Crisis Communication Plan
Overview of the Crisis
Two bizarre incidents in a short period leading to the death of passengers and crew leave Malaysia Airlines struggling to recover. On July 17, a Boeing 777-aircraft, flight MH17 was shot down from Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport. All 298 passengers and crew members died in the incident (Torr, & Walker, 2014, pp. 23).
Families and employees were left devastated as the crisis unravelled. Malaysia Airlines flew to the assistance. The airline sent over 200 specialists, care givers and managers to Amsterdam to handle the crisis. At the scene, there were 80 caregivers assigned to providing the families of the passengers. Traumatized families and co-workers at the scene felt only slight relief as emergency crews arrived (Torr, & Walker, 2014, pp. 23).
Malaysia’s emergency response team was quick to respond with 85 members of their “Go Team” emergency response specialists. Malaysia’s government emergency response specialists included Malaysia ‘s Ministry of Transport experts, members of their National Security Council, administrators from their Department of Information, officers from the Royal Malaysian Police, officers from the Malaysian Special Air Service, the Royal Malaysian Air Force, Malaysian Armed Forces, Department of Civil Aviation and the Disaster Victim Identification Team (Torr, & Walker, 2014, pp. 23).
The media soared to the scene, and the crisis received global coverage. Devastated families and co-workers still in shock and being the second accident in a small timeframe Malaysian Airlines was in the state of a severe crisis. President Obama responded calling the incident “an outrage of unspeakable proportions” (Torr, & Walker, 2014, pp. 23).
Just six months earlier Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 crashed and disappeared. All passengers and crew from that flight, later renamed Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 July 25, disappeared after the plane veered far off its projected path somewhere over the South India Ocean (Torr, & Walker, 2014, pp. 24).
Crisis Life Cycle
Fearn Banks describes a crisis as a major incident that can negatively affect an organization or industry, its publics, products, services, or reputation (2007). The crisis faced by Malaysian Airlines affected the company, its publics and the company’s reputation. Fearn’s five stages of a crisis can help Malaysian Airlines prevent a similar crisis for reoccurring. Had Malaysian Airlines applied Fearn’s five stages of a crises model after the first mysterious crash they could have prevented the second crisis (Fearn-Banks, 2007).
The first stage of the crisis is detection. Malaysian Airlines knew about the hostile situation their flight was scheduled to fly over. At this point, they should have be alarmed of the warning sign detected in the political environment. Fearn describes detection as being the first step of crisis prevention (Fearn-Banks, 2007).
The second stage of the crisis is prevention. After detecting the hostile political climate, Malaysian Airlines could have prevented the crisis by routing the flight around the hostile area. Using transparency when communicating with their customers, Malaysian Airlines could have explained that the flight needed to be rerouted to prevent flying through a war zone. The passengers would have been slightly annoyed with the delay but would appreciate the efforts of Malaysian Airlines to ensure their safety (Fearn-Banks, 2007).
The third stage of the crisis is preparation. A solid crisis management plan minimizes nonpreventable crises. Malaysian Airlines had an extensive crisis management plan prepared that ensured a fast response to the incident. They were able to respond immediately with a crisis management team attending the site. The Malaysian government was also well prepared to respond with their crisis team ready to handle the situation. The airline immediately offered customers a refund if they wished to cancel their upcoming flights (Fearn-Banks, 2007; Torr, & Walker, 2014, pp. 23).
The fourth stage of a crisis is recovery. During the recovery stage crisis management the goal is to return the company to business as usual (Fearn-Banks, 2007). Malaysian Airlines immediately rerouted their flights away from the conflict area. At this point in the management of the crisis communication becomes critical. The road towards recovery after two bizarre accidents and so much fatality will be lengthy.
The fifth and final stage of a crisis is learning. In the MH17 crash almost 300 lives were lost. The company’s reputation was damaged. Though Malaysian Airlines was well prepared to respond quickly this was the second bizarre crash the airline experience in a short period of time. Malaysian Airlines should have learnt to be more cautious after the first incident (Fearn-Banks, 2007).
