Rationale for Having a Crisis Communication Plan for the Selected Organization
In this context, a crisis is defined as a significant event that has a potential to damage an institution or individual’s reputation. Therefore, it is the role of the public relations professionals at MBC group to protect their organization’s reputation. Middle East Broadcasting Center (MBC) is the largest private broadcasting company in the Middle East and North Africa Region. It has 18 TV channels in its catalog (MBC, 2017). Therefore, such an organization must have a customized rationale for development of its crisis communication plan.
The rationale for having a crisis communication plan is concluded in the fact that although a crisis is unpredictable, it should be expected, and all related issues must be addressed for the organizational success. Thus, it forces a short decision time the need for prior planning. The scheme should be easy to understand, as in the event of a crisis, people will resort to their default training. In addition, it should give employees and company a competitive edge over the current situation. Apart from retaining business, it should also determine new opportunities on which an organization would be able to capitalize. It should also ensure operational and financial stability in MBC. Furthermore, the plan must set an example to the team members while demonstrating sophistication, as well as provide a post-crisis growth opportunity. As a result, it is evident that a presence of a proper plan is the difference between companies that are going down and ones that going out.
Crisis Scan
Nowadays, an organization such as MCS is prone to experience the occasional case of rumors. Rumors signifies false information that is spread with the aim of damaging one’s reputation. They could be started by a competitor or the public. It could be also a result of industrial espionage within a rivalry organization. Given the number of people with access social media, a rumor can spread exceedingly fast causing disastrous effects on the company. The management could place the stakeholders at risk without taking adequate precautions through organizational misdeeds. This type of crisis can occur in three ways; namely, skewed management values, deception, and misconduct. Skewed management values occur when the management only considers the interests of the particular stakeholders while completely disregarding those of others parties. They do it by mainly focusing on the making as many profits as they can without factoring in the long term consequences. Deception is the direct concealment or misrepresentation of data regarding the operations of the management and its transactions with customers. On the other hand, misconduct involves the deliberate planning and execution of illegal activities by the management. Technology can also cause a crisis as MBC relies heavily on it. For such a complex infrastructure, an accident is inevitable as a small human error might result in a system breakdown. The scenarios of a crisis caused by rumors have the potential to affect MBC’s reputation in a negative manner.
Plan Objectives
In turn, an effective crisis communication plan is aimed at conducting some fundamental practices for ensuring organizational sustainability. The first among them is the speed of communication. It should be as fast as possible to address an urgent situation in case there is a change in circumstances. Also, it aims at making the information accurate to avoid escalating flammable situations. Likewise, it is a result of people’s expectation at a time of crisis that MBC has all the information (Nostrad, 2010). In addition, it should ensure that the organization’s operations continue running smoothly until the end of the communications. Furthermore, the implementation process should cover both a primary and a secondary response. Thus, with the set out objectives, the public relation’s response can adequately and efficiently protect the company’s reputation in time to ensure the sustainability during and after a crusis.
Stakeholder Mapping
In the event of a crisis, the MBC public relation team is tasked with identifying the various parties affected. These individuals are the stakeholders or the audience of the communication. It is important to group these parties as communicating to every single individual is impossible. These groups include employees, communities of the worker’s residence, the customers, investors, and the locality of the organization, the distributors, suppliers, the government and the international community. In turn, a recent study conducted in Italy confirms that the utilization of crisis communication was reciprocated with better employee performance in different companies (Coombs, 2014). Personnel serves as the core functional units of the organization. Thus, to avoid a shutdown of activities, they should be promptly addressed. Communities where the workers come from hold the workforce in place; thus, cementing their contribution to the organization (Freeo, 2017). In turn, the customers are people who directly consume the company’s products and services. They are the primary source of revenue; hence, their importance is evident. Investors fund the company, thereby, consolidating their influence. Furthermore, a communication plan always aims at maintaining their confidence in the enterprise regardless of the level of a crisis. People living where the organization is located are also physically affected as they provide harmony outside immediately. Distributors and suppliers provide the company with the physical infrastructure to carry out its daily activities, so they must also be addressed during a crisis. Besides, the government makes the laws that manage and organize the operations of the company; thus, their interests are to be addressed in high priority as well. Finally, apart from the international community serving as a part of the market, it also provides moral oversight. By appropriate considering and serving the various groups discussed, the public relations team of MBC could form a useful stakeholder map to follow when undergoing obstacles.
During a crisis communication, the different audiences have both shared expectations and segmented ones. For instance, the employees and the community where workers live are mostly worried about their job security, hourly rates, and the like (Coombs, 2014). On the other hand, customers and investors are more concerned about the effects of the crisis on the reputation of the company, the quality of their products and services, and the general performance of the business. Distributors and suppliers are worried about the continuity of their transactions and partnership with the firm while the government is interested in the laws violated or infringed rights. The international community as earlier stated oversees the effects of the crisis from a moral high ground. Hence, different stakeholders of MBC possess certain expectations that must be whether meet or not.
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Press Release Samples
On the 8th April 2017, there was an accident at one of MBC’s broadcasting stations. Although the accident has been associated with a gas leak at the building, further investigations are ongoing. One of the company’s employees was injured in the misfortune; luckily, there were no fatalities reported. The injured employee, Ahmed Nassir, is currently receiving the best medical care available. MBC will cater for all the healthcare expenses of the affected employee. We will inform you as soon as more information is available. Absurd rumors are going around that it was a terrorist attack and that half a dozen people have died. It is strictly not true. The company would like to condemn anyone spreading such rumors as they only spread fear and panic among the public and relatives of the employees of the organization (Huang et al, 2015). At the moment, we ask that Mr. Nassir is given time to rest; away from the scrutiny of the media. These measures are taken in accordance with his wishes.
