Description
Scenario
You were recently hired as the director of communications at Pasta Amore, an Italian restaurant chain with the following mission: “To provide a warm atmosphere for your family where we can share the traditional cuisines of Italy. Our food will always be fun, fresh, and filled with love.” The restaurant owner, Marco Moretti, created the new director of communications role after another local restaurant, Ella’s Salmon, experienced a crisis and was unprepared to handle it. Ella’s Salmon served contaminated food to its guests, which lead to an outbreak of salmonella. The restaurant’s lack of a clear crisis communication plan led to its eventual closure because customers no longer felt safe eating the food. Marco is worried that Pasta Amore would be equally unprepared to handle a similar crisis. While he is working with other departments to ensure food safety procedures are followed, he has tasked you with creating a thorough crisis communication plan to mitigate risks and unforeseen challenges as your first assignment in this new role.
You will need to consider your customers, your employees, and the community as stakeholders when creating a crisis communication plan. Your customers and the community are likely concerned that they may get sick eating out at restaurants after the incident at Ella’s Salmon. They may also be wondering what will be done from a health perspective to prevent this from happening at Pasta Amore. Your employees are likely concerned about a similar crisis happening and maintaining their jobs if it does. Consider these and any other possible risks while creating your plan.
When creating a crisis communication plan, there are many things to keep in mind, including audiences, messaging, and command centers. Some of your colleagues are confused about why Pasta Amore needs a crisis communication plan, so Marco has asked you to include an introduction that explains the importance of having a plan in place. Marco has also stressed the importance of understanding the vision and corporate philosophy of Pasta Amore as you create a crisis communication plan. Review this information in the image below.
Directions
- Introduction: Marco would like your crisis communication plan to begin with a solid introduction that helps your colleagues understand the importance of having a plan in place. The plan makes some of your colleagues feel nervous that they are doing something wrong because they do not understand why a plan is being made before a crisis has occurred. In your introduction, be sure to include the following:
- An explanation as to the value of a crisis communication plan
- An overview of what will be included in your plan and a brief statement as to why each section is important
- Audiences and Stakeholders: It is important for Pasta Amore to be prepared to respond to any audience and stakeholder questions and concerns. List some of the primary questions and concerns that may be asked by customers, employees, and the community. While other stakeholders may exist, focus on these three groups for the purposes of your crisis communication plan.
- One method of creating questions is to put yourself in the shoes of the stakeholders. For example, if you were a customer of Pasta Amore and heard about a salmonella outbreak, what are some of the questions that you might ask?
- Messages: Next, create messages for each of the three aforementioned audiences. Be sure that your messages are clear, direct, and honest and provide valuable answers to the potential questions that you posed in the previous section. Your messages should include the following:
- A brief description of the type of message response (email, letter, social media message, etc.)
- The full text that will be included in the message content
- Command Centers: Establishing command centers and a chain of command is important in a crisis situation. In your plan, be sure to do the following:
- Explain why it is important for Pasta Amore to set up a command center and chain of command during a crisis situation
- Propose one option for Pasta Amore to establish a command center and chain of command. Consider who should be in command (an owner, a communications director, a partner, etc.) as well as a possible alternative meeting site if the restaurant were unavailable (for instance, if the health department shut it down).
- Risks: With any crisis, there are inherent risks. Include a section that discusses risks that Pasta Amore should consider while planning for a crisis such as a salmonella outbreak. Answer the following questions:
- What are possible negative outcomes if Pasta Amore does not respond promptly and accurately? Discuss at least two.
- What are possible negative outcomes even if Pasta Amore does respond promptly and accurately? Discuss at least two.
- Conclusion: Finally, wrap up your crisis communication plan with a conclusion. In your conclusion, include the following:
- Discuss how to use this crisis communication plan in application to other scenarios. Consider this question: How can having a specific plan help mitigate future risks and unforeseen circumstances?
- Explain any ethical and legal considerations that should be taken into account with this and future crisis communication plans at Pasta Amore. For instance, should a lawyer be consulted? Are there company values to take into account when communicating messages and making decisions in a crisis? Is there ever a time when information should be withheld?
Explanation & Answer
Attached. Please let me know if you have any questions or need revisions.
