By
Greg De Blasio
3 October 2008
Informed by a public relations perspective
 Crisis defined
 Crisis communication management
 Crisis relating to the Hallmark/Westland beef
recall, USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service
actions
 The recall explained and examined with ethical
frameworks
 Security implications and conclusions
One definition:
 An organizationally based disaster which causes
extensive damage and social disruption, involves
multiple stakeholders, and unfolds through
complex technological, organizational, and social
processes (Shrivastava, et al., 1988).
 Is a
surprise, causes uncertainty and stress
 Requires quick response
 Threatens goals
 Crisis can be caused by:
 “Act of God”
 Terrorism
 Skewed management perspectives
 Process or mechanical malfunction
 Regardless, a crisis situation and technology conspire to
create the perception of time compression—causing
decision making and thinking to be more of a challenge
A crisis creates uncertainty concerning:
 Outcome
 Safety
 Expense
 Future image and reputation of the organization
Is a crisis simply an issue that has gone
wrong?
The issue-to-crisis perspective assumes that
crises can be managed for better or worse
How many unhappy customers equal a crisis?
How much litigation? How many lives?
 Preparation for crises requires anticipation of
possible crises and an assessment of vulnerabilities
 Complexity—systemic issues
 Probability—the need for first aid where people
congregate, for example
 Staff capability—to what responsibilities can staff answer
 Media interest—past history of crisis, or reservoir of
goodwill
 Elected official interest or attitudes of the public
Vision and mission statements can play a role
in crisis anticipation
 Somehow, mission and vision statements, guiding
principles, and all the rest of the organization’s
foundational documents should show an
understanding of the risks of its everyday
operation and its intention to accept
responsibility for crisis and apply adequate
resources for crisis resolution
A crisis thesis (Fink, 1986)
 Crisis can be anticipated
 Crisis can be prevented
 Crisis can be controlled
 Crisis can be turned to an advantage
 An overall ideal goal of managing a crisis
 Crises response as part of the “learning organization”
Four distinct stages of a crises emerge:
 Hidden crisis
 Pre-crisis
 The crisis
 Usually brought on by the triggering event
 Post crisis
Crisis management is strategic, but Preble
(1997) draws distinctions between Strategic
Management and Crisis Management
 Strategic Management—financial performance as
viewed by the environment’s tendency to create
risks or opportunities
 Crisis Management—addresses the quality, safety,
reliability, and the welfare of “unknown future
generations”
To clarify definitions and assumptions—you
don’t need a “crisis plan.” You need:
 1. A crisis management plan that functions as an
emergency operations plan
 2. A crisis communication plan that indicates what
to say and to whom, who should say it and when,
and
 3. A business continuity plan that indicates how to
keep the business moving forward
 A generic crisis management process:
 Determine crisis potential
 Nature of crisis
 Risks
 Resources that can be marshaled to address the crisis
 Develop appropriate teams and centers
 Which/where facilities will be operating in the aftermath of a
crisis?
 Who in the organization can perform crisis management tasks?
 Articulate a crisis management plan

What will the organization do?
 Crisis management process continued:
 Develop a communication strategy
 Observe convention re notifications


Most hurt by crisis—most important
Maintain a stakeholder view of the organization—consider priority
audiences
 Practice and revise plan
 What is likely to go right or wrong?



Safety of personnel and protection of resources
Note how context changes in post-crisis stage
Can the plan really be implemented?

Are there enough resources?
The Hallmark/Westland case illustrates the
importance of organization and process
during a crises
 Organization and process
 Pre-crisis
 During a
crisis, and
 Post crisis

