ASSIGNMENT: I

PUBLIC RELATIONS IN CRISIS MANAGEMENT

MEANING OF CRISIS:

A crisis is an unstable situation of extreme danger or difficulty. A crisis may occur on a personal
or societal level. It may be an unstable and dangerous social situation, in political, social,
economic, military affairs, or a large-scale environmental event, especially one involving an
impending abrupt change. More loosely, it is a term meaning 'a testing time' or 'emergency
event'.

Crisis has four defining characteristics. According to Seeger, Sellnow and Ulmer, crises are
"specific, unexpected, and non-routine events or series of events that create high levels of
uncertainty and threat or perceived threat to an organization's high priority goals." Thus the first
three characteristics are that the event is
1. Unexpected (i.e., a surprise),

2. Creates uncertainty, and

3. Is seen as a threat to important goals.

But Venette argues "crisis is a process of transformation where the old system can no longer be
maintained." Therefore the fourth defining quality is the need for change. If change is not
needed, the event could more accurately be described as a failure.

A crisis is defined as follows:

 An unexpected event that threatens the wellbeing of a company, or
 A significant disruption to the company and its normal operations which impacts on its
customers, employees, investors and other publics

WHAT IS CRISIS MANAGEMENT?

Crisis Management is the process by which the organization manages a wider impact, such as
media relations, and enables it to commence recovery. It involves identifying a crisis, planning a
response to the crisis and confronting and resolving the crisis. It is a systematic response to
unexpected events that threaten the people, property and operating continuity of the organization.
It is a set of procedures applied in handling, containment, and resolution of an emergency in
planned and coordinated steps.
Definition:
“Crisis Management is the process of preparing for and responding to an unpredictable negative
event to prevent it from escalating into an even bigger problem, or worse, exploding into a full-
blown, widespread, life-threatening disaster.”
TYPES OF CRISIS:
Crisis can be classified as NATURAL crisis and MAN-MADE crisis:

I) Natural Crisis:

Natural Crises are naturally occurring events which can directly or indirectly cause severe threats
to public health and/or well-being.  Because they are naturally occurring, natural disasters or
crises pose an ever present threat which can only be dealt with through proper planning and
preparedness. Information on the major sources of natural disasters have been provided here to
help educate the public on their cause and effects as they relate to emergency planning.

Types of Natural Crisis:

1. Earthquakes:

An earthquake is caused by a sudden slip on a fault. The tectonic plates are always slowly
moving, but they get stuck at their edges due to friction. When the stress on the edge
overcomes the friction, there is an earthquake that releases energy in waves that travel
through the earth's crust and cause the shaking that we feel.

2. Fire and Wildfire:

An earthquake is caused by a sudden slip on a fault. The tectonic plates are always slowly
moving, but they get stuck at their edges due to friction. When the stress on the edge overcomes
the friction, there is an earthquake that releases energy in waves that travel through the earth's
crust and cause the shaking that we feel.

3. Floods:

A flood is an overflow or accumulation of an expanse of water that submerges land.[1] In the

sense of "flowing water", the word may also be applied to the inflow of the tide. Flooding may
result from the volume of water within a body of water, such as a river or lake, which overflows
or breaks levees, with the result that some of the water escapes its normal boundaries.[2] While
the size of a lake or other body of water will vary with seasonal changes in precipitation and
snow melt, it is not a significant flood unless such escapes of water endanger land areas used by
man like a village, city or other inhabited area.

4. Hurricanes:
A hurricane is a powerful, spiraling storm that begins over a warm sea, near the equator. When a
hurricane hits land, it can do great damage through its fierce winds, torrential rains, inland
flooding, and huge waves crashing ashore. A powerful hurricane can kill more people and
destroy more property than any other natural disaster. A hurricane is a very powerful, sometimes
violent storm with strong winds and heavy rains.

5. Landslide:

A landslide is the movement of a mass of rock, debris, or earth down a slope. Landslides
constitute a major geologic hazard because they are widespread, occur in all 50 states and U.S.
territories, and cause $1to2 billion in damages and more than 25 fatalities on average each year

6. Thunderstorm:

A thunderstorm is a rain shower during which you hear thunder. Since thunder comes from
lightning, all thunderstorms have lightning. A thunderstorm is classified as "severe" when it
contains one or more of the following: hail three-quarters inch or greater; winds gusting in
excess of 50 knots (57.5 mph); or a tornado.

