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What techniques can as public relations practitioner use to prepare my company for future scenarios? Crisis management is part of a public relations officer job. An organization won’t make it through a crisis without proper guidance and an action plan. What elements go into a crisis management plan? How can I as public relations practitioner steer an organization through a crisis. How can prepare my organization for any possible scenario? 2. 1 Defining ‘environmental scanning’ Environmental scanning is the careful monitoring of an organization’s internal and external environments.
This will allow the organization to evaluate and detect early signs of opportunities and threats that may influence its current and future plans. 2. 2 Environmental techniques and types My organization of choice is First National Bank (FAN), one of the main banks in South Africa . My following answers is based on this organization: 2. 2. 1 Environmental scanning techniques We can identify two key techniques to perform environmental scanning, namely competitor intelligence and scenarios. Competitor intelligence: It is becoming increasingly more important for organizations to know what our competitors are up to in today’s competitive climate.
The more a company can find out as to the actions of its competitor, the better their own chances are to prepare and adjust accordingly. With information at our disposal you can easily do research into what another organization is working towards. We see advertisements around us, year-end financial are readily published on organizations websites and newspaper reports are some of the few ways to gain competitor information. FAN reinvented themselves in a way their competitors couldn’t. They scanned the environment of their competitors and came p with such unique product Offerings.
This set them apart from the rest Of the banking industry. FAN created an easy way of banking for clients. Scenarios: A scenario is not a specific forecast of the future, but a plausible description of what might happen. Scenarios are like stories built around carefully constructed plots based on trends and events. They assist in the selection of strategies, identification of possible futures, making people aware of uncertainties and opening up the imagination and initiating learning processes. One of the key strengths of the scenario process is its influence on the way of thinking of its participants.
F-NO is the most innovative bank at the moment. They used various scenarios to illustrate and adapt to their clientele and staff needs. 22. 2 Environmental scanning types An effective environmental scanning program should enable decision makers to understand current and potential changes taking place in the institutions’ external environments. Scanning provides strategic intelligence useful in determining organizational strategies. There are three different types of environmental scanning namely: Scanning for forecasting
Environmental scanning creates the basis upon which forecasts can be done. Scanning brings about information to the foreground from where future scenarios can be created. There are some specific outcomes for which management is likely to see forecasts. This will include future revenues, new technological breakthroughs and issues. Revenue forecasting indicates future revenues. The way in which revenue forecasting is conducted is by looking at past revenue figures. This information will be accompanied by various other questions like: A) What revenue patterns has FAN experienced in the past?
B) What changes in the economic, social and other factors might affect the pattern in the future? C) What will other banks do? Technological forecasting aims to identify changes in technology and the time in which new technologies are likely to be economically feasible. The world of technology is changing rapidly on a daily basis. This in turn will have an effect of an organizations demand for current products and services. R-N.B. is a clear leader when it comes to keeping banking up to date with the latest technology. They incorporate social media, tablet computers and innovative Nanking to their forecasting.
FAN will use issue forecasting to collect information to determine how its public and the organization will react to future events, trends and crisis’s. There are various forecasting techniques namely: A) Trend extrapolation B) Trend impact analysis C) Scanning D) Monitoring E) Delphi technique F) Cross-impact analysis G) Scenario writing H) Computer simulations Technology assessment Scanning for bench marking This type of scan inning searches for the best practices among competitors or non-competitors that lead to their superior performance.
The core idea is to learn from other organizations and even implementing methods from other leaders. FAN might be a leader but they are constantly updating their business strategies Scanning for analysis There are a few researchers went above just scanning and created models which included analyzing: Bates found a gap in existing models.
The plan must also ensure all stakeholders are provided accurate information in a timely manner. Policy and philosophy Building upon the South African Post Offices core principles, mission and vision. The philosophy is: To continue providing world-class postal services to the nation during times of crises, leveraging our broad reach technological capabilities. The SAPP will remain transparent at all times, communicating with honesty and integrity. Definition of the potential crisis This serves as a crisis communication plan for when the South African post Office could experience a crisis relating to operational disruptions from its workforce. The predominant effect on the operations of the Post
Office will be that it will not be in a position to fulfill its postal delivery obligations. Extended disruption could result In a significant backlog at all collection points across the country. Disruptions would have the most detrimental effect during peak periods of the year, such as Easter and Christmas. There is also a possibility of violence and sabotage by disgruntled workers. 6 A crisis management team First and foremost, it is important to identify the key individuals within the organization who will be part of this core team. Depending on the degree of a crisis, the team will consist Of senior employees that are in a session to take important decisions.
The team will comprise of the following people: Crisis manager: The Post Office COO holds the function of crisis manager. Their key responsibilities are communication with senior management, and coordination during the crisis. Emergency services co-ordinate: This functional, fulfilled by the company’s head of Facilities, will be the primary contact point and co-ordinate of all emergency personnel and law enforcement. A labor relations official: The head of HER will fulfill this function, acting as the liaison between the company and all labor unions. Information officer: The head of Company Secretariat will be the information officer, responsible for documenting the events and to keep the crisis management team up to date.
Public Relations officer: This role, fulfilled by the head of Public Relations, will compile and coordinate all communication with the internal and external publics. They advise the crisis manager on the crisis management strategy. Official spokesperson: The head of Investor Relations is the official spokesperson during a crisis, responsible for directly handling all media. A legal advisor: The head of Group Legal will roved counsel to the crisis management team to ensure the crises in managed within legal bounds. 7 c A staff schedule When crises arise it is standard procedure for the entire workforce to report for duty. It is the role of the plan editor and co-ordinate to supply a staff schedule as to make sure who will working at certain times so that there is continuity.