Strategic Risk Decision Making - Essay Example

Strategic Risk Decision Making Name Institution Tutor Date Introduction A crisis is bound to take place in any organization. As a result, the response taken and the words used by the management of the organization can impact the manner in which different stakeholders view the organization. The Coombs Situational Crisis Communication Theory (SCCT) provides useful strategies that can be used to communicate a crisis facing an organization. There is need to protect the image of the organization, while at the same time adopt suitable strategies that can reduce the negative effects caused by the crisis (Coombs, 2004). This paper examines a crisis that has occurred in my organization. The scope of the paper recommends the response strategies to be adopted in the crisis. A justification for adopting the response strategies and the media that will be used to deliver the message is also proposed. The Response strategies to be adopted Mortification Strategies According to Coombs (1995) the mortification strategies endeavor to acknowledge the crisis and seek forgiveness from the public. What is evident is that the company is actually responsible for what transpired. Foremost, it is important to acknowledge that there is true evidence that supports the fact that a leak occurred. Three employees have also been critically injured and formaldehyde has entered the nearby river killing fish stocks. Consequently, there is need to seek for forgiveness from the public. Secondly, the company needs to seek for forgiveness because a major damage has been caused to both the employees and the fish stocks. Formaldehyde as the key product of the company is actually a hazardous chemical that can affect both the environment and human health. The second onsite leak that has taken place due to damage of an onsite storage tank, has resulted to more damage. Consequently, there is need for company to acknowledge the crisis and seek for forgiveness from the public. In order to seek forgiveness one of the approaches that I will adopt as the Managing Director of the company is repentance. The company has a history of a leak that took place three years ago. A second leak definitely implies that both the public and a section of the community that has been protesting the existence of the company are greatly offended. Consequently, an immediate reaction after the crisis is to repent. I will therefore come out and provide a statement that indicates that the company is indeed remorseful about the leak. Repenting about the incident does not actually indicate that what took place was done intentionally but rather it shows that the company does acknowledge that a mistake took place. Remediation is another approach that I would take as a manager. Remediation basically involves providing assistance or compensation to the affected victims. The accident that occurred has resulted to injury on some of the employees. Consequently, I will communicate to the affected employees that the company is willing to assist them and compensate them on the damage caused. For instance the company will pay the medial bill incurred by the victims. In addition, the company will ascertain that the employees are fully compensated for the damage caused. Also the company will conduct an intense follow up on the health condition of the employees. The company cannot offer remediation for the fish killed after formaldehyde entered the nearby river killing fish stocks. Coombs,( 2004) highlights that when a crisis entails the tampering of product or in this case the death of organisms such as fish , the reputation of the organization is usually at risk. This is because if stakeholders believe that the company was able to control the crisis yet they did not, thus, the organization is responsible for the crisis. With a history of occurrence of such a crisis, it also becomes more difficult for the organization to maintain a positive reputation. As a manager, I would therefore opt to adopt ways of remediation by stating that the company will up the river from the formaldehyde that has entered the river. This will ascertain that the remaining fish are not affected by the chemical. Taking action to ensure that the crisis does not take place again is another appropriate method that I can use. This measures basically involves rectification. There are various measures I would adopt in order to ensure that the crisis does not occur again. I will communicate to the stakeholders that I will appoint a task force to investigate why the leak occurred and what measures what not put in place to prevent such as occurrence. I will then use the findings of the task force to ensure that corrective measures are put in place to ascertain that such a crisis will not take place ever again. Integration Strategies Integration strategies aim at getting the approval of the community and stakeholders by connecting the organization to activities that are valued by the public. Although the company has committed an offence against the public and the environment, what is evident is that various positive contributions have also been made by the company. The company employees approximately 1250 people and majority of these people are actually from the nearby area. The company is actually the main employer in the region. As the manager I will therefore ensure that I inform the public concerning the positive contributions that the company has done to the community. By reminding the community of the existing positive things that the company has contributed to the community I will have adopted the bolstering strategy. Another response strategy that can be used in the existing crisis is the transcendence approach. The approach entails trying to put the crisis in a more desirable perspective (Ying-Hsuan, 2007). I will put the crisis in a desirable manner by stating that although Formaldehyde as the key product of the company is a harmful product that has actually affected the fish stocks in the river, however the employment provided from the processing of Formaldehyde is much more beneficial to the community than the fish. This is because the employment opportunities offered to the people promotes the economic survival of many people in the community. I would also make the crisis be depicted in a more desirable way by stating that leakage can actually be corrected and the fish will be able to reproduce again as a result, the company should be given an opportunity to continue its operations but in a more careful manner without a repeated occurrence of harming the fish. Also, concerning