Doctors responsible for Mr. Nassir’s health say that he is recuperating on well and is expected to make a full recovery within the next month. Even though his injuries were not as severe as previously speculated, he has been given a two-month optional paid leave upon entirely getting well. The cause of the accident has been confirmed to be a gas leak in the employee kitchen. It was a contained incident that did not affect other operations in the building. The explosion started a small fire that was quickly put out. Any compromised structures are being repaired the entire building reassessed to possible problems that could result in such an event. We are grateful to the public for playing their part by praying for Mr. Nassir.
The management would like to apologize to any scare that might have resulted from the accident. It has put in place measures to ensure that such an occurrence will not happen in the future. All employees are required to go for disaster emergency training to make sure that they respond appropriately to such an event (Institute for Crisis Management, 2017). Also, all safety procedures have been confirmed to be in agreement with the regulations. It was a tragic event but now it is in the past. Lastly, we would like to thank everyone for his or her cooperation and help during the accident.
Spokesperson
I would choose Mazen Hayek as the spokesperson of the company. Primarily, it is because he is the recognized face of MBC public relations. The audience is likely to trust and related with him more than any other face (UVA, 2017). Besides, he has an authoritative look that commands attention to the severity of the matter. Furthermore, he possesses a proven performance track record which will resonate with the business community (Bernstein, 2016). The mentioned qualities make him the best person for performing the duties.
Communication Strategy
Taking into account that the core purpose of the communication is to protect the company’s reputation, it is crucial to know what to say. Hence, it is important to have a strategy for different situations. For the company, these approaches could include attacking the attacker. If a person or MBChas claimed that something in the company is wrong, the crisis manager could counter attack them. Another strategy is denial. It is the oldest and easiest public relations strategy depending on the situation. In escalated cases where the public, government or international community is out for blood, the company could create a scapegoat. Usually, it is a person or group outside an organization. The crisis manager passes all the blame on them, diverting attention from the company. Therefore, attacking the attacker and denial approach are the basic and most used crisis response strategies that perfectly suits to MBC.
In other situations, the company could use the excuse approach. Here the crisis manager denies the intent to cause harm during the operations of the firm. He or she could also claim the lack of ability to control the circumstances resulting in the problem. The excuse strategy can be subdivided to three approaches. These are a provocation, defeasibility and accidental (Duke, 2017). In provocation, the incident is blamed on the result of someone else’s action (Coombs, 2014). In using defeasibility, a lack of information is about the events leading to the cause of the incident is used (Coombs, 2014). Accidental is argued by denying control over the events causing the accident. The use of this strategy depends on the circumstances of the crises.
There are other less complicated and less morally awkward strategies as well. This variety includes justification, reminder, integration, compensation, and apology. In justification, the company tries to make the damage resulting from a crisis look lesser than it is. The company could also remind stakeholders to abound all the good deeds it has done and the benefits they have enjoyed in return. It is the reminder strategy. The crisis manager could involve the stakeholders in the situation by praising them for their action using integration. Furthermore, the company could choose to offer money and gifts to those affected through compensation. Finally, the company could take full responsibly of the crisis. It then asks all the stakeholders for forgiveness.
Crisis Communication Team
Crisis communication is an intricate affair; thus, a team is needed to tackle any problem effectively. The team is tasked with addressing both the external and internal audiences. The group should comprise of the CEO, the head of public relations, vice presidents, and managers of key departments, the safety head, and the company lawyer. The CEO is a head of the company; therefore, he or she should have a say in maintaining the company’s reputation. The head of public relations makes a vital member of the team as he or she has the most experience in the matter. Also, it is the responsibility of the public relations office to formulate crisis response strategies, as well as to address the media. As earlier stated, an obstacle is unpredictable; thus, preparedness is important. It is the reason is why all vice presidents should be part of the team (Ross, 2017). No one knows what a department a crisis will affect. The security office is concerned with the safety of the employees. The role makes it specially positioned in handling employee safety crisis. The company attorney guides the company through legal issues helping them avoid lawsuits and breaking the law. Every individual plays a unique role in consolidating a good communication plan.
References
Bernstein, J. (2016). The 10 steps of crisis communication. Bernstein Crisis Management website. Retrieved from
https://www.bernsteincrisismanagement.com/the-10-steps-of-crisis-communications/
Coombs, A. T., (2014, September 23). Crisis management and communications. Crisis management. Retrieved from
http://www.instituteforpr.org/crisis-management-communications/
Duke (2017). Crisis communication plan. Emergency website. Retrieved from
http://emergency.duke.edu/plan/
Freeo, S. K. C. (2017). Crisis communication plan. Retrieved from
http://www.niu.edu/newsplace/crisis.html#10
Huang, L. Y., Starbird, K., Orand, M., Stanek, A. S., & Pedersen,T. H (2015). Connected through crisis: Emotional proximity and the spread of misinformation online. Seattle, WA: University of Washington, , 98195, 2
Institute for crisis management (2017). Five steps to develop the crisis communication plan. Retrieved from
http://crisisconsultant.com/five-steps-develop-crisis-communication-plan/
MBC (2017). About MBC Group. Retrieved from
http://www.mbc.net/en/corporate/about-us.html
Nostrad, K. (2010, April 29). Why create a crisis management plan. Slideshare website. Retrieved from
https://www.slideshare.net/Nostrad/why-create-a-crisis-management-plan
Ross, D. (2017). How communications plans work. Business communications. Retrieved from
http://money.howstuffworks.com/business-communications/how-crisis-communication-plans-work1.htm
UVA (2017). Crisis communication plan. Retrieved from
https://www.uvawise.edu/uva-wise/administration-services/emergency-preparedness/crisis-communication-plan/
