Running Head CRISIS COMMUNICATION .docx

Running Head: CRISIS COMMUNICATION
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CRISIS COMMUNICATION
Mini Project: Crisis Communication
By
[Name of Student]
Course
Professor
[Name of Institution]
April 17, 2019
Introduction
Watson is one of the largest company in Hong Kong that
supplies of health and beauty products using over the world that
serving around 28 million customer’s form which around 3
billion customers have the membership with the company.
Watson supplied food supplements, vitamins, and minerals of
different types and recently become a part of Teva
pharmaceutical in January 2018. Recently, the Watson faced
the series of claims that the company had wrong prescription
drug prices paid by Medicaid health insurance company that
affect the Watson company badly as it defrauded on average $7
billion in wholesale prices. These inflated prices varied from

drug to drug and have approximately 1000 percent on usually
purchased drugs. This inflated prices of drugs tainted the
medical unit of this company and facing some penalties form
the customers that effect around $20,023,974.23 damages to the
company (Thomas Sullivan, 2018). The purpose of this report is
to design a crisis communication for Watson.
Purpose, Scope and Goals of Plan
Communication crisis is a situation in which public relation
have to design to defend an individual and company for facing
the challenges from the public. These crises occurred when the
information exchanged between public and company or
organization that effects the organization after such crises.
Crisis communication plans are designed to defend and protect
the organization and individual of that company and help them
to face the challenges and public penalties. These plans use to
resolve the crisis of organizations and help them to readjust in
the society as well as maintain the reputation (Banks, 2016).
The purpose of the crisis communication plan uses to provide
such policies and procedures for the communication between an
organization and public agencies including media, customers,
stakeholders, and board of directors of the organization. The
main and important goal of the crisis communication plan is to
establish the dealing guidelines among company and customers
such as the Watson Company faces the public ignorance to
purchase drugs for sometimes after that incident. The company
faced difficulties with managing these crises in society, as there
are dozens of companies around Watson Company that have an
eye on it. In the result of this crisis communication, the
company faced losing as the internal and external way in the
large amount. As an internal crisis, the company has less
amount of employers and stakeholders affected management that
has a negative impact on the progress of the company. Same as
the lack of retail and purchasing effect externally as the
customers did not trust that company and social media influence
the company’s reputation.
Expected Audience

Crisis communication strategies used to achieve the
communication objectives to both internal and external crises.
These strategies consisted of four components including target
audience, communication goals, communication plan, and the
channels. In the communication goal, Watson had designed
some goals related to its company and those goals discussed
generally to provide awareness in the public and employers. For
internal communication, stakeholders were targeted as audience
and the loyal customers and media targeted for an external
targeted audience (John Spacey, 2019).
Communication Strategies
After targeting the audience, the management discussed their
communication plan in which they mentioned their goals,
strategies, format, and implications that how they will reduce
such kind of incidents in future about inflated drug prices. They
also discussed how they would advertise their next plan and
inform the public about their clearance from the medical unit
that help to enhance purchasing their drugs. They can use
communication channels to clear themselves in front of the
public such as Television, internet, mass media as the social
media highly used in crisis communication (Graham, Avery, &
Park, 2015).
After communication strategies, the Watson Company have to
use, the concept of operations for crisis communication in
which the company will define themselves in front of
stakeholders related to previous issue and the clearance of that
issue. It further explains the role and responsibilities of the
stakeholders and another management team. The Watson can
also use the dynamic human policy in which it describes the
previous inner differences in people as these dynamics are on
culture, age, race, and gender of the team members even the
stakeholders. In this human dynamic strategy, the members have
to blame one another on that previous incident on the base
cultural, religious and gender differences. However, for further
planning, the Watson organization team have to manage
themselves without racial and cultural differences that will help

them to puck back in society. The staff members have to avoid
the blame game with one another, and the team leader has to
check and balance on all matters including prescription and
drug prices. This kind check and balance from the leader will be
beneficial for the company, as they did not face any incident in
the future as well as it also helpful for the progress of their
company.
References
Banks, K. F. (2016). Crisis Communications A Casebook
Approach. New York: Routledge.
Graham, M. W., Avery, E. J., & Park, S. (2015). The role of
social media in local government crisis communications. Public
Relations Review, 386-394.
John Spacey. (2019, January 14). 4 Examples of a
Communication Strategy. Retrieved from Simplicable:
https://simplicable.com/new/communication-strategy
Thomas Sullivan. (2018, May 4). policemen. Retrieved from
Policy & Medicine: A Rochpoint Publication:
https://www.policymed.com/2018/02/watson-pharmaceuticals-
now-part-of-teva-to-pay-33-million-to-mississippi.html

