reputation of the company may get jeopardized. During crisis communication as well as improper communication can play a great role. For lack of communication right things may not be done and crisis may occur. Even a rumor may spread and crisis may happen. Communication methods to be adopted during a crisis have been talked about a lot but defining crisis is not so easy. According to Heath 2006, before defining the crisis, the risks need to be identified. According to him a risk may have both negative and positive influences of different levels. If anything happens to people, communication with them can tell us a lot and it can be understood whether crisis can be overcome. Whether reputation can be left intact needs to be understood. I am acting as the director of the Regional Emergency Office and I got reports about the public water that had been infected with something fatal. The pollutant is a biological element that has life threatening effect. We know that biological agents...
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...with. Not only that, but the company decided the product would not be re-established on the shelves until something had been done to provide better product protection.As a result, Johnson & Johnson developed the tamperproof packaging that would make it much more difficult for a similar incident to occur in future. How Did Johnson & Johnson Make These Decisions? The public relations decisions made in light of the Tylenol crisis had to have come from somewhere. This basis for decision making became a bit more clear in 1983, when the New Jersey Bell Journal published article written by Lawrence G. Foster. Foster, Corporate Vice President of Johnson & Johnson, at the time of the Tylenol poisonings, joined the company in 1957 and helped the company build its first public relations department. In this article he explains that Johnson & Johnson simply turned to their corporate business philosophy, which they call "Our Credo," when determining how to handle the Tylenol situation. Foster discusses that although, at the time of the crisis,...
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...Communication and Crisis Paper Yahaira Jorge HCS/320 January 13, 2014 Ms. Tricia Tran Communication and Crisis My name is Yahaira Jorge and I am the director of the regional Emergency Management Office. We have begun to receive official reports of contaminated water with a life-threatening biological agent. As director, I have many priorities in getting this situation under control, but most importantly will need to be in communication with all the organizations involved. Putting our crisis plan into immediate effect will hopefully keep everything organized. The ultimate goal will be to get the information out to the public with a plan, swiftly but making sure not to create panic along the way. Also making sure to get the support from our fire departments and police officers to participate in giving bottles of water to our people not to get sick and ill from this contaminated water. A quick response is very important in a crisis situation. In order to have a quick response, a crisis plan is necessary. A crisis plan will vary from institution to institution, but most will follow similar guidelines. First and foremost, notifications of the situation or event to communications lead, or second in command. This is important because if there is a delay in getting the information to a higher person in command, that could create a bigger mess than needed. Secondly, notify the institution leaders and staff, and ancillary management. Making sure the appropriate management receives the...
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...a TV interview announced to provide the latest progress of the event to the public. 2 How can communication strategy focus on retaining customer confidence? Williamson created the crisis communication plan which was applying the last few corrections to a press release before faxing it to PR Newswire. After the incident, CEO Williamson ordered a full recall of all juice products, which had to be completed within 48 hours. After the pathogenic source confirmed, according to TV interviews Odwalla expressed sympathy and regret for affected consumers and also announced to pay all medical expenses. The decisive measures Odewalla had to take showed the responsibility of the company and could help them to retaining customer confidence. 3 Does Odwalla appear to have an effective crisis management system in place? Odwalla appeared to have a crisis management system in place. CEO Williamson applied the crisis communication plan which was created by his communication director. Apology through conference press and TV interviews and recalls are effective measures for crisis management. 4 How should a company such as Odwalla go about developing guidelines before a crisis? A company such as Odwalla should go developing guidelines for a crisis plan that include the following steps before a crisis takes place. The plan should include apology from the company, explaining the incident, identify the cause of the risk, implement actions such as recalls and responses to FDA and customers...
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...Emergency Management Office Disaster One Holly Cains HCS/320 27 April 2015 Ann Maleta Emergency Management Office Disaster One With the recent news of the water supply being contaminated, our Emergency Management Office will take immediate action in solving this problem and making sure the community stays safe. First, there are several individuals and groups that will be communicating inside and outside the organization during this crisis situation that are authorized to give official information. Secondly, there are media opportunities during this management crisis that are not limiting us to using current and high class technology. Third, I know there is a time and place for social media, but it seems as if most people turn there for answers, and we need to control the rumors that will follow. Fourth, there are potential advantages and challenges associated with communicating within the organization alongside the public and private sectors during this crisis situation. Finally, strategies will change with every situation as factors in each situation are different. This is a very dangerous situation that our community has been put in and we will do our best to keep everyone informed, safe, and do our best to get this situation under control quickly. Rumor Mill to a Minimum There are several individuals and groups that will be communicating inside and outside the organization during this crisis situation that are authorized to give official information. Their...
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...* * How and why is it important for businesses to engage with the media during a crisis? What strategies are successful in external communications for business during such times? Compare & contrast two news stories which centre on a crisis for different businesses giving detailed analysis of each communications strategy. This Essay will begin by reviewing crisis definitions and message strategies. Next it will explore translation strategies used by organisations involved in a crisis to communicate with stakeholders. The essay will then consider Ford–Firestone’s tire failure crisis of 2000 as an example of poor crisis management, and contrast toy maker Mattel’s recall crisis of 2007 as an example of successful crisis management. It will first lie out the rhetorical context of each case before embarking on a detailed analysis equating the effectiveness of both firms’ external communications, and in the case of Ford-Firestone, how these might have been alternatively approached in order to avoid detrimental reputational damage. * Fink (1986, from King, 2000) defines an organisational crisis as ‘a situation that can potentially escalate in intensity, fall under close government or media scrutiny, jeopardize the current public image of the organisation or interfere with normal business operations.’ Pearson and Mitroff support this in their ‘five dimensions of a crisis’, explaining that the situation will be ‘highly visible, require immediate attention, have a surprise...
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...Crisis Management Communication Plan Grace Parisi HCS/350 12-15-14 Benjamin Ovando Crisis Management Communication Plan Effectively communicating is crucial when preparing and managing a crisis, mass trauma or disaster. In any of these situations proper structure and organization needs to be in place. This includes assigning responsibilities and training staff to follow certain procedures to successfully manage and continue to operate under the stress of the unplanned event. When dealing with a crisis we need to have open, truthful and timely communication. So we can actively work and support each other. A crisis can be any situation that threatens the integrity or reputation of the facility or company. The important thing is to identify the situation and notify whoever needs to be involved. This may be a charge person, VP, CEO and maybe public relations. Then collaborate with each other, then come up with a plan to put it into motion. In a mass trauma it is important to promote safety. This means getting people to a safe place and making sure they know they are safe. Trying to help people remain calm and decrease their anxiety. If anxiety remains high it can interfere with physical and psychological well-being. In emergencies people need to be able to trust and be trustworthy of the person communicating information. “A trusted source of information is the most important resilient asset that any individual or group cab have”. (Longstaff, 2005). When a disaster strikes...
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