Managing Issues and Crisis Communications Q's
It's Monday morning and you grab the local daily newspaper. On the front page, there is a full article about students at the State University growing marijuana in their residence hall and selling it for more than two years. You are the public affairs director for this university. What is your first step to handling this situation? A. Contact the newspaper to get more information about how they obtained the details of the story. B. Contact your crisis communication team and ask them to meet you in your office in twenty minutes. C. Identify what kind of crisis this is before doing anything else. D. Immediately contact the university president to fill her in.
The answer is C. According to the APR Study Guide, page 102, the first step when a crisis occurs is to determine what kind of crisis is happening.
You are the communications officer for a major oil pipeline company which has been affected by several major spills and accidents in recent years. As a result, you have a passionate, aggressive group of protestors and opponents dogging your heels on an ongoing basis. Early one morning, one of the opposition group members tweets personal footage of an oil leak into a major riverbed in a neighboring state. As a result, there is a small group of reporters and protestors outside your office building as you arrive at work. What should you NOT say (choose one)? A: "We are investigating this video and will take immediate actions to fix this problem if it is accurate." B: "Safety is our top priority. We have learned lessons from our past mistakes and look forward to ensuring any issues we may find during our investigation are addressed immediately—however, we don't know anything yet." C: "We have contacted our state regulators and will be working closely with them to make sure any issues that exist are resolved quickly." D: "This video may not be legitimate, given that its source is a longtime opponent of our organization. This tired old tactic has been tried before." E: "Hey, it's cold out here. Why don't you all come in for some coffee and settle in while our team gets to the bottom of this issue? I can tell you what we know—which isn't much—and you can at least be comfortable for a few minutes before you get on your way."
The answer is D based on Wilcox , et al p 269.
As the head of communications for your university, you've come to recognize the first day of the semester as a turbulent time. Your university has a large undergraduate enrollment and provides on-campus housing for up to 7,000 of those students in five residence halls. The campus is full of activity and every other moment your cell phone is buzzing with information about a new "crisis" at one of the residence halls. Which of the following should be considered a true crisis? (choose 2) A. A young woman passed out and fell in the stairwell of Residence Hall Alpha while carrying boxes, and EMTs were called to treat her for a broken arm and leg. B. One of the water fountains in Residence Hall Beta is dispensing brown water. C. There are extended wait times in each of the residence hall cafeterias due to an increased number of parents on campus. D. A 200-year-old tree fell in one of the residence hall parking, smashing 10 cars and blocking vehicles from entering or exiting while injuring 3 people.
ANSWER: A and D. Both events are true crises. The Quick Guide to the Crisis Communications Management Planning Process defines a crisis as "show-stopping, people-stopping, product-stopping, reputation-defining situations that create victims and/or explosive visibility. Anything less falls more into the category of a problem or issue that, while disruptive, has far less potential to create explosive, unplanned visibility." (Page 2) While B and C are noteworthy, they did not impede the activity of the university and are not show-stopping.
You're a communications director for a small community center and at the latest board meeting you hear one board member ask whether the center should consider moving to a new, larger space across town. You know the center's members and users would be very upset at a major location change for the only after-school child care and the only day senior center in the area. You pull the director aside to ask if this is a serious proposal and she's very noncommittal in her answer. What should you do? A) It was just a question, leave it be for now. B) Do a worst-case scenario communications plan assuming the news leaks of a major location change. C) Ask the chair of your board to include the issue on the next board agenda so you can get clarity around how seriously they're considering this. D) Send a poll out to members about how strongly they feel about the center staying in its current location.
ANSWER: B. APR Study Guide page 108. "Goals are to predict problems, anticipate threats.... practitioners should always carefully monitor an organization's internal and external environments for signs of opportunities or threats... The focus of issues management is proactive planning."
