Select one crisis case from the list provided below:
Please note, the cases that have been selected have received substantial media coverage and several options will be familiar as a result. Content warning: key words have been placed next to cases.
Crisis organisation/individuals involved | Main crisis period |
Bauer Media and Rebel Wilson (defamation) | 2017 – 18 |
Channel Nine – 60 minutes (child snatch/kidnapping) | 2016 |
Facebook – Cambridge Analytica (data misuse) | 2018 |
Johnson & Johnson – talc products (link to ovarian cancer) | 2018 |
Government or Retailers – strawberry needle crisis (food tampering) | 2018 |
Weinstein Company – Harvey Weinstein (sexual harassment & misconduct) | 2017 – 19 |
You should prepare this assessment in report format. Below is a list of essential sections:
Title Page
Name the case you worked on plus include your name/student number.
This should be on a seperate page.
Table of Contents
Include numbered sections and page numbers.
This should be on a seperate page.
1. Introduction
Introduce your case by providing some background and determine the type of crisis they experienced. Use academic literature to support the type of crisis.
2. Environmental scanning
Explain how you collected data for this report (your method). This section should be written so that if someone wanted to replicate the way you collected your data, they could do so and find similar results.
State your method
Once you have chosen your case, prepare a method that outlines how you will collect information about the case. This must include the date range you will search, the key words you will use, the database you will access, social media sources and additional websites/resources. Your method then discusses how you will analyse your findings. You need to measure visibility and valance and show your findings.
a) Database
Search NEWSBANK.
Newsbank is a database. Use the search tools to collect your data set (media articles). This will help you prepare your lifecycle diagram and a separate graph to show visibility. You can also use the articles to measure valance.
b) Social media sources
You may also use social media to measure valance. Identify social media sites that have discussed the crisis. In a similar way you narrowed the date scope for media articles, analyse a portion of social media posts.
c) Websites/resources
Do not be limited by Newsbank and social media sites. Use organisational websites, corporate reports, opinion pieces and academic resources to add to your analysis. This information will be helpful in determining how they responded, what policies they have in place (and what appears to be absent/a missed opportunity).
3. Results and Analysis
Present your findings by providing a lifecyle diagram and graph representing visibility. In addition, discuss how the crisis evolved, which stakeholders were impacted, how information was communicated and critically analyse how the organisation responded.
- Present your results and analyse the case
- Analyse the case by identifying who the crisis impacted (the stakeholders).
- Describe the response(s) and use academic literature to analyse the timing and response strategy (or strategies) used.
- Plot the timeline of events on a Lifecycle diagram.
- Create a graph identifying the number of media articles.
- Demonstrate a level of analysis of social media.
- Identify policies in place by the organisation that addresses factors such as corporate social responsibility, codes of conduct etc…
- Discuss what they have done to rectify/rebuild since the crisis.
4. Recommendations
Based on your analysis, was the organisational response satisfactory, how could this be improved and/or, how can the organisation move forward? What measures or strategies should they enact; why?
Make recommendations
Make recommendations as to what your case organisation could do to repair their relationship with stakeholders. This is an opportunity to demonstrate your problem-solving skills through a creative idea that could have real-world application.
References
Provide an accurate reference list including a minimum of six (6) academic sources.