PR practitioners have a responsibility in a crisis to give the rest of the manag

Question

PR practitioners have a responsibility in a crisis to give the rest of the management team insight and information. PR practitioners should also consider “nimbus” publics. These are publics that were not designated recipients of messages, activities, or products/services of the organization, but who nevertheless become activated by the crisis. Imagine you are a PR professional for an organization that has just experienced a crisis, such as Toyota’s recall of cars because the accelerator pedals stuck or the Goldman Sachs and Merrill Lynch financial crises.

Write a 1-2 page paper answering all of the below questions.

Identify the organization and situation you are imagining.

Describe who the stakeholders are in the organization.

Explain in detail how you will show sensitivity to the needs of all stakeholders.

Why is sensitivity to the needs of all stakeholders key?

Explanation / Answer

Situation: Major shipping organisation xyz has been hit by ransomware virus. Due to this situation the backoffice of the oraganisation is not able to function. It has also resulted in ships getting stranded in ports and customers who have done bookings with the company aren't able to get updated on their goods. The company is also not able to take any additional bookings due to the systems being down.

Stakeholders: Customers whose bookings are in transit.
Workers who are not able to do their usual work and are waiting for the systems to get back to the normal state.
Company's shareholders who are worried about company's shares which could be negatively impacted due to the fear of loss in company's revenue.

Sensitivity to the stakeholders:
Customers: Customers should be contacted as soon as possible. The communication should be formal and the customers should be given a berief description about the problem. They should be assured that their goods are safe. If possible, a POC(Point of contact) should be given to each customer to make sure they can contact that POC in case of any doubts. The communication should be continuous and any major positive update should be given to customers. Customers should be warned about any rumours and it should be made sure that any negative news should not go to customers(exception: If there is a major negative impact).

Workers: The workers here could be divided into two parts:

1) Workers who are working on ships and will need special support in terms of navigation and other support. These workers should be given priority and proper communication channel should be established with them. First priority should be to make sure that these workers remain safe and should be assured that nothing bad will happen to them. As soon as possible, future line of action should be communicated to them.

2) Offshore workers: Managers should try to coomunicate with their teams and they should be the only POC for their reportees. The workers should be told about the situation and warned regarding rumours. Any important piece of news should be communicated through safe passages.

Shareholders: The shareholders can be communicated individually or could be communicated through a press conference. Press conference should not highlight the negative issues much and it should be ensured that it doesn't impact company's prestige in negative manner.

Sensitivity to the need of stakeholders is important because alll the stakeholders are essential for company's success. If the needs of stakeholders are not taken into consideration then it might lead to panic situations and could have a negative impact on company's crediblity. It might also lead to dissatisaction among stakeholders and will eventually impact company's future business.
If the stakeholders are handled well during these situations then it might lead to increase in confidence in company and future credibiltiy of company will be impacted in a good manner.

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