COM 3800
Principles of Public Relations
Executives and Crisis Communication
October 17, 2023
Baruch College
Fall Semester 2023
What is an organizational crisis?
A crisis is a significant occurrence with a potentially negative
outcome affecting an organization, its industry and
stakeholders
The potential damage can affect:
1. public safety
2. financial loss
3. reputation loss
Crisis planning
• Organizations have an ethical responsibility to plan for the
worst.
• Solving the crisis isn’t enough
• -- organizations must communicate with important
publics during crises.
Case study discussion
Best Practice:
Johnson & Johnson
Worst-case Crisis Mgmt.:
Exxon Valdez
•What did J&J do upon
learning the news of
contaminated product?
•What were the
organization’s priorities?
•What were their priorities?
•What was a key factor in
regaining consumer trust?
http://www.jnj.com/connect/
about-jnj/jnj-credo/
•How did they communicate
with stakeholders?
•Reputation?
https://www.youtube.com/watch
?v=VaRdUHrUnBs
https://www.youtube.com/watch
?v=A7hfQ8mTVrU
https://www.youtube.com/watch
?v=uk9j-5l4jVA
4
Textbook examples
Johnson & Johnson
•
Quick response (aligned with organizational core values)
resulted in organization seen as valiant, caring,
responsible.
Exxon Valdez
•
Slow initial response and failure to communicate
resulted in long-term reputation problems.
Crises can result in positive outcomes
• Change is accelerated.
• Latent problems are fixed.
• New operational strategies evolve.
• Early warning systems develop.
• Reputation is enhanced.
Goals of crisis management
• Terminate the crisis quickly
• Limit the damage
• Restore credibility
19-7
Crisis management as process
Phases
1. Pre-crisis
• Concerned with prevention and preparation
2. Crisis response
• Management responds to a crisis
3. Post-crisis
• Fulfilling commitments made during the crisis phase
• Providing follow-up information
• “Learns from” crisis – better preparation for future
Phase 1: Pre-crisis
Risk assessment
•
Identify various threats and hazards (natural disasters, potential accidents,
“what if” scenarios)
Crisis management plan development
•
Define “crisis,” “problem,” or “accident” and appropriate courses of action
•
Choose crisis mgmt team (different areas of organization – senior mgmt;
• Communications—coordinate/draft messages; Legal—review messages;
Operations—coordinate recovery; Technology—keep communications
open,, etc.)
•
Identify regulatory expert to coordinate with government; insure interest of
public
•
Identify and media train spokespeople (internal)
•
Identify potential “affected” stakeholders (employees, media, community;
suppliers; public at large)
• For each potentially impacted audience, define the risk.
• For each risk defined, describe actions that mitigate the risk.
•
Identify channels – internet, web, social media
•
Develop templates -- key messages, supporting facts/proof; position
statements
•
Plan command center logistics
•
Plan media information center logistics
CEO/Executive role
Pre-crisis
CEO/Executive role
Pre-crisis
• Primary responsibility – move the organization from crisisprone to crisis ready
• Recognizing danger signs – scanning internal/external
environments
• Identifying trouble spots or vulnerabilities
• Have a proactive, intelligent crisis team in place
Phase 2: Crisis response
Challenge: Decision-making under pressure
• Putting appropriate plan elements into practice
•
Communicate effectively
• Develop content – disseminate over channels
•
(Be flexible – respond when/how necessary)
•
Connect with media
Phase 2: Crisis response
Important: Engaging the media
Handling the media is the most critical element in a
crisis.
(Be the official source of information)
• Establish media rules.
• Don’t speculate.
• Identify spokesperson(s)
• Provide information often.
• Stay with the facts.
• Be open and
concerned; not
defensive.
• Fast, but accurate
information.
• Never lie.
19-13
CEO/Executive role
Crisis
CEO/Executive role
Crisis
• Convince the organization a crisis exists and to mobilize
the crisis management team
• Engage in vigilant decision making
• Seek out relevant information – basis for decisions
• Ensure organizational ethics/values are the
foundation for decisions as well
• Institute new systems/safeguards
• Work with outside agencies (requires effective
communication)
• Speak with media (requires effective communication)
Case Study: Domino’s
What happened
• Two Domino’s employees from a North Carolina store shot
a video of themselves doing gross things to the food they
were preparing for delivery and posted in on YouTube.
• The video was posted on YouTube and by the next day
was seen by more than 500,000 viewers spreading fast on
social networks and twitter.
• Domino’s learned of it from external sources.