MHR 6551, Training and Development 1
Course Learning Outcomes for Unit IV
Upon completion of this unit, students should be able to:
4. Outline elements of effective sharing of learning and
knowledge among employees.
4.1 Explain the ways social media can be used to share
information.
6. Synthesize cultural influences on learning and development
in an organization.
Reading Assignment
Before completing your required reading assignment, watch the

video that will briefly introduce some of the
readings and unit concepts:
In order to access the following resources, click the links
below:
Guo, Y., Wang, C., & Feng, Y. (2014). The moderating effect of
organizational learning culture on individual
motivation and ERP system assimilation at individual level.
Journal of Software, 9(2), 365-373.
Retrieved from
http://go.galegroup.com.libraryresources.columbiasouthern.edu/
ps/i.do?p=AONE&sw=w&u=oran9510
8&v=2.1&it=r&id=GALE%7CA365687970&asid=16640abba5bb
0f6a23d3f6a969d22679
Henry, K. V. (2011). Grooming the next generation; Sustain
competitive advantage through succession
planning and an early career development program. Strategic
Finance, 92(7), 37-42. Retrieved from
8&v=2.1&it=r&id=GALE%7CA246717500&asid=416955be5d0
50506713c1100f49e6ee8
McKinlay, A., & Starkey, K. (1994). After Henry: Continuity
and change in Ford Motor Company. Business

History, 36(1), 184-195. Retrieved from
8&v=2.1&it=r&id=GALE%7CA15232532&asid=a1ea195030005
9ce91e79eda19aa3559
Morical, K., & Tsai, B. (1992). Adapting training for other
cultures. Training & Development, 46(4), 65-66.
Retrieved from
8&v=2.1&it=r&id=GALE%7CA12392223&asid=cf1de0607b204
5daa7165fe5b6e09f63
Singh, A. K. (2011). HRD practices & managerial effectiveness:
Role of organisation culture. Indian
Journal of Industrial Relations, 47(1), 138-148. Retrieved from
ps/i.do?p=AONE&sw=w&u=oran
95108&v=2.1&it=r&id=GALE%7CA349721394&asid=3d81113
8aeb385093268ff91d6d859fb
Unit Lesson
You may have been asked the following question or have asked
it yourself: “What can you tell me about the
company culture?” Have you often wondered what that really
means? What is a culture? There are so many
opinions and definitions of culture, which makes answering that
question daunting. It is important to define

what culture means in any communication.
UNIT IV STUDY GUIDE
Cultural Influences on
Training and Development
https://online.columbiasouthern.edu/bbcswebdav/xid-
59832847_1
https://online.columbiasouthern.edu/bbcswebdav/xid-
59832841_1
ps/i.do?p=AONE&sw=w&u=oran95108&v=2.1&it=r&id=GALE
%7CA365687970&asid=16640abba5bb0f6a23d3f6a969d22679
%7CA365687970&asid=16640abba5bb0f6a23d3f6a969d22679
%7CA246717500&asid=416955be5d050506713c1100f49e6ee8
%7CA246717500&asid=416955be5d050506713c1100f49e6ee8
%7CA15232532&asid=a1ea1950300059ce91e79eda19aa3559%2
0
%7CA15232532&asid=a1ea1950300059ce91e79eda19aa3559%2
0
%7CA12392223&asid=cf1de0607b2045daa7165fe5b6e09f63

%7CA12392223&asid=cf1de0607b2045daa7165fe5b6e09f63
%7CA349721394&asid=3d811138aeb385093268ff91d6d859fb
%7CA349721394&asid=3d811138aeb385093268ff91d6d859fb
UNIT x STUDY GUIDE
Title
Do we define culture by the friendliness of coworkers? Or, is it
coming to work on time or a sense of urgency
to get things done? Many may think that organizational culture
is defined by thoughts and actions of
employees and managers, both inside and outside of the
organization. This definition is pretty accurate, but
culture is something difficult to define because organizations do
not always expressly define it. Culture is
something that is implied and can be felt. It is also important to
note that culture can change over time as new
employees enter the organization and others leave. A company's
culture can be reflected in the dress code,
business hours, office layout (such as cubicles), employee
benefit programs, the amount and kind of turnover,
who is hired and how hiring decisions are made, and the
treatment of clients. Culture may not be discussed
often, but it affects many decisions and can even affect the

