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Knight School of Communication COMM 633: Strategic Crisis and Issues Management Fall 2011 Tuesdays 6 8:45 p.m. ___________________________________________________________________________ Professor Kim Weller Gregory, Ph.D. Dana 102C gregoryk@queens.edu 704.277.6773 (cell) Office Hours Tuesday 5-6 p.m. and by appointment Textbooks Coombs, W. T. (2012). Ongoing crisis communication: Planning, managing, and responding. 3rd ed. Los Angeles: Sage. Additional readings posted on Moodle. Description This course introduces students to the theories and practices that allow organizations and individuals to successfully cope with the communication aspects of a crisis. It relies heavily on a case study approach to explore crisis management principles, strategies, and tactics in multiple contexts. Specific course objectives include: 1. The ability to define and recognize a crisis and the importance of proactively attempting to prevent and prepare for it. 2. An investigation of several theories related to crisis communication, as well as a stage approach to exploring its various aspects. 3. An enhanced understanding of how digital communication tools have changed crisis management strategies and challenges. 4. Experience creating a crisis management plan including analyzing an audience, putting together a crisis management system, information gathering and processing, crafting a message to key publics, reputation management, and post crisis evaluation.

Course Policies Connections: Moodle: I may post general course announcements on Moodle (http://moodle.queens.edu/). Please check our Moodle course site regularly, or you may sign up to have postings forwarded to your email account. Twitter: I will also share ideas and resources as well as post some course announcements on Twitter using the hashtag #crisiscomm. facebook: We have a facebook group open only to students in COMM 633 named Knight School COMM 633 Crisis Communication Fall 2011 at http://www.facebook.com/groups/229674430413807/. Please use the group to ask questions and share resources, ideas, and thoughts. RexMail: Due to FERPA (Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act) regulations, I will contact you through your Queens RexMail account rather than your personal or work email. Please check that account regularly or forward incoming emails to a preferred account. Assignments: Please email me written assignments electronically by 6 p.m. on the assigned day. Blog links should be sent to my Queens email account as well. Any assignments submitted after 6 p.m. will be considered late. Typically, any late assignment that I choose to accept is penalized a minimum of one letter grade for each class meeting that it is late. Writing: As students in a graduate program, your writing should be clear, coherent, and error free. Please make an appointment at the Center for Academic Success Writing Center for any extra assistance (contact Jenn Goddu at godduj@queens.edu or 704.688.2765; also see http://www.queens.edu/studentlife/resources/writing_center.asp). Written assignments should follow APA guidelines. Grading: Some written assignments will receive letter grades that will be converted to a numerical score for final grade computation. The grading scale is as follows: A 90 100 Superior work. Creative. B 80 89 Good work. Could improve in one of these areas: ideas, argument, or grammar. C 70 79 Adequate work. Could improve in two of these areas: ideas, argument, or grammar. F 69 & below Unacceptable work. Reflects unacceptable level of commitment or skill. Class Attendance: As a discussion-based course, it is important that you not miss scheduled class meetings. However, I realize that occasional professional and personal scheduling conflicts are unavoidable. Therefore, you may miss 1 class with no penalty. For each additional absence, your final participation grade will be reduced by 5 points. If you must miss class, please try to Skype in. Confidentiality: Confidentiality on all papers and projects will be honored. The names of people or organizations may be changed for your coursework. Please see me if you have any questions or concerns about your paper or project.

