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Strategic conflict management

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influence the course of conflicts to the benefit of the organization and, when possible, to the benefit of the organization's many constituents.

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Key components of strategic conflict management

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? Strategic—for the purpose of achieving particular objectives ? Management—planned, deliberate action ? Competition—striving for the same object, position, or prize as others ? Conflict—sharp disagreements or opposition resulting in a direct, overt threat of attack from another entity

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Do you believe that conflict management is one of the most important functions of public relations? Why or why not?

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Yes because they need to prevent crisis and smooth over any issues to prevent decline in credibility

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What crisis communication strategies did Benetton use following the collapse of a garment manufacturing plant in Bangladesh? Which strategies did you think were most effective? Why?

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denied it, silence for 5 days when they came out about lying, convenient stopping of using factory right before issue, worked with international labor organizations to look better

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Benetton Bangladesh factory

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factory collapsed killing many and Obama kissing president to raise controversy by social activists

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Threat - Appraisal Model

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assessing the seriousness of the threat and the resources needed to combat Organizational: Do you have the knowledge, time, finances, and management commitment to combat the threat? Situational: How do you assess the severity of the threat to the organization? What effort is required from you? Is it a difficult situation with potential for long duration, or is it a relatively simple matter that can be solved fairly quickly? How much is uncertain about the facts or actual situation?

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The contingency continuum

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pure advocacy (hard-nosed stance of completely disagreeing or refuting the arguments, claims, or threats of a competitor or a group concerned about an issue) --> pure accommodation (organization agrees with its critics, changes its policies, makes restitution, and even makes a full public apology for its actions)

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the values and attitudes of top management

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dominant coalition

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The Conflict Management Life Cycle

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Proactive Phase Strategic Phase Reactive Phase Recovery Phase

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Proactive Phase

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activities and thought processes that can prevent a conflict from arising or getting out of hand. 1. environmental scanning —the constant reading, listening, and watching of current affairs with an eye to the organization's interest 2. issues tracking (happens when issues emerge) becomes more focused and systematic through processes such as the daily collection of news stories. 3. Issues management occurs when the organization makes behavioral changes or creates strategic plans in ways that address the emerging issue. 4. crisis plan: first step in preparing for the worst—an issue or an event that has escalated to crisis proportions. stealing thunder to disclose its crisis before it is discovered by the media or other interested parties.

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Strategic Phase

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an issue that has become an emerging conflict is identified as needing concerted action by the public relations professional. 1. risk communication: dangers or threats to people or organizations are conveyed to forestall personal injury, health problems, and environmental damage. 2. Conflict- positioning: strategies enable the organization to position itself favorably in anticipation of actions such as litigation, boycott, adverse legislation, elections, or similar events that will play out in "the court of public opinion." 3. crisis management plan: needed when an issue that resists risk communication efforts and be-comes a conflict of crisis proportions

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Reactive Phase

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1. Reputation management includes systematic research to learn the state of the organization's reputation and then take steps to improve it. 2. image restoration: used when damage is extreme, these strategies can help if they are provided with genuine change in the organization

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Systematic Processes for managing competition and conflict

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1. issues management 2. risk communication 3. crisis management 4. reputation management

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Issues management

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proactive and systematic approach to predict problems, anticipate threats, minimize surprises, resolve issues and prevent crises. requires two-way communications, formal environmental scanning, and active sense-making strategies. Bangladesh issue could of been avoided 5 basic steps: (1) issue identification, (2) issue analysis, (3) strategy options, (4) an action plan, and (5) the evaluation of results. strategy options: what to do about it. The pros and cons of each option are weighed against what is most practical and economical for the company. action plan: Once a specific policy (stance) has been decided on, the fourth step is to communicate it to all interested publics. evaluation of results: Has news coverage been positive? Is the company being positioned as an industry leader? Have public perceptions of the company and the industry improved?