7. Tsunami:

A tsunami is a series of water waves that is caused by the displacement of a large volume of a
body of water, such as an ocean. Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and other underwater
explosions (detonations of nuclear devices at sea), landslides and other mass movements, bolide
impacts, and other disturbances above or below water all have the potential to generate a
tsunami.

8. Volcano:

The word "volcano" is used to refer to the opening from which molten rock and gas issue from
Earth's interior onto the surface, and also to the cone, hill, or mountain built up around the
opening by the eruptive products

9. Extreme cold:

Extreme cold is a dangerous situation that can bring on health emergencies in susceptible people,
such as those without shelter or who are stranded, or who live in a home that is poorly insulated
or without heat.

10. Extreme heat:

People suffer heat-related illness when their bodies are unable to compensate and properly cool
themselves. The body normally cools itself by sweating. But under some conditions, sweating
just isn't enough. In such cases, a person's body temperature rises rapidly. Very high body
temperatures may damage the brain or other vital organs.
II) Manmade crisis

Man-made crisis are events which, either intentionally or by accident cause severe threats to
public health and well-being.  Because their occurrence is unpredictable, man-made disasters or
crisis pose an especially challenging threat that must be dealt with through vigilance, and proper
preparedness and response.  Information on the major sources of man-made disasters or crisis is
provided here to help educate the public on their cause and effects as they relate to emergency
planning.  

Types of manmade crises:

1. Bioterrorism:

A bioterrorism attack is the deliberate release of viruses, bacteria, or other germs (agents) used to cause
illness or death in people, animals, or plants. These agents are typically found in nature, but it is possible
that they could be changed to increase their ability to cause disease, make them resistant to current
medicines, or to increase their ability to be spread into the environment.

2. Terrorism:

Terrorism is the use of force or violence against persons or property in violation of the criminal laws of
the United States for purposes of intimidation, coercion, or ransom. (FEMA)

3. Civil Disorder:

Civil disorder is a broad term that is typically used by law enforcement to describe forms of disturbance.
Although civil disorder does not necessarily escalate to a disaster in all cases, the event may escalate into
general chaos. Rioting has many causes, from low minimum wage to racial segregation.

4. Chemical Agents & Hazardous Materials

A chemical emergency occurs when a hazardous chemical has been released and the release has
the potential for harming people's health. Chemical releases can be unintentional, as in the case
of an industrial accident, or intentional, as in the case of a terrorist attack.

5. War:

War is conflict between relatively large groups of people, which involves physical force inflicted
by the use of weapons. Warfare has destroyed entire cultures, countries, economies and inflicted
great suffering on humanity. Other terms for war can include armed conflict, hostilities, and
police action. Acts of war are normally excluded from insurance contracts and disaster planning.
IMPORTANCE OF COMMUNICATION IN / PUBLIC RELATION IN CRISIS
MANAGEMENT:

Are public relations and crisis management planning important to your business? The answer is
simple and direct. Public relations and crisis management planning are not only important to
your business, they are both CRUCIAL to your business, regardless of your type of business. In
today’s fast-paced and ever-changing world, business is news. Plant closings, mergers and
acquisitions, unemployment, strikes, labor negotiations, company expansions, building projects,
construction-related accidents and catastrophes are often the lead story on the front page or the
six o’clock news. Yet many organizations are totally unprepared or at least ill-prepared to handle
the public relations and crisis management aspects of these events. This unpreparedness can lead
to many negative and undesirable results for you, your employees, your clients and customers,
your company and your business and industry sector.

Many businesses always have been and always will be in a highly visible position to the general
public and the media. For example, the building and construction industry is important to the
economy, as well as the overall health, safety & welfare of the public. The media are very
interested in the building and construction industry because of the potential “high interest”
stories it can generate, both positive and negative. To succeed in today’s business world, all
businesses must learn to manage rapid change and crises and work diligently to develop strong
public relations and crisis management plans.