You work for a local municipality and the Mayor of the municipality has been the Mayor for more than 30 years. The Mayor suddenly passes away over night. Within hours, you receive a call from the City Manager alerting you of his death. The Mayor is a beloved member of the Community and the oldest and longest - serving Mayor in the State (and maybe the country). What kind of crises are you facing? A- Sustained B- Natural C- Emerging D-Immediate
Answer - Immediate (D) Rationale: The death of the Mayor is a sudden incident that requires and immediate reaction. (pg. 107 APR Study Guide)
You are the Communications Director for a publisher of academic text books and technical manuals. Your customer service department reports that in the past week, they've received a few calls from customers complaining that the manuals they purchased had missing pages. One customer complained a word was misspelled on the cover. What is your first response? 1. Ask the customer service department to keep a log of the complaints moving forward so you can determine if there is a systematic problem in the publishing process that should be corrected. 2. Personally call the customers who complained to find out specifically what pages are missing and any other problems with the books they purchased, as well as to learn when and where they purchased them. 3. Post a message on your website and/or social media platforms that any defective books will be refunded or replaced immediately, so customers understand you will stand behind your products. 4. Implement a quality-control system to ensure no defective books make it to market.
Answer: 2. Part of environmental scanning includes following up and investigating potential threats as they emerge. Before taking any actions such as a new process, or refunding books, you should first discover more details about the specific problems customers are reporting. The defective books may have been pirated copies that you have no obligation to replace. If that's the case, your next steps would include a communications plan to inform potential customers about the risks of purchasing from third-party sellers. If you discover the problem lies in your own publishing, you would implement a necessary correction in your printing processes.
You are the public relations director for a public school district. The superintendent comes into your office one day and tells you that she has received a letter from the president of the teachers' union stating that the union leadership is extremely unhappy with the direction the superintendent is taking the district in. The letter says that the union leaders will vote at a meeting next week on whether or not to formally issue a statement of "no confidence" in the superintendent and board of education. The superintendent asks you what she should do. What is your initial response? 1. You recommend that the superintendent immediately ask for a meeting with the union president. 2. You recommend that the superintendent contact the board of education president so together they can decide on next steps. 3. You ask the superintendent some probing questions so that you can better understand the circumstances that have led to this point and determine the superintendent's stance on the situation. 4. You recommend that the superintendent wait and see how the union leadership votes, but that behind the scenes you work together to create a communications plan so you are ready to act once the vote is held.
Answer: 3 Rationale: Strategies and Tactics, p. 255. A public relations professional or team must determine the stance its organization will take toward each public or stakeholder involved in the conflict situation.Stance then determines strategy—what will be done and why.
You are the Public Relations specialist for a nonprofit that provides residential care for youth. One of your child care workers has been accused of inappropriate conduct toward a client and, per policy, has been suspended from duty while an investigation takes place. What is your top response priority? 1) Say nothing - this is a personnel issue and requires total confidentiality. 2) Set up a press conference with local media - you want the news to come from your organization, not rumors. 3) Implement your crisis plan to define the crisis,stop the creation of victims and inform employees as quickly as possible. 4) Send an email to all parents and guardians to inform them that the organization is keeping their children safe, the employee has been fired and this will never happen again.
Answer: 3 - Activate your crisis plan immediately (APR Study Guide pg. 108-109). Use the plan to define the crisis and identify priority publics. Though the situation is a personnel matter, staff surrounding the individual know they are gone and "something" has happened.Keeping silent on crisis issues only makes matters worse, and employees and internal audiences should be informed first. Though you may eventually set up a press conference, this is not your response priority because the investigation is not complete and no formal charges have been filed. Parents and guardians are one of your priority publics, but you don't yet have enough information to promise them the employee will be fired, nor can you assert that a similar situation will definitively never happen again.
A crisis is behind you now and you must start the process of rebuilding trust with your stakeholders. What are two of the first, most important steps? (Choose 2) a. Recognize and admit that there was truly a problem/crisis b. Proceed with confidence and don't bring it up to show that the problem is behind you. c. Provide restitution to the victims d. Provide a sincere verbal or written apology e. Tell stakeholders you will the person who caused the problem and take corrective or disciplinary action.
