As a result of mastering this chapter, the student should: know
- the main causes of crisis situations in communications;
- specifics of crisis communications;
- features of psychological perception of information in crisis situations;
- basics of anti-crisis PR technology; be able to
- perform a systematic analysis of crisis environment factors;
- analyze and predict reputational risks in crisis situations; own
- methodological approaches to diagnosing a crisis;
- basics of crisis resolution.
Crises have the potential to suddenly destroy or seriously damage a company's reputation, which is, as detailed in Chap. 4, the main product of communications.
A communications crisis is an event as a result of which a company becomes the center of unfriendly attention from the media and other target audiences who are interested in the company's actions.
In the commercial and marketing activities of companies, the following events most often occur that can lead to a communication crisis:
- - information leaks;
- - mistakes of specific employees;
- - errors in the work of company departments;
- - legal problems;
- - ecological problems;
inaccurate information to the press (mistakes by the company’s PR service or PR agency).
Classifications of crises. Modern experts offer various classifications of crises. So, for example, A. A. Kuzmenkova and M. S. Klochkova offer the following classification of crises that an organization may encounter:
- technological crises , for example, the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant or the fire at the KamAZ plant in Naberezhnye Chelny;
- confrontational crises , when certain public groups criticize corporations, which can sometimes lead to boycotts of their products;
- malicious behavior crises , for example, terrorists placing bombs in residential areas;
- management crises when the work of departments is disrupted and the organization becomes unmanageable. Such an incident occurred in the London Ambulance Service, when a computer system was launched without a thorough check to reduce travel time. However, as a result, the ambulance was unable to perform its basic functions;
- crises , including other threats to the organization. The occurrence of crisis situations in an enterprise or organization is caused by a wide variety of reasons, which can be divided into economic, technical, social, political, natural, etc. At the same time, internal and external causes in relation to the enterprise or organization are considered separately, and the crises themselves are divided into predictable and unpredictable.
From Black's point of view, there are two types of crises:
- "known unknown" - type of crises that arise due to the very nature of the company. If a company produces cars, airplanes or components for them, then it may at any time be faced with a “product failure” situation. In the chemical industry and in the production of radioactive substances, there is a constant danger of leakage of chemical or radioactive elements. Sea, rail and air transportation have their own specific and known forms of probable danger. In all these and many similar cases, it is known that an accident can occur, but it is not known whether it will happen, and if so, when;
- "unknown unknown "- disasters and accidents that no one can foresee. An example is the Tylenol story, which occurred in the United States in 1982, when someone unknown added potassium cyanide to the popular headache remedy Tylenol, and several people died. Situations often occur all over the world when companies have to withdraw canned baby food from trade due to the fact that its production technology is violated. The business history of pharmaceuticals is full of examples of situations where drugs have dangerous or undetected side effects.
Black notes that “unknown unknowns” crises are quite rare, and most PR professionals will never encounter such situations, but if a company operates in a potentially dangerous area, then it should have an action plan for such an eventuality.
Crisis expert T. Coombes identifies four types of crisis situations based on two criteria (dimensions): internal - external and intentional - unintentional. The internal-external dimension deals with the cause of the crisis, whether caused by the actions of the organization itself or its employees, or by the actions of individuals or groups outside the organization. The intentional - unintentional dimension refers to the ability to control the crisis. “Intentional” means that the crisis event was intentionally caused by some entity. “Unintentional” means that the crisis event was not intentionally caused by any entity. Both dimensions together give four mutually exclusive types of crisis situation, as shown in Table. 5.1.
Table 5.1
Matrix of types of crisis situations according to T. Coombes
Term faux pas Translated from French, it means “false step” and is associated with the violation of generally accepted, although unwritten, social rules and expectations. TO faux pas refers to unintentional actions that an external agent (for example, a non-governmental organization) can turn into a crisis situation. Faux pas often begins with a dispute between the organization and a specific external agent that questions the adequacy of the organization's actions. If the organization does not enter into a dispute with such an external agent, or if public opinion and stakeholder expectations conflict with the organization, the problem may become a crisis situation. Focus faux pas, usually are issues of social responsibility.
