Another working week has ended with the beginning of a new month. The closure process is now ongoing and reports are due by the 5th of December 2023. It is expected that reports and schedules of affected divisions must have been submitted by the end of November 2023. The Corporate Reporting Department will, within the next two working days, produce the financial statements for review and analysis by the company’s executive management. Barring any crisis in the reporting process, the review should be completed by the 8th of December, 2023.
On the study side of things, the review of the Analysis of Business Problems (ABP) assignment is still an ongoing process. The Target case study requires a decision using the futures wheel analysis. The futures wheel is a decision-making technique that recognises the decision’s direct and indirect impact or effect. It is a group assignment and requires that we consider financial ratios as expounded in Corporate Financial Accounting (CFA). The assignment brings elements of CFA and ABP together to the front burner in one case.
In Management Communication, the focus for me is on crisis management. Every organisation should anticipate a crisis which can occur at any time and multiple times in the existence of an organisation. It can be a natural occurrence such as an earthquake, a scandal involving top management commented upon in the public space, a software glitch leading to customer loss or stolen customer data, etc. A crisis is any event that causes an organisation to cease normalcy in its daily operations. It is an event that generates unusual attention, disrupts the working process, and stops the functioning of an organisation in certain cases. How an organisation responds to a crisis depends on how prepared the organisation was before the crisis occurred. To avoid being caught off guard, an organisation should put in place a crisis management team comprising senior management, public relations personnel and other relevant personnel in the crisis team. External contacts should be made, and a draft template should be adopted in responding to the press. Depending on the kind of crisis, the company should empathise with the victims and, where applicable, apologise for the discomfort it may have caused. At no time should the company state “no comments”. Rather, the company should state its level of awareness of the event at any given time. Updates will then be given as they arise or at the designated time.
A spokesperson should be appointed – someone who is calm, versed in the company’s affairs, articulate, of senior management cadre. This spokesperson will be the face of the company in the crisis and will be responding to questions before the public. The spokesperson will buy time for the company as may be warranted and provide updates on the crisis as available. Placing senior management personnel as spokespersons shows that the company is not afraid to respond to queries from the public. At the end of the crisis, it is essential to assess how well the team worked and express gratitude to those who assisted during the crisis period. The events should be documented for future training.
Modeleola JEGEDE
#MEMBA 12
LESS, BUT BETTER