Answer: A&D Rationale: Your Quick Guide to the Crisis Communication Management Planning Process, by The Lukaszewski Group says that Steps 1 Candor (A) and Step 2 Apology (D) are the first few steps. Restitution is correct, but comes in a later step (c) Search for the guilty (e) or ignore that there ever was a problem (b-denial) is considered a profile in failure
You are developing a crisis communications plan for your organization and are sketching crisis situations that the organization could face. Which of the following would be most helpful to include in your sketch? (Choose 3) A) An analysis of what the situation means, what its implications are, and how it threatens your organization B) At least three response options for the situation you've presented C) A list of media outlets that you will most likely receive inquiries from regarding this situation D) Recommendations for what you would do if you were in your boss' shoes and why.
Answer: A, B, and D.Rationale: "Your Quick Guide to the Crisis Communications Management Planning Process: A Model Management Presentation Outline" by James Lukaszewski includes a worksheet for sketching scenarios to aid in the development of a more detailed flowchart of events, which will depict the major events, steps, and decision points leading to the resolution of your key issue. The worksheet sections are for "key issue", "situation", "analysis" (A), "options" (B), "recommendations" (D), and "unintended consequences". While knowing which media outlets are likely to contact you (C) may be helpful to you, it is not the most helpful information for scenario development.
Yesterday, your toy manufacturing company learned of a defect in one of your products that has caused minor injuries to children. With the support of executive, you immediately begin recall communications. What other responses would help to rebuild trust? Choose 3. A. Release a written statement acknowledging personal responsibility, asking for forgiveness and committing to rehaul your product quality protocols. B. Once the explanation of the problem is complete and substantial, share it as an update to your previously written statement. C. Create a product quality page on your website to share what you've learned and commit to regularly reporting additional information. D. After the product quality protocols are updated, publish on your webpage to show the specific, positive steps your company is taking.
Answer: A, C & D. In Lukaszewski's Nine Steps, Step #1 (be candid about the problem) is taken through the recall communications. A describes Step #2 (apologize). B references Step #3 (share an explanation), but explanations should be shared promptly, even if there is only partial information and even if the error is silly or embarrassing. C describes Step #4 (affirm what you've learned), and D is Step #5 (declare your commitment to address the issues).
You are the public relations director for a local non profit.A newspaper reporter calls you and wants a comment about one of your employees arrested last night for embezzlement from your organization. You meet with your crisis communication team and determine that this is a non violent, intentional crisis. You will be the organization's spokesperson, and you begin to craft your response. Which three(3) of these should be the priorities in your response within the first 1-2 hours? A. Employee Communications B. Rumor containment C. Top management buy in D. Deal with the media E. Contact those indirectly affected
Answer: A,D, E Rationale: 1. Problem identification 2. Manage the Victim Dimension 3. Employee communications 4. Contact those indirectly affected 5. Deal with the self-appointed, self-anointed, and the media The key concept to remember here is that these five steps must be activated in the first hour or first two hours of any crisis. Failure to activate all of these priorities will cause additional victims,questions, misunderstandings, and collateral damage, which the perpetrator will have to deal with as the crisis is resolved.
You are the public relations director of a sewer treatment company during a time of a major flood. Your operations manager alerts you that one of the sewer treatment plants has six feet of water in it and is not operational. As a result, raw sewage is flowing into a major river, which is flooding not only the town at the site of the sewer treatment plant but also several other communities downstream. You immediately activate your crisis plan, which had just been used and updated a year earlier when the same sewage plant shutdown from another flood. Which are the first two publics you should contact with a statement about the crisis at hand? A. Employees and local media B. The media and government agencies C. Employees and government agencies D. Media and residents who are directly affected by the sewage treatment plant shutdown
Answer: A; Rationale: APR Study Guide, P. 109-- Internal publics should always be notified first about a crisis involving their workplace. Right away you will want to demonstrate concern for those directly affected by this incident. The media will help you get word out to the stakeholders who are directly affected by the shutdown and raw sewage flowing downstream. Officials from various government agencies already will be mitigating other aspects of the flooding problems, and they will need to be informed as the crisis unfolds.