Incidents are unintentional and occur during the normal course of business of the organization. Examples of incidents include product defects, employee injuries, and natural disasters. The unintentional and random nature of incidents usually gives the impression of minimal organizational responsibility, unless the organization is directly responsible for the incident. Incidents are divided into natural disasters (for example, hurricanes, earthquakes, epidemics, etc.) and man-made errors.
Violations are intentional actions taken by an organization that knowingly create risks or cause harm to the public or stakeholders. Examples of violations include the intentional sale of defective or dangerous products, concealment of safety information from competent authorities, violation of the law, and “creative” approaches to accounting.
Terrorism refers to intentional actions performed by external agents. Such intentional actions are carried out with the aim of causing direct harm to the organization (harm to consumers through counterfeit products) or indirect harm (for example, reduction in sales or destruction of production). Examples of terrorism include product counterfeiting, hostage taking, sabotage, and workplace violence.
- See: Kuzmenkova A. A., Klochkova M. S. Short course in public relations: textbook, manual. M.: Okay-book, 2009.
- See about this: Abramov R.I., Kondratiev E.V. Public relations: textbook, manual, second edition, isir. and Don. M.: Academic project, 2009.
- See about this: Coombs W. T. Ongoing crisis communication: planning, managing and responding. 3rd ed. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, 2012.
Let's start with the fact that for people it is not so much absolute that is important, but comparable values: By comparing the accident with similar ones, one can lead the audience to the conclusion that it is not so dangerous - it can be worse.
A similar effect can be achieved by informing the public about currently available admissibility criteria any deviations in one area or another. Let's say one newspaper writes that your plant produces such and such emissions into the atmosphere. Another adds that plant B has more emissions, while plant C has less. But both newspapers may not mention emission limits at all. In other words, if you yourself do not bring this information to the masses, they may never know about it and your costs, for example, on the creation of treatment facilities will remain unappreciated by the public.
For example, in the 1930s, among the pioneer builders of the Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works, the multi-colored smoke coming from the chimneys evoked a feeling of pride for the gigantic work done. In the 1990s, the former pride was replaced by a harsh rejection of smoke: publications appeared in the media that the plant was poisoning the urban environment. And only a large-scale PR campaign contributed to the introduction of a balanced thesis into consciousness: compared to the 1930s, the level of harmful emissions has been reduced tens of times, and this work continues.
A more curious mechanism of perception operates in an environment of potential risk when it comes to risk-benefit ratio and on one side of the scale lies risk, and on the other - benefit. If the risk “weighs” more than the benefit, people will react negatively to the real or potential danger, and, conversely, the danger as a whole or its individual components can be forgotten when the benefit seems very significant.
For example, in Lithuania at the end of the 1980s, a crisis situation arose around the Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant: considering it dangerous, residents demanded the closure of the station and organized crowded rallies and other public actions on this issue. However, the prospect of Lithuania's political and economic independence changed the negative attitude. At the initiative of the authorities, the Republican Institute of Philosophy, Sociology and Law distributed a questionnaire among the population with the question: “Suppose that the nuclear power plant is transferred to the disposal of Lithuania. Bearing in mind that it would bring profit to Lithuania, what is your opinion on this matter?”
It needs to be closed,” answered 28% of respondents.
But 63% had a different opinion: allocate currency and make the station safe.
Ultimately, the nuclear power plant continued to operate in independent Lithuania, and there were no strong unrest around for a number of years.
The peculiarities of psychological perception of anti-crisis information include the fact that people are accustomed to taking negative events personally, while the information in many cases is focused on their average mass, albeit in the form of a target group. But if, in a conversation about a children's medicine, you say that complications from it are likely in one case out of a thousand, a caring mother will never buy your medicine, because she really imagines that this thousandth may well be her child.
I would like to draw your attention to this point: In a crisis, the sequence of information technology actions is very important. So, before you explain, prove, or refute something, you need to gain trust in yourself, show people a real interest in their problems, and demonstrate that the company is ready to even incur material costs in the name of public well-being.
In 1995, due to technical problems with the model, a Frenchman, the owner of an Opel Astra, died. The Jsnsral Motor Europe corporation, which included Opel as a branch, immediately began a campaign to inform customers about free checks of all cars of this model (their number was 90 thousand in France alone). A subsequent study of public opinion and the level of car sales showed that target audiences perceived the corporation’s actions as evidence of care for and responsibility for its customers.
