Crisis Management Plan and Media Strategy for a Small Business - Assignment Example

Executive summary Crisis is termed as a situational trouble in the organization which will result to coverage of public concern and has a probable damage to public relation. This plan addresses the process of Crisis Management Planning (CMP) and implementation without merely the absence of media and communication strategy. CMP involves hazard identification, creation of Crisis Management Team and setting of stakeholders. This comprehends the effective methods of reacting to the situations in the organization, in this case, severe allergy caused by medication. The main objective of this plan is to establish the right strategy to deal with unpredictable crisis (severe allergy caused by medication) in Yanssel Delgado Company. Yanssel Delgado is the president of the company and he has been looking forward to integrate such kind of plan into the organization structure. The plan defines the roles played and duties assigned to various individuals in crisis management team. It is also designed in such a manner that the decisions made by the CM team conquer with the decision making chain of command of the company. However, the decisions that pertains this situation are definite because it requires contribution from a range of stakeholders. The CMP that will be developed describe key staff members and their steward. It recommends regular upgrades of skills by training and development of staff involved in the team. Apart from developing a plan, the report also guides the procedure of successful implementation of the plan. This involves four crucial steps which are implemented chronologically. Company Profile Yanssel Delgado Company is located in Hialeah, in Florida City. It is a private health organization which was founded in the year 2009 and it has 3 years of business in the market at the moment. It is owned by Yanssel Delgado who is also the principal in the company. Currently, the company serves the market with health practitioners who have natured in the following fields; Podiatric Foot Surgeons Medical officers (Podiatric Doctors), and Ankle Surgeons. The company is currently served by seven employees (including doctors) who work in the fields mentioned above. All the employees are protected by the insurance cover; however, the company needs to incorporate a crisis management plan on severe allergic reactions caused by medication to reduce the incidence of risk which may alter the performance of employees. Besides, the danger associated with this peril need to be effectively communicated to the ‘probable’ audience of risk (i.e, doctors handling these drugs) thus a media strategy should be developed and implemented as well. In developing a crisis management plan, the company should consider the following four basic components that will fully address a good plan for an unexpected disaster; The level of preparedness to the type of risk Stakeholders Effective mechanism during approach, and The whole system that will make up the plan. In most cases, a successful plan allows contribution from everybody in the organization so that everyone feels inclusive in the plan. In this case therefore, the plan will select all the seven employees as part of the crisis management team who will develop a comprehensive plan. Crisis Management Plan Crisis management plan helps any other organization to cope with the emergencies that may result in the business environment. Therefore, the main aim of the plan is to prevent severe allergic reaction and uphold stability by supplying competent health specialists in the market. Cooperate cross-functional crisis management team includes persons from the following departments; Administration Occupational medicine Occupational Health and Safety officer Maintenance department , and Information Technology a) Administration; The principal of the company (Managing Director) who will bring together and oversee management behavior of the organization. Responsibilities Development of a complete crisis management plan, Appoint a Disease Prevention Coordinator (DPC), Training of organization Crisis Management Team, Harmonize disaster revitalization and support, Observing the developing severe allergic reactions and its incident while updating his/her checklist plan if the risk level transforms, Implement the agreed policies as a strategy to respond to the crisis in the organization. b) Information Technology; Public Information Representative/Officer (PIO). The organization will communicate with the stakeholders through an elected PIO who can be the president of the organization. In this case, employees as well as their families are educated about the risk of allergic reactions caused by medications and how to maintain the business operations in the time of crisis. Duties and Responsibilities Discover a prospective information center place where the media team can salvage the updates. Collect relevant information that will be communicated through the media. In this case the information collected needs to value public safety and condense anxiety. Periodic updates of the response team. c) Occupational Medicine; Due to particular nature of allergic reactions, it is the responsibility of occupational medicine specialist to direct the Crisis Management Team and monitor the status that results to risk (in this case, severed allergic reaction caused by medications). d) Maintenance department; Maintenance staff is familiar with the logistic procedures if at all the victims needs to be ferried. The department facilitates the plan with equipment and materials that sustain the incident of the risk. Therefore, they are responsible in providing transport supplies to the victims for instance, ambulatory clinics whereby a victim receives care when he/she is referred. Crisis Management Plan for Severe Allergic Reaction caused by medication The plan involves three stages; 1) Risk Identification, 2) Creation/selection of CMT (crisis management team) and 3) setting up stakeholders. 