Handling Crisis situation

Don’t Do’s
1) Avoid the phrase no comment.
2) Avoid jargon or technical terms.
3) Avoid nervous habit that people interrupt or deception.
4) Avoid distracting nervous gestures such as pacing.
Crisis Management- a Case Study on Mumbai Terrorist Attack 361
Do’s
1) Present information clearly.
2) Appear pleasant on camera.
3) Media person need to have strong eye contact, limited disfluences ‘uhms’or ‘uhs’.
4) Media person should have latest crisis information.
5) Be prepared to use internet as one of the channel for reaching public.
6) Be prepared to use unique websites or part of your websites to address crisis concern.
10 Tips for Managing the Media during a Crisis

From my experience as a reporter, presenter, executive producer and manager I now advise and
train organisations on how to manage the media during a crisis.

Here are 10 tips I consider essential:

1. Plan for a crisis in advance.

2. Clarify your communication objectives.
3. Determine your spokesperson and road test their skills prior to a crisis.
4. Identify the best channels of communication.
5. What is your key message?
6. Stick to the facts. Show empathy with those affected.
7. Develop an open and honest relationship with the media, avoid "No Comment" and be
proactive.
8. Build your case.
9. Use the Three Golden Rules (Know your Topic, Be Prepared, Relax) to perform at your best.
10. Seek professional help.
ROLE/ IMPORTANCE OF MEDIA IN CRISIS:

The media can help in the following ways in crisis:

1) Increasing the likelihood of people giving in response to a crisis:

Media coverage of crises points out the problem and creates an environment
where people are more likely to respond. 

2.Reduces Uncertainty:
Mass media reduce uncertainty and fear among people by providing accurate information.

3. Helps to maintain harmony:

The media tries to build solidarity(harmony) environment rather than to question
the leadership in the event of crisis. Mass media serve to cultivate a sense of “being together”
among people who are sharing a common experience.

4. helps to create public sympathy:

Mass media help to create public sympathy to increase humanitarian aid efforts.

5.watchdog functions
Mass media revert to their watchdog functions rapidly after the crisis.

6.media event
The media cover crisis as a media event in the form of contest, conquest and
Coronations.

Example:
Soft Drinks Pesticide Controversy in India:
The caselet highlights the pesticide controversy that Cola majors faced in 2003. It describes the
New Delhi-based environmental group, Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) report that
put the entire soft drink industry in a bad light. The report claimed that its laboratory tests had
discovered that most soft drinks sold in India were contaminated with large doses of pesticides
like Lindane, DDT, Chlorpyrifos, and Malathion. The caselet provides a account of how Cola
majors overcame this crisis through the use of various marketing communication tools.

One of the marketing tool used was Media. They used media to clear the controversy and
informed the people that it was safe to drink for all  through press conferences. Though this
controversy took time to dilute but it was handled wisely with the help of media.So, the role of
media in crisis can be well understood with the help of this example.
 
 
A case study on role of media in crisis:
Mattel
Mattel Inc., the toy maker, has been plagued with more than 28 product recalls and in Summer of
2007, amongst problems with exports from China, faced two product recall in two weeks. The
company did everything it could to get its message out, earning high marks from consumers and
retailers. Though upset by the situation, they were appreciative of the company's response. At
Mattel, just after the recall announcement by federal officials, a public relations staff of 16 was
set to call reporters at the 40 biggest media outlets. They told each to check their e-mail for a
news release outlining the recalls, invited them to a teleconference call with executives and
scheduled TV appearances or phone conversations with Mattel's chief executive. The Mattel
CEO Robert Eckert did 14 TV interviews on a Tuesday in August and about 20 calls with
individual reporters. By the week's end, Mattel had responded to more than 300 media inquiries
in the U.S. alone to get out of the crisis situation which was of great help to them.

Tips for Managing the Media during a Crisis

Here are 10 tips I consider essential:

1. Plan for a crisis in advance.

2. Clarify your communication objectives.
3. Determine your spokesperson and road test their skills prior to a crisis.
4. Identify the best channels of communication.
5. What is your key message?
6. Stick to the facts. Show empathy with those affected.
7. Develop an open and honest relationship with the media, avoid "No Comment" and be
proactive.
8. Build your case.
9. Use the Three Golden Rules (Know your Topic, Be Prepared, Relax) to perform at your best.
10. Seek professional help.
 Handling Crisis Situation( typed data):

Selected case-studies on crisis management:

Nokia in Crisis Management Mode over Faulty 'Bl-5c'
Batteries:

Nokia Corporation (Nokia) has made connectivity truly omnipresent. It has

emerged as a world leader in mobile technology and progressively moving
towards the company's vision of creating a world where everyone is connected.

