Final Reflections
Everyone is susceptible to change. When the change comes in the form of a crisis, whether planned or unplanned, it is the readiness and the subsequent response that will ultimately form the lasting impression of how the person, brand or business is perceived, for years into the future. Therefore, with integrity, honesty and image at risk, a focused and prepared crisis communications team is a critical component to anyone, whether they be a large worldwide corporation or a small main street business.
The task of a consummate crisis communications employee is crucial in the initial moments of all crisis situations regardless of the level: minor, moderate or severe. Nevertheless, to be a truly invaluable asset, the crisis communications
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department must be prepared in advance through due diligence of the assessments of all potential planned or unplanned risks to the business, brand or individual they are charged with protecting. As a crisis communications director your ultimate goal is be prepared to keep the crisis to a minimum. In spite of the level of severity and media attention, this must be accomplished in a calm, focused, articulate and quick response. In many unplanned crisis events it is the initial response and message of the crisis team that is conveyed to the public. These first optics and words can quickly calm stakeholders and reduce the level of anxiety for team members. However, a poorly planned response can have a negative response and quickly escalate an event in both intensity and unwarranted attention by both internal (employees) and external (customers and the public in general) stakeholders. Having a plan in place to execute in the event of a crisis situation is the first step towards achieving the goal of minimizing the impact of the situation at hand.
Nevertheless, there are times that warrant the flexibility of a planned response. Today, as we live in a society where news is delivered instantaneously, often with little regard for accuracy, the role of the crisis communication team members becomes a balancing act between the company and the media. The messaging that is delivered is vital to the outcome of a crisis. Perception can be a reality for many people, and therefore the optics that are delivered not only at the onset of a crisis but continuing into the future are imperative to a successful conclusion. Your messaging at this critical moment is best controlled by the crisis team. Never leave your message up to speculation or misinterpretation by the media or your valued stakeholders. Gather pertinent information as quickly as possible and address who is the best representative to speak on behalf of the company. Keep your message on point by selecting significant words and use language that is readily understood by your audience. Avoid overreacting and affixing blame, remain honest and balanced and never belittle the concerns of others. It is essential to always remain honest. However, if at any time the answer to a question is not known, do not answer with incorrect messaging. If your credibility is lost with dishonesty, there may not be a path back …show more content…
towards believability. Acknowledging with honesty that you do not have the answer at the moment, however, you will seek the answer immediately and return with more information as soon as possible is acceptable. Nonetheless, you must keep your word! This viewpoint may find the crisis team at odds with the legal department. While legally you may be advised to say “nothing” or simply “no comment”, transparency when delivered in the correct manner will remain a steadfast to trustworthiness with the public and stakeholders alike. At this precarious juncture it is best to utilize all means of communication available to your crisis team. Social media, press releases, internal email as well as installation of hotline numbers to be used by concerned parties of the crisis are essential ways in which you may relay your message not only during the crisis but also as you move forward and beyond. Regardless of size and scope, no organizational company on this planet is immune to a crisis. From the halls of politics, to medicine and big business, school classrooms and agriculture fields, planned and unplanned crisis experiences are a part of today’s life. Connect that fact with the twenty-four-hour news cycle of instant communication and any organizational business that does not willingly ready themselves for a crisis is operating under adverse procedures and at pronounced risk to their financial stability and reputation. Equally as important as planned crisis communication is the proficiency of an organizational company or brand to evaluate all potential risks to the institution. While a crisis can be a planned or unplanned scenario, many companies can avoid damaging consequences by implementing an ounce of prevention with the implementation of probability-based risk audits. The utilization of individual employees in specific areas of concern is one way of detecting crisis producing situations. Those that are on the front lines of a particular area and closest to the operating procedures are in a preeminent position to alert the company to signs of contagion. The assignment of employees to partake in the role playing of internal saboteur is another clever and unique means to pinpointing potential weaknesses. Once potential areas of risk and hazard are deciphered a company can assess and prioritize which of these elements warrants immediate attention to decrease the probability of impact and occurrence with respect to margin of peril for the organizational company. It can not be overstated that neglect of risk assessment and crisis preparedness by companies is an oversight that can lead to detrimental consequences to your image, reputation, credibility and financial steadiness both internally and externally. When asked to envision a crisis, people will utilize the words destruction, disaster, catastrophe, and emergency.