Introduction
Relevance of the topic. Any adverse event that becomes public can harm the organization. It provokes a crisis that is sometimes not so easy to cope with. Due to the crisis, the company becomes the center of attention of the media and other target audiences, including shareholders, politicians, environmental movements, etc. There is an industry that is designed to help organizations cope with crises - crisis management. An important part of crisis management is anti-crisis communication or anti-crisis PR. This is a set of communication activities aimed at predicting, preventing, overcoming a crisis, as well as regulating its consequences. A variety of adverse events have made all types of organizations susceptible to crises. Crisis situations have many negative consequences, including: decreased income, reduction in staff, loss of reputation, increased media attention, increased government criticism, decline in shares, discussion on social media. Any crisis calls into question the continued existence of the company. In order to avoid such situations, it is necessary to know the basic principles of crisis communication and implement them in everyday activities. . Experts note that only 14% of crises occur suddenly, the rest are due to the fault of organizations. This means that any company that correctly implements anti-crisis measures is able to prevent an unfavorable event. The work is devoted to the psychology of information perception in crisis situations. The relevance of the research topic is that emergency situations can arise at any time, therefore one of the tasks in them is to correctly organize information flows, preventing undesirable reactions in society. Based on the location of their source, crises can be divided into external, internal and mixed; according to the direction of impacts - direct and indirect. The purpose of the work is to psychologically characterize crisis behavior. In order to achieve this goal, it is necessary to solve the following work tasks: Consider the definition of the concept of crisis, identify its main features and types; Conduct an analysis of the perception of information in a specific crisis situation. The empirical base is the official websites of KinoPoisk, as well as the pages of the Yandex and KinoPoisk services. User comments were also analyzed in order to identify reactions to para-crisis and crisis phenomena. The object of the study is a crisis situation at an enterprise. The subject of the study is the psychological perception of crisis information. In this work, the following research methods were used: analysis and comparison of the existing theoretical framework on this topic, systematization of the data obtained, case studies. The results of the study can be used by entrepreneurs, public figures, and PR specialists in their activities. A crisis can affect anyone, so it is important to understand what the basic principles of anti-crisis communication are in the information age. This is the scientific and practical significance of this course work. Work structure. The course work consists of an introduction, two chapters that make up the main part, a conclusion and a list of references used. The introduction substantiates the relevance of the research topic and sets the main goals and objectives of the work. The first chapter discusses the concept of crisis situations that arise on any scale, and also presents the psychological mechanisms of crisis behavior. The second chapter involves analyzing this behavior in relation to information about the selected event. This is the event that happened with the sites “Yandex” and “KinoPoisk”. In conclusion, the results of this study are summarized.
Introduction 1 Chapter 1 Theoretical aspects of the concept of crisis 4 1.1 The essence of the concept of “crisis” 4 1.2 types of crises 8 1.3 Psychological features of crisis situations 10 1.3.1 stress 10 1.3.2 Panic 12 1.3.3 Phenomenon of distorted perception 12 1.4 Psychological features of the perception of information in crisis conditions 13 1.5 The process of effective crisis management 14 CHAPTER 2 PERCEPTION OF INFORMATION IN A SPECIFIC CRISIS SITUATION (BASED ON THE EXAMPLE OF THE ACTIVITIES OF THE INTERNET RESOURCE “KINOPOISK”) 16 CONCLUSION 19 LIST OF SOURCES USED 20
Bibliography
1. Literary sources: 2. Vasiliev V.L. Legal psychology. St. Petersburg: Peter, 2015 - 656 p. 3. Varakuta S.A., Egorov Yu.N. Public Relations M: Infra-M, 2013, - 246 p. 4. Ivanov V.N., Nazarov M.M. Mass communication in the context of globalization //Moscow, 2013, No. 8, pp. 66-71. 5. Sorovich A.A. Social communication: Textbook. – St. Petersburg, 2015, - 461 p. 6. Shostak M.I. Reporter: professionalism and ethics. - M.: Publishing house. RIP-holding, 2013, - 196 p.
