Communications and Crisis - Essay Example

Communication and Crisis Paper Communication and Crisis Paper Due to the reports received about the contamination of a number of public water suppliers in different towns with a life-threatening biological agent, it is significant to come up with a contingency plan to address this issue without creating any public panic. The issue of contaminated water supply is an overly delicate matter. This means that peoples’ lives are in grave danger due to the contamination. To this point, there have been a number of people who have been rushed to hospital due to this water supply contamination. There is no solid evidence of how the water sources were polluted. The signs to be keen on are vomiting, bleeding, diarrhea, blurred vision, headache and severe abdomen pain. Contingency plans should be addresses in this organization together with the public devoid of creating any panic. We need to do everything in our power in order to restore the cleanliness of our water supplies. As the director of a regional Emergency Management Office, I will have to hold a press conference to guarantee the public that we will do all we can to get the problem fixed. I will invite the Governor, as well as Director of the Water Waste Manger to the press conference so as to try and maintain the calmness of the public. It is my sole duty as the Emergency Management Officer to put a task force together, which will be communicating inside and outside the organization throughout the period. Advantages and challenges exist when it comes to communication in the organization together with the public and private sectors, which creates differences in communication processes applied in crisis situations (DiMaggio et al., 2005). First and foremost, we will bring in Fox Group to educate us on how to respect to media criticism, particularly television and radio criticism. It will help us know what to say and also what not to say in such situations. Media personnel know that wrong kind of questions to ask during such a time, which if you are not careful, might land you in trouble, and the most important thing in such a case is to gain the trust of the public (DiMaggio et al., 2005). By bringing in the Fox Group, we will know how to control these situations and gain the public trust. In such a situation, every circumstance is overly fragile. You have to convey your knowledge well concerning the crisis and also communicate properly during the crisis (Sheehan, 2005). It is overly important to interact in a language, which everybody understands. My task force will need proper help, as well as support, and optimistically some members of the task force will take on more roles till the situation is full dealt with. A challenge, which might arise, is ensuring that the water reports are maintained at a level of assurance plus that the issue is handled well. As the director, it is important to ensure that there is no panic among the public. I will offer sufficient information, which pleases the media and the public. My team will carry out the research to understand how and why the waters supplies were polluted. Holding a press conference will make the public and the media feel that they are not affected as much as they thought by the contaminated water. Assuring people that the outbreak of a waterborne disease is unlikely is a must. Conducting a research will allow my team to find information about what led to the contamination. I will have to form another proficient team that will solve this problem in a timely manner. A research group with more members means that there is more knowledge and, thus better findings (DiMaggio et al., 2005). Also, in the midst of all this, it is vital to maintain communication with the public and media concerning our findings in order to ease the tension. The benefit of such as communication method is that the concerned groups (the public and media) will also know what is happening as the situation is trying to be solved (Sarathy & Robertson, 2003). Media plays two key roles as a friend and enemy in a crisis situation. They can either make you or break you depending on what they might reveal to the public (Sarathy & Robertson, 2003). They will most probably show things that will make the public fear of their lives and not the steps that we are taking to fix the problem. Thus, it will be up to us to ensure that we restrain all these things from the media in order avoid making the situation worse. Mass communication refers to the passing of information from one individual to another, as well as to masses of people, which is made easier by the media. Also, technology significantly aids in such situations since people can transfer information, plus they can also get products carried over to where they are located (Sarathy & Robertson, 2003). The different media platforms, which can be applied in such a situation include Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, as well as other social networking sites, which will reveal to many of their users the damage done, and most probably, who is responsible and the kind of assistance being offered. In today’s society, technology plays one of the key roles of relying information to the public through its users. Nevertheless, it can be utilized in advancing communication due to the manner the messages a relied so fast. Management crisis reveals how well people can deal with excessive pressure and stress. The media, technology, mass media and communication and direct-to-consumer communication also are good ways we can use to ease public tension in such a situation; this is by doing certain things in order such as posting positive news and imagines concerning the situation (DiMaggio et al., 2005). Also, globalization has a great impact on communication through the media. In such type of coverage, the media should take it as their sole responsibility in dealing with crisis through minimizing coverage of all negative information because what we are trying to achieve is less panic by the public. Scholars of such subjects have argued that even if people have the right to know, especially during such a case, it is important to hide some information from the general public in order to ensure their safety (DiMaggio et al., 2005). The work of any management response body is to do all they can to prevent public outrage and put every stakeholder in a situation where the public can trust (DiMaggio et al., 2005). There will be a different method of coping with the next crisis situation regarding water supply contamination. We will require new machines that will check the water supply on a daily basis. We will also be required to enforce mandatory training courses for workers who work in the water waste management department. Also, any material should be updated at all times and regularly inspected. We will have to create a website showing the ongoing training and placement that we have so as to maintain the peace of the public. It is important to monitor regions where the main water supply is coming from and we also need assistance from the general public by reporting anything suspicious they might see happening around the water sources, which might lead to the contamination of the sources. During the crisis, the media helped and also hurt us to some extent. There were periods when we were not ready to answer particular questions but they still pressed for some answers. However, they also revealed to the public some of our efforts in order for them to know that we also care about them. Not only did the problem affect the public but also the Emergency Management department. It caused a lot of panic among members of the community, but with the media acting right and putting out supportive information to the public, it enabled us to restore calm and also trust. At the end, the issue brought different bodies to make one community; a community that stood together to fight against the contamination of the water source. Any crisis management team should erect a plan that they feel will quickly make the situation better. I brought in a third party group, which trained our staff in dealing with the attention of the media and ensure that they communicated effectively to them. Eventually, we will inform the people what signs to look for in case such a situation arises and also how to use technology and the media to their advantage. Finally, in such cases, it is important to rely correct information in order to avoid creating panic to any stakeholder in order to the response process to be effective. References DiMaggio, P., Hargittai, E., W. Neuman, R., & Robinson, J. P. (2005). Social implications of the internet. New York: The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Sheehan, K. B. (2005). In poor health: An assessment of privacy policies at direct-to-consumer web sites. Journal of Public Policy & Marketing, 24(2), 273-283. Sarathy, R., & Robertson, C. J. (2003). Strategic and ethical considerations in managing digital privacy. Journal of Business Ethics, 46(2), 111-126 Read More