Public Relations Crisis Management Plan - Assignment Example

Public Relations Crisis Management Plan Table of Contents Public Relations Crisis Management Plan 1 Situational Analysis 1 Current Relevance 1 SWOT 1 Strengths 1 Weaknesses 2 Opportunities 2 Threats 2 Target publics 2 Primary publics 2 Secondary targets 3 Research 3 Proposed approaches 4 Recommended delivery Approaches 5 Tactics for improving communication Strategies 7 Strategies to Monitor the Effectiveness of the Implementation 8 Concluding thoughts 9 Press release 10 References 12 Public Relations Crisis Management Plan Situational Analysis Current Relevance The explosion that occurred at an oilrig in the Great Barrier Reef poses a situation that can lead to the total collapse of the company. Although Hypothetica has been absolved from all the blame, it still has a significant social responsibility to the community and the people living in this area, as well as the whole world. The company needs a form of public ‘friendship’ in order to operate efficiently in the coming years, and obtain goodwill from governments, people, consumers, workers and even environmental experts who are all closely following the developments at the Great Barrier Reef. Although the problem has been technically solved, there still lies a considerable risk for the company, basing from previous experiences. The spill that occurred at the Gulf of Mexico in an oilrig owned by the giant oil company British Petroleum led to a massive backlash from all the stakeholders. The company has faced numerous lawsuits, loss of consumer trusts and expensive compensation claims (Farrell, 2011, p.102). Although the crisis at Great Barrier Reef is of a different scale compared to BP’s, there is a need to ensure that it is managed effectively to mitigate negative impaction. SWOT Strengths Hypothetica has managed to seal the exploded well; hence, there is no risk of further damage to the environment. In addition, the assessment of its other rigs throughout the world shows that there is no further risk to such a situation occurring and all the safety standards are keenly followed. Weaknesses The company has already lost some employees and in the disaster and the massive spill has already taken some months to stop. An extensive damage to the ecosystem has already occurred. Opportunities Although damage has already occurred, the Australian government has been supportive, and everyone applauds the company’s effort to stop the leak. The company can use this opportunity and the media attention that it is receiving to portray itself positively among the people, hence helping to improve its brand name (Reid, 2006, p.75). Threats The company is the obvious target for blame for all the events that have transpired and almost everyone is expecting that the company will own up to the mistake. There is also a risk that people are viewing the situation from the mindset that was formed after the spill that occurred at the gulf of Mexico pitying a corporation against the government, environmental organizations and the public. Target publics Primary publics The main targets for the crisis communication are the government leaders, trade unions and the environmental concern groups. This is because they are the influential groups that understand the magnitude of the problem and are in the places of influence to the public (Lawrence & Dan, 2005, p. 211). Trade unions need to be ensured of the safety of workers, considering that six people died in the accident, while the government is the one expected by the public to act on their behalf. The environmental watch groups are also extremely active since there has been a considerable damage to the environment. Securing support from these groups will almost automatically mean support from everybody. These groups will demand a lot of accountability from the company and are the ones who may initiate lawsuits (Dennis, 2004, p.54). Secondary targets The secondary targets are groups of people that are directly affected, but cannot face the company themselves other than through the groups mentioned in the primary targets. These include the people living around this area and the ones who derive their livelihood from fishing and other activities related to the ocean (Noel, 2001, p. 9). These are the ones who are mostly affected by the problems, but the company cannot handle them individually owing to their numbers. These people feel that the company has destroyed their livelihood and would undoubtedly expect compensation. Research Disasters similar to this once have occurred in several cases in the world. However, main oils spills in the world have been caused by tanker accidents in the high seas as well as cases of sabotage as it happened during the Gulf war. The leading oil spills from exploded rigs include the Ixtoc 1 oil well at the Bay of Campeche in Mexico, the Fergana valley spill in Uzbekistan, and the BP’s Gulf of Mexico spill. The earlier two did not receive much public attention as the BP case, and the clean up exercises were not as highly developed compare to the current situation. However, today’s world demands more accountability from companies and this is the reason why a case like the one involving BP in the gulf of Mexico have been met with strict public demand for accountability. It would be expected that the same will be replicated to Hypothetica Oil Company. All the oil spill disasters that have occurred involving rig explosion bring with them two serious challenges. First, the spill will continue going on until the rig is effectively sealed. Even after this is done, there is still a possibility