Once a crisis occurs, enterprises should first understand that speed is everything, and every department and partner should follow the crisis and take action. This is one of the first conditions to solve the crisis. If the enterprise loses control of dealing with the crisis in time, the impact of the crisis will be out of control with all kinds of public speculation and media reports. Therefore, in the shortest time after the crisis, enterprises must concentrate all available resources to solve the crisis. Many companies have stipulated in their crisis management systems the candidates for special spokespersons and the latest news release time after the crisis, requiring them to inform the public of the current situation and handling progress immediately after the crisis, and promise the public to solve the crisis quickly. The public must be informed of the handling of the incident directly from the company rather than the news media.
The development process of any crisis includes four periods: sudden period, spreading period, outbreak period and recession period. If we do something in the sudden and spreading period of the crisis, the cost is often low and the effect is ideal. Once the outbreak period is reached, the situation will be difficult to clean up.
With the progress of the crisis, time is out of control, and with the progress of the crisis, all kinds of unpredictable factors will increase, usually it will rain all night, and even an event unrelated to the crisis will be considered by the public as the cause of the crisis. Once a crisis breaks out, it will often attract the attention of the public and the news media. At this time, if the organization can't find out the truth quickly, or the normal communication channels are not smooth, and no one can come out to publish information, it will create an information vacuum in the spread of the crisis, and the public will fill all the problems with imagination, which will certainly produce all kinds of "gossip". Soon, the information vacuum was occupied by rumors that black and white were reversed and nonsense was spoken. Especially for food, health care products and other products, rumors may bring people fear, fear may bring discomfort, and it will be suspected that it is caused by products, thus causing the spread of another rumor. At the same time, due to the delay of time, the public will question the appearance of corporate integrity, which will have an irreparable impact.
Yin Xue Dairy Company is a company with excellent reputation and reliable credit in the industry. On June 27th, 2000, its low-fat milk was poisoned by drinkers. Two days later, Yin Xue publicly acknowledged this fact. It was almost a month before Yin Xue apologized to the public in the form of a full-page advertisement in the newspaper. However, due to its problems, the public thinks it lacks sincerity. Due to the slow handling of Japanese crisis, slow product recovery and slow information disclosure, the corresponding measures are unfavorable. The direct loss caused by the two-week shutdown is110 billion yen, and the indirect loss is the serious damage to Yin Xue brand. According to experts' estimation, it will take 10 years to restore the original reputation.
So how do companies gain an advantage in speed? Generally speaking, enterprises need to take the following measures in times of crisis:
1. Inform the professional crisis public relations company at the first time, and control the crisis with the help of the power of public relations company;
2. Inform all employees of the enterprise at the first time, and unify the caliber to avoid the employees being at a loss when facing the interview;
3. The departments involved in the organizational crisis quickly took measures to investigate the truth of the incident at the first time. The spokesman announced that the company took measures to appease the public and organized lawyers to deal with the victims' incidents;
4. Inform the government departments or relevant competent departments of the truth at the first time to build public confidence;
5. First, channel the media and let the media report the crisis in a benign direction.
Second, the analysis of various treatment attitudes
Through the above means, the crisis can be initially controlled in time, which is the first measure to be taken at any crisis moment. However, many domestic enterprises do not know how to deal with crisis public relations, and they are usually at a loss. The mentality of these enterprises in the face of crisis is usually: fluky psychology, ostrich policy, shirking responsibility and concealing facts. These wrong attitudes will not only help solve the crisis, but will cause a more serious crisis.
Because the crisis not only leads to the imbalance of market order, but also brings people psychological pressure, psychological tension and even psychological crisis. At this time, people lack sense of security and interpersonal trust, group consciousness is easily stimulated, the public's critical ability is reduced, and the degree of mutual influence and infection is enhanced. At this time, if the normal information communication channels are not smooth, gossip has become a way for people to spread information and express their wishes.
