Crisis management
Part I: Crisis Summary Assignment
Objective: Summarize the crisis in “executive summary” format. Begin with what happened (who, how, when, what, where, why, how). Then explain why the events were a crisis.
Length: Maximum 300 words (not including references).
Example: (289 words, not including references; also, see “Executive Summary Format” below)
On April 20, 2010, the Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded in the Gulf of Mexico, killing 11 workers. The rig, owned and operated by Transocean, was contracted by British-based BP, a multinational energy company. Following the explosion, the rig burned for almost two days before sinking to the bottom of the Gulf (Timeline: BP Oil Spill, 2010). Almost immediately, the U.S. Coast Guard detected oil spewing from the ocean floor, and oil continued to gush from the well for five months before BP permanently capped the well in September 2010. The BP Oil Spill is largest environmental disaster in U.S. history and resulted in 250 million gallons of oil entering the Gulf (Macalister, 2016). In addition to the loss of 11 workers, BP faced potentially massive financial and reputational losses following the spill. The company pleaded guilty to 11 counts of manslaughter (Muskal, 2013) and bore the brunt of blame from the U.S. government and public (Kennedy, 2010). The spill damaged the fragile Gulf ecosystem and harmed the economy, especially fishing and tourism, of U.S. Gulf states. BP has paid more than $62 billion in fines, settlements and cleanup costs since the explosion (Macalister, 2016).
Please include two topic claim sentences (not included in 300 word count) with your submission
BP appropriately handled this crisis because its “Gulf of Mexico Restoration” website includes video testimonials from locals that lend credence to the company’s controversial claims of having restored the Gulf.
BP inappropriately handled this crisis because the company initially chose CEO Tony Hayward as its spokesperson, and the American public perceived Hayward as arrogant, uncaring and out of touch about the spill’s effect on the Gulf Coast.
References
Kennedy, H. (2010, June 2). BP’s CEO Tony Hayward: The most hated – and most clueless – man in America. New York Daily News. Retrieved from http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/bp-ceo-tony-hayward-hated-clueless-man-america-article-1.178007
Macalister, T. (2016, July 14). BP faces further $2.5bn charge over Deepwater Horizon spill. The Guardian. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/business/2016/jul/14/bp-fined-further-25bn-over-deeepwater-horizon-spill
Muskal, M. (2013, Jan. 29). BP pleads guilty to manslaughter in 2010 gulf oil spill. Los Angeles Times. Retrieved from http://articles.latimes.com/2013/jan/29/nation/la-na-nn-bp-pleads-guilty-to-manslaughter-in-2010-gulf-oil-spill-20130129
Timeline: BP Oil Spill. (2010, Sept. 19). BBC News. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-10656239
You will turn this summary in once, for a grade out of 50 points.
Part II: A “Appropriate” Paragraph
Objective: Persuade your reader that the company appropriately responded to the crisis for ONE specific reason.
Format: Your paragraph must begin with a TOPIC SENTENCE that states your specific argument (including evidence and analysis) about why the company responded appropriately. Your paragraph must then offer EVIDENCE to back up your claim and ANALYSIS to explain your interpretation of your claim to your readers.
Length: Maximum of 300 words.
Example (269 words):
BP appropriately handled this crisis because its “Gulf of Mexico Restoration” website includes video testimonials from locals that lend credence to the company’s controversial claims of having restored the Gulf. BP’s restoration website includes videos that show residents of the Gulf Coast corroborating the company’s highly controversial claims that they restored the Gulf Coast. For example, in the website’s first tab, “Committed to the Gulf,” are five videos showing the current condition of the Gulf Coast. Of the 15 people featured in the videos, only one is an employee of BP. The other 14 people are residents and local business people, including a fisherman, a tourism guide, a restaurant owner, and a steamboat captain. All the residents in the videos have only positive comments regarding the restoration efforts and the cleanliness of their local environment. The use of residents as the voices in these videos is an attempt to make the claims of BP’s coast restoration seem more believable. BP tries to convince viewers that the reports being given are both authentic and unbiased by using independent third parties. According to Leslie Gaines-Ross (2010), “Companies need force multipliers. Ideally, these should include a network of independent third parties willing to take [their] side” (p. 75). The use of residents gives credibility to the claims of a cleaner Gulf Coast, as the locals used in the videos would reasonably be the most critical of BP’s work in the Gulf Coast. In this way, BP effectively managed its crisis by showing the public that the company is in fact in touch and in sync with their needs and perspectives.
Part A “Inappropriate” Paragraph
Objective: Persuade your reader that the company inappropriately responded to the crisis for ONE specific reason.