You are the communications director for a school district and you have just received word from a local media representative that a "bomb" has gone off in a school. Your phone is suddenly bombarded with calls from local and national news outlets. What is your first step? A. Develop your crisis communications plan. B. Immediately deal with the unfolding "trigger event," including assessing the facts of the situation before making a statement or communicating. C. Inform media that all students and staff are safe and that you will have more information as it becomes available. D. Send a robocall to parents of the school, informing them that students are safe.
Answer: B History: This happened to me when I was in school PR. No one was harmed. The "bomb" was a homemade device that set off chemical fumes in a hallway. I had to make immediate decisions on how to respond, relying on our crisis communications protocol because media outlets from across the country were suddenly calling me. Advice: Act quickly. Follow your plan, including coordination with local police PR. Don't make any statements until you learn the facts. Rationale: A is something that should be accomplished before a crisis occurs, or in the precrisis state, as defined by Combs (EPR, p. 16). B, C and D are all parts of the actual crisis, of which there are 5 stages, according to Fearn-Banks (EPR, p. 16): 1) detection 2) prevention/preparation 3) containment 4) recovery and 5) learning. The best answer is B, as this is an "emerging" crisis and you don't know the details. C and D may be appropriate responses but should only occur after the facts are known. In the post-crisis stage, activities and plans should be reviewed for possible improvement.
You are the Communications Director for U.S. Senator Soandso, who has started to make news for alleged bribery taking place 6 months earlier. The local news alleges that Senator Soandso took $6 million in vacation and travel money from a Verizon executive in return for his being absent from a vote on corporate responsibility. Being absent from the vote ensured that the measure would not pass, therefore benefiting Verizon's bottom line. Senator Soandso's district and D.C. offices have begun receiving calls from the media asking for comment. Which publics should be educated on the situation first? A) The Senator's constituents B) The Senator's other staff members C) The media D) Congress
Answer: B Rationale: APR Study Guide, P. 109 - Internal publics should always be notified first about a crisis involving their workplace. The interns and other staff members who answer the phones must know the situation and what to say or not say.
You work as head of the PR department for a new soap company, Soapy, based in Kentucky. A member of your staff tells you at a staff meeting that he heard a rumor in the breakroom that someone in the warehouse put hazardous materials into a recent batch of soap. Upon further investigation and inspection, the operations team finds that a batch has in fact been contaminated. Your CEO is friends with the person rumored to have done this and doesn't believe it to be true. He asks you to issue a statement immediately that says there's a recall on soap and no employees were involved in the incident. What counsel would you give your CEO? (Choose one.) A. It's important to be proactive with media, so we'll schedule a press conference. B. Adjust the initial statement to be more flexible until more details are identified/confirmed. C. He needs to meet with employee again to make him confess. D. This message should be shared with employees first because they're our most important audience.
Answer: B Rationale: APR Study Guide, pages 108-109 says although "most effective crisis communicators provide prompt, frank and full information to journalists" more important to "craft a timely statement that is accurate yet flexible enough to be refined as details about the crisis emerge. The initial statement often should confirm an incident has happened, that the company is responding and you will update information as more is known."
You are the public relations professional for a new non-profit. You are trying to raise awareness of your organization and the work it does. What is the best source of influence to achieve your goals? Choose one. A. Friends and Family B. Media C. Opinion Leaders D. Employees E. Volunteers
Answer: B Media Rationale: The public's stage of adoption is in the "awareness stage." The best source of influence for this knowledge change step in the diffusion process is the Media. At this point, you don't need a personal experience to convey the message, you just need to get the message out. Source: EPR p. 301
You are the Communications Director for a local school district where a student was recently found with a firearm in his locker. Just as your superintendent is briefing you on the situation, your phone rings and a member of the media wants you to answer some questions about what has happened. What should you do (Choose 2)? A. Since your crisis communication plan says to use the media to get your message out, answer the questions that you can B. Tell the reporter you will get back to them, and make it a priority to inform employees and internal audiences first before releasing news to the media C. Since the superintendent is listed as the spokesperson for this type of crisis, tell the reporter you will have your boss call them back or will send a statement from the superintendent D. Tell the media this is an internal situation and the District will not be discussing it publicly.