Excerpt from work
CHAPTER 1 THEORETICAL ASPECTS OF THE CONCEPT OF CRISIS 1.1 The essence of the concept of “crisis” A crisis is an event due to which an enterprise becomes the center of not always friendly attention of the media and other external target audiences, including shareholders, trade union organizations, environmental movements, which for one reason or another have a legitimate interest in the activities of the organization. There are many definitions of crisis. In general, a crisis is a stressful event that leads to a disruption in the organization’s normal functioning. There are several key points to highlight what a crisis is. This is a significant threat that could have negative consequences if proper action is not taken. A crisis can lead to the following: 1) create a threat to public safety; 2) cause financial losses; 3) cause damage to reputation. . Some crises, such as industrial accidents, can result in injury or even death. Crises can lead to financial difficulties and reduce the share of influence in the market. All crises threaten an organization's reputation. These threats are interrelated. A fatal accident will ruin a company's reputation, and the loss of reputation will have financial consequences. The primary concern for any organization should be public safety. This is especially important during a crisis. Only after the problem of public safety has been eliminated can we move on to solving problems such as maintaining reputation and financial stability. W. T. Coombs distinguishes between crises resulting from natural disasters and organizational crises.
Simplifications. Therefore, if the stereotypes are sufficiently adequate to the real situation, they allow you to quickly find the necessary solution. However, it is important to emphasize once again that this only happens if the stereotypes truly reflect reality adequately, but in conditions of conflict and crisis this rarely happens. To increase the adequacy of the perception of decision makers, it is important first of all to draw their attention to the need for a detailed analysis of the interests and needs of both their own and the opposite party. The very appeal to such an analysis allows you to rationally assess the situation and correct the image of your opponent. In addition, it is useful to find out on what these or other judgments regarding the other party are based, and how valid they are. Removing negative aspects of perception in a conflict is also facilitated by turning to independent experts (for example, to the scientific community or to a third party) in order to assess the extent to which their judgments regarding the intentions and actions of the opposing side coincide with the conclusions of decision makers. A very significant factor is how the opposite side behaves. A clear demonstration of the lack of aggressiveness in intentions significantly influences the softening of stereotypes both among the participants in the conflict and among the “third party,” which is often the target audience. Demonstration of non-aggressive intentions can also be expressed in frank recognition of the error of previous actions. However, this rarely happens, since it calls into question the desire to “save face.” One of the important ways to change negative images at the level of mass consciousness is the active use of the media: refusal in the press and on television to form and maintain the image of the enemy, showing mutual benefits from a joint solution to the problem through negotiations, etc. Content of an effective message during a crisis. When it comes to crafting an effective message during a crisis, you have to think about the perception of your target audience. The perception of information in crisis conditions has its own characteristics, which were discussed, in particular, by B. Harrison.22 Thus, not so much absolute values as comparable values are important for people. That is why it is possible to compare the crisis that has occurred with similar ones, showing that it is less serious and creating the prospect of being able to cope with this crisis situation, since the organization has already coped with a more complex one. It is human nature to perceive many events through comparison with similar ones - this feature of the human psyche must be kept in mind. The crisis can be imagined as a play that has already been performed once, but by different actors. Surely there will be similar critical situations in 22 Chumikov A.N. public relations. Public Relations". M., 2000. P.144. 41 business stories that had a successful resolution. A successful parallel during a crisis will make people believe that everything is not so dangerous. You can approach it from the other side - put our current, problematic situation on a par with others, much more complex and difficult, which will also make it easier to perceive what is happening. In addition, the public should evaluate the organization’s efforts to overcome the crisis situation. It is necessary to report on all the measures taken, the difficulties encountered, and the successes that have been achieved. A similar effect can be achieved by informing the public about the currently available criteria for the admissibility of any deviations in a particular area. This is especially true in areas related to human health and safety. Is the radiation level acceptable in the area of the nuclear power plant? To what extent is it permissible to use genetically modified products in food? What is the permissible level of atmospheric emissions from a chemical