Albeit the strong strategic growth and transformation, in mid-2007 Nokia

encountered a problem with the malfunctioning of its handsets due to faulty
batteries which might get overheated, especially the BL-5C batteries which were
used in most of Nokia's low-end models.

The Finnish company was sourcing these batteries from the Matsushita Battery

Industrial Co Ltd. (Matsushita) of Japan and several other suppliers.

On August 13, 2007, Nokia issued a warning over its BL-5C batteries across the
world, stating that these batteries may get overheated while charging. It said that
about hundred such incidents of overheating had been reported globally but there
were no reports of the batteries being associated with any serious injuries or
damage to property.

It also clarified that the problem was limited to 46 million BL-5C batteries
manufactured by Matsushita between December 2005 and November 2006. Nokia
also offered to replace the batteries free of cost to the consumers. "By reacting
swiftly and responsibly, and by being fully transparent, we believe that
consumers will continue to view Nokia as a responsible and trustworthy
brand,"1 said Robert Andersson, head of customer and market operations at
Nokia.
 Some analysts felt that the replacements of the batteries would cost Nokia as much
as US$170 million. The company was working together with Matsushita to
investigate the defect related to the batteries and agree on who would bear the cost
of the product replacements. Analysts said that generally the supplier bears the
cost of such replacements.

However, one of the priorities for Nokia was to handle this crisis well so that its
brand image do not suffer due to the resultant confusion and panic among its
consumers. For instance, shortly after Nokia issued the warning, millions of Nokia
mobile phone users in India panicked. They checked their Nokia handsets and
rushed to the nearest service centre for clarification and further information.

However to their dismay the panicking customers found that the customer care
centers were not in a position to help them and denied having any information from
the company regarding the malfunction. The police had to be called in to lend extra
security at one Nokia customer centre as anxious customers gathered there and
demanded that their batteries be replaced.

Pepsi Syringe Case:

The Pepsi Corporation faced a crisis in 1993 which started with claims of syringes being found
in cans of diet Pepsi. Pepsi urged stores not to remove the product from shelves while it had the
cans and the situation investigated. This led to an arrest, which Pepsi made public and then
followed with their first video news release, showing the production process to demonstrate that
such tampering was impossible within their factories. A second video news release displayed the
man arrested. A third video news release showed surveillance from a convenient store where a
woman was caught replicating the tampering incident. The company simultaneously publicly
worked with the FDA during the crisis. The Corporation was completely open with the public
throughout, and every employee of Pepsi was kept aware of the details. This made public
communications effective throughout the crisis. After the crisis had been resolved, the
corporation ran a series of special campaigns designed to thank the public for standing by the
corporation, along with coupons for further compensation. This case served as a design for how
to handle other crisis situations.

Coca-Cola Case-Study:

On June 13, 1999, the US-based Coca-Cola Company (Coca-Cola), 1 the world's largest carbonated
beverages company, recalled over 15 million containers of the soft drink after the Belgian Health
Ministry announced a ban on Coca-Cola's drinks, which were suspected of making over 100 school
children ill in the preceding six days.
This was in addition to the 2.5 million bottles already recalled in the previous week. The company's
products namely Coke, Diet Coke and Fanta, were bottled in Antwerp, Ghent and Wilrijk, Belgium, while
some batches of Coke, Diet Coke, Fanta and Sprite were produced in Dunkirk, France. Children at six
schools in Belgium had complained of headache, nausea, vomiting and shivering after drinking Coca-
Cola's beverages, leading to their hospitalisation. Most of them reported an 'unusual odour' and an 'off-
taste' in the drink.

The same day, the plant's management was called

and briefed about the children falling ill after drinking
Coke.
A few plant managers visited the school to assess the
situation, but, for some reason, decided not to take
the remaining Coke stock back with them...

With things not going their way, Coca-Cola's executives came forward with an explanation of what had
gone wrong. They claimed that their experts had investigated the problem by testing the suspect
batches for chemicals and the tests showed nothing toxic in the beverages..

Conclusion:

a sword cab be
Thus,public relation plays a very crucial role in handling crisis.As it is said that
used either for saving someone in trouble or killing for robbery. At last it
depends upon you, how you want to use it. So, same is the case with
public relation ,if used wisely a company can successfully come out of
crisis and vise versa.