Discussion of Prodromes
Fearn-Banks, 2007 describes prodromes as recording the warning signs of a crisis. MH370 disappeared without a trace just six months earlier. The disappearance of MH370 demonstrated the impact a major crisis has on an airline and the industry. The prodromes indicating MH17 include the crash six months earlier, knowledge of the hostile situation that was occurring within the scheduled flight path and previous commercial jetliners shot from the sky from hostile fire. Malaysia Airlines documented their knowledge of the hostile situation directly below MH17’s scheduled flight path. MH17 was the fourth commercial airliner to be shot down. A press release by Peter Leonard concludes with examples of the three commercial airliners that had already experienced a similar fate.
“April 20, 1978: Korean Airlines Flight 902, which diverted from its planned course on a flight from Paris to Seoul and strayed over the Soviet Union. After being fired upon by an interceptor aircraft, the crew made a forced landing at night on the surface of a frozen lake. Two of the 97 passengers were killed by the hostile fire.
“Sept. 1, 1983: Korean Air Lines Flight 007 shot down by at least one Soviet air-to-air missile after the 747 had strayed into Soviet airspace. All 240 passengers and 29 crew were killed.
“July 3, 1988: Iran Air Flight 655 Aircraft was shot down by a surface to air missile from the American naval vessel U.S.S. Vincennes. All 16 crew and 274 passengers were killed.”
(Leonard, 2014)
Past examples of exceptional crisis management from Maple Leaf Foods demonstrates effective ways to handle a global high publicity crisis.
Maple Leaf Foods
Maple Leaf Foods taught us a great deal about mass crisis communications as they handled their listeria crisis in 2009. Deep inside MLF’s equipment listeria accumulated to dangerous levels. The listeria bacteria-contaminated a range of deli meats, 21 people died from the listeria bacteria traced back to Maple Leaf Food products. The company responded by recalling 234 different food products. MLF’s lost over $30 million dollars in sales following the crisis. Major franchise restaurants such as McDonald’s and Mr. Sub were using Maple Leaf products at the time of the crisis.
Michael McCain Maple Leafs C.E.O. made a heartfelt, sincere apology taking full responsibility for the listeria outbreak. The public accepted McCain's apology, giving him credibility and sympathy. McCain made the apology and took responsibility against the advice of his accountants and lawyers.
However, with timely, transparent and empathetic actions the company returned to leading the market within a year. Maple Leaf Foods demonstrated excellence in crisis management. Lightning-quick response times, accountability and transparency are the key strategies the used by McCain. The crisis management effectively restored Maple Leaf’s sales to normal less than 12 months after the listeria crisis (Howell, & Miller, 2010, pp. 91-108).
Lessons learnt from McCain include the value of shift action in times of crisis and putting people first. McCain did the right thing by apologizing and taking responsibility, and his customers rewarded his noble actions by remaining loyal to Maple Leaf Products after the crisis. Had Malaysian Airlines taken the same swift action after their first accident the lives of those on MH17 could have been saved. Maple Leaf Foods learnt from their crisis and are now paranoid about the possibility of a similar crisis reoccurring. Maple Leaf Food goes far beyond the mandatory laws to ensure they prevent similar incidents. Had Malaysian Airlines acted with the same paranoid dedication to public safety they would have never allowed a flight path over hostile areas. The lessons taught by Maple Leaf Foods should set the standard for crisis management. Those lessons are put people first, take responsibility, act immediately, use transparent communication, and learn from the crisis and raise your company’s standards to ensure public safety.
Crisis Communication Plan
The following four-step plan will guide management towards making the most effective decision (Fearn-Banks, 2007). Decisions based on a specific goal that will improve the result. Success will be achieved by implementing the set objectives, strategies and tactics with empathy and awareness of alternatives strategies and possible outcomes.
Goal
The goal of the crisis communication plan is to restore Malaysian Airlines’ reputation.
Objectives
1. Respond to 80% of stakeholders in an ethical and transparent manner by December 31, 2014.
2. Manage the scene and contain the crisis. Ensure the security team contains the scene immediately, and continues to manage access to the accident scene until the crisis is over.
