Emergency Situation presented to Leaders
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Transcript of Emergency Situation presented to Leaders
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8/4/2019 Emergency Situation presented to Leaders
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Final Exam: Emergency Situation presented to Leaders EDL 706
Thomas Johnson | ict-design.org Dr. Tarek Razik
Fictitious Executive Summary: A male has shot up to 30 people and is still on
the loose.
Analysis of situation:
This man is assumed to be a student and has gone in the direction of the
dormitories. It is 3:30 pm on Thursday and I am with my vice president and
Chaplin. I know the police have been informed and the population I am
concerned with is 30,000 students, 5000 employees, and the surrounding suburb
of the metropolitan city.
Unrelated parts of the situation:
There are three points of interest that are dealt as facts surrounding the
situation. However, I believe they are red-herrings. The first is that police
relations are strained. In this scenario the police must respond. All events prior to
the situation should be disregarded and are not of concern. The relationship with
them will grow and strengthen due to necessity. If they do not act with
professionalism in this case, they will have major legal and ethical repercussions
to deal with beyond the strain of our rapport.
The second reality that is a misnomer in focus is the fact that local media
has been critical because of a previous case and pending lawsuit. In this situation,
the establishment of a statement of particulars and development of open
communication through a public relations officer will institute trustworthiness and
reliability from the University to the public about this specific matter.
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Final Exam: Emergency Situation presented to Leaders EDL 706
Thomas Johnson | ict-design.org Dr. Tarek Razik
The final unrelated detail is the actuality that the city mayor needs to be
informed. Since s/he is on the board of directors, s/he will be informed with the
other administrators and communications team. No priorities, special preferences
or addition of facts will be given to him or her in the case of this scenario.
Type of leadership needed:
In this particular case, I am a situational leader. I am going to manage the
circumstances that have occurred. (Hersey, p.9) As Goleman mentions I will
authoritatively react. The establishment of rules of conduct will occur and there
will be little debate about them in the beginning. However, as time progresses my
role as a leader will change as well. I will not micromanage the state of
emergency by beginning a delegation process and relying upon professionals to
do their job. My primary goals here are to: 1) identify the people to be informed
and also who will inform me 2) communicate the facts and minimize the rumors
3) restore order and confidence. (Western Kentucky University)
Eventually, I hope to settle this awful situation, learn from it, and grow
from it as a leader and take the University to a new realm. I intend to leave a
positive legacy, given this terrible state of affairs. (Collins, p. 25)
Reframing the problem:
The reaction of the victims and the public is going to fall into the whole
gamut of Kbler-Ross stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression and
acceptance. The stages I would be concerned with are the first four. For
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Final Exam: Emergency Situation presented to Leaders EDL 706
Thomas Johnson | ict-design.org Dr. Tarek Razik
example, the dissuasion of responses that may perpetuate pessimistic opinions or
cause other negative situations will be at the forefront of the action plan. The best
way to do this is going to be through dissemination of information. Everyone will
have questions that need to be addressed. It will be up to the Public Relations
Officers or Crisis Communication Teams job to think from the living victims
point of view in order to answer the following questions: Why did this person
shoot me or the other people? What did I do to this person? Where did this guy
go? Did someone catch him? Am I still in danger? Are any of my friends hurt?
What should I do now?
The victims will probably also be thinking they need to contact family or
friends to tell them what they have witnessed and whether they have been hurt.
The Crisis Communication Team needs to set up a viable system in order for them
to do this, or for families to check.
In addition to the previous questions, the following questions will need to
be answered that would probably arise from the media, family and friends, or
from the publics point of view: Why wasnt there better security? How come
nobody knew this person would do this? How did this person get the guns?
Where is the perpetrator now? Who was killed or hurt? Did the perpetrator have
a plan? What are the police doing? What is the University doing? Where did the
weapons come from? Did the school have security cameras to record the
incident? How can we be sure that the perpetrator is not going to come back to
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Final Exam: Emergency Situation presented to Leaders EDL 706
Thomas Johnson | ict-design.org Dr. Tarek Razik
kill more people? How can this be prevented in the future? What can we do to
support the victims and victims families?