reputation of a company. We all know those
companies who treat their customers well and those who do not.
Does customer service influence your
decisions about where you shop, what restaurants you attend, or
what companies you want to work for in
the future?
One company that stands out for its employee-friendly culture is
Google. Google likes to be unconventional
and offers many unique benefits. Employees are offered
telecommuting, flex time, tuition reimbursement, free
employee lunches, and on-site doctors. At its corporate
headquarters in California, Google offers on-site
services, including oil changes, massages, fitness classes, car
washes, and a hair stylist (Jackson, 2015).
Many of these benefits are quite unique. You may even be
thinking of how nice it would be to work for such a
company. How could these benefits affect the company culture?
Are employee benefits all that is needed for
a culture that positively impacts employees and clients?
Many organizations today are successful because of cultural
continuity. General Electric (GE) is a good
example of creating a culture that has been working for decades
for a very successful organization. At GE,
they encourage integrity, responsibility, and creativity. Through
their training and development efforts, they
have created team and individual learning activities that reward
performance, volunteerism, and career-long
learning. They have a “corporate university” that invests in the
future of leadership in the General Electric way
(culture). Succession planning is a large part of cultural
continuity. GE, like many large corporations, trains
their managers from the ground up. Hiring of high-level
managers from outside the organization is not an
option since that would impact the way GE does things (cultural

continuity). Succession planning at GE is
taken very seriously as the staff at each GE strategic business
unit (SBE) has been groomed for many years
to replace upper-level managers in the organization.
On the other hand, there are many cultures that are ineffective
and require change, and culture change can
be challenging; Denny’s Restaurant Company is a good
example. In 1993, six African American U.S. Secret
Service agents walked into a Denny’s restaurant and were
refused service while as many as fifteen fellow
agents were being served and even had second helpings. A class
action lawsuit was filed by these six U.S.
Secret Service agents. In California, there were similar lawsuits
filed where many young African Americans
were asked to prepay for their meals. Denny’s was on its way to
becoming a “poster child” for racism. In 1995,
Denny’s was required to pay $54 million to $294,000 to
customers. There was no deliberate policy on
encouraging discrimination, but discriminatory practices were
widespread and well known within the
corporation. Restaurant managers had policies that required
them to ask for identification, request prepaying
of meals, and “blackouts” or locking minority customers out of
the restaurant (Rice & Faircloth, 1996).
However, Denny’s was committed to changing the culture and
hired the former head of Burger King USA to
lead the chain’s culture transformation. Ray Hood-Phillips was
then hired to develop a diversity program that
would make the restaurant chain less vulnerable to charges of
racism and discrimination. The CEO became a
champion for change; diversity training was required throughout
the organization, and the company created
new minority supplier contracts and developed aggressive
minority franchising and hiring and standardized

performance evaluations. As a result of this culture change,
49% of the workforce are people of color, 33% of
officers and managers are people of color, and 27% of senior
management are women and people of color
(Rice & Faircloth, 1996). Without this change, the corporation
of Denny’s may not be what it is today. By
recognizing the faults in their culture and taking the steps to
correct them, Denny’s has a model for diversity.
So, how is this accomplished? How can a company train its
employees in a way that fosters a positive
corporate culture? To create strong cultures, organizations need
to consider a continuity of leadership. Major
organizations are successful in part because they train their
leaders versus hiring leaders from outside the
organization. This creates a continuity of leadership that
supports a continuity of culture.
UNIT x STUDY GUIDE
Title
Employees in the organization have a great impact on
organizational culture. Social media can be used to
create experiences for employees that would impact the culture.
Communication is an example of this. How
and where an organization communicates with its employees
will have an impact on the culture. If an

employee is unhappy with the organization and communicates
over social media, it can have an impact on
many employees.
References
Jackson, L. (2015). Google’s culture infographic. Retrieved
from
http://www.corporateculturepros.com/2013/07/the-real-secret-
of-googles-corporate-culture/
Rice, F., & Faircloth, A. (1996). Denny’s changes its spots not
so long ago, the restaurant chain was one
of America’s most racist companies. Today it is a model of
multicultural sensitivity. Here is the
inside story of Denny’s about-face. Retrieved from
http://archive.fortune.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/1
996/05/13/212386/index.htm
Suggested Reading
Within the Unit Lesson, we discussed Google’s organizational
culture. Google has a very unique
organizational culture, and you are encouraged to research this.
The below video explains some of their
employee benefits and the reasons why Google made this
decision:
Rathod, R. S. (2013). Culture inside Google [Video file].
Retrieved from

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c1jlmdkApTQ

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