Chapter 14: Cross-Cultural Communication

One of the things I look forward to PR is working with clients or with other parts of my company in other cities. I am excited to be studying abroad in London in Fall 2007 as I feel in love with the history, theater, and museums when I visited with a group from my high school a couple of years ago. I feel that as typical Americans, we expect everyone to learn English in order for us to do business with foreign countries and we tend to focus on only news stories relevant to us. That of course, could be a stereotype, but I liked the joke in the book about how a person who knows three languages is trilingual, someone who speaks two languages is bilingual, and someone who speaks one language is a U.S. citizen. Why is it that in this country, which is supposedly a "melting pot," is English the only accepted language and most foreigners feel that they must conform to fit in?

In this shrinking world, it is important for me to understand all cultures that I might come in contact in PR. I have the advantage of being from a Mexican background to understand some of the Hispanic culture and understand Spanish. By going to London in the fall, I look forward to meeting people of different cultures that I haven't interacted with before. I don't want to be the naive American who only knows what she grew up with. I want to know and understand the world's point of view and the great and vibrant cultures. In the business world, it is necessary to understand the different cultures because as my minor is marketing, I need to know how my target audience might change and how to sell, promote, and represent my product will change from country to country. With PR, I don't want to seem rude or naive by doing a etiquette faux pas which could ruin the relationship between the client and my company or with the public and media.

Chapter 13: Public Relations and Marketing

I agree with the movie we saw a couple of weeks ago when the reporter was standing in Times Square surrounding by the bright lights of advertising and marketing. As consumers, we have become jaded that for the most part, we just ignore advertising and commercials. Now with inventions like TiVo and DVR, most can record their shows and fast forward through the commercials, which causes advertising to get more creative with how they sell the product and marketing teams to figure out which audience to target.

The two most annoying forms of advertising and marketing are spamming and those stupid signs on the highway advertising the space for rent (you know-- the ones that have "Does advertising work? Just did!" in bright crazy letters). When I had AOL and a bad pop-up blocker, I would get frustrated every time I went to a new website when five advertisements would pop-up and I would have to click out of every one of them until I could get back to the website I originally wanted. With much of the public online, advertment teams have gone to the internet to try to sell their product through pop-ups and banners that flash crazy colors, but if anything, at least with me, it has annoyed me so much that I go out of my way to ignore them. Similarly with the highway signs, I make it my mission to stare at the car in front of me until I pass the signs then congratulate myself that I didn't look at that sign; yet, at the same time, I know I saw it because I just tried to ignore it. I guess in the end, they were indeed successful.

This chapter has finally reassured my answer so that when some one asks, I can tell them the difference between marketing and public relations. With PR, we are focusing on the many publics and trying to strengthen relationships between the company, public, and media. On the other hand, marketing is promoting the product to a specific consumer through sales promotions, personal selling, and direct marketing.

Chapter 12: Crisis Communication

Many times when I'm watching the news and the broadcasters report on a horrible story such as rape, murder, fire, or an accident I shake my head in disbelief, say a prayer, and then try to convince myself that it would never happen to me. Luckily, so far that has been true, but I cannot count on that continuing to be true. It is the same with companies. They must have a plan and always prepare for the worse because certain catalysts can change the course of the company. It is only through plans and training that the problems can be fixed faster or could be avoided all together.

I cannot believe that even after the events of 9/11 that some companies do not have plans for crisis. If the companies do have a plan, the employees might not know a plan exists and the company does not practice the plan. It is one thing to have a plan, but it does not do anyone any good if they do not know how to execute the plan. It is important for a group of people to get together and go through all the possible crises that could arise and to figure out a plan of action so that the company does not just wait for something to happen and then try to quickly throw together a plan before the crisis arrives. Once the group forms plans for certain situations, they need to go to employee meetings to show them the plan, answer any questions, and organize days to practice what would possibly happen in a real-life situation to better prepare for the events.

Resource Sheet and other information

Quarantine: "People who have been exposed to an infectious disease and may be infected by are not yet ill may be quarantined. That is, they may be asked to remain at home or another location to prevent further spread of illness to others and to carefully monitor for the disease. During quarantine people are able to do most things they can do indoors within the constraints of the location they are at... They are given instructions on what they can do and not do around family members and are informed of other diseases precaution. If they are asked to stay in a place away from home they are provided with meals, sleeping accommodations, and other necessities. They would stay there until the risk of developing the disease or spreading the disease is over."
Isolation: "This is for individuals who are sick from the contagious disease. These individuals are kept separate from others-- or 'isolated'-- usually within a healthcare facility or at home. Typically, the ill person will have his or her own room, and caretakers will take certain precautions such as wearing protective clothing."
--Source: Webmd.com (http://www.webmd.com/content/article/63/71934.htm)

What is an Influenza Pandemic?
An influenza pandemic occurs when a new virus emerges for which there is little to no immunity in the human population causing serious illness that spreads from person to person worldwide. At PandemicFlu.gov, the main page gives information about the history of past pandemic, characteristics and challenges of a pandemic, and how communications and information are critical components of a pandemic response.

How does seasonal flu differ from pandemic flu?

Seasonal flu occurs usually in the winter and only the very young and old have increased risk of complications, while the healthy can usually build up immunity. There are also vaccines developed based on known flu strains along with antivirus available. On the other hand, pandemic flu occurs rarely and all people, including healthy people, can get the virus with no pre-existing immunity. Vaccines and antivirus will not be available in the early stages and while seasonal flu can cause approximately 36,000 deaths, the pandemic flu could possibly cause 675,000 which it did in 1918. More information can be found on the following sheet from PandemicFlu.gov (source: http://pandemicflu.gov/general/seasonal_or_pandemic.html , http://pandemicflu.gov/general/whatis.html )

Another thing to include on the media kit is with Southwestern Energy Matrix being located in Texas, it might be a good idea to have the media kit offered in both English and Spanish as Spanish might be an employee's first language. It would make sure that the employees really understand what the avian flu is and how best to prepare for it.