Safety:
Because the campus police seem to be the first people who were
contacted, and given the circumstances I would suspect they would call for more
authorities, possibly bringing in Special Forces, including bomb squad and
SWAT. This would mean they would create a plan for the area. An SMS and
email message would be sent that would instruct that all access to plans for the
buildings, maps of the campus, access to video and surveillance of the campus, as
well as compliance of staff and campus police was to be assured in order to help
accommodate the emergency response units needs.
The police would possibly set up an area for victims families and friends
to locate witnesses, injured victims or a list of the dead. Following previous
history from other cases the University would probably be considered a crime
scene for about a week. (Wikipedia: Virginia Tech Massacre)
The SMS and email message to staff, students and media would instruct
that all parts of campus and satellite campuses are shut until further notice and
would ask for people not to come in to the area if they were currently elsewhere.
People would be asked to remain in their buildings until the police have restrained
the assailant and assessed the crime scene.
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Final Exam: Emergency Situation presented to Leaders EDL 706
Thomas Johnson | ict-design.org Dr. Tarek Razik
Local busses or metro would be contacted in order to tell them about the
situation so that they could re-route travel until the perpetrator has been captured.
Steps taken as head of University - Communication:
1. My priority for contacting people would be:
a. Webmaster and Technical support for first general alert
b. Administrators
c. Public Relations Manager (PRM)
d. Teachers - Staff
e. Lawyer
f. Students
g. Media Local and Global Community
Immediately I would:
2. Relate the scenario to the vice president and Chaplin in order to aid in
setting up a communications network to help in cancelling all classes
immediately.
3. Contact 911, specifically, the police and ambulance to alert them of the
situation and confirm they have been informed, while also soliciting
advice.
4. Create a message to be sent, which states the school will be closed down
until further notice. It will concisely give the facts that have been
presented to us so far. It will announce authorities have been notified that
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Final Exam: Emergency Situation presented to Leaders EDL 706
Thomas Johnson | ict-design.org Dr. Tarek Razik
will be helping to handle the situation and that further updates will be
given as information is forthcoming.
5. Contact my communications department to send emails and SMS to staff,
students and media and also to security and those involved in the area.
6. Look to the Crisis Communication Plan (Clawson Freeo) and respond
using it.
7. Talk with the PRM to the Crisis Communication Team (CCT)1 to
publicize the proper information to people.
Media:
Within an hour
Subsequent to the immediate action above, I would coordinate the Crisis
Communication Team in order to consolidate and prepare information that will be
disseminated to the media. Following the guidelines from Clawson Freeo,
primary and secondary PR people will be chosen who will respond to the media.
The secondary PR officer is a backup in case the primary person is unavailable.
Together, we will prepare statements and answers to possible hard questions
from the media. The PR officers will practice the speech to be given and will
establish an area for the press release to be held. Along with the statements that
1 The CCT should also include the Vice President, the Senior manager from the division in charge of the areathat was involved in the situation that has brought about the crisis, the safety and/or security officer, the
organization Lawyer, and anyone else who might be able to shed some light on the situation such as eye
witnesses (Clawson Freeo)
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Final Exam: Emergency Situation presented to Leaders EDL 706
Thomas Johnson | ict-design.org Dr. Tarek Razik
are told to the press, the same items will be posted in all forums used to broadcast
information to our public demographic. For example our SMS system, the
University website, Twitter, Facebook, and a WIKI system will all be updated and
will send out a similar message.
A log or database will be created that holds information about the
communication given to the media, along with questions posed from them and the
public in order that these inquiries can be dealt with in a timely fashion. Official
information will be given through the PR officer and all questions will be directed
to the Crisis Communication Team at a hotline or website that is to be set up.
Shortly after
Assuming the police find the perpetrator so that this is no longer the
primary concern, grievance areas, along with counseling will be provided and set
up through the University. A staff meeting or set of meetings will be held to talk
about the situation in order to fully address the situation at hand. Memorial
services, prayer and homage events and areas will be made available by the
University for people to show respect.