3. Respond to the media within an hour; provide updates as new information becomes available. Return phone calls from the press within an hour.
Crisis Theory
EXCELLENCE THEORY: two-way symmetric model
An excellence communication model focuses on using communication to help during a crisis. The excellence model of communication divides into four groups. Two-way symmetric communication produces the most empathetic communicator during a crisis (Kim, Ni, 2013). Two-way symmetric communication was proven to produce the most effective results (Deatherage, & Hazleton, 1998, pp.57-71). Yi-Hui studied the effects and ethics of symmetric communication. Communications are symmetric when the public has an effect on the message of the communicator. Yi-Hui found that two-way symmetric communication creates most effective and ethical communications (Yi-Hui, 2004, pp. 333-352).
During the time of crisis, the best practises lead themselves into a two-way symmetric model of communication. If you recall the situation faced by Maple Leaf Foods’ listeria crisis, the model of communication used by McCain was a perfect example of the excellence theory of communication. The communication tactics and strategies in this crisis communication are aimed to help the passengers and employees deal with the catastrophe. The MH17 Malaysia Airlines Flight, Crisis Communication Plan is modelled using the insights learnt from Maple Leaf Foods’ and founded on a two-way symmetric model of communication based on the excellence theory.
The excellence model of communication directs the strategic direction of this crisis communication plan to maintain two-way symmetric communication. This communication plan requires an empathetic audience in order to achieve its goal of reputation management. The only way to receive empathy from the targeted audiences is by showing empathy, actively responding to their needs, and demonstrating responsible actions. The families of the passengers and employees need reassurance that the airline is committed to the investigation, they need reassurance during their grieving period, and they need to feel validated. The key need described in the audiences’ needs that lead’s the situation towards a two-way semantic communication strategy is their need to feel validated. In order to validate the needs of the audiences, we need to listen to understand. The need to hear and respond to the audience demonstrates the need for two-way semantic communication. This crisis management uses that two-way semantic model of communication based on an excellence theory in order to minimize the damage done to the reputation of Malaysia Airlines.
Strategy & Tactics
Picture this: as the crisis management team responds to the scene in Amsterdam, the crisis communication team begins to take control of the situation, direct their employees and lead grieving families towards support. The strategies and tactics in this crisis communication plan need to be implemented immediately in order to minimize the damage done to the reputation of Malaysian Airlines.
Strategy 1 – Establish one spokesperson to communicate with the media.
Tactic 1 – Elect one person to communicate on behalf of the airlines to the media. This person is responsible for responding in a timely and transparent fashion. Have the spokesperson release regular updates via social media. Have the same spokesperson initiate community support systems. The use of a strong spokesperson creates an image of clarity in the minds of the public. The communications appear more consistent with only one person speaking to the media giving the audience the perception that the company is communicating more transparently. Ensuring the audiences that the airline is communicating transparently ensures that the messages resonate.
Strategy 2 – Demonstrate commitment to the investigation
Tactic 2 – Divert questions politely, apologizing that the answers are unknown and ensure the audience that regular updates will be available as soon as possible. Maintain communication with the local community. Partner with Amsterdam authorities to investigate the crisis in the most effective and efficient manner. Learn from McCain’s immediate response to the listeria crisis. McCain demonstrated the best use of the excellence model expertly defusing a crisis using communication management. Taking responsibility, apologizing but then showing video images of the investigation shows people what is happening. Use video to show how efficiently emergency services are working to investigate the accident scene in order to demonstrate the company’s commitment to the investigation.
Strategy 3 – Focus on showing sincere empathy.
Tactic 3 – Create a caring image. Create community support groups for the grieving families. Offer to pay for the funerals immediately. Provide counselling and aid to the families of the passengers. Refuse to discuss money until after the funerals and investigation. Work together with spiritual leaders to ensure that customs are being followed. Show compassion and avoid having grieving families going to the media to look for charity. Ensure that the needs of the families are taken care of during the crisis. Ensuring that Malaysia Airlines is a compassionate caring company that puts people first will minimize the damage done to the company’s reputation.
