危机管理公共关系【外文翻译】.doc

危机管理公共关系【外文翻译】.doc

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本科毕业设计（论文）

外文翻译

原文：

Crisismanagement–publicrelations

Damagetoanorganization’sreputationcansoeasilybecausedbyaflippantremark;forexampleRatner’ssharescollapsedthroughthechiefexecutive’scarelessjoke.Atatimeofcrisis,theeffectofflippantcommentsorplatitudescanexacerbatethiseffect.ThecommentbyEurotunnel’spresident,inwhichhedescribedthefireas“anunpleasantincident”,whichwasadjustedafewhourslaterto“aseriousincident”wasevidenceofpoormanagementofthereleaseofinformation,whichresultedintheimpressionthatsafetyfearswerenotbeingtakenseriously.HillandKnowlton’sdirectorofcrisismanagement,DavidBrotzen,commentedthattheydidwelltokeeptheincidenttoaquestionoffreightsafetyratherthanlettingLeShuttlebecomeimplicated.But:

ifIwastheirPR,I’dtakethemediain,showthemwhathappenedandwhy.I’dlaunchanindependentinvestigationintothecauseandseverityofthefireandbeopenandhonestaboutitsfindings.I’dalsoreviewallrollingstocktoreassurealltravellersthatsafetyisnumberonepriority（Beenstock,1996）.

Basicrules

Afewbasicruleshaveclearlyemergedfromtheaboveexamples.Firstofalltheimportanceoftellingthetruth.Second,ratherthanletthemedianetworkspeculate,usethemedianetworkasaopportunitytodisseminateyourinformation.Leavenoroomforspeculation–“ifyoucan’ttellthemsomething,tellthemwhyyoucan’ttellthem”（PRJournal,1995）.

Appropriateapologies

Perhapsanotherbasicruletobementionedatthispointistheneedtoapologizepromptlywhenappropriate.SirJeremyMorse,bankerandpastchairmanoftheInstituteofBankers,maintainsthatitalmostalwayspaystoissueanearlyapology.Althoughthiscouldleadtoanorganizationbeingblamedforsomethingwhichisnotitsfault,hecomments:

Nevertheless,therearetwocentralreasonswhythisisusuallytherightcourse.First,externally,thepublicrespectanapologyfreelygivenratherthanonethatcomesafteraconsiderableperiodofstonewalling.Secondly,internally,anearlyapologyfreesmanagerstosortouttheproblemsfarmoreeffectivelythaniftheyarestillmaintaininganoutwardfrontthatnothingiswrong（Haywood,1994,p.177）.

However,Black（1993）pointsoutthatifalawyerispresenttheremaybepressurenottoexpresssympathyincasethisistakentoimplyliability:

Lawyersmustbetoldthattheconsequencestothecompanyofnotcommunicatingandshowingsympathyinpracticaltermsaresuretobemuchworsethanifanopenpolicyoffullinformationandgenerosityisadopted.

Speedofmediacoverage

Itisvitaltorealizethespeedofmediacoveragebecauseofnewtechnologicaldevelopments.Notonlycanstoriesberelayedbymobilephonesandfaxedfromcars,buttheycanalsobesentfromhelicoptersandbouncedoffsatellites.Picturestoocanbetakenbydigitalcomputerizedcamerasandsentdowntelecommunicationslines:

WhenGreenpeacestageditshigh-profilestandagainstthesinkingoftheBrentSparoilplatform,itnotonlypostedinformationontheWeb,butwasreportedtohaveairliftedsophisticatedfilmingequipmentandasatellitedownstationontotherig,sothattheycouldprovidetheirownVNRsdirecttonewsoutlets（Nicholas,1996a）.

Thismeansthatitisunlikelythattherewillbeatimedelaybetweenanincidentorcrisiseruptingandtheresultingmediacoverage.Thisemphasizestheneedtoreactquicklyatatimeofcrisis,andtoletallpartiesknowimmediatelyabouttheactionyouhavetaken.“Communicatingeffectivelywasnowmoreoftenseenasofthesameimportanceasputtingtheproblemsright.”（IPRJournal,1995,p.14）.Furthermore,themediaareincompetitionandhungryforthemostnewsworthystories.Generallybadnewsisverynewsworthyandmoresensational（Ashcroft,1994）.Ifimmediateinformationisnotavailable,thisleavesroomforspeculativestories.

Specialisttrainingforcrisis

Organizationswhichhavehandledcriseswellhavebeenwellpreparedforthem,andtheirplanshavebeentriedandtested.Therearenowanumberofcompaniesofferingspecialisttraininginhowtohandlethemediainacrisis,whichcaninvolvetrainingtosuittheindividualorganization,includingsimulations.MichaelBlandofMichaelBlandCommunicationshasnodoubtaboutthevalueofsimulationexercises.“Evencompanieswithverygoodcrisisproceduresalwaysfindsomethingiswrongorsomethingismissingwhentheydoasimulation”（Purdom,1995,p.12）.Preparationinvolvesidentifyingwhichcrisesarelikelytohappenforanorganization,thatisanticipatingpotentialcrises.Thisrelatestoissuesmanagement.