plant? These issues invariably concern the public, and if the basic PR subject does not talk about it, the public will continue to have a myth, for example, that chemical production pollutes the city, although its management has recently purchased expensive equipment that can significantly improve the environmental situation. In an environment of potential risk, a risk-benefit mechanism operates. If the risk is greater than the benefit, people will exaggerate the actual or potential danger. And vice versa: you can forget about the danger as a whole or its individual components when the benefit seems very significant. Therefore, the key message during a crisis needs to show all the benefits of the situation or proposed action. The peculiarities of the psychological perception of anti-crisis information include the fact that people are accustomed to perceiving negative events personally, while the information in many cases is focused on their average mass, albeit in the form of a target group. If the head of an enterprise talks about staff reductions due to the crisis, each employee believes that the dismissal may affect him personally. In a crisis, the sequence of information and technological actions is very important. Before explaining, proving, or refuting something, it is necessary to gain trust in yourself, show people a real interest in their problems, and demonstrate that the company listens to the opinion of the public. Questions on the topic 1. Why is the operational version of events a necessary condition for an organization to emerge from a crisis? 42 2. How does stereotyping affect the perception of information by target audiences during a crisis? 3. What perceptual factors need to be considered when crafting messages for target audiences in a crisis situation? 2.4. Complex cycles of action in conflict situations Institutionalization of conflict. It is advisable to begin actions to manage the conflict with its institutionalization, i.e. establishing the components, as well as norms and rules for conflict resolution. The next stage - legitimization - is initially aimed at finding out whether the majority of participants in the conflict have a voluntary willingness to comply with the proposed norms and rules, and then at bringing the procedure for resolving the problem in line with the level of legitimacy. It is also necessary to structure conflicting groups, which involves creating conditions for the identification and organizational consolidation of individual and collective subjects - carriers of existing problems. When the previous actions have been completed, the next management task can be set - reducing the conflict, or its gradual weakening by transferring it to another level23. Risk testing. Another cycle boils down to the following: in the process of implementing any project, it is important to keep in mind such stages as: predicted difficulties (research, creation of databases on issues around which a conflict is possible in the future), danger testing (testing conflict hypotheses), neutralization of conflict potential (development of a communication strategy, creation and distribution of appropriate information flows). Potential problems can be predicted based on a sufficiently large number of factors. D. Caponigro proposed a list of reasons for the most likely crisis situations in organizations: “1. The organization recently experienced a crisis. Why is it possible to repeat it? Firstly, the experience of the previous crisis showed that the company is vulnerable. Secondly, an organization busy managing the consequences of a past crisis may not pay attention to warning signs indicating the approach of a new crisis. 2. The activities of the organization are strictly controlled by the state. The causes of a crisis in such organizations are usually frequent inspections and audits, and their results can cause significant damage to the company's reputation. 3. The organization is experiencing financial difficulties. A company busy solving operational financial problems does not always pay attention to the symptoms of an impending crisis. Financial difficulties also affect relationships with target 23 Lebedeva M.M. Political resolution of conflicts. - http://mx4.ru/konflictology_hrestomatia/15/b/ 43 audiences: in a large company this may be due to untimely payment of supplier services, in a small company - with delays in employee salaries. 4. The organization is headed by a famous person. A crisis in such a company will generate greater media interest than if it were ordinary. Moreover, such a company often becomes dependent on the behavior and moral principles of its head. 5. Enterprises and institutions belong to the state. This type of organization is prone to crises for the following reasons. Firstly, their activities are strictly controlled. Secondly, they have to communicate with a large number of target audiences. Third, their work is covered by major media outlets that specialize in the public sector. Accordingly, a crisis that took place in such an organization will cause greater resonance in the media than if the company belonged to the private sector. 6. Companies are at a stage of rapid growth. Rapidly growing companies are susceptible to crises for several reasons: firstly, having an urgent need to expand their staff, they often hire employees who are not highly qualified or without the necessary work experience; secondly, entering a previously unknown market, they do not have time to develop anti-crisis response programs in the context of new realities. 