Reputation Management and Crisis Communication Assignment
Part 2: Reputation Management/Crisis Communication Assignment
As you respond to this assignment, please view this from a reputation management/crisis communication point of view or as if you were a consultant hired to help an organization rather than on the basis of views or feelings you may have about these issues or particular events.
First conduct an Internet search for recent news reports and articles dealing with the happenings and issues listed above. This will further familiarize you with the nature of the current image, reputation, and crisis communication issues that all organizations may now face in some form.
Second, select ONE ORGANIZATION in the United States that has experienced a crisis involving accusations of racial profiling, racial discrimination or victimization on/with persons associated with it. It must have taken place in the past year or so. This could be a national or a local organization and may even be located in the city or town where you live. Once you have chosen your particular organization and locale, conduct another Internet search or search for other sources that focus on the organization you’ve chosen and the particular crisis communication challenges it has faced dealing with these specific issues within the past year or so. (
Third, using Chapters 1 and 2 in Coombs books as a guide, assess the ways you believe the crises they have experienced in the past year or so exemplifies the nature, stages, responses to and influences on crises as discussed in these chapters. Be sure to identify what organizations and stakeholders have been affected in the case of your organization and how such matters as the value of reputations, stakeholder activism, having broader views of crises, failure to plan, and the importance of leadership 5 are exemplified. Also, specifically exemplify how the “effects of the online world on crisis communication” has been at work. After you have responded to this, apply Chapters 3 and 4 in the Coombs book to the next part of your evaluation of this case.
Next, based specifically on what you have learned about the crises your chosen organization may have experienced, discuss specifically what the leader(s) of this organization might have done or might do to be more proactive in their crisis prevention and crisis management. Be specific in applying the Coombs readings to your particular case, even though your information about the internal workings of the organization you chose will be quite limited. Finally, based on your assessment of all communication that has taken place in the case you have chosen, what specifically do you believe has been handled ethically or unethically, using Dr. Timothy Sellnow’s video message and biblical truth as your guide?
Your written response for this assignment should be 500-1,000 words and include links to the key articles you use in your work, in-text source citations from the Coombs chapters, and any other necessary identifying source information.