Answer: B and C - It is important to inform internal audiences first, and to funnel all comments through the spokesperson
You are a PR director at manufacturing plant where some of your employees are unionized. The plant management needs to make changes to their staffing model, which will require more than 50 people lose their current jobs. The manager over the soon-to-be reorganized area of the plant assures you that while the shifts are changing everyone has an opportunity to have a job,if they choose. You assist the manager with developing talking points and setting up meetings where the timeline of events will be discussed. One of the meetings with effected staff has occurred and another is scheduled for later in the day. In addition, HR has started discussing the impact of the changes,including improved schedules among other benefits, with the staff. In which phase of the conflict management life cycle are you immersed in currently? A. Issues management B. Conflict positioning C. Conflict resolution D. Reputation management
Answer: B, conflict positioning. According to Wilcox and Cameron, Strategies and Tactics, 11th edition, "an issue that has become an emerging conflict is identified as needing concerted action by the public relations professional.
You are the communications director for a large school district. Administration recently made the decision to begin exploring consolidating schools because of declining enrollment. The data and research indicates this is fiscally the right thing to do. However, you begin to hear grumblings in the community about a small, but vocal group, that is in disagreement. You are hearing that they may attempt to protest at the next board meeting. What type of crisis is this: A. Immediate B. Emerging C. Sustained
Answer: B. Emerging. According to the APR Study Guide, p. 108, an emerging or "shouldering" crisis in one that is brewing and that an organization knows could disrupt operations. If it persists, it could become a "sustained" crisis.
A health care provider from your organization, a large health system in Southern California, has been reported in the news to have close ties to an individual in Northern California who was charged with embezzlement and fraud. You want to get ahead of the situation by briefing the executive team before you start to get media calls. What do you do first? (select best option) a. Scan the news media to see if anyone has picked up on the story. b. Use the best option process to present concepts to management in the 3-minute drill approach to maximize their time. c. Write a statement and share the draft with the executive team. d. Ask the health care provider if it is true that he has ties to this individual.
Answer: B. Making recommendations to management should follow a prescribed best option format. Three minutes, or 450 words, is the allotted time to present to executives. Source: Reading Lukaszewski, J. E. (2016).Crisis Communication Quick Guide
You are the public relations director for a nuclear fuel plant. The plant emergency alarms have just been activated and you've assembled with the crisis management team in the "war room." Which option is NOT part of your response priorities? A. Problem Identification and Response Prioritization: Begin addressing key issues B. Denial: No one needs to talk about this except those directly involved. C. Managing the Victim: This dimension includes people, animals and living systems. D. Employee Communications: Every employee is a communicator when something happens.
Answer: B. This is a corrosive behavior that needs to be planned against. Page 15, James E. Lukaszewski Group, Your Quick Guide to the Crisis Communications Management Planning Process.
You are the Public Relations Manager for a large, publicly-traded hospitality company who's duties entail social media management. When you arrive to work one day, the company's social profiles are flooded with negative messages in response to a YouTube video that a labor union posted, accusing you of labor law violations. What is the first thing you should do? A. Respond to all messages to acknowledge that they were received B. Call General Management and let them know of the issue and that you'll be sending them a report of screenshots of all of the negative messages you received C. Alert your crisis communications team, inclusive of general manager and legal counsel D. Send out a media alert letting the local media know you are aware of the situation and have no further comment
Answer: C Rationale: Given this has quickly spread within your public, this should prompt your crisis plan to be immediately activated. According to the Study Guide, page 110, you'll want to assemble the crisis team to implement necessary emergency protocols.
You are the PR director for a non-profit organization that provides tutoring and mentoring for low income and at-risk high school students. One of your staff members was arrested for selling opioids to the students in your program. What are the correct steps you should take? (Choose one) A. Publicly promise that the situation has been addressed and will never happen again; provide information/explanation on your hiring process and the type of oversight of staff who work with students and where any gaps occurred; declare the specific steps that your agency will take to resolve the situation. B. Apologize to the students you serve and their families and vow to improve hiring and monitoring practices; assemble a task force of students and families to determine better hiring and oversight practices C. Acknowledge the situation, those impacted, and the need for action; apologize to the students you serve and their families and vow to improve hiring and monitoring practices; provide information/explanation on your hiring process and the type of oversight of staff who work with students and where any gaps occurred. D. Assemble a task force of students and families to determine better hiring and oversight practices; declare the specific steps that your agency will take to resolve the situation; offer a public and complete apology to the students and families.
