Human beings are a being programmed to survive from the moment he is born. Human beings have a defense mechanism that they constantly develop in order to be less harmed by changing situations or to accept innovation: crisis management. The biggest evolution in crisis management is to adapt.
The crisis is one of the words we use most to describe an event in daily life. Economic crisis, global crisis, sometimes lover crisis or crisis management. A Crisis represents unsatisfied or unexpected momentary negative situations.
While you are in the normal flow of business life, you may suddenly find yourself in a crisis with voices like “There has been a big drop in the markets!” or “Sales have started to fall rapidly.” Then there is only one question in mind. How did we get to this situation? The most important strategy of a company is to be able to manage the crisis. The firm should anticipate potential risks and prepare itself for critical situations. It is the stakeholders and customers that make a company exist. So, it should identify the situations in which its stakeholders and customers may also be harmed within the crisis management and minimize or close the damage.
The SWOT analysis that each organization determines for itself is the biggest supporter of crisis moments. The organization can become more resilient to threats that may occur thanks to SWOT analysis. At the same time, it can stay strong by determining how to turn crises into opportunities. Crisis can be experienced by economic fluctuations in the market, or sometimes by the political position of the country or the power of social media. A negative situation shared by an influencer on social media may be enough to destroy the sales of the company, or the sales force of a famous Italian company may decrease in the face of a political situation in Italy with other countries.
Did you know that a global brand like KFC had a major crisis in 2018 as chicken ran out in the UK? When this event had a great impact on social media, the company humorously explained the situation and changed its name to FCK and shared a post. In the statement, he said that there cannot be a restaurant without chicken. Many people liked this humorous approach and found the humor sincere. This has been a good example for companies that managed the crisis very well. The firm has succeeded in retaining the customer to turn the crisis into an opportunity. This shows us that no success is a coincidence.
Has every crisis been successfully overcome by companies? Of course not. Seattle TV has announced that Diet Pepsi contains a syringe. A few more similar complaints followed, and the FDA warned consumers to consume Diet Pepsi cokes in a glass. Pepsi tried to make the public accept that it was a smear campaign by emphasizing the impossibility of such a situation in their production. Although the company had tried to prove the impossibility of this situation with its crisis management team, the public thought Pepsi was responsible and cost them $500,000, and lost $25 million in sales.
As a result of crisis management, the important thing is to prepare yourself and your company for possible scenarios and not look for other criminals. Highlight your strengths instead of pessimistic thoughts like "We won't be able to handle this." Don't think as “Everything turned upside down, we were out of control.” As Şems-i Tabrizi said, "How do you know that your life will not be better when everything goes wrong than your life as normal?" So make an effort and consider opportunities.
Career Hunter Human Resources
Psc. Lale ÖZDAMAR