Press Release for Avian Flu

The executive staff at Southwestern Energy Matrix has developed a plan for employees and the company if a pandemic event should occur. The company and its employees need to know exactly what needs to happen in order for the company to ensure business continuity. Employee relations and safety professionals from the company will be discussing the plan face-to-face at the monthly meetings with employees to discuss pandemic and emergency planning.

"We think it's important to meet with employees face-to-face," said Human Resource Director Susan L. Liot, "and we'll be asking all employees to register for direct deposit of paychecks at this time. We'll be providing information about the company's plans for working through a pandemic or other long-term emergency scenario."

The company and the executive staff have worked for six months to develop the first phase for the possible pandemic for how the company will continue to run. This plan includes which specific employees need to continue to work, how and where they will work if the building is closed, and how all the employees will continue to get paid. The specific items for phase one is included on the following fact sheet.

"Our company has a tradition of working courageously in emergency situations," said Thomas Winkler, SEM president and CEO. "Of course, it is our hope that we never need to enact this pandemic plan, but the first phase of planning is complete, and we now need to listen to employee concerns and questions about the plan."

Take Home Question:

The electric utility that you work for, based in Delaware's state capital, will soon roll out its sustainable community initiative. At the local paper in your capital, to whom would you pitch the story? How do you know this is the right reporter/editor?

In Dover, Delaware the main local paper is the Dover Post. When I searched for articles on the Dover Post's website, the two names that kept showing up were Brad Groznik and Jeff Brown. The later had the most articles and was listed as a staff writer in the newsroom. Groznik was also listed as a staff writer on his articles; however, his name was not listed on the list of staff writers on the contact list of reporters. It would be harder to find a direct contact to Groznik because his name is not on the contact list, which makes it seem as if he is not as important as Brown or has not been on staff as long as Brown. According to the archives, Groznik only has about 50 articles, so he might have recently joined the staff at the Dover Post, which could mean that he does not have as much experience in the area, so contacting him to write the article might not be a good idea. On the other hand, if he recently joined the paper, he needs to start making relationships in the area which could make it easier for me to pitch a story to him.
The newspaper seems like it does not have any beat writers as the staff is limited. I would try to contact both Brown and Groznik based on the articles they have both written. Those two writers wrote articles that are relevant to my story pitch as their articles would come up when I searched for articles relating to energy, electric utilities, and sustainability.

Week 9: Fact Sheet

-Enacting direct deposit of paychecks for all employees so that employees are not tempted to come into work while they are sick in order to still get paid.
- Creating a list of essential and non-essential employees in order to keep only a minium of healthy employees and keeping the sick ones at home to rest and be cured.
- Training the employees to be able to perform more than just their job incase they need to be switched around to perform another job if too many employees are sick.
- Realigning worker sick leave and disability guidelines in case of pandemic so that employees are not tempted to go to work and infect people if they think that by calling in sick, they will be fired.
- Building glass-enclosed booths for customer-contact employees to protect both the employees and the customers from spreading the virus and infecting others.
- Working with the company's health insurance provider for special services in order to give support the employees that cannot normally afford health insurance or if the health insurance does not cover the costs and hospital bills from the disease on the current health plan.
- Updating employee emergency contact listings to know where and how all employees can be reached including home and cell phone numbers, home addresses, and e-mail.
- Have a list of numbers and contacts for employees so that in the case of an emergency, the employees know who exactly to call and that they call their correct supervisor that relates to their job.
- Have a current website and newsletters with up to date information for employees, clients, CEOs, and the general public.

Week 8: Research

http://www.simmonsco-intl.com/bus_continuity.asp

At Simmons and Company International is an independent investment bank that specializes in the energy industry and oil with different companies and money transactions. On their main page of the continuity plan gives instructions of how their employees and clients can contact them through an emergency hot line, e-mail, or through their clearing firm Pershing LLC for trade-related transactions. The main page reinforces how all business transactions will continue no matter what happens and that the records of all transactions will never be lost.
"Our business continuity plan addresses: data back up and recovery; all mission critical systems; financial and operational assessments; alternative communications with customers, employees, and regulators; alternate physical location of employees; critical supplier, contractor, bank and counter-party impact; regulatory reporting; and assuring our customers prompt access to their funds and securities if we are unable to continue our business. "

http://www.newyorklife.com/cda/0,3254,14162,00.html

The NYLife Securities is a registered broker-dealer and part of the New York Life Insurance Company. What is different about their main page is that it does not mention anything about employees, but only their clients. The website reassures that the business will continue no matter what happens and includes safeguards of active plans that are being tested.
"-Assisting in a timely and accurate assessment of any situation and identifying the potential impact on any critical business functions of the organization.
-Establishing priorities for recovery of impacted critical business operations, and effectively allocating resources to the recovery effort.
-Having procedures in place to recover supported critical business functions within a reasonable time frame.
-Identifying the key individuals who will participate in any recovery and restoration processes.
-Having procedures in place to restore normal operations as soon as possible. "

Quarantine v. Isolation:
Quarantine is when people have been exposed to an infection disease and may be infected, but are not showing symptom's of the disease at the present time. People are asked to stay at home to prevent the disease from spreading and report to health authorities on how they are feeling. Isolation is when people are exposed to a contagious disease and are now sick from it. These people are then isolated at home or a health-care facility and remain there until they are cured.