Using a two way communication model implies hearing the needs of the targeted audiences. The targeted audiences, the families of the passengers and employees, need empathy and sincerity in their time of grief. Applying an excellence theory of communication that models the two way semantic model of communication implies hearing the audience’s needs and reacting with care.
Target Audience
In order to manage Malaysian Airlines’ reputation the key audiences need to be identified and handled with empathy and consideration. The targeted audiences of this crisis management plan are the families of the passengers and employees. The crisis received global media coverage alerting people all around the world. The employees need strong leadership to direct them as they address the situation. The families need counselling and information in a timely and sensitive manner.
Key Messages
The key messages will address the target audiences by leveraging the media and maintain an overall sympathetic and caring image. As mentioned in Strategy 1 a spokesperson needs to be elected in order to reduce confusion and to ensure that the key messages are repeated to the audiences until they are accepted.
General Immediate response – A crash occurred on Malaysian Airlines MH17 and we are in the process of investigating the situation. We cannot answer any questions at this point in time. We have sent an emergency response team consisting of over 200 specialists to investigate the crash. However we will be making regular public updates as soon as we know more.
General Response – We at Malaysian Airlines are in the process of investigating MH17. We have discovered .
Family Response – I am “insert spokesperson name” from Malaysian Airlines. There has been an accident on MH17. I would like to extend my condolences to the families of the passengers. I am extremely sorry that this incident happened on one of our planes. We have a dedicated team of counsellors available to assist you during this time. If there is any way we can help please contact us at 1800.999.9999.
*have the counsellors offer to cover funeral costs, hotel costs and provide moral support
Evaluation
The last step in the crisis communication plan is the evaluation procedure. The evaluation process will determine the effectiveness of the crisis communication plan. Malaysian Airlines will need to evaluate the situation after the crisis management plan in order to strategize their recovery communication plan. Due to the catastrophic effect of the crisis Malaysian Airlines faces they will need to work hard to regain the trust of their stakeholders.
The key audiences can easily be reached first hand through focus groups and phone interviews to evaluate the success of the objectives. Not only can the audiences tell Malaysian Airlines their opinions they can also direct their attention towards any details they may have forgotten. It is in the best interest of Malaysian Airlines to take responsibility for their actions and ensure that they do everything they can to make restitution to the families of the departed. It is also their responsibility to ensure that the staff feels safe. By completing the crisis communication plan and evaluating our targeted audiences, Malaysian Airlines can ensure that they have done everything possible.
References
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Appendices
- Official: Malaysian plane shot down over Ukraine
July 18, 2014
- Ukraine: MH17 Downed By 'Massive Explosive Decompression’
July 28, 2014
- MH17: THE UNTHINKABLE HAPPENS - Air Transport World
August, 2014
Official: Malaysian plane shot down over Ukraine
~~~~~~~~
KIEV, Ukraine (AP) ” A Ukrainian official said a passenger plane carrying 295 people was shot down Thursday over a town in the east of the country, and Malaysia Airlines tweeted that it lost contact with one of its flights over Ukrainian airspace.
Anton Gerashenko, an adviser to Ukraine's interior minister, said on his Facebook page the plane was flying at an altitude of 10,000 meters (33,000 feet). He also said it was hit by a missile fired from a Buk launcher, which can fire missiles up to an altitude of 22,000 meters (72,000 feet).
The fate of the passengers wasn't immediately known.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said his country's armed forces didn't shoot at any airborne targets.
"We do not exclude that this plane was shot down, and we stress that the Armed Forces of Ukraine did not take action against any airborne targets," he said. "We are sure that those who are guilty in this tragedy will be held responsible."
Malaysia Airlines said on its Twitter feed that it "has lost contact of MH17 from Amsterdam. The last known position was over Ukrainian airspace." The plane's destination was Kuala Lumpur.
It was the second time that a Malaysia Airlines plane was lost in less than six months. Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 disappeared in March while en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. It has not been found, but the search has been concentrated in the Indian Ocean far west of Australia.