Answer: C. Rationale: The steps listed in C are candor, apology and explanation, which follow the appropriate chronology of actions. From Quick Guide to the Crisis Communication Planning Process by Jim Lukaszewski, the nine steps (in order) of rebuilding trust in a crisis are:
You are the VP of Communications for a natural gas company involved in the most deadly pipeline explosion in your company's history. Three months after the disaster, your company has restored service and property, but a federal agency that investigated the event is set to release a report on the event that says places blame squarely on your company for negligence. Your executives are not surprised -- you were pretty sure all along that you were at fault although you have avoided taking full responsibility until the official report was released. You are prepping your CEO and executive staff for an interview with the Today Show the morning after the report will be released. Which of the following should be true of the prepared statement and goal for the interview: A. The CEO should start by saying the company will contest the federal findings because your company did nothing wrong. B. The CEO should mention that the company paid millions of dollars to restore the properties destroyed in the explosion and paid for the funeral arrangements of all victims C. The CEO should issue a heartfelt apology to all families, emergency responders and others involved in the aftermath of the explosion and outline actions the company has taken to avoid disasters like this in the future. D. The CEO should plead the fifth after every question she is asked to avoid admitting negligence.
Answer: C. The response should be candid, open, truthful, apologetic, responsive, empathetic and transparent. Source: "Quick Guide to the Crisis Communication Management Planning Process."
You are the Public Information Officer (PIO) for a state environmental agency. You are awakened at 2 a.m. by a call from the duty officer for your 24-hour hotline, who informs you that 55,000 gallons of a toxic industrial chemical, MCHM, was inadvertently released into the Silver Bend river. The river is the drinking water source for Johnston, a city of 300,000. What should you do first? A. Call reporters and explain what you know about the spill along with the steps your agency is taking to address the issue. B. Set up an information center to provide the media and residents with up-to-the-minute updates on the spill and information about ways people can protect themselves. C. Issue a statement from the agency that calms fears and reassures residents that the situation will be resolved quickly. D. Assemble the crisis team and activate the crisis plan.
Answer: D Rationale: Advance preparation-- particularly a designated crisis team and a "worst-case scenario" crisis plan--ensures that you will be able to respond effectively during the critical first 24-hours of a crisis. (APR Study Guide, page 109; EPR, pp. 304-305). Because this is an immediate crisis, you should activate the crisis plan first.
You are the public relations director for a pharmaceutical company. Your company just put a new drug on the market and has distributed over $1 million in product to pharmacies all over the country. One pharmacy in the west issued a complaint that some of the protective seals on the shipped bottles were tampered with. What should you do first? A. Handle the situation with the pharmacy and ask them to send back all product for a full refund. B. Tell the media this situation occurred and that you're doing everything you can to rectify the situation. C. Tell each pharmacy ,who was shipped product, to take the bottles off the shelves immediately. D. Determine your crisis statement and audiences. E. Define the crisis and activate the crisis communication plan.
Answer: E. You must first define whether or not this is an actual crisis and what the impact might be. You don't have all the information yet to determine if all bottles are affected or if this is an isolated incident. However, you should have a policy and procedure in place directing you in what to do should this type of incident occur.
You are a public information officer for a state government agency that provides unemployment benefits. Other state labor communicators are sharing that scammers are creating fake department social media pages to get access to customer unemployment benefit information. The scammers pretend to be unemployment staff members to trick customers into providing personal information. Luckily, your state currently does not currently have fraudulent department social media pages. What are the following steps to make sure this does not become an issue in your state? (Choose two) A. Issue and Risk Management B. Crisis Management C. Message Development D. Environmental Scanning
Answers: A. and D. Rationale: APR Study Guide page 108. Issues and risk management: Identifies potential or emerging issues that may impact the organization. Identifies potential risks to the organization or client. Analyzes probability and potential impact of risk. Ensures organization develops appropriate response plans. Designs and deploys a strategic public relations response.
