Media Crisis Management Plan - Essay Example

Crisis Management Plan Introduction The conception of management communication through adequate modes of information is one of the essential elements during the occurrence of any emergency, disaster or crisis. It is the basis of the information, through which one can take major decisions during the emergence of any disaster or crisis (PAHO, 2009). A crisis is regarded as an unusual event that causes major disruptions in normal operations which results in severe consequences for individuals as well as for the organizations. In this context, a plan is conducted through a crisis management workgroup or team that describes the means or the methods which are activated in an organization at the time of crisis (Shekhar, 2009). In the paper, a crisis management plan to handle the media in case of crisis for a hospital is taken into consideration. Various aspects such as the available theory and principles of effectual crisis management, available options to the management of the hospital in handling media at the time of crisis, recognition of potential reasons for crisis in a hospital and media response releases against each potential reasons for crisis is taken into concern in the discussion. Crisis Management Plan to Handle Media for the Hospital A crisis management outlook is very much crucial for smooth functioning of an organization. A particular crisis can pose several threats that include public security, monetary loss and reputation loss (EISF, 2010). In case of crisis scenario, media plays a vital role in order to communicate the information of crisis to a number of viewers. Media is very much interested to attain certain information from the victims or their families or their friends as sources rather than the government officials. There are both positive as well as negative outcomes for the functions that are performed by the media. If the information is not communicated properly to the media then it can result in harmful effects and also can bring troubles, however, at the same time, media can be beneficial while disseminating various useful information as well as opinions that are directly communicated to the public (Johnson & Cwiek, 2005). From the perspective of efficiently handling media in a particular crisis, the hospital should not avoid the media. This factor would be very much crucial for the hospital regarding not to avoid media at all. This is due to the fact that if the hospital attempts to refrain from media through fears such as misinterpretation of information then the journalists would imagine that the hospital is hiding crucial information from them and as a result the media might adopt certain other sources which the hospital cannot control (Putra, 2009). Apart from non-avoidance of media, the other step that the hospital can take is to conduct periodic press conferences for the purpose of managing media during a crisis. In this context, a press conference can be conducted by the hospital at least twice a day during crisis i.e. in morning and in evening. The main purpose of conducting press conferences is to fulfill the deadlines of the journalists and communicating the latest working advancement steps of the works of the hospital (Regester & Larkin, 2008). Along with the press releases or conferences, the other strategy on behalf of the hospital in order to manage the media during the time of crisis is to convey the particular crisis information in various newspapers, televisions and magazines. It is due to the fact that these management communication channels such as magazines, televisions and newspapers, provide crucial exposures to the issues relating with the crisis amid the public. At the same time, there lies a probable chance for both mental and physical harassments that are caused by the media towards the authorities of the hospital (Draft & Marcic, 2010). It is also suggested for the hospital to take certain pre-measures before the occurrence of any sort of crisis along with managing the media to a certain extent. The initial pre-measure for the hospital would be in establishing a crisis management workgroup or a team in order to recognize the probable basis of the crisis along with introducing a follow up team that would be in action after the occurrence of the crisis (Weiss, 1992). After establishing a crisis management workgroup or a team, the next measure can be regarding making decisions concerning various duties and responsibilities of the teams or the workgroups such as the selection of the spokesperson or the coordinator of press releases. The spokesperson or the coordinator of press releases could be anybody, be it a senior management official or an emergency physician (Weiss, 1992). The subsequent step for the hospital would be to collect the details such as the names and contact numbers of the key people that include crisis or health experts, managers and media contacts. After gathering the necessary details, the next measure would be to predict the necessary as well as relevant questions along with adequate and probable answers for future use (Weiss, 1992). In relation to the crisis situation, there lie certain measures which would help the hospital to manage especially the media to a certain extent. One of the measures from the viewpoint of the hospital would be in non-hiding the crisis towards the public as well as towards the media as much as possible. Moreover, the hospital should inform the affected people in the best possible way as fast as possible. The hospital should respond towards the media in a very calm, simple and candid way. In addition, the hospital should also keep the media as well as other viewers informed regarding the emergence of the crisis (Weiss, 1992). The other major strategy that might be available for the hospital to manage the media during a crisis is to keep a strong eye upon the news broadcast and printing coverage regarding the issue of crisis. In this regard, the hospital should take certain media clips or video tapes of the duties that are performed by the crisis management workforce or teams in order to show them to the viewers that they are performing their level best for coping up with the deteriorating and fluctuating circumstances of the crisis (Weiss, 1992). There also lie certain strategies in order to manage the media during a crisis for the hospital. The different strategies include planning for a crisis in advance, adequately clarifying the purposes of communication, determining the spokesperson or the coordinator of the press release before a crisis and recognizing the best possible basis of communication channel (Weiss, 1992). The other strategies also include delivering the key messages, building an open as well as superior interrelation between with the media and the avoidance of the word “No Comments” during the conduct of press releases or conferences (Weiss, 1992). Thus, the above discussed strategies or the application of the various principles of an effective crisis management would remarkably make the hospital to successfully manage the media to a certain extent. By following those applications or strategies during the execution of a crisis as well as implementing various pre-crisis measures ultimately can help and assist the hospital in handling the media to a significant