The Donetsk region government said Thursday's plane crashed near a village called Grabovo, which it said is currently under the control of armed pro-Russian separatists. The region where the flight was lost has seen severe fighting between Ukrainian forces and pro-Russia separatist rebels in recent days.
A launcher similar to the Buk missile system was seen by Associated Press journalists near the eastern Ukrainian town of Snizhne earlier Thursday.
On Wednesday evening, a Ukrainian fighter jet was shot down by an air-to-air missile from a Russian plane, Ukrainian authorities said Thursday, adding to what Kiev says is mounting evidence that Moscow is directly supporting the separatist insurgents in eastern Ukraine. Security Council spokesman Andrei Lysenko said the pilot of the Sukhoi-25 jet hit by the air-to-air missile was forced to bail after his jet was shot down.
Pro-Russia rebels, meanwhile, claimed responsibility for strikes Wednesday on two Ukrainian Sukhoi-25 jets. The Ukrainian Defense Ministry said the second jet was hit by a portable surface-to-air missile, but added the pilot was unscathed and managed to land his plane safely
Moscow denies Western charges that is supporting the separatists or sowing unrest in its neighbor. The Russian Defense Ministry couldn't be reached for comment Thursday about the Ukrainian jet and Russia's foreign ministry didn't respond to multiple requests for comment.
Earlier this week, Ukraine said a military transport plane was shot down Monday by a missile fired from Russian territory.
The Malaysia Airlines plane is a Boeing 777-200ER, which was delivered to Malaysia Airlines on July 30, 1997, according to Flightglobal's Ascend Online Fleets, which sells and tracks information about aircraft. It has more than 43,000 hours of flight time and 6,950 takeoffs and landings.
If the plane was shot down, it would be the fourth commercial airliner to face such a fate. The previous three were:
- ” April 20, 1978: Korean Airlines Flight 902, which diverted from its planned course on a flight from Paris to Seoul and strayed over the Soviet Union. After being fired upon by an interceptor aircraft, the crew made a forced landing at night on the surface of a frozen lake. Two of the 97 passengers were killed by the hostile fire.
- ” Sept. 1, 1983: Korean Air Lines Flight 007 shot down by at least one Soviet air-to-air missile after the 747 had strayed into Soviet airspace. All 240 passengers and 29 crew were killed.
- ” July 3, 1988: Iran Air Flight 655 Aircraft was shot down by a surface to air missile from the American naval vessel U.S.S. Vincennes. All 16 crew and 274 passengers were killed.
As UN human rights chief suggests downing of the plane may be a "war crime"
Ukrainian authorities said Monday that black box data from the downed Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 revealed shrapnel from a missile caused " massive explosive decompression" onboard, as the United Nations human rights chief said the aircraft's shooting down " may amount to a war crime."
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay said that "this violation of international law, given the prevailing circumstances, may amount to a war crime. It is imperative that a prompt, thorough, effective, independent and impartial investigation be conducted into this event."
All 298 people aboard MH17 died when the passenger jet fell from the sky in eastern Ukraine on July 17 after being struck by a missile believed by the U.S. to have been fired from territory under the control of pro-Russian separatists.
Ukrainian authorities pointed to "massive explosive decompression" from missile shrapnel as the cause of the crash on Monday, the Wall Street Journal
reports, though European officials analyzing the on-flight recordings have not confirmed the conclusion. Explosive decompression happens when the air inside an aircraft depressurizes at an extremely fast rate, with results similar to a bomb detonation.
Clashes in Ukraine, meanwhile, continue to block outside authorities from conducting a proper investigation. At the crash site, however, Dutch and Australian authorities were blocked from recovering bodies and gathering forensic evidence for the third day in a row Monday because of continuous fighting in the area.
Clashes between Ukrainian government forces and pro-Russian separatists have killed an estimated 1,129 people and wounded 3,442 since mid-April, according to a UN analysis of casualties.
"I would like to stress to all those involved in the conflict, including foreign fighters, that every effort will be made to ensure that anyone committing serious violations of international law including war crimes will be brought to justice, no matter who they are," said Pillay. "I urge all sides to bring to an end the rule of the gun and restore respect for the rule of law and human rights."
