Transcript paula_deen_ - Homework Market

Problem
•There was a problem that involved Paula
Deen whereby she was committing racism.
•Customers' complained that she had used
racial slurs in referring to customers and
also abusing them
•She was also known to have mistreated her
employees by harassing them
•The scandal led to a former employer suing
her
Mistake
•She admitted to the media that had once used a
racial word towards employees
•Her way of admitting prompted the media to create
a sensational story which went out of proportion
•The media hype led to the loss of millions of dollars
and also a ruined reputation of the firm
•The mistake was how she admitted to the mistake
and this would have been avoided if communication
had been done correctly
Continuation
•The miscommunication led to a fall of the
business empire almost within a short time
•The problem would have been avoided by hiring a
cooperate communication manager to handle the
issue
•As a top person on the company hierarchy , she
represented the face of the company and
therefore what she said and how she said it had
weight.
Lesson
•Managers should be careful when facing the court of
public opinion because their intentions would not matter
(Dowling 2007)
•Companies should understand how the media work and
also how it interprets information
•When going for press briefing concerning a crisis ,work on
winning them over
•Top managers should work towards avoiding crisis rather
then damage control
Company communication
responses
•The company should organize an emergency crisis
meaning to have a common ground before calling
the media
•Train a team to handle a crisis
•The meeting should give the deliberation to
communication managers to prepare the briefing
•The briefing should then be read by the top
manager or CEO
Company statement review
•The manager should not have directly
admitted to the mistake (Coombs 2009)
•The company should have been the first to
reach out before the media came calling on
them
•When a company faces such a crisis ,
managers should use positive words and
also accept liability
Continuation
•For the Paula case, she should have let her
PR department to handle the problem
•Top managers should have called another
briefing to offer apologies and control the
damage
•Paula made a mistake of blaming other
forces instead of focusing on addressing the
crisis
Conclusion
•Companies should have a crisis committee to
handle a scandal or crisis when it arises
•There has to be a plan of response by
management not just an individual
•The management should engage members of a
PR team especially when the media is involved
•Managers should understand how the media
works (Bernard 2009).
References
Timothy, C.(2007). Crisis management and
communication. London: Macmillan
Dowling, S.(2007). Business leadership. London:
Macmillan
Bernard, I.(2009). The business round table. Oxford:
Oxford University Press
Hansen, G.(2001). How to survive a crisis. Nairobi:
Longman
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-cm9XUoo0w0