Your assignment is to prepare and submit a paper on business continuity and crisis management: crisis monitoring and communication.

Your assignment is to prepare and submit a paper on business continuity and crisis management: crisis monitoring and communication. To the company administration, this usually implies the quick formulation and implementation of decisions regarding its overall business future, and any misconceptions can cost the company its relevancy. This process usually demands much planning before acting in order to help the company and its heads to assume the best position in tackling a crisis. Crisis communication is an art that involves the public relation arm of any business (Alan, 2010:34). Crisis communication refers to the company operations involving its communication avenues in reference to the sudden occurrences of events that tend to affect the business’ overall image and strategy. Its primary function is to show all involved stakeholders that the situation is being handled effectively. Thesis statement: this paper seeks to expound on the fields of crisis management and communication, their purpose, and their relevancy to various business operations. The paper seeks to research on the appropriate methods to handle crises in business in a way that the business will emerge untainted and still earning due respect and relevancy to all stakeholders and its target market. This paper will expound on the Johnson & Johnson Company. It will place special focus on how it successfully handled its Tylenol crisis in 1982. Introduction A crisis has numerous definitions depending on the particular approach towards the subject. In a broad definition, a crisis is major predicament that negatively affects the practicability of a company. Crises communications and handling methods usually exhibit unique characteristics, which include uncertainty regarding the exact cause of the disaster, potential implications and methods of actions, and the ever-present imperative that any decisions are made fast due to the limited time at hand. From another approach, a crisis is a happening that can interrupt normal business activities and potentially devastate the company, or possesses the latency to damage the institution’s workers and its overall public image gravely (Janine, 2000:109). Though such situations happen on a virtually daily basis in companies, a crisis is such an occurrence or situation that has reached or exceeded a critical level in terms of potential damage. Generally, the major characteristics of virtually all business crises are: The aspect of shock The absence of relevant information regarding the crisis, a factor that is most experienced at the outset of all crises The rapid growth in magnitude of subsequent events in comparison to the initial effect Crises almost always succeed in inflicting panic among involved individuals Crises usually influence managers to tend to make decisions that only place intense focus on the short-term results and effects Crises, usually at their outset, provide only a limited amount and chance of control among the company’s administration heads.