http://www.fsis.usda.gov/News_&_Events/Food_Safety_Inspection_Podcasts/index.asp
Game theory helps to explain why actions
designed to mitigate crises are often slow to
launch
 Every decision affects the payoffs of the game—
interrogation room example
 The
need to continuously estimate current and future
payoffs
Questions that form for all players during a
crisis:
 Do I act?
 When do I act?
 To what degree will my actions be
accommodative or defensive?
 What are the costs of my actions
Hallmark/Westland crisis understood through
game theory:
 The three players are
 Government,
 Industry, and
 The public (and in this case an NGO in the form of
the Humane Society of the United States)
Objectives of the players
 Government must ensure industry and corporate
compliance with socially accepted conduct—while
maintaining reasonably cooperative relations
 The
USDA-FSIS must protect the public with adequate
policies and regulations related to the production of
meat and poultry
 The triggering event at Hallmark/Westland causes
concern about the efficacy of government policies and
the safety of product released to the public
Objectives of the players
 Industry must weather the crisis at minimum
economic cost and damage to image
 Industry
must demonstrate a reasonable degree of
cooperation with government
 Industry must demonstrate socially accepted conduct
toward the public
Objectives of the players
 The public relies on both government and
industry to protect its interests/safety and has the
power to withdraw support from either if trust is
neglected or abused
 This
triggering event was brought to the attention of
the public by an NGO—the Humane Society of the
United States
Chronology of Hallmark/Westland
 The overarching principle and policy that has been
in place concerning beef production:
“Slaughter facilities cannot conduct slaughter
operations if FSIS inspection personnel are not
present.”
July 2007—FSIS issued a Final Rule
 The rule required that a case-by-case disposition
be made by a FSI Public Health Veterinarian for
every animal that becomes non-ambulatory
disabled (“downer”) after passing ante-mortem
inspection
Fall 2007—Humane Society of the United
States acts
 The Humane Society begins video recording of
non-ambulatory cattle, which has passed antemortem inspection—remaining in the food line
and being handled in ways that FSIS would later
deem “an egregious violation and inhumane”
 The
recordings are made available to FSIS and the news
media early 2008
January 30, 2008—Hallmark/Westland
investigation begins
 FSIS announces Hallmark/Westland is being
investigated for alleged violations and that the
company is suspended from participating in
Federal Food and Nutrition Programs for public
schools
February 17, 2008—the largest beef recall in
history
 FSIS announced that Hallmark/Westland has
recalled more than 143 million pounds of raw and
frozen beef products as unfit for human
consumption
 The
recall is a Class II Health Hazard situation
August 29, 2008—a proposed rule that might
change everything
 USDA/FSIS announced a proposed rule to initiate
a complete ban on the slaughter of cattle that
become non-ambulatory after inspection
 So
the story and the game continue
Goodpaster’s (1990) PASCAL decision making
framework; needs rewards, incentives, and
control to operate
 Perception
 Analysis
 Synthesis
 Choice
 Action
 Learning
Perception—Although perception is active,
subject to change and selection, the
environmentally sensitive organization scans
for the whole truth about its products and
operations
Analysis—of the pros and cons , and of the
holistic effects
 Primary and secondary stakeholders
 Cost/benefit analysis
 NOTE: Not all moral reasoning is of the
cost/benefit variety
 Analysis in and of itself does not resolve a
problem or make a decision
Synthesis—Apply thinking that resembles an
“analytical matrix”
 Utilitarian contexts
 Contractarian—favors the well being of the least
advantaged member of a stakeholder group
 Rights versus
duties
Choice—is a consequence of the need for
closure, the need to terminate efforts at
synthesis
 Relies on balancing the effects of perception,
analysis, and synthesis
Action—the implementation of choice
 Need to know:
 Is the
implementation plan ethically acceptable?
 Are changes required to systems, personnel, or
incentives?
 Engaging in “ends justify the means framework”?
Learning—need to know
 Have adequate provisions been made to monitor
the action plan as it unfolds?
 Will feedback be prompt and reliable?
 Does the decision—values and impact—have
implications for similar decisions within the
organization or outside it?
The Hallmark/Westland crisis and the actions
of its principle actors or players have
influenced the security of operations and the
security of an organization that is perceived to
operate within social norms and expectations
Actions can be understood and explained with
 Issue-to-crisis perspective
 Assessment of vulnerabilities
 Fink’s crisis thesis
 A generic crisis management process
 Game theory
 PASCAL
Security and ethically informed crisis
communication is dependent upon
 Efficiency
 Accountability
 An ethical framework
For a copy of this presentation and a complete
reference list, please contact:
Greg De Blasio
Telephone: 859 572-6317
deblasiog1@nku.edu