More importantly, rumors often breed in an environment where news is blocked. In the information society where freedom of speech is guaranteed and information activities are diversified, rumors are increasingly losing their living environment. From the perspective of sociology, West Bhutani believes that the occurrence and disappearance of rumors are closely related to the channels of information dissemination. When people's information needs are greater than the information supply of institutional channels, or when people can't get the information necessary to adapt to the environment in time, that is, when people's information needs are not fully met, rumors are easy to occur. Once the balance between information supply and demand is restored, rumors will naturally disappear.
Interpersonal communication is the most important channel for rumors to spread. However, the spread of rumors can not find a specific and clear communicator, so it is "unprofessional oral communication through interpersonal channels."
The most effective way to prevent rumors is not to let them happen. Today, when mass communication is extremely developed, it is not difficult to do this. That is, through authoritative and normal mass communication channels in advance, the events that may produce rumors are reported comprehensively and objectively. This is easy in theory, but it is not simple in practice.
It is easy to spread rumors, but it is quite difficult to eliminate them. Because even if people don't believe in rumors, they will be influenced by rumors. On the contrary, people may be adversely affected by rumors, even if they believe the rumors are true. In fact, all rumors are spread in two ways: one is to let those who have never heard of rumors know about them, and the other is to try to influence those who already know about them. This invisibly forms a paradox: dispelling rumors is first and foremost a rumor, and it is a rumor with wider influence. After the public knows the content of the rumor, for those who knew the rumor before, the first thing is to deepen their impression of the rumor and then consider the effect of the rumor; For those who don't know the rumor before, first understand the content of the rumor, and then consider the content of the rumor. It is precisely because we are afraid that rumors will expand further that our enterprises will adopt "public relations means" such as shirking responsibility and concealing facts, directly blocking information, further raising public sentiment, and all kinds of speculative rumors are everywhere. With the development of the situation, the integrity of enterprises will be seriously lost.
Crises generally have four characteristics:
First, the public and the media are strongly concerned. If this incident did not attract the attention of the public and the media, although it happened, it was not a crisis, but an event.
Second, after the crisis broke out, the public was very excited. Because the public's news is often obtained from the media, and the public's trust in the media is much higher than that in the enterprise.
Third, the presumption of guilt.
Fourth, if not handled properly, the crisis will have a strong and far-reaching destructive effect on reputation and brand. No matter how big the crisis is, it will pass, but it will leave a stain on the history of the company or the government that will never be erased.
According to the * * * characteristics of the crisis, we can look at the harm of various wrong mentality to crisis management:
1. The harm of fluky psychology-fluky psychology usually refers to the crisis of peers or competitors, but due to time or geographical reasons, it is not a crisis of enterprises. At this time, enterprises will think that the crisis has nothing to do with themselves, thus letting things develop.
Case: Fenjiu is a famous time-honored liquor brand in China and a typical representative of China Fen-flavor liquor. From 1990 to a long time ago, it was in a leading position in the liquor industry. From the earliest folk stories and legends about Fenjiu, to the reputation of Tang poetry of "the shepherd boy points to the Xinghua Village", and then to the inscriptions left by many national leaders and literati after the founding of the People's Republic of China, its unique cultural connotation has formed the charm of Fenjiu brand. Dating back to 10, Fenjiu is one of the eight famous wines in China, with the same brand as Maotai, but its sales volume is higher than Wuliangye. However, since the Shanxi fake wine case, Fenjiu has been in a slump, not only the sales volume is not the same, but also the price difference with Wuliangye is more than 200 yuan.
The fake liquor case had nothing to do with Fenjiu, but it was in the same place, and later "fake Fenjiu" was found out. If it is only the same accident scene, after all, "fake wine" is not Fenjiu, and people who drink it can feel at ease. As soon as the "fake Fenjiu" was found out, the pot exploded. Consumers don't know that this "fake Fenjiu" is not fake wine, but they know that "fake Fenjiu" is fake wine. If you drink fake wine, you will be blind or die. Who dares to drink?