Preparation/trainingforcrisismanagement

Crisismanagementmanual

Thecrisismanagementmanualisoftenviewedasanimportantpartinpreparation.Itcansetoutwhowillhandlewhatandtheestablishmentofacrisisheadquarters.However,toworkinpracticeitmustbeveryuserfriendlyandasconciseaspossible.

Crisischecklist

Purdom（1995,p.11）setsoutacrisischecklist:

•Identifywhichmanagerswillbepartofthecrisishandlingteam.Establishwhoisthespokespersonandensuretheyaretrained.

•Ensurethatoutofhourscontactnumbersofseniorstaffareavailabletorelevantstaff,includingeveningsecuritycover.

•Establishacontrolroomawayfromtheday-to-dayrunningofthebusiness.Ensurecomputerequipment,TVandradioareavailable.

•Practicemakesperfect.Seniormanagementshouldrunthroughasimulationofacrisisincludingdealingwiththemediaunderpressure.

•Don’tforgettotrainsupportstaff.Oftenitwillbecustomerservice,secretarialstaffortelephonistswhowillbethefirsttoreceiveacall.

•Considerarrangementsforreceivinglargenumbersoftelephonecalls.Telesalescompaniescanofferconsultancyandsupportinthisarea.

•Don’tkeepcrisisplansconfidentialamongaselectmanagementgroup.Allstaffshouldknowtheproceduresduringacrisis,whetheritisamaterialdisasteroramediasiege.

Phonelines

Thepointsinthischecklistarevalidandimportant.Forexample,duringthemediahubbuboverthefireintheChanneltunnel,howcouldtheinformationflowtothemediabemanagedeffectivelywithonly20phonelinestohandlearound8,000calls?

（Beenstock,1996）.

Spokespersons

Thepointaboutestablishingspokespersonsandensuringtheyaretrainedisvital.Equallyimportantisensuringthattheyarearmedwiththerightinformationbeforespeaking,andarefamiliarandcomfortablewiththisinformation.In-housetrainingshouldalwaysinvolvevideorecordings,forpeopletobecomeawareoftheirbadhabitsandbodylanguage–whichcanconveysomethingcompletelydifferentfromwhatisbeingsaid.

Conveyingthemessage

Inordertoensurethatthespokespersoniswellprepared,she/hemustknowwhattosayandhowtosayit.Thismeansknowingthesubjectwell,especiallythekeyareasandanydifficulttopics,and,ifpossible,rehearsingthewholeprocedurebeforehand.Themessageshouldbestatedstraightaway,keepingitsimpleandclearandspeakinginplainEnglish,avoidingjargon.Anyuntruthsmustberefutedimmediately.Iftheyarenotrefuted,thepowerofthemediacanmakethemappeartobethetruth（GlasspoolandGeorge,1994）.

Trainingsupportstaff

Thepointmadeabouttrainingsupportstaff,asthoseonthefrontlinearethemostlikelytobethefirsttoreceiveacall,isextremelyimportant.Woodcockcommentsthatmanyexpertsnowbelieveeverybodyinanorganizationneedsanawarenessofcrisismanagement.Shebelievesthattrainingneednotbedifficult.

Itcanbedonethroughasimplecascademanagementsystem,supportedbymonthlyteambriefingsexplaininghowthecrisismanagementsystemworks,andbycardslistingthemostimportantdo’sanddon’tsandkeyemergencynumbers（Purdom,1995,p.11）.

However,thisleadsontothepointthatitisnotonlytheundertakingofanelaborateissuesauditthatcanavertdisaster–havinganeffectivesetofhouserulesintowhichallstaffareinductedcanavoidaminorcrisis,whichcanblowupintosomethingmoreextensive.

Houserules

Whensettingupapublicrelationsstrategy,asetofhouserulesneedtobeestablished,preferablyincorporatedintothestaffhandbook.Thisclearsetofrulesmustclarifyexactlywhocanandcannotspeaktothemediaatanytime–notjustattimeofcrisis.Thiscanavoidacrisisofthetypethathashappenedwhenstaffwhodonotknowthefactsofthematterhavespokentothemedia.Thiscanbestaffatanylevel–notjusttelephonists,clericalstaff,cleaners,caretakers,butseniormanagersintheorganization.Evenifamemberofstaffknowsthefullfactsofasituation,itdoesnotfollowthatshe/hehastherightcommunicationskillstoconveythatinformationtothemedia.

Havingestablishedthisruleitisthennecessarytoensurethatmembersofstaff,particularlyfront-linestaff,knowwhattosayiftheyareapproachedbythemedia.Publicationofaphrasesuchas“nocomment”or“I’mnotallowedtosay”wouldleadtospeculationandcanbeextremelydamaging.Allpersonnelshouldrespondwithaphrase,suchas“I’lltransferyoutothePRmanager,whowillknowthedetails”.Thisisexacerbatedinacrisissituation.MichaelBlandcommentsthat:

ManyPRplanshaveanAliceinWonderlandbeliefthatthepresswillonlygotoheadofficeorthatbysomemiraclepeoplefromheadofficewillarriveatthecrisissiteintime.Ifpeopleatthesitehavenotbeentrainedandsay“wecan’tcomment”or“thatdecisionisdowntoourLondonoffice”,mediarelationsstarttofallapartfromthebeginning（Purdom,1995,p.12）.

译文：

危机管理—公共关系

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