While these words are all relatable forms of a crisis, we have learned through this course of study that size of calamity is not the only barometer of a crisis. Located within the pages of A Proactive Approach to Crisis Communications by Professor Rick Pozniak is the statement; “Even the smallest crisis can acutely damage a company’s reputation if the organization does not respond in a quick and forthright manner to public concern or official scrutiny”. This statement highlights the opinion that it is paramount to pay attention to every detail. Companies will work to prepare for the worst, although in many settings it is the slightest crisis that flounders unchecked or is not addressed by the company with the dignity and transparency that the public feels are necessitated that will mature into a major crisis. These small, controllable and at times avoidable, crisis circumstances are never to be taken nonchalantly. An objective of crisis communications to keep the crisis event to a minimum, with expert knowledge and understanding of this crucial statement found within our class handout, the aim of minimum impact to your business can be achieved with attention to detail, no matter how slight those aspects may happen to
be. Crisis Example Selections On Thursday, April 26th, 2018 The Wall Street Journal featured a lower half front page story in which the headline stated, NBC’s Failing Bet on Megyn Kelly, the article further stated the that the former Fox news star’s viewers have vanished, dragging down the key “Today” franchise. Highlighted within the article was the fact that Ms. Kelly is being paid $69 million dollars over a three-year contract, along with the use of key negative words, struggled and backfired. NBC affiliate TV stations are very unhappy with the decline in viewers and internal strife is appearing throughout the halls of NBC news shows regarding her budget and salary. The article continued to almost an entire subsequent page which included two colored graphs, one titled “Audience Slide”, the other a representation of the decline in the key demographic of female viewers aged 25 to 54 for the time slot of 9:00 AM compared to the year prior to Megyn Kelly’s arrival at NBC. This article represents two individual crisis situations. Personally for Ms. Kelly, the article and the information on her show’s ratings are a severe crisis to her brand. Obviously, there is a distinct disconnect between the news anchor and her morning audience. Several changes have been implemented, all without success, leaving readers to wonder how long NBC will continue to allow the drain of viewers to one of their flagship hours on morning television. The National Broadcast Company is a flagship property of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. A three-year salary of $69 million dollars for a news anchor with slumping ratings may appear as a major crisis, however, within the halls of this network I believe this crisis is at the precise moment perceived as moderate. NBC has been faced with failing shows in the past and Megyn Kelly, should her ratings continue to plummet, will not be the last show that NBC will need to literally pull the plug on. The network is in the business of ratings, up and down, they have crisis communication plans and risk assessments in place for all demographic slides. Their plans do not always produce success, nevertheless, NBC is prepared to handle this moderate crisis and take the necessary steps to prevent it from ever rising to the level of a severe crisis to the network and its flagship “Today” show. In the Boston Globe Around the Region section I selected a story that was published on Thursday, April 26th, 2018. It was an environmental story from Providence, Rhode Island. The headline declared, “Hand-washing Advised after River Sewage Spill”. People were advised to refrain from contact with Seekonk River after more than 250,000 gallons of raw sewage spilled into the Blackstone River. The article stated that the Seekonk River is downstream of the Blackstone River. There were two incidents, the first happened Monday in Central Falls the result of a blockage the second overflow was reported on Tuesday by the Narragansett Bay Commission and lasted four hours. The Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management advised anyone who comes in contact with the river’s water to thoroughly hand wash their hands until sundown Thursday. I would rate this as moderate, however, what I found thought -provoking about this crisis as well as the subsequent crisis that could result from the spill was the lack of information forthcoming to the public. One could easily see how this raw sewage spill into a populated area of Rhode Island could manifest into a major crisis without the pertinent information generated to the public within the area of the Blackstone and Seekonk Rivers. There was no location given for the second spill and no contact information given for the public to address questions, concerns or the ability to inquire on updated information in regards to a possible extension of the advisement. The information provided in the news release was confusing as well, with the initial sentence advising the public to refrain from contact, only to conclude the article with an advisement for handwashing. This article was an excellent crisis communications example of disregard for stating all facts, messaging and vital points in clear concise language.
The ability of a company to maintain a good reputation is directly linked to the company’s ability to retain its stakeholders (Peterson, 2005). During a negative event or crisis situation, a company needs to ensure that it has effective strategies and resources in place, to deal with it responsibly, efficiently to minimize losses in share price value and public perceptions of corporate reputation (Coldwell .D, Joosub .T, & Papageorgiou .E, 2012). It is always advantageous to analyze past crises in order to develop a conceptual understanding of crisis situations and appropriateness of various means of coping with them (STERN, E. K., pg.1, 2009).
...g by; First, I would make sure that their is plenty of feedback for the employees. As our text suggests, "Without feedback, learning can not occur"(Crandall, W., Parnell, J. & Spillan, J. (2013). Secondly, I would make sure that I have a great crisis management team that are well trained and drilled. Thirdly, we would have a strategy and plan for crisis events. Also, It is very important to make sure that your team members are all confident in their ability to make good decisions for the company. So many times, people are afraid to make decisions. This leads to scapegoating within the departments, and the whole blame game. That doesn't get anybody anywhere.
In the book “self – taught: African American Education in Slavery and Freedom”, the author, Heather Andrea Williams, does a great job telling the story of the obstacles slaves faced in their attempts to become educated. Throughout the book, Williams gives numerous accounts of the experiences of these slaves and illustrates their determination to learn to read and write; as well as obtain a formal education. In my opinion, the most common theme that resonates with me after reading chapters one through nine is persistence; despite challenges, obstacles, punishment, and death, slaves were determined to become educated.
