Public Relations - Crisis Management - Coursework Example

PUBLIC RELATION-CRISIS MANAGEMENT Name Course Tutor Date Introduction Travel sector is one of the sectors in tourism industry main concerned with transportation of services. It is the sector that provides movement, comfort and enjoyments of the tourists. Travelling involves all modes of transport i.e. air, water and land. Records reveal that a land transport sector is the most commonly used mode of transport in the tourism sector. This is because tourism tends to visits places to see natural beautiful sceneries in various regions. Thus, land transport means such as roads and railway are the most appropriate and convenient for such travels. This sector is also divided into subsectors, they include; food services, travel agencies, lodgings, sports an entertainment, car rental etc. Travel sector in the tourism industry like other sectors tend to encounter crisis that sometimes can make the operations to come to stand still. This paper focuses on crisis management in case a crisis hits an organization. The term crisis can be defined as a calling situation that requires some urgency in action to reverse the prevailing situation back to normal. In other terms, crisis is unstable condition that faces the organization and seems to be a threat to the operation of that organization. This unstable situation ought to be acted upon by the stakeholders as fast as possible to return the normal conditions or else it leads to the collapse of the entire organization (Boin, 2008, p2). The definition of the term crisis enables us now to understand what is meant by crisis management which is the process of manipulating the crisis condition to return back the normal conditions. In other words, crisis management is the process that helps to identify the likely causes of the unstable condition and ways of alleviating this condition to bring back stability. One of the ways used in crisis management is public relation. Public relation is the practice of striving to maintain a healthy relationship between organizations and its employees, customers, investors, partners and other stake holders. The activities in public relation aim at issuing the correct and timely information to the targeted audience (Cornelisen, 201,P24). his means that this practice aims at maintaining the brand image of a particular organization to in the eyes of the public and any other stakeholders. Some of the activities that enhances the firm’s image are; addressing the media, speaking in various conferences and seminars, advertisement, corporate social responsibility, introduction of various social schemes for employees and customers etc Crisis management practices Organizational stakeholders have a big responsibility of managing the crisis that may strike the organization. Some of the practices that occur during the process of crisis management are; first, scenario planning (Cornelisen, 201, P78). This is done before any crisis strikes. Firms need to assess and predicts the likely crisis that may befall them. This helps them to plan and know how to handle that situation in case it comes true. This means that the management of firms should consider the issue of crisis management well in advance so that to put in place the necessary precautionary measures that would alleviate the problem when it come. The second practice is identification and acknowledgment of the problem (Cornelisen, 201, P67). This occurs when the crisis has now occurred. The stakeholders should examine the problem carefully to understand what caused the problem and the magnitude of the problem. The faster the firm would sum up the problem with accuracy, the easier it will be to limit the losses. In this practice, there is no time wasting because the disaster would have hit and it would be causing a lot of damages within the shortest time. This means that speedy reaction and decision making would relieve the situation. Thirdly, the team members should recognize and implement actions to remedy the problem. This is done by looking at the past scenario and identifying protocols and resources to take the actions. Fourthly, the crisis management team should communicate meaningful remedies in creative ways. This is where public relation comes in. The team members need to communicate effectively to the affected individuals be it the customers, employees, investors or the suppliers. Another practice during this situation is developing an integrated on-line and offline strategies that would assist in cooling down the storm (Cornelisen, 201,P23). Then the last practice is learning from experience. When the crisis subsides, the management team need to revisit their scenario and try to peruse the actions they took to the really situation that was prevailing. They should note down some of the strength and weaknesses they had to learn from them so that when the situation recurs in future, they would be in position to handle it effectively. As we can see, the practices of crisis management need people who are sharp minded, people who can act and make credible decisions that would save the situation within the shortest time possible. Principles of crisis management Crisis management discipline has its own principles that guide the team in managing the crisis effectively. The first principle of is known as “do no harm.” This is a principle for planning evaluation and the adaptation of international aid for crisis management (One Up Web, 2007, P1). The principle requires the crisis management team should know that external assistance tend to come with sides effects. This means that when acting against a crisis, one should take care not to cause more harm to the already unstable situation. The team members are expected to be extra careful when handling the situation. For example when there is an accident that has cost the lives of people and big losses, those people managing the situation should ensure that they do not cause more death or other damages to the property when they are controlling the situation. The second principle of crisis management is human security; this is more related to the first one. Human security here means protection from physical force, protection of freedom of fear and protection of hardships and deprivation (One Up Web, 2007, P1). This principle majorly concentrates in the protection of and safety of the human beings in case of a crisis. It has aimed at the protection the security and the empowerment of those affected. This principle of human security requires an integrated and multi-sector approach to action. The third principle f crisis management is local ownership. This principle is a result oriented and normative concept; it demands the involvement of local actors. The principle of local ownership designates the process as well as the objective of the gradual takeover of the responsibility by the local actors (One Up Web, 2007, P1). This principle is a prerequisite for peace keeping and sustainability. Local ownership principle is quite important in realms of peace building and in fact, it has been an ingredient for the development of cooperation. Local ownership through groups such as “help for self help”, participatory development has indeed maintained peace for several decades. Another principle is the protection of the civilian. This principle applies in where there is an armed conflict crisis here the civilians are likely to be harmed by armed parties. This principle applies to the police and military mission components. They are supposed to guarantee the protection of the civilian (One Up Web, 2007, P1).This principle works well if it is supported by political; measures and coordinated through the activities of humanitarian actors. In conflict territories, the civilians are always the victims of the targeted violence. They can be harassed in a number of ways. It can be through sexual abuse, displacement, killing etc. Therefore, the protection of civilian principle is aimed at safeguarding the citizens who can not protect themselves from the harm that is caused by the