Crisis management (page 2 of 2)

Criminals put lethal amounts of cyanide in Johnson and Johnson bottles of Tylenol, a cough medicine while they were on store shelves. Before long, seven people died from the poisoned medicine. The company met the crisis head-on. First, they spent $300-million recalling all samples of the medicine bottles. Then the company introduced new tamper-proof medicine containers that changed the entire industry. But most importantly, Johnson and Johnson was prepared, it acted coolly, they answered tough questions, and in the end maintained their dominance in the market. They used the media to demonstrate their concern and their determination to resolve the crisis. They showed courage, leadership and effective crisis management.

Typical crises include, materials shortage, machine breakdown, transport delays/ loses, financial problems, legal problems, staff absence, emergency situations; accident, fire, flood and storm. In short anything which goes against or jeopardizes the smooth running of the business.

Crisis management starts with having a contingency plan that can be practiced and analysed for effectiveness. Departments and companies should be honest about the crisis situation so that a true picture of the crisis can be gleaned. Exxon mobile did huge damage to themselves by trying to cover up the severity of the oil spillage of the Exxon Valdez, when the truth came out they lost their market edge and had to pay over five billion dollars in fines.

Focus on finding the solution don't blame-throw or search for the culprit and above all maintain calm.

These simple steps will ensure that whatever crisis befalls the company, employees will have a planned response and can either expend their effort on the necessary action, or know when it is time to go home and not mill around in befuddled confusion.