level. The potential crises in a hospital might be the crisis related to medicines, doctors and laboratory equipments among others. Thus, it can be stated that the three potential causes of a crisis in a hospital are medicine crisis, crisis related to doctors and laboratory equipments among others. The media response releases for the three crises scenarios which are provided hereunder: Press Release For Immediate Release Contact: Phone: Date of Release: Response With Regard To Crisis of Medicines We on behalf of the authority of the hospital understand the problems or the difficulties, concerns and questions you may have about the crisis of medicines that took place this morning. At this point of time, we are doing everything possible in our control to solve the issue as early as possible. The crisis that occurred regarding the shortage of medicines is due to the supplier problem relating to certain terms and conditions and we are continuously keeping track about the issue and also believe that it will get resolved at the earliest. We have formed a crisis management team and have formulated certain plans and they already have started to perform such as to communicate with the supplier regarding the terms and conditions. We on behalf of the authority of the hospital assure you that we will surely cope up with the situation and the previous normal condition will return quickly. The safety as well as the care of our patients is our prime as well as top most priority and we will never let this significant issue to be taken for granted at any cost. For further queries and information regarding the issue, we will be providing the recent updates through our website along with regular media briefings. The media briefings will be held in this office after an interval of every hour. Press Release For Immediate Release Contact: Phone: Date of Release: Response towards Crisis of Doctors We on behalf of the authority of the hospital understand the problems or the difficulties, concerns and questions you may have about the crisis of doctors that occurred in our hospital during the morning hours of last day. At this time, we are performing every possible activity to solve the issue as early as possible. The crisis that occurred regarding the shortage of doctors is due to the fact that few of the doctors were busy with their specialized training for delivering superior treatment towards their patients and few of the doctors are on leave which has been allocated to them much before. We are continuously keeping track regarding the issue and also believe that it will get solved quickly. We have formed a crisis management team and have formulated certain developing plans and they have already facilitated to pull out from the situation in an effective way. We and our crisis management team ensured that though we do not have any specialized doctors, we have managed to organize a set of doctors who are general physicians to handle the crisis situation. I assure to you that after next two days the situation will be normal as few of our specialized doctors will return back from their assigned tasks and we will surely cope up with the situation and normalcy will be restored. For further queries and information regarding the issue, we will be providing the latest updates through our website along with regular media briefings. The media briefings will be held in this office regularly on an hourly basis. Press Release For Immediate Release Contact: Phone: Date of Release: Response towards Crisis of Laboratory Equipments We on behalf of the authority of the hospital understand the problems or the difficulties, concerns and questions you may have about the crisis of laboratory equipments that took place this morning. At this moment of time, we are doing everything to solve the issue as early as possible. The crisis that occurred regarding the shortage of laboratory equipments is due to the fact that certain laboratory equipments have become quite old and they are often facing breakdown. In order to solve this issue, we on behalf the authority have already sent requisition to our ‘District Health Office’ and they have assured us that they will be providing us with new and well modernized laboratory equipments in last week of this month. Hence, we will surely cope up with the situation and the previous normal condition will be returned very shortly. For further queries and information regarding the issue, we will be providing the current updates through our website along with regular media briefings. The media briefings will be held in this office regularly, after every sixty minutes. Conclusion The plan in crisis management is also regarded as a documented plan which explains the full overview of activities that the executives of a hospital might take during the occurrence of any crisis in any organization. For making a plan successful in crisis management, an effective communication is compulsorily required. The above discussed principles as well as theories relating with effective crisis management plan would facilitate the hospital to manage the media during the occurrence of various crises. Moreover, certain crises situations for a hospital have been recognized and adequate media response releases for each of the crisis situations have also been portrayed. Thus, it can be stated that if the hospital follows the above discussed principles relating with effective crisis management plan then the hospital might handle the media in an effective and suitable way to a certain extent. References Draft, R. L., & Marcic, D. (2010). Understanding management. US: Cengage Learning. EISF. (2010). Crisis management of critical incidents. Retrieved from http://www.newssafety.org/images/stories/pdf/programme/hostagecrisisgroup/Crisis%20Management%20of%20Critical%20Incidents.pdf Johnson, J. A & Cwiek, M. A. (2005). Community preparedness and response to terrorism: Communication and the media. US: Greenwood Publishing Group. PAHO. (2009). Information management and communication in emergencies and disasters: manual for disaster response teams. Retrieved from http://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/753BA3EC98D0AE21852576A40078B90C-PAHO_CommGuide_ResponseTeams_dec09.pdf Putra, F. D. (2009). Crisis management in public administration. Planning Forum 13(14), pp.152-176. Regester, M., & Larkin, J. (2008). Risk issues and crisis management in public relations: A casebook of best practice. UK: Kogan Page Publishers. Shekhar, M. (2009). Crisis management-a case study on Mumbai terrorist attack. European Journal of Scientific Research 27(3), pp.358-371. Weiss, R. (1992). Crisis communications. Retrieved from http://www.google.co.in/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=8&ved=0CGgQFjAH&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.chausa.org%2Fworkarea%2FDownloadAsset.aspx%3Fid%3D4819&ei=BSpnT-DMPMzIrQeq25y9Bw&usg=AFQjCNGZ2VLaZerOAdafvJqhL1Fb838imw&sig2=9Zg5l4C0Vny0dOZTGKsNRA Bibliography Draft, R. L & Lane P. (2009). Management. US: Cengage Learning. Duncan, T. (2005). Principles of advertising and imc. India: Tata McGraw-Hill Education. Hogan, D. E & Burstein, J. L. (2007). Disaster medicine. US: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. Smith, R. D. (2004). Strategic planning for public relations. UK: Routledge. Read More