1. 1
Unit 11 Crisis management
Startingup
A. Work in groups. Think of a crisis you have / your country has experienced. Say what happened
and ad how it was handled.
The problem of too many companies who fail,caused by the economic problems in our country. Too many
taxes and too many risks in our country to begin your own business.
B. Crisis-management expertshave identified 10 key steps for companies in a crisis. Complete
steps 5-10 below using the verbs in the box
Analyse/ disclose/ inform / practise/ predict / set up
1. Work out an action plan to ensure the crisisdoes not happen again.
2. Role-play a potential crisis.
3. Find out what happened and how ithappened.
4. Write itdown and circulateyour crisis-management programme.
5. Try to predictwhat crises could occur.
6. Set up a crisis- management team
7. Inform the directors
8. Disclosea much information as you can.
9. Analysethe actions you took to deal with the situation.
10. Practisemakingdecisionsunder stress.
C. Complete this tablewith the steps in ExerciseB. Discussyour answers.
Before the crisis During the crisis After the crisis
2-4-5-9-10 3-6-7-8 1

2. D. Answer these questions.
1. What sortof crisisdo business managers haveto face?
Economic crisis/ defect in their product / failureof equipment / wrong production of the products / people
who areoverworked/ A storm,hurricane,tsunami / terroristattack
2. How is a business crisis differentfrom a business problem?
A business crisisstrikes thewhole branch and need to be dealt with immediately. A business problem can be
solved in your own company and can take several years.
2. Can you think of any examples of recent business crises? Which do you think have been the worst in
recent years?
Not particularly butas we know with the financial crisisa lotof small enterprises close.For example in the
construction sector a lot of firms have to fire people because there is no work for them. And that’s the cause
from people who don’t have enough money anymore to build.Also with the higher taxes and lower subsidies
it’s very difficultthese times.
Vocabulary
Examples: action plan,admission of liability
A: Contingency / damage / flow / legal / loss / press / press / speed
B: Action / conference / confidence / information / limitation / plan / release/ response
 Contingency plan,damage of confidence, legal information,legal action,information flow,lossof
confidence, limitation of speed, press release, damage limitation,responsespeed, press conference,
A. Complete these sentences with the word partnerships Exercise A.
1. How quickly management react to a crisis isknown as the response speed.
2. In a breakingcrisis,a manager may speak to the media at a press conference.
3. Alternatively, there may be a written statement, which is given to the media in the form of an press
release
4. Duringthe crisis,management may chooseto keep customers, employees and shareholders up to
date with a regular flow of information.
5. A(n) action plan is partof a crisis strategy prepared in advance
6. A backup strategy is a(n) contingency plan.
7. The risk of being taken to court is the threat of legal action.
8. An acceptanceof responsibility in a crisisis a(n) admission of liability.
9. Followinga crisis,a company may suffer a declinein loyalty from its customers, or a(n) loss of
confidence in its productor service.

3. 10. Minimisingthenegative effects of a crisis isknown as damage limitation.
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
2. issuea press release
3. take legal action
4. hold a press conference
5. suffer loss of confidence
6. prepare a contingency plan
7. control the information flow
C. Answer this question, then discuss your ideas in small groups. Can you give any examples
Which of these word partnerships in exerciseC do you think are:
Essential in crisis Important to avoid Useful but not essential
1-4-6-7 3-5 2
Listening
A. Listenagain and complete these extractsusing no more than three words ineach gap.
… it’sa problemthatthe companyfranklyhasbeenvery slowto acknowledge and very slowto
respondto.
… it was onlySeptember2009 thatthe companyreallytrulyacknowledgedthere wasa problemand
said‘we’re gonnahave a recall’.
… its communicationaroundthe causesof the problemhasbeen unclear,andconsumershave been
leftconfusedand…
The classicadvice here is tell it and tell it quickly.And the thingto dois to get out there and let
people knowthatyouacknowledgethatthere isa problem, andknow thatyou’re doingsomething
aboutit.

4. B. Listento the second part of the interviewand answerthese questions.
1. What isthe three-partmodel?
3 parts:
 the before piece whereyouneedtoattendtothe possibilityof acrisis.
 the duringpiece youknow what’shappeningduringthe crisis.
 the afterpiece whatyoudo aftera crisis.
2. What are the three critical activitiesor questionsforpartone ?
 An audit ‘whatcouldgo wrong’
 Identifywhatcould be possiblygowrong (avoidavoidable).
 Prepare a contingencyplan anda dedicatedteam
C. Listento the third part. What three things needto be done duringa crisis?
 Crisisidentification recognise thereisacrisis.
 Containthe crisis
 Resolvingthe crisis
D. Listento the final part. What questionsdoeshe ask with regard to:
1. The recovery?
 How doyou reintroduce the product?How doyou recoverfromthe storm?
2. The auditingof the managementof the crisis?
 What can be learnedasresultof seeingwhatworkedandwhatdidn’t work?
3. Rebuilding?
 How doesitrebuilditsreputationexternally?How doesitrestore the confidence of its
customers,of otherstakeholdersand internally of itsemployees?