7. The company is one of the top three in its market segment. Such a company attracts close attention from market analysts and specialized media. 8. The company has just been formed. During its short life, the company has not yet managed to gain the support of target audiences (employees, clients, suppliers, media). In addition, it does not yet have qualified specialists, as well as equipment and technology that can prevent the problem from escalating into a real crisis and reduce the risk of a crisis situation to a minimum. 9. The company has an unfavorable internal environment. The need to complete work within a limited time frame; too demanding bosses; feeling that efforts are not sufficiently valued and poorly compensated; the inability to adequately assess one’s own achievements due to large volumes of work - all this causes stress, which negatively affects the results of work, the attitude towards the company and can cause a crisis situation”24. Also, in order to predict potential problems, anti-crisis monitoring is used, during which potential sources of the crisis are systematized; usually these include: - authorities and local governments; - mass media; 24 Chumikov A.N. Public relations. Public relations. M., 2001. P.151 - 152. 44 - public and political associations; - competitors; - own employees; - direct consumers of the organization’s activities; - supporters and business partners; - “uncertainty factors” (the content of this concept depends on the individual characteristics of the basic PR subject). As part of anti-crisis monitoring, it is necessary to organize the prompt receipt of fresh information about potential sources of the crisis, as well as the work of an analytical service that processes the received data and predicts their impact on the organization. Local techniques and mechanisms of action in a crisis situation. The third cycle of actions for conflict management includes local techniques and mechanisms that, provided that their place in the general concept of management actions is clearly understood, can enrich the cycle schemes and produce a positive effect. Thus, one of the techniques defuses a political or administrative conflict by eliminating unwanted opposition. Moreover, this often cannot be achieved by dismissing the opponent, counter-criticism, or even well-reasoned justifications. The best effect is obtained by introducing the oppositionist to some leadership positions or bodies in the structure he criticizes. Having received some status and rights, he also takes on a share of responsibility, as a result of which oppositional manifestations, as a rule, are weakened more and more. Another technique is based on the use of a positive compensation mechanism. Significantly reduces the conflict potential around the basic PR entity engaged in the production of products that are harmful to health (for example, alcohol, tobacco) or pose an increased danger (chemical production, nuclear energy), charitable and sponsorship activities. The organization is aware of the potential or actual harm from its activities and thus compensates for it. The mechanism of a preemptive attack is also quite effective. If you know that the organization will be criticized, it is better to proactively answer questions that the target audience may have. You can plan the levels and positions of acceptable criticism, and then deliberately embed them in individual positive materials distributed by the organization's press service. As a result, the situation does not get out of control, and the process of conflict management turns out to be natural. The following technique is designed to move the “arrow” of the conflict in the other direction. The head of an organization can use this technique to rally the team to “fight” an external enemy, explaining the economic difficulties of the enterprise with high taxes, etc. Another technique can be called a phrase from a famous movie: “Whoever bothers us will help us.” A.N. Chumikov illustrates this technique with an example from the life of the Nathan province located in South Africa. One of the main sources of income here is tourism, since the warm coastal waters of the Atlantic Ocean, swimming, scuba diving, and boat trips are very attractive to tourists from all over the world. However, a problem arose: the coastal waters were also favored by sharks, which from time to time swam very close to the beach area. Moreover, in the late 50s, the shark population began to increase rapidly, and at the same time the number of their victims grew. Gradually, sharks began to “attack” the basis of the country’s economy - tourism, and entrepreneurs sounded the alarm. The first step in overcoming the current situation was expressed in the so-called direct solution - the creation of a state department for the fight against sharks, which acted in accordance with the principle of “a good shark is a dead shark.” However, this did not restore the former authority of the Nathan resorts, and besides, a new problem arose; The department began to be attacked by environmentalists. Their indignation was appropriate, since a large number of not only sharks, but also dolphins and sea turtles died in the nets every year, not to mention the damage caused to the ecosystem by blasting. At the stage of the conflict with the “greens,” changes occurred in government policy towards sharks. In particular, the networks were modernized, and some of the networks on little-visited beaches were completely removed; Department employees began to take care of the release of marine life caught