UNIT 1 1 H CRISIS MANAGEMENT

fJ Match words from Box A with words from Box B to make word partnerships,
Handling crises adding of if necessary.
EXAMPLES: action plan, admi>>ion of liability
A
i'lttffift aclmission contingency damage
flow legal loss press press speed

B
action conference confidence information �
limitation pltttt plan release response

I] Complete these sentences with the word partnerships from Exercise A.

1 How quickly management react to a crisis is known as the . . . . . . . . . . . . .
2 In a breaking crisis, a manager may speak to the media at a(n) . . . . . . . . . . . . .

3 Alternatively, there may be a written statement, which is given to the media in the
form of a (n) . . . . . . . . . . . . .
4 During the crisis, management may choose to keep customers, employees and
shareholders up to date with a regular . . . . . . . . . . . . .

5 A(n) . . . . . . . . . . . . is part of a crisis strategy prepared in advance.

6 A backup strategy is a(n) . . . . . . . . . . . . .
7 The risk of being taken to court is the threat of . . . . . . . . . . . . .
8 An acceptance of responsibility in a crisis is a(n) . . . . . . . . . . . . .

9 Following a crisis, a company may suffer a decline in loyalty from its customers,
or a (n) . . . . . . . . . . . . in its product or service.
10 Minimising the negative effects of a crisis is known as . . . . . . . . . . . . .

B Match an expression from Exercises A and B with each of these verbs.

Three of the expressions are not used.
1 implement an action plan 5 suffer
2 issue 6 prepare

3 take 7 control

4 hold

liJ Answer this question, then discuss your ideas in small groups. Can you
give any examples?
Which of the word partnerships in Exercise C do you think are:
a) essential in a crisis?

See the DVD-ROM � b) important to avoid?

for the i-Glossary. W c) useful but not essential?

fJ In groups, tell each other three things you know and three things you
would like to know about the Toyota crisis of 2009 /2010.
Dealing with
crises
I] �ll) CD3.19 Listen to Craig Smith, Professor of Ethics and Social Responsibility
at I N S EAD in Paris. Does he make any of your points or answer any of your
q uestions from Exercise A?

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UNIT 11 .. CRISIS MANAGEMENT

[I �l» CD3.19 Listen again and complete these extracts using no more than three
words in each gap.
... it's a problem that the company frankly has been very . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 and very . . . . . . . . . . . .2 to.

... it was only September 2009 that the company really truly acknowledged there was a
. . . . . . . . . . . .3
and said 'we're gonna have a • ' . . . . . . . . . . . . .

... its communication around the causes of the problem has been . . . .. . . . . . . . s. and
Craig Smith consumers have been left . . . . . . . . . 6 and ..
. .. .

The classic advice here is 7 and 8• And the thing to do is to

. . . . . . . . . . . . 9
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

and let people know that you acknowledge that there is a problem, and know that you're
. .
. . .
. . 10 about it.
. . . . .

m �l» CD3.20 Listen to the second part of the interview and answer these questions.
1 What is the three-part model?

2 What are the three critical activities or questions for part one?

IJ �l)) CD3.21 Listen to the third part. What three things need to be done d u ring
a crisis?
Watch the
interview on
the DVD-ROM.
D �ll) CD3.22 Listen to the final part. What questions does he ask with regard to:
1 the recovery? 2 the auditing of the management of the crisis? 3 rebuilding?

IJ In groups, brainstorm the crises that these companies could have.

Dealing with a) a pushchair (buggy) company b) a mobile phone company
crises

Student A: Read Article A on the opposite page.

2 How not to take care Student B: Read Article B on the opposite page.
of a brand

B Read your articles again and take notes on these questions.

3 No way back from 1 What crises happened?
a crisis
2 How did the companies mentioned deal with their crises (if this is mentioned)?
3 What lessons can be learned?

llJ Using your notes, tell your partner about the content of your article.

IJ In pairs, make as many word partnerships as you can by matching the verbs
(1-7) to the nouns (a-g). More than one combination may be possible.
1 handle a) a warning
2 issue b) a problem
3 face c) a crisis
4 announce d) an investigation
5 cope with e) a recall
6 deal with f) the public
7 reassure g) an issue

D Discuss other companies you know who have handled crises well/badly.
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 UNIT 11 •• CRISIS MANAGEMENT

by John Gapper

I nstead of a formal product recall , higher than cheaper rivals. But i t has
it was simply issuing warnings to done a poor job of telling it.
owners not to let children stick their Therein lie lessons for companies
fingers in the folding mechanism as that face s i m i l a r crises, of which
20 they opened the pushchairs. Repair 45 there are a lot. Nokia has announced
kits to cover the hinges would not be a recall of 1 4 million phone batteries,
automatica l l y d i s patched to every w h i l e Toyota is s t i l l coping with a
Maclaren owner, as i n the US. recall of 3.8 m i l l ion cars with floor
Outrage ensued, with messages on mats t h a t can make the v e h i c l e s
25 Twitter such as 'WHAT?! Amputations 50 accelerate uncontrollably and crash.
Macl aren is a small private company from a stroller? ! ' By the time Farzad Lesson one: be ready. When the
with a big public problem, one that it R a s tegar, C h i e f E x e c u t i v e of announcement of the recall leaked
has not handled well. Maclaren i n the U S and the brand's early, Macl aren was left floundering.
On Monday, Maclaren announced contro l l i n g shareholder, had lunch Lesson two: empathise. Maclaren is
s that it was issuing repai r kits for up 30 with me in New York on Tuesday, he ss the latest of many companies to fall
to I m i l l ion pushchairs it had sold sounded shaken. i n t o the trap of b e i n g i n w a r d l y
in the U S over the past decade 'Did I expect this kind of coverage? focused a n d fa i l ing t o realise how
after 1 2 cases in which c h i l d re n · s No, I did not,' he said. It was hard to customers will react. Lesson three: be
fingertips were chopped off i n the grasp why. The words ' c h i l d ' and polite. Lesson four: don't discrimi-
10 pushchairs' hinges. By that after­ 35 'amputation' in a media release from 60 nate. Maclaren's biggest mistake was
noon, its website had frozen and its the US safety regulator would surely to appear to be treating American
phone l i nes were overwhelmed by terrify anyone. children's fingertips as more precious
parents. Mean w h i l e , the B ri t i s h After talking to h i m , I concluded than those of chi ldren in the UK and
company told non-Americans they that Maclaren does not have a bad other countries.
15 would be treated d i fferently. 40 story to tell - its safety standards are