You've just been hired as the PR Director for a children's toy company, and in your first week on the job, discover that while they have a crisis management operations team, they have no formal crisis communications plan. Your CEO gives you the green light to make the creation of one a priority. What do you do first to get started on the plan (choose 2)? A: Get a list of the Crisis Management Operations Team members and find out whether their roles are clearly defined. B. Begin environmental scanning, a communications audit, and a SWOT analysis for the company. C. Review the company's media contact list to see if it is in need of any updates. D. Reference the current crisis operations plan, as well the SWOT results to begin developing scenarios of possible crises. E. Look through the company's policy documents & current strategic plan to see what could be affected by a crisis.
Answers: B & D - According to the APR study guide pg 108, the first steps in creating a crisis plan are to monitor the environment regularly and identify your organization's vulnerabilities, and to develop a series of scenarios that reflect the crises your organization may face. A, C & E are all good activities to complete in crisis planning, however they are later or less prominent steps.
You are a PR pro for a large furniture company. You receive a call at 8 p.m. one weeknight from your CEO. CEO says a group of homelessness advocates are staging a "camp-in" tonight in front of your well-known store in downtown Olympia. The advocates tend to be vocal and aggressive and want to show the city council members how few safe places there are for homeless in the city. The CEO wants them removed immediately and has called the police to remove them. The demonstrators are camping on private property and CEO is worried about press coverage and safety of employees and customers tomorrow morning. He is also worried they will smash windows or break into the store overnight if the removal doesn't go over well. You don't have a readiness plan set up for this specific scenario, so you react quickly based on your knowledge. What are your first two response priorities? a. Call the police to see if they have put any messages about the camp-in on social media and to see if they have received any calls from reporters. b. Call employees of the Olympia store to loop them in and allow them to choose to come in to work tomorrow if they feel safe doing so. c. Wrap your brain around what the main problem really is and who may be harmed. d. Post on social media about the overwhelming danger of the camp-in and inform customers the store will have a delayed opening tomorrow.
Answers: C and B. According to Lukaszewski, J. E. (2016). "Crisis Communication Quick Guide," some first response priorities in The Grand Strategy are to identify the problem and inform employees. The answer is not A because dealing with the media needs to happen after the problem is identified and all internal team members are notified. The answer is not D because while you may use closed, private social media groups to alert employees, posting a message of "overwhelming danger" is an untrue overreaction and a poor message during this type of crisis. KSA: 3.2 Crisis Management
You are a public relations director for a municipal water district who as been asked by the water district trustees to explain how the district should respond to media is a crisis was to unfold. CHOOSE 1 answer. 1. No comment until after the crisis has been resolved and studied. 2. Email brief "all is being managed" messages to media daily 3. Provide prompt and full information to media as crisis unfolds 4. Keep silent during and after crisis as if nothing happened.
Correct answer: 3 Rationale: APR Study Guide page 108: "most effective crisiscommunicators provide prompt, frank and full information to journalists as thecrisis unfolds. Keeping silent on crisis issues only angers reporters and makesthe problem worse."
You are the PR director for C&P Railroad, a rail service for freight and passengers. The railroad operations manager calls and tells you one of C&P's freight trains, transporting hazardous chemicals, has derailed. The chemicals reportedly spilled in an open area about 2 miles from Big Pine, a small town with about 4,000 residents. The manager is concerned that strong winds in the area could carry fumes to the town and cause serious illness. Smoke is drawing attention and videos are beginning to pop up in social media feeds. With the management approval, you put your prepared crisis action plan into effect. First, you issue a statement across internal and external media. You notify stakeholders, audiences, and affected publics about the accident. In the statement, you express regret and outline what C&P is doing in response to the accident.What is the next logical PR step in rebuilding public confidence in C&P Railroad? A) Publicly set your goals at zero for accidents of this type from ever happening again. B) Announce that one of your trains carrying hazardous chemicals was involved in an accident near Big Pine. C) Talk publicly about what you've learned from the accident and how it will affect C&P future operations. D) Explainthat C&P is looking into the cause of the accident to avoid a recurrence. E) Assure audiences that C&P will pay cleanup costs.