that it can reoccur again owing to the intense pressures involved. In addition, the work is done underwater, thus requiring some specialized skills and equipment for people to work with. The second challenge is the tendency of oil to spread over water extremely quickly. This happens because oil floats on water, and in some cases, the spread is aided by ocean currents. In order to deal with the situation, involved companies have had to use the media as their main tool to keep people continually involved in the situation as well as helping to build public trust. The companies have worked hard to show the outside world that they are doing their best to contain the situation and nothing is being left unattended. Others like BP went ahead to hire expert public relations officers who would help to pass information accurately and in a manner that posed least consequences to the company. In addition, the companies have engaged in genuine and thorough efforts to tackle the spill. BP used all the means available, enlisting the help from various sources. The most valuable thing was to ensure the public that something was being done. Doing something to control the spill and mitigate the consequences of the spill is not enough, but there is a need to make the stakeholders involved know what you are doing and thus gain their full support. Proposed approaches In order to gain the support of the audience, various persuasion tactics must be applied in the crisis communication. These will help the target group not just to show sympathy for Hypothetica Oil Company, but take up the responsibility of clearing up the spill and doing the damage control since they are in the position to do so in their own scale. Matters involving environmental cleanup can draw a lot of support from different people since they take it upon themselves to be their responsibility to clean up the environment. First, sufficient facts about the crisis must be availed. All the facts should be given in time so that there will be no chance for speculation. By doing so, the company will risk facing lawsuits from different quarters, but on the other hand, failure to do so will not make things any better. Giving facts will also help the target audience to feel that the company is fully concerned and there is nothing to hide. Additionally, it will ensure that the information that is given in the media is accurate, leaving no chance for incorrect information to be passed on to people (Fink, 2000, p. 2). This will also help to influence people’s public opinion on issues concerning the disaster and Hypothetica Company. The company’s commitment to solving the problems must also be portrayed in the most visible manner. This calls for the spokesperson for the crisis to be identified as the company, so that even his feeling about the situation will be identified as the company’s feeling. Use of emotions can significantly help to solicit for help from people who are concerned, and it will reaffirm the company’s commitment towards solving the crisis. Delivering the message can be done in a personalized way, thus help the audience to identify with the problem facing the company in dealing with the problem. The image that needs to be created of Hypothetica oil company is that of a person who is working hard to help prevent a natural calamity from affecting unsuspecting people, and thus he requires a lot of assistance to succeed in his noble cause. The company must be viewed as one that at the moment is more concerned about the welfare of other people, than just staying afloat and making profits. Recommended delivery Approaches By understanding by the Target Publics and what research is needed to determine the magnitude of the issue, several delivery approaches are recommended. First, there needs to be a dedicated spokesperson for the company who shall have the responsibility of communicating all the issues concerning the crisis to the public. Such an individual should superior from the company who can command authority and respect. Additionally, he should be in a position to explain most of the technical issues concerning the disaster. This person shall serve as the face of the campaign (Devlin, 2006, p.43). In addition, other assistants who can be able to answer questions that are more technical or that need some form of specialized attention must accompany the person. This is because the spokesperson may not be in a position to handle these questions in depth if he or she is not a specialist in the field. These secondary spokespersons can include a rig engineers and oil clean up experts. The forms of media to be used to pass information will include the print and electronic media. Use of press conferences will be useful since it will help to get information passed in virtually all forms of media, hence communicate to an enormous audience simultaneously. However, in order to pass specific information, dedicated advertisements must be used. The best of these can be done using the daily newspapers, where the company can buy space and offer information. This is a bit expensive compared to other forms like holding a press conference; since the press conference makes the information you have to be aired free of charge by the media houses (Bartram, 1999, p. 312). Paid advertisements in the newspapers are the best when passing official information. The television and radio can be used to reach the secondary publics, who include the ‘small people’ that are affected by the oil spill. This can be utilized for the enlightenments that are meant to improve public opinion for the company. The company will also capitalize the