injured employees, I will argue that industrial accidents often take place within the workplace. Some arise from the actions of employees while other arise from external factors that are not influenced by the actions of the employees. There is therefore need to perceive the crisis just like any other occupational health and safety problem that will be resolved as soon as possible. I will also use the praise strategy as a significant way of gaining the approval and support of a section of the public who have supported the organization. Although, a section of the community oppose the existence of the company in the area, nevertheless there is a section of the community that still believes that the company is valuable to them. I will however praise the entire community for their continued support of the organization. I will make the community aware of the fact that they are important to the company and our existence in the region is mainly attributed to their continued support. I will also praise the local authority who have not relocated the company to another area, based on the fact that they are aware of the contributions made by the company in terms of offering employment opportunities. Justification of the Selected Strategies The response strategies adopted for these crisis are justified. One of the reasons is because there is evidence of the occurrence of a crisis that has high attribution of crisis responsibility. The company has a history of a leak of Formaldehyde. As a result the company should have placed adequate measures to prevent a repeated occurrence of the leak. In the event that another leak takes place then the company is actually fully responsible for the occurrence of the incident. Using strategies that aim at distancing the organizations from the crisis would therefore not work for this scenario. Consequently, the use of mortification and integration strategies are more viable. This is because the strategies acknowledge the crisis and try to win the stakeholders perspective despite of the existing damage. Furthermore, The SCCT theory propagates that the more the public assigns the responsibility for the crisis to the company, the more the accommodative the messages after the crisis should be. The strategies are also justified due to their compliance to the situational crisis communication theory (SCCT). The situational crisis communication theory (SCCT) posits an audience –centered approach to crisis communication. It focuses on the manner in which stakeholders respond to a crisis and the best approach that an organization can adopt in order to restore their reputation (Amiso and Pratt, 1997). It can be stated that the mortification strategy is an audience centered approach. This is because it is mostly centered on influencing the views of the stakeholders who are the main audience. For instance when the organization acknowledges the crisis and asks for forgiveness it then implies that the organization actually cares about the state and views of the stakeholders. Mortification strategies also aim at restoring the reputation of the organization as a result it is a justified approach (Amiso and Pratt, 1997). In most cases when a crisis occurs, essentially one that could have been prevented, the reputation of the organization is bound to be damaged. Consequently the best strategies should be those that can restore the damaged reputation. Mortification and integration strategies are effective in restoring the reputation of the company. This is because they aim at rebuilding the reputation of the company. For instance the use of an integration strategy such as praise assists in rebuilding the relationship between the stakeholders and the organization because they will feel appreciated. Media Used to Deliver the Message One of the approaches in which the organization can use to deliver the message is through developing a separate website that can be used for communicating the crisis to the public. According to a study by Kent and Taylor (2007) the use of a crisis website is a useful approach for communicating to the public during a crisis. This is because the website offers the company a platform that can be used to fully communicate what transpired during the crisis and the views of the organization concerning the crisis. Through the website the company can provide its side of the story which may also include quotations from the manager. Also the internet provides a platform for interaction whereby the company can interact with the stakeholders in order to save its reputation. I will therefore direct the crisis manager to communicate to the public through the website. The use of intranet sites is another viable media that can be used in order to communicate the crisis. Intranet sites are usually limited to only certain stakeholders. In the context of this crisis it is also very vital to communicate to the employees on the issue. This is because some of the employees were injured in the crisis. The intranet will provide an effective platform of informing the employees that the organization will take care of the welfare of the injured employees and also put mechanisms to ensure that such a crisis will not take place again. Additionally, the intranet can be used to communicate to the local authority. It is essential to let the local authority be aware of what took place and how the organization is taking responsibility of the crisis. Conclusion The paper has recommended two key strategies that can be used to communicate after the crisis situation. The two strategies include; mortification and integration strategies. Additionally, the paper has justified why the two strategies are appropriate. Also, the paper recommends the use of a crisis website and the intranet as the main media for communication. In conclusion, it can be stated that effective crisis communication is significant. References Amiso, G and Pratt, C, 1997, Case Studies in Crisis Communication: International Perspectives on Hits and Misses. Routledge. Coombs, W. T. 1995. “Choosing the right words: The development of guidelines for the selection of the “appropriate” crisis response strategies”. Management Communication Quarterly, 8: 447-476. Coombs, T, 2004, Impact of past crises on current crisis communication, Journal of Business Communication, 41,( 3). Kent, L and Taylor, M, 2007, Taxonomy of mediated crisis responses, Public Relations Review, 33, p140-146. Ying-Hsuan Lin , 2007, Testing the Effects of Apology and Compassion Response in Product-harm Crises in Situational Crisis Communication Theory, Michigan State University, Read More