Crisis Management in the Organization Research Paper

Crisis management

Crisis definition

This is the process by which a company handles an unexpected situation or event that threatens its existence. Crisis management consists of ways of response to the crisis in both reality and perception.

Crisis is an unexpected catastrophe happening in or to a company and it threatens the operations of the company. Such situations are fires, floods, cutthroat competitions, inflation or deflation, misconduct of company or its management and even external confrontation. Wormald an Australian company is mostly involved with fires and equipment involved (Gottschalk, p.256).

What is a company crisis?

This is an unstable situation in a company and it affects its daily activities. These situations are unpredictable. Wormalds deals with fire fighting and prevention. It was established 120 years ago and is found in 80 countries. It has sophisticated equipment for this and also very highly trained staff (www.tycon.com)

‘Characteristics of a crisis’

Crisis has four major principles. The first being that crisis is unexpected and out of routine. It creates uncertainty and is seen as a threat to company’s’ achievements is the third. “The fourth is that a crisis creates a need for transformation: change of old system to a new one” (Williams, p. 400)

Theory – crisis management & planning

There is not a single company that will look forward to having a crisis since it causes disaster for it. Wormalds has its machinery always ready and its staff, to attend emergencies. The company has a program that trains emergency response, warden and fire extinguisher training, evacuation procedures, breathing apparatus and confined space training. They also have emergency numbers for emergencies services (Lee, p.106).

Guidelines and Preparation

A company should prepare contingency plans in prior. The team involved should rehearse the plan creating a drill a service that Wolmad offers to companies. Wormalds considers having portable equipment as the first line of defense and enables response (www.wormalds.com)

Goals of crisis management

Crisis management enables a company to prevent further destruction by responding quickly.It also aimed at preventing extensive media coverage that may damage the company’s reputation. It prevents too much government involvement which can even lead to a close down or receivership. “Management of crisis provides the best response to the situation” (Coombs, p.125)

Stakeholder Strategy

“Stakeholders are the parties that are impacted by a company’s actions or operations.” They have direct or indirect stake in a company. Wormalds stakeholders are;

Table 1 (Title) communication

Wormald’s ensures that they are all informed on the situations arising and they have the right information too (Marra, p. 475)

Crisis management strategies

The following are some of the crisis management strategies used by Wormalds.

Table 2 (Title)

All strategies should be directed to handling the situation (Coombs, p. 279)

Crisis Management Team

In times of crisis, Wormald’s selects a team to take care of issues as they occur. The team comprises of a group of competent decision makers who can assess the situation and determine the extent of the crisis (Pious, 96).

Table 3 (Title)

Every member of the team should be committed to finding a solution and implementing it (Kauffman, p. 425).

Media Management Strategies

The media will always be involved in any kind of crisis despite the company laws, or magnitude of the situation. There should be strategy to handle that, Wormalds is secretive with its client information both in crisis and in normal operations. (www.wormalds.com)

Table 4 (Title) Media principles

Crisis Preparation

This is ensuring that a company is prepared for any unexpected event that may affect its operations. The following are the procedures are provided by Wormalds.

Table 5 (Title)

Wormalds encourages contingency planning which is planning in advance through drills and preparing a crisis plan.

Crisis Communication

This is designed to protect and defend a company facing a crisis. It can be investigation by authorities, allegations, a lawsuit or the media.

Table 6 (Title)

According to Wormalds, good crisis communication can transform the unexpected into the anticipated and save the company’s credibility and reputation.(Burnett, p. 75)

Crisis Evaluation

Crisis is part of its management and it involves imposing laws to ensure that there is a great concentration on the public’s welfare. Wormalds is always determined to protect the community.

Table 1 (Title)

Crisis evaluation enables the management to implement recommendations presented so as to prevent a similar occurrence in future hence protecting the community around the company.

Conclusion

Wormald is a company that values its staff and is, committed to enhancing its capability through accrediting its staff, regular internal audits, equipment monitoring and servicing. The company strives to provide an integrated service to its client, and most of all peace if mind.

Works Cited

Burnett, Jeffrey. Strategic Approach to managing Crises. Wiley: New York. 1998. Print.

Coombs, White. Communications and Attributions in a Crisis. Springer: MA,1996. Print.

Coombs, White. “Information and comparison in crisis response.” Journal of Public Crisis forecasting, 3.75 (2005): 52-56. Print.

Gottschalk, Jack. Crisis Management. John Wiley & Sons: Hoboken, 2002. Print.

Kauffman, John. “Crisis Communications Regarding Apollo.” A Public Relations Review, 25.4 (1998): 421-432. Print.

Lee, Jares. “Crisis management.” Journal of Public Relations Research. 11.3 (2001): 243-271. Print.

Marra, Faith. Crisis communication plans. Learn: MA,1998. Print.

Pious, R, M. The Cuban missile crisis and the limits of crisis management. Learn: MA, 2001.Print

Regester, Michael & Larkin, Judy. Risk issues and crisis management. Kogan Page Publishers: New York, 2002. Print.

Williams, Olaniran. Expanding Crisis Planning function. University of Cambridge: New York. 1998. Print.