Communicating Organizational Value through Crisis Management

1. Communicating Organizational Value through Crisis Management Lisa Patterson Phillips, PhD Director, Office of Diversity Otterbein College

2. What is a Crisis? • Definition: • A crisis is any unpredictable event that has the potential to damage an organization and in extreme cases to threaten its survival.

3. Anatomy of a Crisis • Researchers believe that crises generally fall into 11 categories. • 1. Criminal Attacks • 2. Economic Attacks • 3. Loss of Proprietary Information • 4. Industrial Disasters • 5. Natural Disasters • 6. Breaks in Equipment and Plants • 7. Legal • 8. Reputational/Perceptual • 9. Human Resources/ Occupational • 10. Health • 11. Regulatory

4. Stephen Fink Divides A Crisis into 4 Stages: • Prodromal/ Warning Stage • Warning signs that something is wrong • The Acute Crisis Stage • Shifts the focus from prevention to damage control • Looked at as “ the point of no return” • The Chronic Crisis Stage • The period in which an organization deals with long term consequences produced by the crisis • This stage can “linger indefinitely” • The Crisis Resolution Stage • When the organization is back to normal

5. Crisis Management Tools • Leadership needs to develop “emergency tool kits” to deal with crises before they happen. • These crisis management kits include: • Vigilant Problem-Solving Strategies • Action Plans • Crisis Management Teams • Designated Spokespersons • Cooperative Media Strategies • Honesty and Compassion • Image Insurance

6. Culture and Climate Understanding the Culture that we create Edgar Schein’s Model of Organizational culture Artifacts Values Basic Assumptions What do our actions Reveal? Values Basic Assumptions Artifacts

7. CASE STUDY AND DISCUSSION Applying this Model to Crisis Management

8. Summary and Closing

9. Resources Hackman, M. Z. & Johnson, C. E. (2004). Leadership: A Communication Perspective. Prospects Heights, IL: Waveland Press.