Problem

1

2
Problem

• There was a problem that involved Paula Deen
  whereby she was committing racism.
• Customers' complained that she had used racial
  slurs in referring to customers and also abusing
  them
• She was also known to have mistreated her
  employees by harassing them
• The scandal led to a former employer suing her

3
Mistake

• She admitted to the media that had once used a
  racial word towards employees
• Her way of admitting prompted the media to create
  a sensational story which went out of proportion
• The media hype led to the loss of millions of
  dollars and also a ruined reputation of the firm
• The mistake was how she admitted to the mistake
  and this would have been avoided if communication
  had been done correctly

4
Continuation

• The miscommunication led to a fall of the
  business empire almost within a short time
• The problem would have been avoided by hiring a
  cooperate communication manager to handle the
  issue
• As a top person on the company hierarchy , she
  represented the face of the company and therefore
  what she said and how she said it had weight.

5
Lesson

• Managers should be careful when facing the court
  of public opinion because their intentions would
  not matter (Dowling 2007)
• Companies should understand how the media work
  and also how it interprets information
• When going for press briefing concerning a crisis
  ,work on winning them over
• Top managers should work towards avoiding crisis
  rather then damage control

6
Company communication responses

• The company should organize an emergency crisis
  meaning to have a common ground before calling
  the media
• Train a team to handle a crisis
• The meeting should give the deliberation to
  communication managers to prepare the briefing
• The briefing should then be read by the top
  manager or CEO

7
Company statement review

• The manager should not have directly admitted to
  the mistake (Coombs 2009)
• The company should have been the first to reach
  out before the media came calling on them
• When a company faces such a crisis , managers
  should use positive words and also accept
  liability

8
Continuation

• For the Paula case, she should have let her PR
  department to handle the problem
• Top managers should have called another briefing
  to offer apologies and control the damage
• Paula made a mistake of blaming other forces
  instead of focusing on addressing the crisis

9
Conclusion

• Companies should have a crisis committee to
  handle a scandal or crisis when it arises
• There has to be a plan of response by management
  not just an individual
• The management should engage members of a PR
  team especially when the media is involved
• Managers should understand how the media works
  (Bernard 2009).

10
References

• Timothy, C.(2007). Crisis management and
  communication. London Macmillan
• Dowling, S.(2007). Business leadership. London
  Macmillan
• Bernard, I.(2009). The business round table.
  Oxford Oxford University Press
• Hansen, G.(2001). How to survive a crisis.
  Nairobi Longman
• http//www.youtube.com/watch?v-cm9XUoo0w0