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Risk Communication (conflict positioning)

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Any verbal or written exchange that attempts to communicate information that positions the organization favorably regarding competition or an anticipated conflict. EX: when general mills was about to layoff thousands of people, first said it was freezing management's salaries. Need to inform the public of risks such as those surrounding food products, chemical spills, radioactive waste disposal, or the placement of drug-abuse treatment centers or halfway houses in neighborhoods. -if they didn't announce these they could end up with expensive legal problems and boycotts Product Recalls include 'doing the right thing'

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Crisis Communication

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high-profile events such as accidents, terrorist attacks, disease pandemics, and natural disasters can dwarf even the best conflict positioning and risk management strategies. The public goes to the media for information. How an organization responds in the first 24 hours, experts say, often determines whether the situation remains an "incident" or becomes a full-blown crisis. However, there is a crisis if the organization's stakeholders—customers, vendors, employees, or even local community leaders—perceive the situation to be a crisis.

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only __ percent of business crises are unexpected.

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39

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And ___ percent are what the institute calls "__________" crises, in which an organization is aware of a potential business disruption long before the public finds out about it.

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16 smoldering

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top three triggers for a crisis are

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(1) financial irregularities, (2) unethical behavior, and (3) executive misconduct.

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__ percent of Fortune 500 companies admitted that they did not have a crisis management plan.

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50

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List of Coombs crisis communication strategies that an organization may use

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attack the accuser, denial, excuse, justification, ingratiation, corrective action, full apology

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Some variables proscribing accommodation, according to Cameron, include:

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(1) management's moral conviction that the public is wrong; (2) moral neutrality when two contending publics want the organization to take sides on a policy issue; (3) legal constraints; (4) regulatory constraints such as the FTC or SEC; (5) prohibition by senior management against an accommodative stance; and (6) possible conflict between departments of the organization on what strategies to adopt.

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What is risk communication? How does it differ from crisis communication?

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Risk communication is informing the public of any potential risks or taking the risk away. Risk communication is rather pointless after a crisis comes into the situation. Crisis Communication is more reactive and deals with a crisis after it happens.

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How would you use the contingency theory of conflict management (the continuum from accommodation to advocacy) in advising management on a growing conflict situation?

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Depending on whether my company thinks they are responsible or not, would decide on which side of the spectrum it thinks best fits the situation has.

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reputation is the

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track record of an organization in the public's mind. owned by the public

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The Three Foundations of Reputation

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(1) economic performance, (2) social responsiveness, and (3) the ability to deliver valuable outcomes to stake-holders.

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The social responsiveness of an organization results from

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careful issue tracking and effective positioning of the organization.

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reputation audits

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used to assess and monitor an organization's reputation.

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Media Reputation Index (MRI)

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which measures the effects of media coverage on corporate reputations.

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strategies used by executives to recover reputation are, in descending order

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(1) make progress/recovery visible, (2) analyze what went wrong, (3) improve governance structure, (4) make the CEO and leadership accessible to the media, (5) fire employees involved in the problem, (6) commit to high corporate citizenship standards, (7) carefully review ethics policies, (8) hire outside auditors for internal audits, and (9) issue an apology from the CEO.

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five general strategies for image restoration and a number of substrategies

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1. Denial 2. Evade Responsibility ? Provocation—Your organization was provoked. ? Defeasibility—Your organization was unable to avoid its actions. ? Accident—The bad events were an accident. ? Good intentions—Good intentions went awry. 3. Reducing Offensiveness ? Bolstering—Refer to the organization's clean record and good reputation. ? Minimization—Reduce the magnitude of negative feelings. ? Differentiation—Distinguish the act from other similar, but more offensive, acts. ? Transcendence—Justify the act by placing it in a more favorable context. ? Attack the accuser—Reduce the credibility of the accusations. ? Compensation—Reduce the perceived severity of the injury 4. Corrective action—Ensure the prevention or correction of the action. 5. Mortification—Offer a profuse apology.

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How does self-disclosure of an issue or stealing thunder potentially benefit an organization?

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?????????????

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Provide an example from the current news to illustrate each of Coombs's seven crisis response strategies.

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attack the accuser, denial, excuse, justification, ingratiation, corrective action, full apology

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What are the three foundations of reputation? How does each one contribute to building and maintaining a positive reputation?

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(1) economic performance, (2) social responsiveness, and (3) the ability to deliver valuable outcomes to stake-holders.

