Conflict Management Strategies
Read this chapter, which defines conflict, describes various conflict styles, and offers effective conflict management strategies. Try to answer some of the exercise questions at the bottom of each section.
Crisis Communication Plan
Learning Objective
- Understand how to prepare a crisis communication plan.
A
rumor that the CEO is ill pulls down the stock price. A plant explosion
kills several workers and requires evacuating residents on several
surrounding city blocks. Risk management seeks to address these many
risks, including prevention as well as liability, but emergency and
crisis situations happen nevertheless. In addition, people make errors
in judgment that can damage the public perception of a company. The
mainstream media has no lack of stories that involve infidelity,
addiction, or abuse that, from a company's standpoint, require a clear a
response. In this chapter we address the basics of a crisis
communication plan.
Mallet, Vaught, and Brinch indicate the
importance of focusing on key types of information during an emergency
including:
- What is happening?
- Is anyone in danger?
- How big is the problem?
- Who reported the problem?
- Where is the problem?
- Has a response started?
- What resources are on-scene?
- Who is responding so far?
- Is everyone's location known?
You will be receiving information from the moment you know a crisis has occurred, but without a framework or communication plan to guide you, valuable information may be ignored or lost. These questions help you quickly focus on the basics of "who, what, and where" in the crisis situation.
Crisis communication requires efficiency and accuracy.
Developing Your Own Crisis Communication Plan
A
crisis communication plan is the prepared scenario document that
organizes information into responsibilities and lines of communication
prior to an event. With a plan in place, if an emergency arises, each
person knows his or her role and responsibilities from a common
reference document. Overall effectiveness can be enhanced with a clear
understanding of roles and responsibilities for an effective and swift
response.
The plan should include four elements:
- Crisis communication team members with contact information,
- Designated spokesperson,
- Meeting place/location, and
- Media plan with procedures.
A crisis communication team includes people who can:
- Decide what actions to take,
- Carry out those actions, and
- Offer expertise or education in the relevant areas.
By
designating a spokesperson prior to an actual emergency, your team
addresses the inevitable need for information in a proactive manner.
People will want to know what happened and where to get further details
about the crisis. Lack of information breeds rumors and that can make a
bad situation worse. The designated spokesperson should be knowledgeable
about the organization and its values, comfortable in front a
microphone, a camera and media lights, and able to stay calm under
pressure.
Part of your communication crisis plan should focus on
where you will meet to coordinate communicate and activities. For your
own house in case of a fire, you might meet in the front yard. For an
organization, a designated contingency building or office some distance
away from your usual place of business might serve as a central place
for communication in an emergency that requires evacuating your
building. Depending on the size of your organization and the type of
physical facilities where you do business, the company may develop an
emergency plan with exit routes, hazardous materials procedures, and
policies for handling bomb threats, for example. Safety, of course, is
the first priority, but in terms of communication, a key goal is also to
eliminate confusion about where people are and where information is
coming from.
Whether or not evacuation is necessary, when a
crisis occurs your designated spokesperson will gather information and
carry out your media plan. He or she will need to make quick judgments
about which information to share, how to phrase it, and whether certain
individuals need to be notified of facts before they become public. The
media and public will want to know information and reliable information
is preferable to speculation. Official responses help clarify the
situation for the public, but an unofficial interview can make the
tragedy personal, and attract unwanted attention. Remind employees to
direct all inquiries to the official spokesperson and to never speak
"off the record".
Enable your spokesperson to have access to the
place you indicated as your crisis contingency location to coordinate
communication and activities, and allow that professional to prepare and
respond to inquiries. When crisis communication is handled in a
professional manner, it seeks not to withhold information or mislead,
but to minimize the "spin damage" from the incident by providing
necessary facts, even if they are unpleasant or even tragic.
Key Takeaway
- Because crises are bound to happen despite the best planning, every organization should have a crisis communication plan, which includes designating a crisis communication team and spokesperson.
Exercises
- Locate the crisis communication plan where you go to school or work, or find one online. Briefly describe the overall plan and please note at least one part, element, or point of emphasis we have not discussed. Post and compare with classmates.
- When people don't know what to do in a crisis situation, what happens? How can you address probable challenges before the crisis occurs? Discuss your ideas with classmates.
- As a case study, research one crisis that involves yarea of training or career field. What communication issues were present and how did they affect the response to the crisis? Compare your results with classmates.
- Locate a crisis communication online and review it. Share and compare with classmates.
- Do you always have to be on guard with members of the media? Why or why not? Explain your answer to the class as if they were members of the media.