The Aftermath - Legacy
A Public Image Team will be created who look specifically for the online
and offline views of the community, in order that the University is made aware of
the representation it holds with the local and global population. A separate team
for introspection into the incident itself will be created to aid in answering
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Final Exam: Emergency Situation presented to Leaders EDL 706
Thomas Johnson | ict-design.org Dr. Tarek Razik
lingering questions about the episode. This committee will also be in charge of
helping to ensure an incident similar to this does not occur again. Their goal
would be to develop relationships with other communities who were afflicted
with the same types of situations. In conjunction with administration, PR, and
lawyers, the aforementioned teams or their reports would be used by a review
team in order to reflect upon the overarching plan to be developed and
maintained. This ongoing plan should be updated, revised and possibly even
safety and security tested against in the future.
Cost-effective strategies would be considered against in regards to what
happens to the buildings and vicinity affected. The consideration that people may
feel traumatized or eerie about walking through certain areas would be measured.
However this perception would not be considered paramount in respect to what
happens to the region as the University would not try to cover up the happenings,
but rather learn and grow from it. For example, while not trying to capitalize on
the crisis, courses or specific areas of study might be instituted which revolve
around the incident and would be procured with input from administrators, the
community and families so as to be tactful and authentic. These would focus on
the control, the ethics, the morality, and legal issues surrounding the event. They
might work hand-in-hand towards a memorial service and a yearly vigil ceremony
that would be initiated to take place in remembrance of the incident.
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Final Exam: Emergency Situation presented to Leaders EDL 706
Thomas Johnson | ict-design.org Dr. Tarek Razik
There would be scholarships and grants for the aforementioned programs
of study. Also, the University would create a special funds allocation for the
victims and victims families. These would be given depending upon a
committee decision developed for the distribution of such monies. Rather than
the University trying to cover up or hide from the situation, it would persistently
try to look upon it to gain more knowledge from it and ways to prevent it.
Legal Issues:
At all times, facts will be stated promptly. If new, opposing information
comes up, official statements and admission to mistakes will be made. No
addition or omission of facts will be dealt to any specific party. I will listen to the
lawyers, police and emergency units advice and proceed by letting professionals
lead their respective area. I will instruct Public Relations that information from
the University is advice only and that people are responsible for their own actions.
I will not tell people to go to a designated safe area because it may turn into the
most unsafe area if it is breached. I will let the police determine this area if they
choose. Essentially, I will try to minimize the damage done. However, I will
expect repercussions that I will deal with.
In summary, my job is to coordinate efforts, to communicate information
quickly, effectively and truthfully. I need to consider all parties involved, but let
professionals do their jobs. Ideally I will ask two or three people to report back to
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Final Exam: Emergency Situation presented to Leaders EDL 706
Thomas Johnson | ict-design.org Dr. Tarek Razik
me and have them work with other people as separate units. This way, not too
many people would try to contact me with similar information or questions. I
hope that a situation like this never occurs under my watch, but if it does, I feel
more prepared.
Works Cited:
Clawson Freeo, Sandra K. (n.d.). Crisis Communication Plan. Retrieved April 5,
2009, from Northern Illinois University. Website:
http://www3.niu.edu/newsplace/crisis.html#2
Colins, J.C. (2001). Good to great. New York, NY: HarperCollins Publishers Inc.
Goleman, D. (2002). The new leaders; transforming the art of leadership into thescience of results. London, England: Time Warner Paperbacks.
Hersey, Dr. Paul. (1984). The Situational Leader. (Unknown Publisher) Center for
Leadership Studies, 1st Edition
Kbler-Ross model. (2009). In Wikipedia, Retrieved April 6, 2009, from
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K%C3%BCbler-Ross_model
Virginia Tech massacre. (2009). In Wikipedia, Retrieved April 6, 2009, from
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginia_Tech_massacre
Western Kentucky University. (2007). Crisis Communication. Retrieved April 5,
2009, from Western Kentucky University. Website:
http://www.wku.edu/ur/crisis.html