University Policies University Closings/Cancelled Classes: QAlert: Sign up to receive campus emergency notifications via voicemail, text and/or e-mail at www.queens.edu/alert. If classes are meeting but you feel that you cannot find a safe way to get to class, please notify me as soon as possible. Should I need to cancel class, I will notify you by sending out a message on Moodle and Twitter. Honor Code & Plagiarism: The Honor Code, which permeates all phases of university life, is based on three fundamental principles. It assumes that Queens students: a) are truthful at all times, b) respect the property of others, and c) are honest in tests, examinations, term papers, and all other academic assignments. Plagiarism is representing anothers words or thoughts as ones own, and it is a clear violation of Queens Honor Code. It can take many forms, including word-for-word plagiarism or paraphrasing without providing proper citation of source. To learn more, visit the Queens Center for Academic Success located in the basement of Dana (http://www.queens.edu/studentlife/resources/academicresourcecenter.asp) or the following website: http://www.plagiarism.org/. Please contact me if you have any questions or believe a violation of the Honor Code has occurred. Institutional Review Board: Students must gain approval from the IRB in advance for any upcoming research that directly involves human subjects. Research review regulations are a federally mandated process that seeks to protect human subjects from physical or emotional harm, as well as deceptive or exploitative research. IRB regulations at academic institutions also help protect researchers and their institutions from legal and reputational risks. Retroactive approvals are not possible. For more information and the necessary forms, visit MyQueens and see shared documents (left side bar). Intellectual Property Policy: Queens University of Charlotte faculty and students adhere to the Queens Intellectual Property Policy. See Faculty Handbook, http://moodle.queens.edu, and the Queens University of Charlotte website at http://www.queens.edu. Disability Accommodations: If you are a student with a verified disability and you require accommodations, please provide me with the necessary memorandum that was given to you by Student Disability Services. Contact: The Coordinator of Disability Services: Sandy Rogelberg, 704- 337-2508. Major Assignments Crisis Management Plan (30%) You will audit, revise, and/or create a crisis management plan (CMP) for a real or hypothetical organization. During the course of the semester, we will identify the specific components to an effective CMP, which you will include in your assignment. You will analyze your organization and its industry and key stakeholders and determine the most effective CMP for at least one specific scenario. Your plan should focus on communication strategies and include a consideration of digital communication as well as a visual component. You may pair with a student to complete this assignment, but your plan should

reflect work commensurate of two people. You will present key learnings from your assignment to your classmates at the end of the term. Note: On the course Moodle site, you will find two sample CMPsone for a large company and one for a small company. Both are provided by Fearn-Banks (2011). Course Reflection Blog (30%) You will start a blog for the course and post a weekly entry in which you reflect on the weeks course material (i.e., readings, class discussion) and your key learnings related to crisis communication. Be sure to incorporate specific course material. I encourage you to use outside examples of crisis management to illustrate your key learnings. A daily scan of online news headlines can provide several examples to choose from. I also suggest you visit the following crisis communication blogs as a further resource and for ideas. http://ww2.crisisblogger.com Gerald Baron, PR Consultant http://crisiscomm.wordpress.com Rachel Esterline, Central Michigan University PR student http://ricochetblog.com Ricochet PR (see crisis comm series) Crisis Management Case Study (25%) You will pair with a classmate to explore how one organization managed a crisis. What specific strategies did they use to manage the crisis? Do you feel they handled the crisis effectively? Specifically, what did they do well or not so well? You will present your findings in an interactive way to the class. You will also provide me with a one-page executive summary of your findings and opinions. Be sure to directly apply course material to your analysis. Note: Each case study presented in the course should focus on a different type of crisise.g., environmental disaster, financial crisis, scandal. Attached to this syllabus is a list of types of crises. Your textbook (Coombs, 2011) lists several possible specific case studies in its Appendix. You and your partner will choose your crisis type, which will be assigned on a first come, first served basis. Then, notify me of your specific crisis case study as soon as possible. Course Participation (15%) Your participation grade will be calculated with equal weight given to the following: 1. In-class participation. Quality comments are more valued than quantity of comments. 2. Blog comments. You will comment on at least one of your peers course reflections each week. (Please comment on a different blog each week.) 3. Twitter. You will link to at least one example or resource related to crisis communication each week using #crisiscomm. 4. Class attendance.