use of online resources. A dedicated website page for the crisis communication needs to be set up. In a world where there is increased use of online media and where matters such as this are of global concern, the website will be in a position to offer first-hand information to the reporters and concerned people all around the world. To make it effective, the website will be updated regularly, or as soon as there is new information to pass, making sure that old information does not make the website irrelevant. In another similar way, use of social media has gained momentum in the world and therefore, it would be beneficial for the company to come up with a page in social Medias like Facebook and Twitter (Brogan, 2010, p.41). These will not only pass information to people, but will in addition help to get feedback from people and get useful information that can help to mitigate the damage to the relationship between the company and the public. Tactics for improving communication Strategies Preparation for communication is as indispensable as any other process involved in communication. The speaker needs to be well prepared in advance so that he or she can handle all the issues that arise in the course of interviews or press conferences. The information that will be passed in the press release must be thoroughly read and understood, so as to gain public confidence and ensure that the information will be useful and achieve the aim of the communication process. The speaker needs to maintain a composed form all through, even when there is considerable pressure from the outside. This pressure is can arise due to unpreparedness, or just through the overwhelming questions that are going to be asked during the press conferences. To be able to with stand these, the speaker should first rehearse answers to probable questions that will be asked. This can involve having a team that will think about all the possible difficult questions that will be asked in advance, then rehearsing the answers in time so that during preparation the speaker will be confident. In addition, the information to be communicated must be arranged in an organised way in order to make presentation easy. All information to be posted on the website must be vetoed by the relevant authorities, in order to ensure that it meets all the standards necessary and it does not back fire. As part of the communication campaign, Hypothetica will include an information technology team that will assist to make sure that information is accurately posted on the website and it serves the purpose it is meant for. The social media pages also need a form of control, so that it will not be used negatively by people who want to pass malicious information, or be involved in exchange of words (Suresh, 2009, p.102). This can initiate a harmful effect to the company. Other media to be used for communication should be synchronised to ensure that they pass the same message all through. It is essential to ensure that even people attending to telephone hotlines concerning the crisis are part of the communication team and have up to date information. Failure to do this may bring a hazard that the company will not be able to give the consistent information. Strategies to Monitor the Effectiveness of the Implementation Monitoring the effectiveness of the communication campaign can be done in various ways. The press conferences that are held can be deemed successful if they are able to meet the needs of those being addressed. It will be necessary to assess if people are satisfied by the answers given and if they are not, an analysis should be done to ascertain what makes them not satisfied. The mood of a press conference will also tell if the information passed was effective. When many questions are asked, it could imply that the company is not meeting the information needs of all the concerned people (Regester & Larkin, 2005, p.32). The effectiveness of websites and social media pages can be determined by checking the user feedbacks as well as the comments posted here. The best strategy is for the communication team to think of all the answers to the questions before they are asked, so that they will provide all the necessary information beforehand. Concluding thoughts In the effort to save face after the oil spill, Hypothetica must learn from other companies that have gone through similar crisis and develop a system that will ensure that genuine needs of the concerned people are met. The company must stretch its limit of providing information and acting to clear the mess caused by the disaster, by staying proactive and not reactive to demands of the people. This way, it will appear responsible and having the needs of the affected people in mind, and not just a large corporation that is out to save face and avoid lawsuits. Press release Hypothetica Oil Company MEDIA RELEASE MASSIVE OIL CLEAN-UP TO BEGIN What: Cleaning up the Great Barrier Reef after the oil spill When: Where: Great Barrier Reef Who: Hypothetica Oil Company in conjunction with various concerned stakeholders Story Lines: Hypothetica Oil Company wishes to inform the public that the oil leak at the Great Barrier Reef has been conclusively sealed. This follows months of intensive works done by our rig engineers, who have been working almost day and night to ensure that the disaster is stopped. We have launched a massive cleanup campaign that will see that the oil remaining on the water is cleared. We urge for patience during the month long exercise Contact: (Name), Phone: Email: References Bartram, P. (1999). 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