A crisis is anything that has the potential to negatively affect the reputation or credibility of an organization (Brundage, 2000). The key to crisis management is communicating quickly and effectively with superiors, subordinates, the media, government agencies and key publics honestly to minimize the crisis and prevent lingering effects. The organization's mission statement will act as a blueprint for what must be done in the case of a crisis. Before a crisis occurs at Riordan Manufacturing, a crisis vulnerability audit will be performed by a crisis management team composed of key management personnel. Each crisis management team member will be a decision maker in their area of expertise, and will have specific responsibilities set down in writing. Each member of the team will be a creative, responsible, self-starter, and possess ethical operating practices. They will all be readily reachable when a crisis occurs. One team member will be the designated spokesperson for the team. A crisis action plan will be prepared after the audit for each potential crisis, and a one-page fact sheet prepared for every crisis scenario. Messages will be prepared for key publics, and communications systems will be put in place; with internal publics notified first in the event of a crisis. Press releases will be prepared for the media. Next, others in the community who need to know will be informed of the crisis in a manner and at a time to be determined by the crisis management team.
B. Evaluation of Effectiveness of Public Relations Campaign
Strategic and tactical objectives and the desired outputs, outtakes and outcomes will be established before the PR campaign begins ((Institute, 2002). The message, the key target audience groups, and the channels of communication desired will also be clearly identified in advance of the campaign. PR outputs will measure short-term press coverage and amount of exposur
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