[CM] [CMS] What Crisis Strategy to be Adopted? Crisis Response After Preventive Measure Fails

Crisis Response Strategy

In managing a crisis, it is essential to realise that the immediate goal of any CM Plan should encompass rapid resolution.

To end a crisis as quickly as possible, an organisation must seek to defuse it, thereby maintaining its integrity and credibility.

If possible, the crisis should be turned from a negative experience into a positive experience for the organisation.

Basic Crisis Response Strategy

In dealing with a crisis, an organisation can engage using the four basic crisis response strategies:

• Do nothing
• Stonewall
• Respond and defend
• Take the offensive

Do Nothing

Some organisations refuse to admit that a crisis exists. By their non-action, they let the crisis take its toll and run its course.

Such organisations are well insulated from public opinion - public and employee sentiments do not reflect concern management.

A do-nothing approach is the least desirable of any alternative since repeated crises will ultimately divide an organisation, disrupt its integrity, and cause it to erode from within.

Stonewall

In a stonewalling crisis response strategy, management refuses to respond publicly to the crisis, declining to dignify what it considers erroneous or improper allegations.

An organisation using the stonewalling approach risks negative public attitudes and media scrutiny.

Often, the public interprets silence as an admission of guilt, an act of arrogance, or unwillingness to compromise on an issue.

Effective CM can legitimise an organisation's mission or clarify its role. However, in a limited number of instances, stonewalling is not only acceptable; it is the only desirable course of action.

Such cases include personnel matters involving disciplinary action deemed confidential under state or federal law, or matters to be resolved in a court of law.

Respond and Defend

Organisations that are willing to face a crisis head-on when it occurs and work positively and aggressively for a rapid resolution enjoy a higher survival rate after a crisis.

There are sufficient cases to demonstrate that those who either do nothing or Stonewall have suffered serious consequences, especially to their reputations.

The “Respond and Defend" crisis response strategy is a recommended and successful CM technique.

Keys to developing a response and preparing a defence include communicating factual information and selecting the proper spokesperson to represent the organisation before a crisis.

Take the Offensive

This “Take the Offensive” crisis response strategy involves the organisation adopting an offensive posture and leveraging the crisis to build positive public opinion.

An effective offence includes responding to the crisis and projecting an organisational position that offers solutions that benefit the organisation, its employees, and the public at large.

By taking the offensive, an organisation may treat a crisis as only part of a much larger issue, taking advantage of the opportunity to advance a positive perception of itself.

Organisations need to be warned against taking the offensive during a crisis, as they may unwittingly prolong it or risk losing control when it could have been handled quickly and quietly with a simple response.

Reference

Source: Goh, M H (2016) A Manager's Guide to Implement Your Crisis Management Plan, GMH Pte Ltd.

 

 

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