Chapter 12

Question 1

Storm before the Storm

Answer 1

August 2004 - Hurricane Pam exercise shows dangers of gulf coast hurricane
Report urges extraordinary level of advance planning to improve government readiness
August 2005 - Katrina strikes before plans in place
*dangers had been known for decades, but failure to mange relationships b/w key stakeholders

Question 2

Exxon

Answer 2

spilled 11 million gallons into Prince William Sound
CEO Raul refused to go to accident site
waited a week to make comment, blamed coast guard and alaskan gov’t for delaying cleanup
apologized but did not take responsibility
slow response, failure to communicate resulted in long-term problems

Question 3

Johnson & Johnson

Answer 3

Tylenol poisoning - quick, candid, values-driven response led to CEO being seen as hero

Question 4

Crisis Planning

Answer 4

imperative for 21st century organizations
most surveys show - many orgs are not prepared

Question 5

Problems

Answer 5

commonplace, predictable, quickly resolved, may go unnoticed

Question 6

Crises

Answer 6

less predictable, time-consuming, expensive, bring unwanted attention
Major event - with potentially negative results
Can significantly damage organization, employees, products, services, financial condition, reputation

Question 7

Crises run risk

Answer 7

closely scrutinized
escalating in intensity
damaging bottom line
interfering with operations
jeopardizing image

Question 8

Institute for Crisis Management (ICM) Crisis definition

Answer 8

“a significant business disruption that stimulates extensive news media coverage. The resulting public scrutiny will affect the organization’s normal operations and also could have a political, legal, financial, and governmental impact on its business”

Question 9

Acts of God

Answer 9

ie natural disasters

Question 10

Mechanical Problems

Answer 10

failure

Question 11

Human Errors

Answer 11

people fucking up

Question 12

Management decisions/indecision

Answer 12

one of the biggest issues

Question 13

Crisis Cycle/Dynamics

Answer 13

Warning Stage
Point of No Return
Cleanup Phase
“return to normal” (did we learn anything)

Question 14

Challenger

Answer 14

Warning stage: engineers aware of O-ring issue, debated it 12 hours before launch (too cold)
Point of no return: exploded 71 seconds into flight
Cleanup: NASA silent for 5 hours, Reagan had to confirm death of crew
Normality: loss of public confidence and external investigation (made worse by NASA response)

Question 15

Columbia

Answer 15

Warning stage: NASA aware insulating foam had struck orbiter - determined it posed no threat
point of no return: shuttle disintegrated on reentry
Cleanup: within minutes, NASA confirmed shuttle had broken-up, started technical briefing within hours of incident
Normality: NASA response won public praise, helped avoid traumatic restructuring

Question 16

Crises opportunities

Answer 16

• heroes born
• acceleration of change
• fixing latent problems
• people changed
• evolution of new strategies
• development of early warning systems
• new competitive edges

Question 17

Step One Crisis Communication Plan: Risk Assessment

Answer 17

Identify threats
Eliminate/minimize threats
consider values
done by consultant/crisis planning team

Question 18

Crisis Plotting Grid

Answer 18

Crisis Probability Factor (CPF) along y-axis (vertical)
Crisis impact value (CIV) along x-axis (horizontal)
High likelihood, low impact upper left = amber zone
High likelihood high impact upper right = red zone
low likelihood low impact lower left = green zone
low likelihood high impact lower right = grey zone

Question 19

Step Two CCP: Developing the plan

Answer 19

develop precise definition of what constitutes crisis & crisis management team
identify stakeholders, emergency operations centre, media information center
remember internet and social media
train employees

Question 20

Emergency operations centre

Answer 20

Flip chart, TV, whiteboard/projection screen, personnel of Crisis management team– admin support, legal counsel, financial counsel, crisis manager, PR counsel, technical experts (as needed)

Question 21

Communications and Media Monitoring (EOC):

Answer 21

Tvs, radio monitors/recorders, internet monitoring station, fax machine

Question 22

Security Post (EOC):

Answer 22

receptionist/telephone operator, security post (don’t let anyone in main meeting room or to CEO)

Question 23

Admin Support and Rumour Control (EOC):

Answer 23

rumour control, word processing, photocopying, graphic support, still monitoring for mis/disinformation

Question 24

Step Three CCP: response

Answer 24

stage in which crisis plan is executed
like any other plan, crisis communications plan must be flexible

Question 25

Step Four CCP: Recovery

Answer 25

ask:
were actions consistent with values?
did we anticipate aspects of crisis?
where did we fail?
how did our employees perform?
lingering effects?
did stakeholder views change?
next actions?

Question 26

Crisis planning ethics

Answer 26

• ethical responsibility to plan for the worst
  need to solve crisis AND orgs MUST communicate with important publics during crisis