When the fake wine incident occurred in Shuozhou, Shanxi, Fenjiu thought it had nothing to do with itself and did not take action; When "fake Fenjiu" was discovered, people began to be anxious, denounced counterfeiters and counterfeiters, and began to demand strengthening the legal system-but this anxiety was for themselves, not for consumers, so consumers would not appreciate it and feel how great Fenjiu was.
Gu is smarter. The chairman published an open letter in the newspaper through the fake liquor incident, pointing out that the liquor industry in China should adopt legislation to put an end to the unhealthy trend of counterfeiting, and said that he would donate 200,000 yuan to the families of the victims of the fake liquor incident, and warned consumers to be cautious in buying liquor. This move caused great repercussions, and major newspapers reprinted this letter from the chairman of Gujinggong Group in succession, and the special program 3. 15 also interviewed the chairman. Obviously, after such corporate behavior, even if Gujinggong fake wine is found in the market, people will have more sympathy than resistance.
If Fenjiu regards those victims as its own consumers, then "its own drinkers" are poisoned. Why not pay attention to them? This is a manifestation of disregard for corporate image and irresponsibility to consumers. Many enterprises in China basically gloat more than take responsibility. "Fake wine" kills people. Under the action of luck, the first thing that comes to mind is to pass the buck and tell everyone that wine is not my family's. So, who is responsible? Answer: the legal system-human life is a matter of life, and it takes time to improve the legal system. What an irresponsible attitude!
There is no doubt that Shanxi Fenjiu has a lucky attitude in dealing with the "fake wine case"-as long as it has nothing to do with itself, it will hang high. However, this fluky psychology not only failed to help Fenjiu survive the crisis, but also made the enterprise passive everywhere when it was later found to be counterfeit Fenjiu, until it recovered. Speaking of Fenjiu, many people think that fake liquor has harmed such an enterprise. If an enterprise can't survive the crisis of "counterfeiting", it is hard to imagine that it can survive the other 1 1 crises mentioned above. Therefore, even if Fenjiu survived the fake wine crisis, it is hard to predict whether other crises will bring down this enterprise.
In the "hollow milk powder" incident, many domestic regular milk powder manufacturers also hold the mentality of "luck", thinking that this is someone else's product and has nothing to do with themselves. In fact, after the "hollow milk powder" incident, consumers' confidence in domestic milk powder will inevitably drop sharply, which will inevitably cause a serious blow to those unknown brands.
2. The harm of ostrich policy-many enterprises always think about how to avoid media interviews when the crisis comes. This is the ostrich policy. It is obviously not helpful to solve the crisis by blindly avoiding, not facing up to the facts and not cooperating with the media to channel public opinion.
In the face of crisis, enterprises must not imitate ostriches and bury their heads in the sand, so that even if temporary problems are avoided, they may plant seeds of greater harm. Like an ostrich, he hid his head in the sand without knowing that his big ass was exposed. The unilateral escape of enterprises cannot avoid the public's desire to understand the crisis. In the case of insufficient information feedback, the public will angrily resist this behavior of enterprises.
Case: Nestle is a very competitive enterprise. Besides coffee, its dairy products also have a high market share in the world. 1977, a famous "boycott of Nestle products" campaign suddenly broke out in the United States, and members of the American Dairy Action Federation persuaded American citizens not to buy Nestle products everywhere. The reason is that people think that Nestle deliberately ignores the nutritional defects of artificial dairy products for its own profits and misleads consumers. This boycott made the Nestle baby milk powder crisis last for more than ten years. Nestle America has suffered huge economic losses for more than ten years.
When people first began to pay attention to infant malnutrition caused by milk powder, Nestle did not treat the criticism and suggestions of social activists correctly, and even took an indifferent attitude towards the serious moral problems raised by some church leaders. The public feels that their legitimate demands are ignored, so they are doubly hostile to Nestle. It was not until 1984 65438+ 10 that Nestle recognized and implemented the international regulations of the World Health Organization on the sale of breast milk substitutes, and the International Committee for Boycott of Nestle Products ended its activities.
