Crisis is something everyone can relate to. The death of a close relative, the theft of one’s car, or even a broken heart- all can become crisis in one’s personal life. Organizations face crises as well. Exxon’s Valdez and WorldCom’s accounting scandals all became crises for the companies and the people involved.
Crisis in an organization can arise at any time and management is expected to be ready for such situation in terms of communication program. Corporations are expected to be ready with their plans much in advance to deal with any of the emergencies. A responsible and good corporation is well prepared for the communication with public and its constituents regarding the emergency situation.
Crisis Characteristics includes:
1) The element of surprise
2) Insufficient information
3) The quick pace of events
4) Intense scrutiny
Employees play a very vital role in crisis situation as they are the representative of the company. Along with external constituents it is required that internal constituents be communicated of the situation. Timely communication of crisis situation helps in avoiding rumors and false facts. Management should communicate in oral and in written with its constituent’s viz. employees, stake holders, suppliers etc. These days’ companies use various means to keep its constituents informed like company newsletter, e-mail communication.
Crisis Management
The worst time to learn crisis management is during a crisis. Most organizations are a long way from practicing proactive crisis management. I’ll present some guidelines for establishing routines and capabilities to handle potential crises.
Form and train crisis-management teams: Assign teams to be responsible for monitoring early-warning signals, maintaining readiness and coordinating responses should a crisis occur.
Create a crisis portfolio: Similar to a financial portfolio, a crisis portfolio is a tool to analyze and spread risks. For example, there are financial crises (e.g., hostile takeover), legal crises (e.g., losing proprietary information), psychopathic crises (e.g., sabotage) and industrial disasters. While it certainly isn’t possible to have a plan for each conceivable crisis, it is possible to identify those that represent the major threats to the organization.
Audit continuously. Crisis management is most effective through continuous process improvement. The best organizations regularly audit their external environment, as well as their operations, technologies and organizational culture. This identifies potential vulnerabilities that could lead to a disruption, incident or crisis.
Example of crisis communication:
Intel and the Pentium Chip
A math professor working on an obscure problem discovered that the Pentium chip introduced certain errors into his extremely precise calculations. He contacted Intel, but they didn’t acknowledge the problem. Finally, Intel admitted the problem. Intel damaged its reputation with customers, and ended up spending $475 million to replace all of its chips. The crisis occurred because Intel viewed the problem as minor, while the customer saw it as a major concern. Intel didn’t appreciate that the “customer is always right.”
Reference: Corporate Communication by Paul Argenti
Links:http://www.winstonbrill.com/bril001/html/article_index/articles/351-400/article354_body.html
Crisis in an organization can arise at any time and management is expected to be ready for such situation in terms of communication program. Corporations are expected to be ready with their plans much in advance to deal with any of the emergencies. A responsible and good corporation is well prepared for the communication with public and its constituents regarding the emergency situation.
Crisis Characteristics includes:
1) The element of surprise
2) Insufficient information
3) The quick pace of events
4) Intense scrutiny
Employees play a very vital role in crisis situation as they are the representative of the company. Along with external constituents it is required that internal constituents be communicated of the situation. Timely communication of crisis situation helps in avoiding rumors and false facts. Management should communicate in oral and in written with its constituent’s viz. employees, stake holders, suppliers etc. These days’ companies use various means to keep its constituents informed like company newsletter, e-mail communication.
Crisis Management
The worst time to learn crisis management is during a crisis. Most organizations are a long way from practicing proactive crisis management. I’ll present some guidelines for establishing routines and capabilities to handle potential crises.
Form and train crisis-management teams: Assign teams to be responsible for monitoring early-warning signals, maintaining readiness and coordinating responses should a crisis occur.
Create a crisis portfolio: Similar to a financial portfolio, a crisis portfolio is a tool to analyze and spread risks. For example, there are financial crises (e.g., hostile takeover), legal crises (e.g., losing proprietary information), psychopathic crises (e.g., sabotage) and industrial disasters. While it certainly isn’t possible to have a plan for each conceivable crisis, it is possible to identify those that represent the major threats to the organization.
Audit continuously. Crisis management is most effective through continuous process improvement. The best organizations regularly audit their external environment, as well as their operations, technologies and organizational culture. This identifies potential vulnerabilities that could lead to a disruption, incident or crisis.
Example of crisis communication:
Intel and the Pentium Chip
A math professor working on an obscure problem discovered that the Pentium chip introduced certain errors into his extremely precise calculations. He contacted Intel, but they didn’t acknowledge the problem. Finally, Intel admitted the problem. Intel damaged its reputation with customers, and ended up spending $475 million to replace all of its chips. The crisis occurred because Intel viewed the problem as minor, while the customer saw it as a major concern. Intel didn’t appreciate that the “customer is always right.”
Reference: Corporate Communication by Paul Argenti
Links:http://www.winstonbrill.com/bril001/html/article_index/articles/351-400/article354_body.html
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