Reference no: EM132146687

The article as a synopsis is about crisis management. Though to go a bit further, it is also not only about managing a crisis, but attempting to plan as well as possible to avoid crisis. You cannot plan for everything, such as a natural disaster, or something that an individual may cause while representing the company, but how crisis management will then occur then affect’s the company’s public image. There are several different levels of crisis management and different approaches that companies can take that will determine their future of business Not all crises are business ending, but there are times that a wrong decision will destroy the future of the company if not properly handled.

Strategic planning and contingency management prove to be solid foundations for anticipating potential crisis’. If a company stays ahead of the game and looks inward and plans for all things, no matter how outrageous, if the outrageous does occur, the company has a better chance at responding well and preserving their image and the customer’s faith in them. The Chrysler corporation failed to see the writing on the wall, and ignored what was happening, losing customers. Had they looked inward and examined themselves, they would have seen financial woes and could have avoided bankruptcy.

Risks absolutely change if companies take a more proactive matter than reactive. Prevention is key to avoiding catastrophe. Risk assessment and contingency planning return dividends on customer satisfaction and the fate of the business. Say a tire company sees that it’s new product has flaws, that when a tire reaches 75 miles per hour, pressure drops, and the car may become instable. A proactive measurement would be to not release the product to the public and delay production so that the necessary adjustments can be made.

However, if the company didn’t notice this issue, and the product line is issued, customers could find themselves at risk. If the car were to become unstable and an accident occurs, the company would of coarse issue a recall on the product. Though the financial implications might not be terrible, the loss of faith from the customer will prove to be more detrimental and could cost the company it’s life. Being proactive is light years better than being reactive.

In the article, there were several companies mentioned. Of those, I choose three to discuss, all three were more reactive, or an intervention action. All three could have been prevented by taking proactive measurements and contingency plans made, or more simply, just taking a little more time and research. Nike could have easily taken a little more time and researched their new “air” logo to prevent being mistaken by Islamic customers. They then reacted and took intervention action and pulled their product, losing money on the line. McDonald’s could have planned and put warnings on coffee. If the warnings were there before hand, the customer’s might have been more cautious. (Kash, & Darling, 1996). This intervention cost money, but more importantly, it cost customer’s faith in the corporation. Finally,

Proactive tactics comprises of dynamically putting an effort to transform the work place and its performances. “Proactive tactics can be distinguished from impression management tactics, which are used to influence someone to like you more or to evaluate your skills and performance more favorably (Yukl, n.d)”. Business that takes a proactive approach towards modification often tries to stay away from a prospective future threat and take advantage of a prospective future opportunity.

Reactive transformation takes place when a business alters its practices after some threat for instance presuppose that a hotel administrator gains knowledge of about the increase in the number of US travelers who want to take a trip with their pets.

Hotel administrator formulates an arrangement to set aside assured accommodations in the hotel for travelers with pets and enormously publicizes about this fresh and novel facility even before travelers begin enquiring about such lodging facilities. This would be considered as a proactive approach to alteration because it was made in expectation of consumer insistence.

However, a reactive approach to transformation would take place if hotel administrators had waited to perform such an alteration until many hotel administrators had received constant requests from visitors to provide accommodation for their pets and were left without accommodation.

Risk impact and probability charts facilitates in finding a counter balance as you can scrutinize and evaluate the impact of each risk and approximate the probability of its reoccurrence. Then you can observe which risks need the expenditure and endeavor of risk mitigation.

Business procedure and course of action that are fundamental and necessary towards long term continued existence for instance maintenance of positive cash flow, staff support, and desired level of market share can characteristically be considered as the most influential and essential list of items with which you can persist your existence for a long term.

Contingency planning is a line of action that materialize because of risk examination then you can also administer risk by putting into use the accessible assets more efficiently by advancing in fresh and novel resources or services that can facilitate you administer the risk more effectively and efficiently.

Well-built and strong business traditions and customs have aspects related to an elevated level of conformity about what is valued and a high level of passion regarding those values. In the long run a constructive and optimistic culture of honesty and reliability is the basis for a valuable moral principles and observance program which when appropriately implanted into a business can form a competitive advantage and provide a precious and worthy business positive feature.

Thus, to enlarge and maintain an ethical business ethnicity and traditions an organization should be enthusiastic and prepared to act in accordance with prescribed officially permitted necessities and enthusiastically promote its ethical principles and exhibit the arrangement of those ethical principles with all other aspects of the business traditions.

                                                Case Study

Years ago, Nike was accused for paying less to their employees as well as using the child labor in the factories which leaded them to a drop-in sale as well as a bad image in the society. It destroyed the company’s image for a while, their sales dropped and worse of all, the public didn’t think anything good about Nike because of their bad labor practices. This specific news created negative impact on the company's profile around the globe just like the company doesn't recognize that its involvement with the suppliers is also a very bad thing for their image. The problem began with improper resource management team of Nike which collaborated with the different what is around the world to supply them the manufactured goods without having a proper survey over the companies were responsible for manufacturing for Nike, company’s management system decided to go with the manufacturers and does not had a look in companies work structure on the environment (Nisen, 2013).

The organization’s approach to ethic dilemmas from an HR perspective is a complex and varied one. Society must maintain it’s faith in a company for the company to survive and profit. Society will follow suit if the company proves its integrity through its stance in legal, ethical, environmental issues. Cultural, political and financial factors do also play huge roles.

Culture is what the company holds. “Company culture is the personality of a company. It defines the environment in which employee’s work. Company culture includes a variety of elements, including work environment, company mission, value, ethics, expectations (Doyle, 2018)”. A company’s culture should be the cornerstone of it’s values and its image. A strong company culture dedicated to helping society and helping the societies in which the company sources its products will go leagues in strengthening its position with society.

Politics always plays a role in where the company operates and where they source their goods or services. Political landscapes often change, and the results could be high tariffs or benefits for moving to a different country. Operation costs will often denote where and how a company acts, but on the same hand, this could also be a huge boon to the communities in which the company operates.

Ethically, the company should always seek to be better. The company needs to self-evaluate and evaluate the ethics of the other companies it sources its goods with. In the case of Nike, had there been impromptu inspections of their trading partners, the risk of child labor could have been reduced greatly. Child labor is often a problem of outsourced trading partners, and U.S. based companies need do their due diligence to prevent such humanitarian atrocities.

Along with the evaluation of the trading partners regarding ethics, companies need to look inside to their own operations to ensure that safety is a cornerstone of their culture. Safe companies have better employee retention and better profitability. If OSHA were to find unsafe conditions, the company could pay costly.

All these things come down to profitability. Financial a company that acts responsibly in ethics, laws, environmental acts, and society, will always profit. This is great for society and the company. Maintaining a company image of greatness will pay to all aspects.

The role of HR is to first establish a company culture, an ethical, legal, and moral culture. HR will establish these guidelines to first take care of itself in the home front, then it will start to create policies governing its interactions with its trading partners. When onboarding new trading partners, or sourcing companies, HR needs to share the culture and values that the company has, to ensure that their partnership believes the same. Through sharing the values with the partners, and following through with the trading partners, to instill these values, a company can attempt to safeguard itself and its image.

Questions:

Public Relations—Identify the challenges associated with the cases going public.

a. What factors were considered when society as a whole either supported or opposed the decisions made in the public cases? How important is societal support, and what factors will you consider to produce positive societal support?

b. What factors were considered with regard to cultural support or opposition in the public cases? How might you apply these factors to your company?

c. Were there political influences affecting management’s decisions in the public cases? Give examples of possible political issues and explain how they are relevant to your company’s decisions.