At the beginning of the incident, Nestle adopted the "ostrich policy" and ignored the public's demands, which triggered a large-scale boycott movement. With the influence of Nestle and the strength of the enterprise, it survived the difficulties, but it also paid a heavy price. This incident turned into a "hollow milk powder" incident in China, which is a more serious "malnutrition" phenomenon. Obviously, domestic enterprises are much more complicated when facing this problem.
3. The harm of shirking responsibility-in the case that enterprises think that the media and the public don't know the whole story of the incident, some enterprises will hold the attitude of shirking responsibility and think that no one knows anyway. This mentality is wrong. After all, paper can't contain fire, and shirking responsibility may be effective for short-term operation. In the long run, things will eventually be exposed, and enterprises will not only lose faith in consumers, but also lose faith in the media.
Case: In 2003, rumors about "Fuji smuggling and Fuji Xerox smuggling" were circulated among the people, and then the news about "Fuji smuggling" was constantly exposed by the media, and the focus of the problem was more on Zhuhai Zhenke. Fuji has been silent to answer, the only statement has nothing to do with himself, indicating that it has a great intention to escape the supervision of China media and public opinion and try to muddle through. In media public relations, Fuji is more of a "best decission", trying to make the media yield.
Fuji's "smuggling" scandal has been criticized by peers. Ye Ying, global vice president of Kodak, declared that Kodak had heard about the "gray behavior" of Zhuhai Zhenke, and that the "irregular operation" of Zhuhai Zhenke had hurt Kodak before. Le Kai also expressed his "extremely dissatisfied" mood. He had already collected "illegal information" about Zhenke and reported it to the State Economic and Trade Commission. "In our opinion, Fuji and China-Hong Kong photography are originally a family." "China and Hong Kong take photos to participate in smuggling, and Fuji can't get away with it!" Fuji has become the target of public criticism.
Regarding Fuji's suspected smuggling incident, Yasushi Koizumi, deputy general manager of Fuji (China), claimed: "Neither Fuji headquarters nor Fuji (China) branch invested a penny in Zhuhai Zhenke. In fact, Zhuhai Zhenke is only related to the agent of Fuji Corporation. The rumors about' smuggling' have nothing to do with Fuji. "
After investigation, it can be seen that there are more than a dozen companies under the banner of photography between China and Hong Kong and under the name of "Fuji". Fujimoto should urgently adopt crisis public relations strategy, try to calm down the crisis and minimize the possible damage caused by the crisis, so as to keep the China market that he has worked hard for many years. Regrettably, under the premise that its suspected smuggling is an open secret, Fuji did not adopt any crisis public relations strategy, but simply pushed itself completely after the Zhuhai Zhenke incident.
The news about "Fuji Smuggling and Fuji Xerox Smuggling" was constantly exposed by the media, and Fuji was silent after being exposed. The statement that "it has nothing to do with oneself" also belongs to shirking responsibility and perfunctory things. In dealing with the media, he took a "righteous and stern" attitude and tried to make the media yield. Fuji also sent a statement letter to a famous financial media in Beijing, saying that it would resort to law to solve the exposed matters. Contrary to expectations, just two weeks after Fuji issued a statement, this newspaper in Beijing still devoted a lot of space to tracking the smuggling incidents of Fuji and "film", accompanied by editorial comments, and was determined to expose the "Fuji smuggling" incident to the end. As an international company, Fuji has not shown a style that matches the identity of multinational companies in media communication. After the "smuggling" incident was exposed, major domestic media such as Beijing and Guangzhou began to follow up on a large scale, exposing the disharmony between Fuji and the media.
Comparatively speaking, Kodak ranks first in terms of "the best brand in consumers' minds", "market share" and "brand awareness", with the awareness reaching 8 1.4%. It is by no means a matter of time before Fuji catches up with Kodak.
4. Harm of concealing facts-"Don't wash your dirty linen in public" is an inherent concept of China. If this concept is applied to enterprise crisis management, it will have a more serious impact than the crisis itself. Enterprises will not only continue to be affected by the crisis, but also have a crisis of integrity.