Date Sep 6

Sep 13

Sep 20

Sep 27

Oct 4

Oct 11

Tentative Course Schedule Class Topic Assignments Course Introduction Coombs Chs. 1 & 2 What is a crisis? Why is crisis management important? Crisis management then and now Crisis Communication Theory Fearn-Banks Ch. 2 (Moodle) & Ch. 7 (pp. Stage model (Fink, 1986) 90-100 only) Image Restoration Theory (Benoit, 1997) Kavilanz (2011) http://cnnmon.ie/qEpJwC Situational Crisis Communication Theory Pollard (2011) http://bit.ly/pXoga2 (Coombs, 2007) Red Cross (2011) http://rdcrss.org/pBF7lC Example: Natural disasters Sherman (2009) http://bit.ly/mWuzPe In-class crisis case study: Johnson & Johnson Kavanaugh et. al. (2011) (skim) http://bit.ly/r3V4rq Precrisis Coombs Chs. 3 & 4 Can a crisis be prevented? Fearn-Banks Ch. 7 (pp. 101-109 only) Proactive Issues, reputation, and risk Baker (2008) http://bit.ly/qmqfK0 BP website: http://bit.ly/nBirM0 In-class crisis case study: Exxon vs. BP TWW (2010) http://bit.ly/nvmBrq Owen (2010) http://bit.ly/q20CFS Helms (2009) FC http://bit.ly/nKKsAI Crisis Preparation I Coombs Ch. 5 Diagnosis Boyd (20101) FC http://bit.ly/oU2SMa on Crisis types WikiLeaks Putting together the Crisis Management Salter (2007) FC on JetBlue Team (CMT) http://bit.ly/oyL78w Identifying a spokesperson Examples: WikiLeaks, JetBlue Explore Levick website. What do you think? Crisis Management Case Study #1 http://www.levick.com/practice_areas/cri sis/ Crisis Preparation II Coombs Ch. 6 Developing a Crisis Management Plan (CMP) Fearn-Banks Ch. 15 (Moodle) The Crisis Management System Pisciotta (2010) Inc. http://bit.ly/otMwuc Crisis Management Case Study #2 Guest Speaker: Judi Wax, LGA PR Agency Walter (2011) FC http://bit.ly/r7LqXm Deckers (2011) http://bit.ly/nXYb7q Crisis Management Case Study #3

Date Oct 18

Oct 25

Nov 1

Class Topic Crisis Recognition Selling the crisis Information processing Crisis Management Case Study #4 Guest Speaker: Mary Ann Kotlarich on Maersk Pirate Crisis Crisis Management Case Study #5 Crisis Response Implementation Crisis response strategies Crafting the Message Communicating with Key Publics Reputation management Example: Sept 11, 2001 crisis Crisis Management Case Study #6 Guest speaker: Larry Grayson, Senior VP, Bank of America Crisis Management Case Study #7 Post Crisis Evaluation CMP Revisions Crisis Management Case Study #8 Happy Thanksgiving! Lessons and Challenges Crisis Plan Presentations Crisis Plan Presentations Final Exam Period

Assignments Coombs Ch. 7 Eventoff (2009) FC http://bit.ly/njEnsR Fleet (2011) http://davefleet.com/2011/04/tweet- crisis Cohen (2010) http://bit.ly/nzNEyX Perez (2011) http://prn.to/rfuY3t Coombs Ch. 8 Fearn-Banks, Ch. 4 (Moodle) Steele (2010) FC http://bit.ly/oMuikn Chandran (2011) http://bit.ly/pIg8CX Fishman (2001) FC http://bit.ly/q2JXTr

Nov 8

41 Stories (2011) http://bit.ly/nHOoUn Jordan-Meier (2011) http://bit.ly/ojCOtV Laird (2010) http://bit.ly/owkFoM Coombs Ch. 9 Cambell (2011) http://bit.ly/nbbtML

Nov 15

Nov 22 Nov 29 Dec 6 Dec 13

No Class Coombs, Epilogue Crisis Communication Plan Due

Reading List Fearn-Banks, K. (2011). Crisis communication: A casebook approach (3rd ed.). New York: Routledge.