The Nuance Group also needs to acknowledge the importance of responding quickly to the situation. Zaremba tells us on page 249, “All recommendations for crisis communicators emphasize the need for speedy reactions.” He goes on to explain that the first twenty-four hours of a crisis is the most critical. (Zaremba, 2010) It is within the first 24 hours that opinions are formed regardless of whether the organization has communicated anything. Although the Nuance Group needs some time to figure out the logistics of their crisis communication plan, they have a very short window to do
According to Osmond & Darlington (2005, p.3), as a professional social worker that critical reflection could be a fundamental approach to contribute to their work. Besides, the best value of the critically reflective approach might have a chance to engage with different ideas, knowledge, feelings and theories. Thus, critical reflection is a necessary approach to every social work to contribute them to be professional.
An organization’s quick response to crisis and effective crisis management are both vital to their sustainability. Blue Bell Creameries faced crisis in April, when a bacterial contamination caused operations to halt world-wide. Crisis management for this company has involved much more than finding and fixing the issue. This company has responded to financial loss, legal ramifications, employee impact, and perhaps the most crucial – public perception.
Included in this are protocols on how to handle informing family member of those affected by disasters and tragedies if, or when, they might happen in the future. They also need to find and/or hire a public relations team that they can use to help them deal with the media for this, and future, rhetorical situations. Overall, Malaysia needs to be better prepared in their life cycle of issues management process that helps organizations detect and respond appropriately (Dougall, 2008). It would also be a good idea for Malaysia Airlines to replace some of the executive leadership. Show consumers that they want to make a break with the past and restore trust in their organization. I also think that Malaysia Airlines could benefit greatly from selecting a spokesperson for their organization. This spokesperson needs to be someone that can show empathy and address people’s concerns with the airline. Someone that can show how Malaysia Airlines is taking concerns seriously and provide the actions being taken to correct
The Fire and Rescue Service employ a number of styles of communication to suit diverse audiences and for different purposes. The organization communicates with its members of staff differently depending on the circumstances and the message which is being conveyed. With such a large organization approximately 2200 members of staff effective communication is essential. Effective communication plays a vital role in the delivery of all Fire and Rescue Services.
Ulmer, RR, Sellnow, TL & Seeger, MW 2007, Effective crisis communication, Thousand Oakes: Sage Publications.
" We are living in a world rife with many types of crises"(Shrivastava 1993) which means that we would not be able to expect and know when a crisis is going to happen. In our textbook Strategic Public Relations (Harrison 2011, 811) mention that the main characteristics of a crisis are surprise, insufficient information at the outset, limited control, panic and escalating flow of events. From the in-class simulation it clearly shows those characteristics which we were expected to consider. The definition of crisis is a situation or event harmfully affecting individuals, groups, communities, countries and also the environment (Tombleson 2015). In the slide from (Tombleson 2015) she have said that "crises can be expected or unexpected is with or without warning, smouldering (chronic) or sudden (acute) and unpredictable and impact on an organisation’s viability, credibility and reputation".
In order to save a brand during a time of crisis, a company, organization or government must have proper crisis communication. Every brand should be prepared for a crisis and have a plan intact for when it transpires. As mentioned in the
The communication process is not something that begins when a crisis rears its ugly head rather it is a process that takes place in preparing for a crisis before it happens. While the term crisis represents a blanket term used to describe many situations, each situation is unique, thus presenting different obstacles to overcome. However, with a well-established advanced plan in place an organization places itself in a position to overcome and work around obstacles. The development of a comprehensive crisis management plan is one achieved through effective communication where each member of the crisis management team has an advanced shared understanding of his or her role and responsibility during a time of crisis (du Pr'e, 2005).
Managing a Crisis Using Public Relations Handling Public Relations for any organization can be very difficult. task in any circumstance - even in simple, non-crisis situations. When a crisis strikes, that's when PR managers really have their work. cut out for them to see. A PR manager must always be prepared for the inevitable crisis to happen because that is when their jobs are really tested by the public and the organization.
This class has been significantly more difficult than any other English class I have taken all throughout high school. This semester, I have been introduced to different styles of writing that I have never been exposed to before. This class has been stressful, but also fun. With using all of the resources I have been given throughout the semester, I have been able to do my best to further my writing abilities and hopefully only continue to grow them as I finish my later years in college. Throughout this essay, I will discuss my failures, my successes, my overall performance in the class, and my skill development skills.
In the evaluation of strategic management of public relations, both concepts of risk communication and situational theory can be integrated into the above-mentioned model. Risk communication is an ongoing process that builds the foundation for crisis communication. Particularly, the risk analysis process consists of hazard identification, risk assessment, significance of risks and communicating risk information.