Types of Crises

Crises take place without any warning and can be very detrimental to a company’s performance as well as appearance. In the most recent lessons we learned about six major categories crises which can arise. The first is unusual weather patterns and natural disasters. The Universal Music industry has artists flying all over the country and at times internationally. Unusual weather patterns can place a damper on a tight schedule or even place an employee in grave danger depending on the severity. The second is an ongoing threat of terrorism. This is a rising problem within the United States in which the government is trying to control to the best of their ability. Main target areas for terrorists are urban areas with large amounts of civilians. A crisis can arise for Universal if a music artist’s concert was the target of an attack. Top artists fill up arenas such as Madison Square Garden which would be a prime location to an attack. This arena is connected to Pennsylvania Railroad Station and could harm thousands of individuals should there be an attack. If something were to happen during an artist’s performance it would cause a major crisis Universal would need to act upon. A Third crisis is society’s reliance upon the internet. The internet has become one of the main sources for acquiring information. If a rumor gets leaked on the internet about an artist or Universal Music Group company it can spread like wildfire and cause bad publicity for the company. Universal would need to act on the rumor as a crisis situation and start damage control in order to keep their image in a positive light. A fourth common crisis is human-induced crises. This could cause a crisis internally or externally for Universal. It would include an employee or artists signed to their label acting aggressive, violent, anti-social or commits an act of deviance towards another coworker or individual outside the firm. Actions like these could place the company in a bad light and when you are representing a company your actions can be directly connected to the company name. Universal would need to act upon any employee or artist acting out of the accepted norms and laws of society. A fifth crisis is sustainability and environmental damage by organizations. This crisis is more common in industries with oil, gas, and other resources our society requires in order to operate. With all of the worries of global warming it is best for Universal to go along with the Go Green campaign. There are many movements against companies that are not eco-friendly and in order to keep Universal out of the spotlight it should accommodate the changing times and place their company in a Green direction. The final crises category is globalization and outsourcing. Many companies are sending jobs overseas in order to save money and pay workers less than they would be paid working in the United States. Universal has not participating in the outsourcing of jobs and it would be best for them to avoid that issue. A crisis can arise because there is such a high rate of unemployment especially in our economy today that Universal would not want to be associated with the cause to this problem.

These are very general categories and within each many crises can arise. The first few mentioned are considered crises that have little to no control. Plans can be formulated in case a crisis takes place but there is no way to determine how or when. The best way for a company to be prepared is to make a list of everything that could possibly go wrong and break it down to ways these can be prevented or handled if these crises ever happened. Keep your employees aware of these crisis management plans. Let them know, “If a natural disaster were to ever happen these are the following actions to take ….”. The safety of your employees should be at the top of the list of what to consider and they will feel a sense of reassurance knowing that you have a plan in worst case scenarios.

Universal Music is one of the largest music labels in the industry and is always being thrown in the spot light, both positively and negatively. After reviewing my example I posted last week I realized I still has a hazy line between internal and external crisis. I have spent the week learning more about the company and brainstorming different ways crises can arise both internally and externally. An example of an internal crisis Universal Music could face would be if one of their top artists becomes ill and needed to take a break from recording and performing. This would be considered a crisis because the demand for this artist is still high and when tours are canceled and no new music is released, it can greatly affect the expected revenue of the artist when he/she was signed to the label. An example of an external crisis is the downfall of the economy. Universal Music has a large part of their revenue based off concerts, endorsements, and CDs. The more the state of the economy falls the less likely consumers are to spend money on concerts and CDs. This leads to strategic planning of how to keep concerts and CDs alive in the budgeting economy. Product companies may need to lower their budget on endorsements which will cause music artists hired to receive less money and more competition to be chosen over another celebrity.

There are many crisis examples that Universal Music can face and I now understand where to draw the line between internal and external crises. I am keeping tabs on the company so I will be sure to share if one arises in the future!

My Company is Universal Music Group

In this blog I will be focusing on Universal Music Group. I will try to apply the information I learn from the textbook and in-class discussion to developing crisis communication strategies for Universal Music Group. For example, Professor Laskin explained that crisis can be caused by an outside or inside error (deliberate or not). Universal Music Group, for example, can potentially face crises from inside causes such as poor employee relations and from outside causes such as bad customer service. I found an article discussing Rihanna’s encounter with domestic violence and after it first happened and she went back to her abuser it caused listeners to lose respect and view her in a bad light. This crisis was handled correctly by Rihanna choosing not to be with Chris Brown because of the incident and is now a strong leader for the fight against domestic violence.