1) Risk Identification (nature of the crisis) This is normally done under Organization Impact Analysis and evaluation of the existing strategies. For instance, in analyzing the watchfulness of an organization, in this case Yanssel Delgado Company, the principal should consider the following dockets; Does the organization have the ability to assess the potential risks that lead to injuries? Does it give a priority to treating injuries if at all the medication causes a severe ill health? Does the organization contain a reconciled system that will not compromise situations during risk mitigation? Does it have a trained CMT that can gather quickly and recommend prompt decisions and, Does the organization have an effective communication strategy that will appropriately notify an extensive range of stakeholders who are directly linked to the CMT? 2) Selection of a Crisis Management Team Leader Perhaps the president/principal of the organization is the one who should lead the team. Like any other leader, he/she should have core management skills, i.e, problem solving and decision making. This will help him/her to define a problem, focus on the potential causes, identify the alternatives, plan for the strategy and implement the best approach in crisis management. 3) Setting up of stakeholders Stakeholders are communication agents, employees, respective departments in the organization and Crisis Management Team (need to be proactive). A leader in CM Team should consult with WHO on the level of threat of sever allergic reactions caused by medication and develop a crisis management matrix as part of the plan. The matrix will take the following form; NB: development and response of the plan are based on the allergic reaction at different levels caused by medications. Lower level (0) Awareness Level one warning Level two Serious Level three Severe Level four Critical No case reported Incident rate Prevalence rate (at a small cluster) Prevalence rate (at a larger cluster) Increased cases of incidence that causes the development of CM plan. Steps in Crisis Management Implementation As a team leader it is prudent to put a systemic nature of CMT components in order during Crisis Plan Implementation process. This involves; Structure of CMT members and their responsibilities The structure of the resources allocated for the crisis Media strategy that will effectively notify members as well as stakeholders Strategic leadership course of action with both tactical and operational plans that is relevant to the crisis. As a principal as well as a leader in the CMT, Yanssel Delgado should call for a meeting in one of the rooms that will accommodate all the seven employees. Like any other meeting, a secretary should be chosen among the members while the chairman who is also the principal in the organization should precede over the meting. The following documents are presented in the meeting; Organization’s strategic plan Business Impact Analysis Plan (BIAP) Checklist for crisis management which contain; Decision-making flowchart Specific allergic protocols for instance Medical Evacuation report, Logbook/agenda Incident report on allergy Personal profile of members of crisis management team, which contains contacts, agreements and insurance policies. Implementation procedure 1) The principal sets off the Crisis Management Team when there is an emergence of a risk in the organization; in this case, the seven members in the organization are activated to respond to the emergence of allergy. 2) Public Information Officer in the team dispatches the information to trained emergency care representatives who should respond immediately to the urgent situation in the organization. 3) The team should follow the course of action derived in the plan by identifying, taking priority, allocating resources and communicating to stakeholders who are directly linked to the CMT. 4) The team should evacuate the area in which the crisis occurred in order to avoid the impulse of risk in the organization. 5) After securing the risk place, the team also should ensure that risk notification signals are offered to the public to prevent them from coming to area of crisis in the organization. After implementation, the team should ensure that there is a periodic crisis training and evaluation so that everyone in the team will understand his/her duties while managing crisis of that mode. Training will update workers on legal issues, for instance Occupational Health and Safety laws (OHS) and help them adopt the current system that develops media relation’s proficiency. Media strategy in CM Communication is the key to awareness during crisis management during planning and implementation as well. It is also a strategic approach during crisis management in any other organization. The principal should be the team’s spokesman. This is because, as a manager he/she knows all of his/her employees and their needs as well as all the departments they belong. The leader should be trained on how to handle casualty and first aid procedures since some drugs may radically affect an individual on first exposure. The leader should also have a good background on disaster preparedness and mitigation especially on crisis that results from coming in contact with drugs. Crisis communication/media plan 1. Safety President should ensure safety of all employees 2. Notification It is the responsibility of every member to notify the principal of crisis situation 3. CIT lead by Public Information Officer (PIO) Notify the stakeholders and work with communication committee in developing prints and videos of the situation. 4. Situation assessment Determine facts by developing questionnaires; What is the condition? Who wants to be drawn in? What is the immediate response? What kind of information needs to go beyond the secrecy of the organization? Who will pass the information? What media should be used when passing the information? 5. Developing useful message The message should point out the current situation in the organization. 6. Employees notification Agendas like Workers Assistance Programs (WEP) are necessary especially on such an unpredictable disaster. 7. Communication revise/update LAN communication 8. Crisis Management action Steps Evaluation and training 9. Informing partners Through official mails, phone calls 10. Documentation Filing Conclusion Therefore, as Crisis Management Team remedying allergic reactions caused by medications, print and video stimuli is recommended as the channel of communication to the stakeholders. Generally, a comprehensive Crisis Management Plan that response to unpredictable conditions, for instance severe allergic reaction caused by medication, perhaps may look different from the universal approach. However, the team composition is similar to any other Crisis Management Team. Media strategy on the other hand should assess the situation, pass the information, derive the action steps and later document the whole plan for stakeholder reference. Reference Banner, T. United Way: Crisis Communication Plan. Florida: TM publishers, 2007. Crisis Management International http://www.cmiatl.com/prepare_plan.html Colorado Non-profit Association. Crisis Communication Plan: Nonprofit Toolkit. Read More