Crisis Management
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Introduction
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Audiences and Stakeholders
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Messages
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Risks
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Conclusions
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Reference
Running head: CRISIS MANAGEMENT
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Crisis Management
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CRISIS MANAGEMENT
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Introduction
Most of the upcoming businesses fail in their future strategies due to a crisis management
procedure. The crisis struck at an expected time, and since the companies had not planned for
them, it sinking the whole organization. As the director of communications, I have to educate our
customers, employees, and the community on the importance of a crisis management plan. A
crisis management plan helps minimize a future crisis and the cost that it carries along with it.
For example, if a company assesses all the crises that can attack their business, they can
strategize on the possible solutions. The possible solutions will then help in minimizing the risks
and avoid extra expenses.
A crisis plan also facilitates preparing for unexpected events. Once the company lists the
entire possible crisis, they will be well equipped for it when it strikes. Crisis management is also
important in protecting the reputations of employees and the business. It also assists in reassuring
the consumers of quality services in the future. There is also the importance of a quality crisis
communication plan. It assists in reducing misinformation within the business. It ensures that the
employees, customers, and community are provided with the correct information on the crisis.
The communication plan also assists in providing the right information to the social media
platform to avoid miscommunication.
The crisis communication plan includes who will manage the plan, what information is in
the plan, policies and legal counsel, restaurant's contact information, and social media contacts.
When the restaurant has a crisis manager, it can handle the crisis easily as it comes. The
information in the plan includes how the restaurant plans to cub the food ailment problems. The
policies and legal counsel contains the standards that the restaurant has set in place to fight
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Salmonella. The restaurant's contact information allows feedback from the restaurant's clients
from the offline and the online platforms (Gordon, 2016).
Audiences and Stakeholders
Many individuals have doubts concerning how Pasta Amore will manage the food
poisoning ailments. Many consumers make inquiries on what unique strategies has Pasta Amore
put in place concerning the food poisonings ailments instead of Ella's Salmon. Others inquire if
the medics have tested the Amore employees. Questions like what hygiene strategies, the food
preparation strategies, where the restaurant's source water, ingredients, and vegetables, how the
restaurant preserves food and vegetables have been popping up since the Ella crisis. The
community and employees also inquire about how the employees will prevent themselves from
the ailments and hygiene standards.
Messages
On the consumer inquiries on what unique strategies has the Amore restaurant set as
opposed to Ella, the Ella restaurant was not treating their consumption water. Their water pipes
passed through an insecticide company, and during a pipe leakage, the water mixed up with the
chemicals. Since the Ella Company does not treat their water, it brought about contamination,
which led to the Salmonella infection. The Amore restaurant, however, monitors the water pipes
that source water into the restaurants. The experts should then treat the water by passing it in a
steaming container that passes the steam to the condenser for cooling.
The condensed water is safe for consumption and utilization, preventing the speed of
salmonella and any other food poising ailments. Moreover, all the Amore employees must
undergo medical analysis before becoming an employee. They thereafter, take the test monthly
to ensure that they are safe from any contagious illness. The cleaning staff washes all the Amore
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surfaces, rooms, especially the kitchen and washrooms, during each break. Cleaning of the
surfaces ensures the elimination of bacteria. The kitchen staff also have their way of fighting the
bacteria that wash all the fruits and vegetables thoroughly before cooking and serving them. The
chefs should also clean their hands and all the utensils before preparing the meals and assist in
the disposal of leftover meals.
In the employees and community safety sector, the employees will have sanitizing
gadgets on every restaurant floor. The management requires them to maintain hygiene, especially
personal hygiene. The employees maintain short nails, clean garments, hair, and control cleaning
around the building. The restaurant will also ensure minimal disposable waste on the
environment to avoid polluting the environment to the community. With a clean environment,
food poisoning bacteria will not survive (Oscarsson & Danielsson, 2017).
Risks
There are some negative impacts that a business faces when it fails to acknowledge the
crisis that has befallen them and act on them promptly. The Amore restaurant has a risk of
contracting the Salmonella bacteria if it does not follow all the regulations. If the restaurant does
not respond to the crisis, it risks facing closure or even the client and employee death. For
example, if the restaurant fails to respond to the Salmonella crisis, most employees and
consumers might die. Salmonella is a serious ailment that leads to death within a short period.
Any personnel that contract the bacteria is at risk of death. With the employees and consumers
complaining, the health association can order for the closure of the res...