in the net. In the process of this work, fear of sharks gradually began to be replaced by curiosity about their lives. And this is where a creative and effective solution was born - to develop a program for a new type of tourism service - eco-tourism, when tourists could observe sharks in their natural habitat. So Nathan became a pioneer in the “shark” tourism business, which developed by leaps and bounds. Eco-tourism operators lured sharks using fish oil, pouring it into the water, and tourists could watch the predators without danger to their lives. Moreover, if at first the operators showed the sharks to tourists on the boat, then soon the people were moved into iron cages submerged in water. Gradually, the attitude towards sharks changed 180 degrees: from a national disaster, they turned into a valuable natural resource. Tourists returned to Nathan, and shark tourism turned out to be a bonanza for the country. In 1995, Nathan became the first region in the world to bring sharks under government protection. Many called this situation an environmental revolution 25 25 Based on materials from the Discovery Channel satellite channel. 46 Among the techniques and mechanisms that regulate crisis situations, it is worth mentioning pseudo-conflicts, when the latter are initiated specifically in order to: a) weaken some other, more important and dangerous conflict; b) gain additional “weight” in competition. Questions on the topic 1. Name the complex cycles of action in a crisis situation. 2. What situations provoke the development of a crisis in an organization? 3. What is the place of anti-crisis monitoring in the system of actions in a crisis situation? 4. How do local methods of action in a crisis situation function? 5. What is pseudo-conflict? 2.5. Technologies for preventing extreme situations The concept of crisis prevention. How to prevent crises? We have already talked above about a number of factors that provoke a crisis state in an organization. In the most general sense, there can be two of them. - Objective processes outside the organization (for example, reduction of customs duties on similar foreign products or the machinations of competitors who reduce the price of their products). As a result of these processes, the uncertainty (or complexity) of achieving the goal under the influence of external factors increases. - Internal destructive processes at some stages of production. It is important that the average level of competence of production management, as well as the level of competence of personnel, does not cross the dangerous line of competence in the industry. Crisis prevention technologies represent anti-crisis prevention. Anti-crisis prevention is conducting advance training of employees of the structure in the event of a crisis and, more broadly, eliminating, to the extent possible, those weak points in the structure that could play a negative role for the structure in the event of such situations. The starting point of any attempts to counteract conflicts and crises is their fastest detection by interested parties, when conflicts are still in their infancy or at the very beginning of spreading in the social environment. Therefore, it is precisely on detecting a crisis at the very beginning or at the pre-crisis stage that special attention should be paid. It is ideal when it is possible to detect a still brewing crisis or a potentially crisis situation. It is necessary to create an appropriate service in the organization, the main task of which is to monitor the “competent” state of the company, prevent possible crises and localize emergency situations. In addition to the timely detection of an emerging crisis, appropriate perception of incoming information about the state of the organization and potential threats also plays an important role here. This perception must be free from subjectivity, simplifications and deformations that could lead to underestimation or overestimation of the significance of the crisis. Underestimation of the crisis can lead to the fact that its analysis will be carried out superficially and the proposals made on the basis of such an analysis will turn out to be of little use. Such an analysis does not help to overcome the crisis. Overestimating the crisis is no less harmful, because in this case much greater efforts are made than are really necessary. Reinsurance can lead to the detection of a crisis where it actually does not exist, which gives rise to unnecessary actions, mutual distrust, suspicion, etc. The most important for the optimal assessment of an emerging crisis can be considered, firstly, the availability of the most comprehensive and objective information about what is happening events. Secondly, such information should reach interested and responsible persons as quickly as possible. Thirdly, in the process of passing information, its subjective interpretation should not be allowed; the greatest importance should be attached to information from uninterested persons and first-hand information. Fourthly, it is necessary to take into account the likelihood of subjective aspirations of direct participants in a conflict of interest leading to a crisis. Anti-crisis prevention measures taken by the PR service. The PR service, together with other departments of the company, can prepare in advance for possible troubles and thereby significantly reduce the risk of negative consequences of the crisis. To do this, it is necessary to take a number of measures: - identify vulnerabilities and areas of risk - develop communication channels