5. Reading
A. Brainstormthe crises thatthese companies could have.
A pushchair company :-unsafe design for children /- the factory that provides the essential materials
goes bankrupt
A mobilephone company: - cell phones explode/ - batteries dies within a day / - phones bent and
need to get back for recovery.
B. ArticleA : How not to take careof a brand / ArticleB : Expect the unexpected.
Reading
A. Read your articles again and taken notes on these questions.
1. What crisis happened?
- Maclaren:12 cases where children’s fingertips were chopped off
- Air FranceConcorde: accidentinvolvinga Concorde.
- Nokia: Recall of 14 million phonebatteries.
-Intel: a small proportion of its Pentium microprocessorswerefaulty
-Toyota: recall of 3.8 million carswith floor mats that van make the vehicles accelerateuncontrollably
and crash
2. How did the companies mentioned deal with their crisis?
-Maclaren:issuingrepair kits for the pushchairsand issuingwarnings to owners.
- Air FranceConcorde: withdrawthe Concorde from service -> announcean investigation into the
accident-> reassurethe travellingpublic thatair Francewas still safe
- Intel: recallingand replacingtheentire production run of the series.
-Nokia: a recall
-Toyota: A recall
-intel: recallingand replacingtheentire production run of the series
3. Be ready, empathise, be polite, don’t discriminate.Good crisismanagement requires the ability to
react to events swiftly and positively,whether or not they have been foreseen.
B. Discuss other companies you know have handled crises well/badly
Sony Ps4 : The network from PlayStation was hacked twice by a young group. Who justwanted to make a
statement of how easy it is to enter a network where all the ps4 customers pay for. They did this on Christmas
Day and another holiday.Sony responded to their customers that they were workingon the problem and
afterwards gave a free game on the PlayStation Store.

6. Languagereview
A. Match the sentences below (1-12) to these headings (a-f)
1. It wouldn’t have been a problem if they’d told the truth immediately.
 Reflecting on the past(d)
2. If I were you, I’d give media interviews as soon as possible.
 Advice/warning/threat (f)
3. We’ll tell the truth if you printthe entire statement.
 bargaining(b)
4. We’ll be ableto limitthe damage if we pay up now.
 Speculatingabout the future (e)
5. If you’d fixed the fault,we’d have placed an order
 Reflecting on the past(d)
6. Your money back if not 100% satisfied
 Promise(a)
7. If we recall theproducts, itwill be expensive
 Speculatingabout the future (e)
8. If you would likea refund, call customer services on…
 Invitation/request(c)
9. If you order by the end of the year, we can give you a discount
 Bargaining(b)
10. I wouldn’t ignore the media if I were you
 Advice/warning/threat (f)
11. If we’d tested the productproperly, we’d have known about this problem.
 Reflecting on the past(d)
12. I would grateful of you would printour apology as soon as possible.
 Invitation/request(c)
B. Decide whether each of these situations is a) likely or b) unlikely to happen to you. Then tell
your partner what you will or would do.
1. You get a pay risenext year
 Unlikely,I’m still studying
2. You win a lotof money
 Unlikely,I never win money.
3. Your computer gets a virus
 Likely, because I don’t have an anti-virus program.
4. You travel abroad next year
 Likely, because my girlfriend likes it.

7. 5. You have to give a presentation in English
 Likely, because I have English in the 3th year as well.
6. Your company is taken over by a competitor
 Unlikely,I don’t own a company.
Skills
A. Michael Goodrich is a presenter of a television consumer protection programme. Tonight he is
questioning Tim Bradshaw, the marketing Director of TG products, a large chain of stores which
sells imported toys. Listen to the interview and answer these questions.
1. What kind of toys arepopular with children accordingto Tim Bradshaw?
Stuffed toys, (grey rabbits ,dogs and penguins, reindeer and elephants )
2. How many of the toys does his company have in stock?
50 000
3. How serious is theproblem with the toys? Explain your answer.
The toys are defective, they should be recalled.The button eyes fall off and the children chew on them
and choke
B. 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 pleasetell me how many of these items you import each month? Neutral
2. Could you be a littlemore precise? Neutral
3. Roughly how many complaints aboutthe toys do you receive each week? Neutral
4. Isn’tit true you’ve been receivingdozens of complaints fromcustomers every week? Aggressive
5. Do you deny people have been phoningyou and e-mailingyou constantly to complain aboutthe toys?
Aggressive
6. Why are you still sellingthem? Aggressive
7. Isn’tyour real reason for not recallingthe toys very obvious,Mr Bradshaw? Neutral
8. But what are you going to do about these defective toys? Aggressive
9. When exactly will you get back to us? Neutral
10. Would you answer my question, please? Aggressive

8. DVD unit11