Why Evaluate?

According to our textbook, post-crisis analysis is one of the most important features of a crisis communications plan because it provides a chance for a company to assess what went wrong with a plan, what worked effectively and what changes have to be made in order to prepare for the next crisis. It is probably most effective to examine the benefits of post-crisis analysis by using a real example, and creating a fictitious example for HarperCollins.

First, the real example (though it should be noted that in order to protect the reputation of the firm, all names and locations have been changed). In this example, GICO, a small credit union in western Ohio had a crisis in which a person held up the bank and took the employees as hostages for several hours. The proper authorities were called and the situation grew very tense. Eventually, the situation was diffused and the hostages were released. After the event, however, the local newspaper was flooded with letters criticizing the bank’s handling of the situation.

In the process of post-crisis analysis, it was revealed that the bank failed to communicate with several key publics during the hold-up. First, though it notified the police, which, in turn, notified the media, no bank spokesman ever made a public statement during or after the incident. Also, the bank did not attempt to contact the families of those employees trapped inside. These steps were written into an updated crisis communication plan after they were discovered in the review.

A possible example for HarperCollins might occur after handling a plagiarism accusation crisis. It is possible that a publisher, like HarperCollins, might make some mistakes in handling the intense media pressure surrounding allegations of plagiarism. They might be quick to defend an author from the criticism in the hopes that the situation would pass quickly. If the author did, in deed, plagiarize though, the crisis will probably be prolonged. Upon review, HarperCollins might find that conducting its own internal investigation might be a worthwhile step to take before defending an author accused of plagiarism.