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Underlying Assumptions about crisis communication

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1) Communication is goal directed 2) Image is important 3) Image repair discourse takes place only after an attack

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An attack has two components:

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"The accused is held responsible for an action" "That act is considered offensive" -perception more important than reality

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Theory of Image Repair

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Does not describe the kinds of crisis situations or the stages in a crisis. Focuses instead on message options. How would you explain to your parents that you crashed their car because you were texting while driving?

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Theory of Image Repair options

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1. Denial 2. Evade Responsibility 3. Reducing Offensiveness 4. Corrective action 5. Mortification

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Denial

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1. Simple Denial 2. Shift the Blame

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Evasion of Responsibility

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? Provocation—Your organization was provoked. ? Defeasibility—Your organization was unable to avoid its actions. ? Accident—The bad events were an accident. ? Good intentions—Good intentions went awry.

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Reducing Offensiveness

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? Bolstering—Refer to the organization's clean record and good reputation. ? Minimization—Reduce the magnitude of negative feelings. ? Differentiation—Distinguish the act from other similar, but more offensive, acts. ? Transcendence—Justify the act by placing it in a more favorable context. ? Attack the accuser—Reduce the credibility of the accusations. ? Compensation—Reduce the perceived severity of the injury

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Corrective Action

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Plan to solve or correct the problem

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Mortification

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Apologize for the offensive act

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Image Repair Uses

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Preparation of a Crisis Contingency Plan • Reduces response time and prevents missteps • Helps anticipate accusations/crises and aids in the creation of contingency plans. Analysis of the Crisis and the Accusations • What are the accusations or suspicions? • Response MUST be tailored to the offense Identification of the Relevant Audience(s) • Identify audiences in order of importance • Seek to appease the most important ones first

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Crisis Management

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•A crisis situation puts a great deal of pressure on organizations to respond with accurate, complete information as quickly as possible. •How an organization responds in the first 24 hours often determines whether the situation remains an "incident" or whether it becomes a full-blown crisis.

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Crisis

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a major occurrence with a potentially negative outcome affecting the organization, company, or industry, as well as its publics, products, services, or good name." If the organization's stakeholders - customers, vendors, employees, or even local community leaders etc. - perceive the situation to be a crisis, there is a crisis!

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Jet blue airline situation

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icy climate kept passengers on airplanes for up to 10 hours and none of them were informed what was going on only 17 out of 165 planes left JFK that day Thousands of irate passengers and deluge of 5,000 media inquiries, for which the airline was totally unprepared. The media often frame a situation as a crisis for the organization (remember Agenda-setting and framing theory?) "Perception is reality." jetblue replaces CEO

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Only ___ percent of business crises were unexpected.

answer

14

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The remaining __ percent - an organization was aware of a potential business disruption long before the public found out about it.

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86

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____________ caused 78 percent of the crises.

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management

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The top three triggers for a crisis

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Financial irregularities Unethical behavior Executive misconduct

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Most organizations should have a crisis plan to deal with sudden crises which include

answer

Issues management, risk management, crisis managemen

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Many "smoldering" crises can be prevented if professionals use more _____________________ and _________________, leading to the development of a strategic management plan.

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environmental scanning and issues management

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A common crisis planning technique is rating both the "_________" of a and its "________" on the organization.

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probability impact e.g.) Toy factory - unsafe products Probability 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 Impact 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 Total =

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How to communicate during a crisis

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Put the public first Take responsibility. An organization should take responsibility for solving the problem Be honest. Don't obscure facts and try to mislead the public Never say, "No Comment." Designate a single spokesperson. Set up a central information center Provide a constant flow of information. Be familiar with media needs and deadlines Be accessible Monitor news coverage and telephone inquiries Communicate with key publics

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Strategies for responding to crises

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1. Accommodative strategies Ingratiation, Corrective action, Full apology Help subsequently in repairing an organization's reputation or restoring previous sales levels 2. Defensive strategies Attack the accuser, denial, excuse, Justification Not effective when organizations are viewed as more responsible for the crisis + image restoration strategies (e.g., bolstering, differentiation)

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Wendy's and the Fickle Finger of Fate

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Wendy's restaurants was the victim of a hoax in 2005 when Anna Ayala found a human finger (about 1.5 inches long with a nicely manicured nail) in her bowl of beef chili at a Wendy's in San Jose, California. She hired a lawyer and sued.

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