Format: Your paragraph must begin with a TOPIC SENTENCE that states your specific argument about why the company responded inappropriately. Your paragraph must then offer EVIDENCE to back up your claim and ANALYSIS to explain your interpretation of your claim to your readers.
Length: Maximum of 300 words.
Example (300 words):
BP inappropriately handled this crisis because the company initially chose CEO Tony Hayward as its spokesperson, and the American public perceived Hayward as arrogant, uncaring and out of touch about the spill’s effect on the Gulf Coast. Following the spill, Hayward made statements to the media such as “There’s no one who wants this thing over more than I do. You know, I’d like my life back” (climatebrad, 2010). Hayward also said in the days following the spill that that its impact on the Gulf environment would likely be “very, very modest” (climatebrad, 2010), and noted that the amount of oil was tiny when compared with the volume of water in the ocean (Webb, 2010). In the weeks following the spill, Hayward consistently downplayed the amount of spilled oil and its impact on the Gulf economy and ecosystem (CBS News, 1010). Hayward’s words were perceived by the American public – and especially Gulf Coast residents – as arrogant, out of touch, and callous; the New York Daily News at the time even branded Hayward “the most hated – and most clueless – man in America” (Kennedy, 2010). In news interviews, Gulf Coast residents often expressed distrust and extreme dislike of BP executives, including Hayward (CBS News, 2010). According to W. Timothy Coombs in “Crisis Management and Communications,” a key component of crisis team training is spokesperson training (2007). Coombs notes that a spokesperson should follow crisis communication best practices, such as expressing sympathy for the victims of a crisis, making public safety the top priority, and providing counseling to victims of the crisis and their families. Hayward failed as a spokesperson because his comments about the explosion and spill were perceived by the American public as arrogant, uncaring and out of touch with the environmental and economic disaster that Gulf Coast residents were experiencing.
You will turn these persuasive paragraphs in twice, each time for a grade out of 60 points.
Formatting Requirements
Cite all sources using APA Style. An APA style guide is on Blackboard (Only the citations need to be in APA style; the paper itself does not need to be written in APA style.)
12 point Times New Roman or Calibri font
Triple spaced
1-inch page margins for top/bottom and left/right
Your header should appear at the top of the first page, RIGHT JUSTIFIED and SINGLE SPACED – see example bolded below:
(Student Name)
(Professor Name)
Crisis Communication, Summer 2016
Sources requirements:
You must use credible primary sources (company press releases, statements, videos, advertisements, etc.) and/or credible secondary sources (news coverage of the crisis).
You must refer to a crisis communications expert (either one of the experts we have read, such as Timothy Coombs, or another you find on your own) in each of your analysis paragraphs.
You may NOT use Wikipedia as a source (though I encourage you to mine Wikipedia to gather initial information)
You may NOT use garbage websites (pro/con.org, askjeeves.com, etc.)
Executive Summary Format
Crisis Summary Paragraph Grading Rubric
Content (15 points)
Paragraph clearly explains to a reader unfamiliar with the crisis exactly what happened
Paragraph clearly explains why the incident is a crisis
Bullets include appropriate/inappropriate claim, company action and why that action was appropriate/inappropriate
Paragraph explains any technical terms used
Paragraph includes “References” in APA format
Structure (15 points)
Paragraph follows “Executive Summary Format” structure (see above)
Language (20 points)
Writing uses correct grammar and punctuation
Writing is clear, precise and concise.
Free of discriminatory or biased language
Free of weasel words such as “generally,” ” some,” “various,” ”very,” “basically”
Free of informal, unprofessional or overly conversational language
Free of jargon and clichés
Free of long-windedness, redundancies, and weak openings (“My point is that it is very important that people understand the importance of…”)
Confident, positive, and professional tone (No use of “I believe” phrases.),
Limits use of passive voice
Free of “There are” or “It is” constructions
Crisis Analysis Paragraphs Grading Rubric
Content (10 points)
Claim includes your position (appropriate/inappropriate), the company’s action in relation to that claim, and the reason why that action was either appropriate or inappropriate
Evidence strongly supports claim and is accurate and specific; provides details and data, but does not plagiarize.
Thoughtful analysis that flows logically from the chosen evidence
Accurate, logical use of crisis expert in your analysis
Structure (10 points)
Clear, logical, assertive topic sentence that asserts one reason why the company’s response to the crisis was (in)appropriate.
Paragraphs focus only on topic sentence claim – NO TOPIC DRIFT
Clear explanation of company’s action, followed by why that action was (in)appropriate
Balance of relevant evidence and thoughtful analysis to support the topic sentence claim.
Language (10 points)
Same as “Summary Paragraph Grading Rubric” above