• The employees claim it was just a prank and the food was
never sent to the customers. Half a million views later, the
damage was already done.
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=llnZn7vLV20
•
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x8zsdd_domino-s-pizza-gross-employeesfilm_news
•
Dominos Response: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dem6eA7-A2I
Phase 3: Post-crisis
Recovery (Promoting organizational resiliency)
•
Deliver on promises
•
Debrief – evaluate quality/effectiveness of response plan
• Were actions consistent with our values?
• What aspects of the crisis were/were not anticipated?
• What are the lingering effects of the crisis?
• How well did our people perform? More training
needed?
• Have stakeholders’ views of the organization
changed?
• What actions should be taken next?
CEO/Executive role
Post-crisis
• Crisis learning
• Be mindful of failure – learn from the experience
• Help organization heal
• Lead internal discussions – shape memory of the
event and focus on the future
• Corrective action promotes healing: Put into place
policies/procedures to prevent reoccurrence
Oddly enough
many organizations are not adequately prepared…
1999 Coca-Cola crisis –
Europe/Belgium
More than 200 people, mostly school
children, fell ill after consuming
its products in mid-1999.
For the first time, the entire
inventory of Coca-Cola's products
in Belgium was banned from sale.
Coca-Cola had to recall about 30
million cans and bottles, the
largest ever product recall in its
113-year history.
One week passed before Coca-Cola
made an official statement from
CEO Douglas Ivester.
The way Coca-Cola handled the
Belgian crisis was a classic
example of one of the worst
public relations fiascos in its
corporate history.
Los Angeles Times, June 28, 1999
BRUSSELS — A senior Coca-Cola executive Sunday
confessed that the company had mishandled the
scare over contaminated products in Belgium
and France, which led to the biggest recall in the
U.S. soft drink giant's history.
"I admit we perhaps lost control of the situation to a
certain extent," Philippe Lenfant, director-general of
bottling division Coca-Cola Enterprises, told Belgium's
RTBF television.
Lenfant said the crisis--in which more than 200 people in
Belgium and France reported vomiting, stomach
cramps and dizziness after consuming Coke drinks
and countries across Europe pulled 2.5 million Coke
products off shelves--was much worse than what
the company was prepared for.
"We have a crisis-management strategy . . . but the
crisis was bigger than any worst-case scenario
we could have imagined. The first couple of days of
the crisis we didn't know [the cause], and I
humbly admit perhaps we should have said so
more clearly," Lenfant said.
He blamed the media and the Belgian government for
frightening consumers and inflaming the crisis
beyond France and Belgium, where the two bottling
plants at the heart of the contamination are situated.
"Things were said that took on extraordinary proportions,
and then [the scare] became international and more
difficult to manage," he said.
Lenfant said Coca-Cola initially focused on contacts
with the authorities in a bid to end the scare and
only later realized there was a public
information and perception problem.
Communicating during a crisis…
Research indicates people hear/interpret information
differently during high-stress situations:
•
perception is reality
•
in times of high stress, people can miss up to 80% of
message content.
•
Of the 20% of message content they do receive, most is
negative.
19-20
Crisis management as process
Phases
Executive Role
1. Pre-crisis
•
Recognize danger signs – scanning
internal/external environments
•
Identify trouble spots or vulnerabilities
•
Have a proactive, intelligent crisis team in
place
•
Make decisions under pressure
•
Put appropriate plan elements into practice
•
Communicate effectively – internal/external
stakeholders – and media
•
Be mindful of failure – learn from the
experience
•
Help organization heal:
•
Concerned with prevention
and preparation
2. Crisis response
•
Management responds to a
crisis
3. Post-crisis
•
•
•
Fulfilling commitments made
during the crisis phase
Providing follow-up
information
“Learns from” crisis – better
preparation for future
• Lead internal discussions
• Put into place policies/procedures to
prevent reoccurrence
Takeaways from today’s discussion…
22
Final thoughts
•
How an organization handles itself in a crisis may
influence how it is perceived for years to come.
•
Poor handling of a crisis can cripple an organization’s
reputation and cause staggering financial loss.
•
Responding thoughtfully in a crisis can cement a positive
reputation and establish goodwill for an organization.
•
Above all, the organization must demonstrate how it is
“fixing” the situation (beyond an apology)
19-23
Thursday, October 19, 2023
Communicating Outside the Organization
(A7) Read:
 “Winning the Media: Communicate with Clarity and Control”
 “The Social Executive”
(B7) Read:
 Case Study: “The CEO Who Couldn’t Keep His Foot out of His Mouth”