D is the correct answer. After providing audiences with accident notification and company response, C&P should explain how the accident occurred or that the cause of the accident is being investigated. 'A' is incorrect. This is a commitment step and would likely be better used once accident cause is known and the crisis, averted. Plus, "from ever happening again" is unrealistic. 'B' is incorrect. This is a candor step and this information should be in the initial release. 'C' is incorrect. This is an affirmation step. During a crisis, audiences want to know what your company is doing now to protect life, preserve property, etc. 'E' is incorrect. This is a restitution step. Restitution is something audiences will care about after fears are calmed and the crisis, averted. (Source: Lukaszewski, J. E. (2010). "Crisis Communication Quick Guide," pgs. 14-15)
You handle public relations for a private company working under contract with your county to promote tourism. A local TV reporter calls asking for all your credit card receipts as part of his "It's Our Money" program looking at public spending. He is not alleging any misbehavior or misappropriation of funds. Your company provides month reports to the county, but its standing policy is to keep its credit card records and salary information private because, as a private company, you are not subject to your state's Freedom of Information laws. After you explain that he can get summary information from the county, he pulls your company's 1099 tax form and reports your CEO's salary, says your company refused to provide anything else, and suggests you're hiding something. Your C-suite is divided on a plan of action. What's your advice? A. Release the credit card records in total in order to be transparent. B. Ignore the reporter and hope no one else picks up the story. C. Agree to an interview in an attempt to explain your side of the story. D. Publish all your company's spending data online for anyone to review.
The answer is D. Based on Lukaszewski Crisis Communications Quick Guide, you're best to respond with candor and transparency to local residents who you work for (by extension) and to tamp down on any potential feeding frenzy that competing media might be inclined to launch.
You are the Communication Director for a school district. Your annual audit has come back as clean, but the auditor reveals in their management letter that the process has been difficult, no accounts have been reconciled for at least 18 months, and somehow, your fund balance GREW by $4 million. Just a few months prior, your community passed a $4.9 million mill levy override to support your teachers and staff in raises. To say the lease, they are shocked and believe the District to be a poor manager of funds. The District has fired the CFO and the accountant, and brought in outside consultants to evaluate what has and has not been done in the last 18-months, and to get an accurate picture of the financial situation. As you formulate your response to your stakeholders, what items should NOT be included in the process (Select at least two): A: Candor - recognizing that the problem exists; B: Searching for the guilty - looking for those who push back and shifting the blame to them; C: Denial - refusal to accept that something bad happened; D: Apology: Verbalized personal regret, remorse and acknowledging responsibility; E: Consultation: Promptly asking for help to design principals and approaches that will preclude similar problems from re-occurring;
The answers are B and C based upon Lukaszewski, J.E. Crisis Communication Quick Guide revised 4.11.13
You are the PR director for an international cruise line. The coronavirus outbreak is moving from a small issue toward a pandemic. You receive a call from the CEO that at some point the CDC will advise (but not require) Americans to not travel by cruise ship. The impact of this announcement could result in decreased bookings, job losses and plummeting stock prices. What is your best course of action (choose one)? A. To prepare a press kit detailing the cruise lines commitment to safety and cleanliness in advance of the CDC announcement. B. To advise the CEO to send an email to the media and passengers immediately so that you are seen as a proactive organization. C. To activate the crisis response team to review and update the prepared crisis plan relative to the potential announcement. D. To assemble the call center managers to create a script telling potential passengers to sail at a later date.
The correct answer is C. Rationale: This is an emerging crisis (EPR p.281-283). Before jumping into action, communicators should utilize the thoughtfulness put into a prepared crisis plan. By activating the crisis team, in advance of the announcement, you can review plan details, make adjustments as needed and advise management of effective messaging.