by Morgen Witzel

Crises are an inevitable part of man­ 2s announce an i n vestigation into the h e a l t h y companies w i l l s u r v i v e ,
agement, and the larger the business accident and reassure the travel l i n g so although a t a cost t o themselves. Weak
grows, the bigger the crises seem to p u b l i c t h a t it w a s s t i l l safe t o fly companies w i l l be carried off by the
become. However robust a business A i r France. The following clay the disease and w i l l die. I n Mr Grove's
s seems, it is s t i l l fa l l i b l e . A r t h u r airline·s share price did decline, but view, the key to successful crisis man­
Andersen, the accountancy firm, and 30 not by much and not for very long. agement is preparedness. Forward
Marconi, the telecoms equipment Intel, the world's leading maker of 55 thinking and planning are essential;
maker, are two once-great busi nesses semiconductors, suffered a huge and understanding the nature of the crisis
that have d isappeared in recent years. u n foreseen crisis when it emerged that might occur can help managers be
10 Not every crisis can be foreseen. that a small proportion of its Pentium better prepared, as the A i r France
Sometimes managers will know that 35 microprocessors were faulty. Quickly example shows.
a threat e x i s t s , but w i l l not know assessing the options, the company 60 However. while forward planning
when or where i t will materialise. took the brave step of reca l l i ng and i s necessary for crisis management, it
The chances of an airliner crashing, replacing the entire production run of is not sufficient. Not every crisis can
15 for example, are extremely s m a l l , the series. The move cost more than be foreseen or planned for. Good
b u t every airline must s t i l l l i v e with 40 $ I bn (£550111) and probably saved crisis management requires the abil-
the possibility. the company. Intel showed that it was 65 ity to react to events s w i ftly and
When an A i r France Concorde committed to its product, whatever positively, whether or not they have
crashed on take-off from Paris - the the short-term cost, and customers been foreseen.
20 first accident involving a Concorde responded positively.
- A i r France was prepared to deal 45 Looking back on the incident, Andy
with the issue. Grove, Intel's Chairman and then
Managers moved quickly to wi th­ Chier Executive , compared managing
draw Concorde from service, in a severe crisis to an i l l ness. Strong,

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 UNIT 11 .. .. CRISIS MANAGEMENT

SKI LLS
IJ �))) CD3.23 Michael Goodrich is a presenter of a television consumer protection
Asking and programme. Tonight he is questioning Tim Bradshaw, the Marketing Director
answering ofTG Products, a large chain of stores which sells imported toys. Listen to
the interview and answer
d ifficult
these questions.
questions
1 What kind of toys are
popular with children,
according to Tim
Bradshaw?
2 How many of the toys does
his company have in stock?

3 How serious is the problem

with the toys? Explain your
answer.

El �)» CD3.24 Listen again to these questions from the interviewer. In each case,
decide whether the question is a) neutral/polite or b) aggressive.
1 Could you please tell me how many of these items you import each month?
2 Could you be a little more precise?

3 Roughly how many complaints about the toys do you receive each week ... ?

4 Isn't it true you've been receiving dozens of complaints from customers every week?
5 Do you deny people have been phoning you and e-mailing you constantly to complain
about the toys?
6 Why are you still selling them?
7 Isn't your real reason for not recalling the toys very obvious, Mr Bradshaw?
8 But what are you going to do about these defective toys?

9 When exactly will you get back to us?

10 Would you answer my question, please?

D Role-play this situation.

A furniture company has been attacked by a consumer website for selling a lamp which
is dangerous to use and could cause a fire. The Sales Manager agrees to appear on a
consumer TV programme to defend the company's reputation and answer questions.

Student A: Turn to page 138.

Student B: Turn to page 144.

U S E F U L LANGUAGE

INTERVIEWERS INTERVIEWEES
Asking questions politely Dealing diplomatically with questions Avoiding a straight/precise answer
Could you please tell m e ... ? I'm happy to answer that. Sorry, I'm not sure I know the answer
I'm interested to know why ... That's an interesting question. Let me to that one.
answer it this way ... I'll have to think about it.
Asking probing questions I can't give you an answer off the top
Could you be more specific, please? Checking ifyou understand of my head.
Could you be a little more precise? Have I got this right? Are you saying/
suggesting ... ? Playing for time
Asking questions aggressively I'm not sure I understood you. Could Sorry, I can't give you an answer
Are you saying that ... ? you rephrase that, please? straight away.
Do you deny that ... ? I'll have to get back to you on that one.

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