conflicts. The last principle in crisis management is the responsibility to protect. This principle aims to protect and prevent the most serious violations of human rights (One Up Web, 2007, P1). In regard to this principle, every nation is supposed and expected to protect its population from external harm. In case the state is not in a capability of protecting its citizens, the international community should do so where necessary. This principle of protection of the population emanated from the discussion on the humanitarian intervention. The discussion state that every state has the responsibility of protecting its population, the international intervention is only sought when the local teams are not in a position to do so because of the magnitude of the crisis. Natural disasters In natural disasters such as the Hurricane, the Tsunami and the Earthquake tend to present really challenges to the crisis management team. This is because they our on large scale paralyzing a number of countries. Multiple damages are incurred in such kind of disasters. Human life is lost, properties are destroyed, and infrastructures are damaged. Due to the magnitude and large scale of natural disasters when they occur, the crisis management team tends to have big problem when handling the situation. Some of the stakeholders during the natural crisis include the women, children, governmental agencies and non governmental agencies. In most cases when a disaster hit, women and children are the ones who suffer a lot a lot. Children miss their education, good care and other basic needs. Women are believed to accompany their children they suffer together with children by lacking basic needs that can sustain them during the crisis. In communicating for example when there is a natural disaster that has hit a village, crisis management team be it a governmental agency or a non governmental agency can use media such as radio, mobile phones and television to communicate with the facetted persons. Communication to the victims will give them courage and hope to withstand the disaster. The management team should always communicate any development regarding the situation so that the victims can respond appropriately. When there are more signs of continuing of the damages, they should come over and try to advise on what is supposed to be done to avoid more damages (Redy, et al. 2008, P46). For example, when there has been an earthquake, the saving team should come over and try to tell people to vacate from those building that have been weakened by the earthquake since they can collapse at any time and cause more damage. They should direct them where to go and offer them with the basic materials such as food and wears to protect them from bad weather. Furthermore, the team should pan on how to educate the affected population on the signs of a disaster so that in case the disaster recurs they should know on how to conduct themselves. Terrorist attack Terrorists attack is another common contemporary crisis; terrorism come is different dimension. It can be a major attack that destroys property and kills many people and other small scale which cause less damage. Regardless of the magnitude, they should be taken with a lot of seriousness in handling them. A major terrorist attack such as that of 9/11 in USA actually was a big crisis that presented great challenges to the rescuers. In such attacks, many people die, a lot of property is destroyed and brings a lot of confusion in the entire system. The stakeholders in such crisis are civilians, students, businessmen, employees, and children. This means that in such a large scale disaster, every individual within the locally is affected directly or indirectly (Redy, et al. 2008, P 123).. Children may be disrupted in their education programs; employees may lose their jobs due to big losses to the firms. Businessmen may loose customers due to fear and displacement and the important institutions stop operations due to the damages done to their infrastructures. Government’s businesses are interrupted leading to low economic growth due to the big losses that have been incurred. Therefore, in crisis such as terrorists attack, the damage cuts across every individual and institution. The main rescuers or crisis management team in this kind of crisis are the governmental agencies, non governmental organization, international agencies such as Red Cross (Redy, et al. 2008, P76). They intervene in the situation to prevent more damages and handle those affected to that they can have some comfort. They can use media such as radio, mobile phones and newspapers to notify people on the events that are taking place and advise tem on what is supposed to be done to avoid more harm. The government should use its military force to keep people off the place of the disaster so that they may not interrupt with the evidences that would assists in identifying who might have caused the problem Volcanic ash cloud This is another natural crisis that causes a lot of damage and losses. In occurred in Europe in 2010 and had a great impact to the economic performance of Europe. Volcanic ash cloud erupts and fills the atmosphere with making it hard for aircrafts to fly. In fact, in 2010 when the volcanic eruptions occurred in Europe, many airline companies such as Ryanair and British airways cancelled their flights. They canceled for several weeks before their flights resumes. This is to show that big losses were incurred due to volcanic eruption, people failed to reach their destination in time. Records reveal that airline industry contributes to about 5% o the Europe gross domestic product (GDP). This means that when the eruptions occurred an the airline companies could not operate, the economy was to some extend affected. The main stakeholders in this crisis are the farmers, who carry out farming around the volcanic scene, school going children, and the entire village where the volcano has erupted. Therefore, through public relations the crisis management team passes out the relevant information that would help the victims to evade he damages. Through media such as radio, news papers and mobile phones, the stakeholders would be advised on how to conduct themselves around the place. The death of a customer in a resort It also another crisis incident that tend to happen in our daily life. A strange person is found dead and his identity is unknown. This actually is a crisis though is not like the first ones that affects many people at once. The stakeholders to this situation are the family members of deceased person and the owner of the business where the customer was found dead. The crisis management team within the organization would use media such as radio, and television to announce the incident so that the family of the dead person can be identified. When the identity of the person is found, the owner of the business would have to take the responsibility of looking for the relatives or the family members of this dead body so that they can arrange on how to collect him. Some times when the identity is not found, the owner of the premises must report to the relevant authority such as the police ad disclose all the information he might known about his client. In simple terms, we are saying that the stakeholders most especially the owner of the resort should play an active role to ensure that crisis is managed well. Conclusion Crisis management is one of the modern management tools that are used to management organizations. Crisis management as defined is the monitoring and controlling the worst situation that has occurred within the organization to ensure that it is contained not to continue causing more damages. This management process has its own principles and practices that ought to be adhered to it by the crisis management team. One of the methods that are used in crises management is establishing a good public relation system where the management team can reach all the stakeholders to advice them on what to do during and after the crisis. 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