during a crisis - create reliable sources of necessary information - prepare management for the correct response to a crisis - conduct staff training - take care of building reputation. - The purpose of such a study is to identify risk factors and possible disruptions in the company’s activities. A PR person must have an informed opinion about the organization, its problems, resources. Then the problems are ranked in order of importance. After that, special detailed scenarios and behavioral strategies are drawn up for each specific case, and for all expected difficult situations - crisis plans. The anti-crisis plan, which was discussed in detail above, sets the right direction and allows you to make the right decisions when the need arises. The plan should not be very complex, otherwise it may happen that many of its points will be ignored. It must be reviewed periodically, making certain adjustments that correspond to the spirit of the times. It must be flexible, allowing you to quickly respond to certain unforeseen events. However, you cannot limit yourself to PR tools only. Here are the recommendations given by specialists in general crisis management. Anti-crisis prevention measures taken as part of general management. An important point in anti-crisis prevention is increasing the level of competence of employees at key management positions, timely provision of education and training, encouraging their initiative, investing part of the profit in the development of knowledge and monitoring the level of competence of their employees at key production positions. An important aspect is personnel policy. It is necessary to determine the principles for implementing the necessary rotation of personnel, recruiting new employees, and criteria for expanding staff. Often it is the discrepancy between competency levels that leads to an unreasonable increase in the number of employees. The next aspect is the introduction of promising technologies and automation of the company. This will increase the company’s crisis resilience by increasing the speed of obtaining operational analytics. An important factor in preventing crisis phenomena is the effective use of the relationship between the basic principles of management: consensus, compromise and authoritarianism. A crisis cannot be avoided, but if you understand the patterns of organizational development, you have the opportunity to “early diagnose” and, accordingly, organize effective actions. In this case, an organizational crisis allows not only to enter a new stage of development with minimal losses, but also to use such crisis opportunities as the diagnosis of “hidden defects” and a radical positive update of all areas of the company’s activities Questions on topic 1. Why is anti-crisis prevention needed? 2. What crisis prevention measures can the PR service take? 3. What should be done within the framework of general management to prevent crises? List of recommended literature for section 1. Crisis management or how to avoid getting into bad situations http://www.ironya.com/anticrisis.html 2. Anti-crisis PR as part of crisis management. Conflict PR. http://www.pr911.ru/glossary/a-1.html 49 3. Barinov V. Crisis management. / V. Barinov – M.: “FBK – press”, 2002. 4. Barinov V.A. Crisis management. / V.A. Barinov - M.: Publishing House FBK-PRESS, 2002. 5. Bibanov O. Uncontrolled by circumstances. Crisis PR is coming http://www.advertology.ru/ 6. PR can help your future tomorrow or anti-crisis PR www.advesti.ru 7. Galkova T. Anti-crisis PR / http://www.taxcons.com/ru /crisis-pr/ 8. Grove E. Only the paranoid survive. How to take advantage of the periods of crisis that any company faces. / E. Grove - M.: Alpina Publisher, 2003. 9. Ivanova E. I’m going to conflict. “Entertaining” conflictology. / E. Ivanova - M.: DNA, 2002. 10. Kachalov I. Three key parameters for the development of company crises. http://www.iteam.ru/publications/corporation/page_4/date/ 11. Kozlov V., Kozlova A. Conflict management. / V. Kozlov A. Kozlova - M.: Eksmo, 2004. 12. Kryukov A. F., Egorychev I. G. Analysis of methods for forecasting the crisis situation of commercial organizations. //Management in Russia and abroad.-2001-No. 2.- p.91-98. 13. Lebedeva M. M. Political resolution of conflicts. / M. M. Lebedeva - M.: Delo, 1997. 14. Desktop encyclopedia of Public Relations. – M.: ed. Alpina Publisher, 2003. 15. Olshevsky A.S. Anti-crisis PR and consulting. / A.S. Olshevsky - St. Petersburg: Publishing house "Peter", 2003 16. Plis R. Anti-crisis PR technologies / PR Life.Ru http://www.propr.kz/index.php?module=subjects&func=viewpage&pageid=6 17. Rudenko A The truth is more valuable than the face. Admitting mistakes and taking decisive action to correct them will help bring a company out of a crisis. - Vedomosti. http://www.efimov-partners.ru/smi.php?id=6876 18. Sazonova I. Public relations in crisis situations. / I. Sazonova - M.: Institute of Public Administration and Social Research, 2002. 19. Sakerina I. Tactics of combating tarnished reputation http://www.aaa.kz/200402_07.htm 20. Sviridov A.K. Anti-crisis management: decision-making on the edge of the abyss // Problems of management theory and practice. - 1999. - No. 4. 21. Stepnova L. Anti-crisis PR... within the company http://www.ruspred.ru/arh/21/9.php 22. Trenenkov E.M., Dvedenidova S.A. Diagnostics in crisis management. //Management in Russia and abroad.-2002-No. 1.- p. 12 – 15. 23. Utkin E., Shabanov D., Kholodenko Y. Crisis management in small business. / E. Utkin, D. Shabanov, Y. Kholodenko - M.: TEIS, 2004. 50