Case: On March 25, 2004, the Shanghai media reported: "According to the authoritative department,' Cistamine' will cause side effects of cardiovascular system, and even lead to death by mistake. Recently, dermatologists in some hospitals in Shanghai have stopped using cillamine. Some experts believe that astemizole is a long-acting drug, which is metabolized by the liver. People with good liver function can metabolize it immediately. In people with poor liver function, the metabolic time will increase and the blood drug concentration will increase, which will cause cardiovascular toxicity and even death. Therefore, as soon as the news of toxic and side effects of sismin came out, Xi Anjang Sang Company was immediately criticized from all directions.
It was not until the end of 2003 that Xi 'an Rangsang Company issued a "Prompt on Suggesting Modification of the Instructions for Astemizole Tablets" to the relevant doctors. In addition, Xi Anjansang Company did not say that it would take back all the products, and Wang Peng, the public relations department of Xi Anjansang Company, said that he was unwilling to explain the toxicity of the products more.
Although Wang Peng, Yang Sen's agent in Ann, is unwilling to explain more, various media have made a lot of reports, some of which are speculation and some are questioning. Yang Sen of Xi may try to control the media opinion by "unwilling to explain", but he actually lost control of the media.
Third, how to deal with the news media.
When the crisis comes, enterprises should have the courage to face the crisis public relations, show it to the public in a responsible manner, channel public opinion and share the crisis with the media. The correct approach has the following aspects:
1. Quick response
Because we live in an era of 24-hour news rolling broadcast and constantly updated information, companies must respond to the crisis immediately. Any delay may be mistaken for a crime, and the company's reputation and business losses caused by it are irreparable.
2. Joint professional public relations company to deal with the crisis
Due to the limitation of the enterprise's own resources and the ability to deal with related problems, it is often necessary to use professional public relations companies to cope with the crisis together. Public relations companies will rely on their rich operating experience and media resources to quickly control the impact of the crisis.
Let the CEO come forward
The image and leading position of CEO in the public is irreplaceable. CEO can't hide at the most critical time of the company. The CEO should show concern for the company's stakeholders, calm the panic and ensure that all stakeholders keep a correct understanding of the crisis. Importantly, the CEO also needs to unite and inspire the morale of the company's employees. The CEO can't sit behind and command at this time, and let other senior managers take the lead.
4. Don't guess the unknown facts.
If you speculate on the facts you don't know, it may be proved wrong afterwards. If this happens, you will find that your main stakeholders: employees, government managers and the public will think it is unforgivable. If the media think you are deliberately misleading, they will especially question you. If you don't know the truth, admit it, say that you will investigate and report the results to the media in time.
5. Don't hide the truth
If something goes wrong, you should tell the truth directly and don't try to cover it up. Otherwise, you will see a worse ending. During World War II, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill once said: "It is a very wrong leadership behavior to think that the bad situation will soon disappear on its own."
6. Open the door for media coverage
The obligation of the media is information reporting. For the media, news is a fleeting and highly competitive commodity. They hope to seize the exclusive news and attack their competitors in the market. Newspapers that publish bad news sell much more than those that publish good news. Therefore, when there is a crisis, the media is particularly interested in it. The company can't change this situation at least during the crisis, so it should accept media reports and actively cooperate. What the company can do is to try to control the situation.
7. Speak with one voice, speak with one voice.
The crisis team may include 3-4 members, as well as some experts and consultants. The most basic thing is to ensure that all company information is coordinated, and only company spokespersons can speak to the media. But all managers should convey the same message to employees and other stakeholders, such as government managers and customers.
8. Frequent communication
The information provided to the media, employees and other stakeholders should be updated frequently to prevent rumors and uncertain news from spreading everywhere. Take all problems seriously. Pay attention to the deadline of the media. In the current era of 24-hour media news circulation, it is even necessary to send people to station their own crisis media center all day. Public relations should also be informed of the progress of crisis management at the first time to ease the public's nervous mood.
Dealing with the crisis in a responsible manner requires not only talking about it, but also doing it. In addition to keeping in touch with the media, enterprises should also keep in touch with the public through actions. Because only action can really solve the crisis.