Crisis Communication: The Bayside Inn 1

Crisis Communication: The Bayside Inn

Jada Vasconcelos
Professor Eubanks
September 13, 2015

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The stakeholders in the case described at The Bayside Inn included two groups of internal
and external stakeholders. The internal stakeholders include the owners of the inn, the
employees, and the management staff of the inn. The external stakeholders in this case are all
members of the resort community, past customers, future potential customers, and those who
listen to the local radio station for the nearby community.
In order to deliver the most effective crisis communication to both sets of stakeholders, The
Bayside Inn will need the support from top management, comprehensive brainstorming
regarding food poisoning allegations, identification of internal and external stakeholders, a
designated spokesperson, and a commitment to implement the plan (Zaremba, 2010). When
identifying and addressing the crisis at hand of speculation that food being served is causing food
poisoning with the internal stakeholders, it is important for the top management to deliver all
messages to show their commitment to being honest during the crisis. When identifying and
addressing the crisis at hand to external stakeholders, The Bayside Inn needs to remain as honest
as possible while avoiding any trustbusting behaviors at all costs (Zaremba, 2010). Top
management will need to ensure that the culture of the organization at The Bayside Inn does not
dilute the messages in the communication planning during the crisis (Zaremba, 2010).
When addressing the internal stakeholders, management needs to establish a communication
team for the crisis. The team will need to be trustworthy and from different areas of the business.
The team should be of around five to six members and will need to fulfill identifiable roles in the
crisis communication strategy. These roles include a chairperson, a representative for
government relations, employee internal relations, operations, community, and media relations
(Zaremba, 2010). The representative for the internal employee relations will have a very

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important role of maintaining the communication with the internal stakeholders who are not a
part of the communication committee.
The message that the crisis committee representative for internal employee relations will
share with the internal stakeholders will be delivered in a company meeting with the requirement
for all stakeholders to attend. This message will need to be delivered first as soon as possible.
This communication will be delivered face to face on a verbal basis. The communication will
state the following: A few weeks ago, the Gazette has released publications suggesting the food
poisoning illnesses of several persons were likely a result of a problem with meat being served at
Bayside. As you know, our general manager has denied all claims. As of recently, several of you
have also become ill with food poisoning and the Gazette continues to run stories connecting The
Bayside Inn to other claims of food poisoning. This is a matter we are investigating deeply and
need everyones cooperation as we look to find a cause for the issue and also take steps to correct
any issues discovered immediately. If you are contacted by the local media, please let our media
relations representative who is on our Crisis Communication Committee know immediately and
they will help work with you and the media ASAP to address any additional concerns. We hope
to continue our open door policy for communication and ask that you all bring to our attention
anything in relation to this issue you would like to address to myself or the chairperson.
The message the crisis committee will need to share with the external stakeholders will
need to be two fold after the internal stakeholders are made aware of the allegations. The first
communication will need to be a response to the Gazettes allegations of their restaurant meat
being the cause of the food poisoning in the several customers and the staff at The Bayside Inn.
The response to the Gazette would be a written letter from management addressed to the editors
and publishing staff at the Gazette. The communication would be from signed from the upper

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management at the restaurant and would state the following: Due to the recent allegations in
your published articles and concern from the community, we have begun a robust and thorough
investigation in our restaurant to find any possible connections to those who have recently fallen
ill to food poisoning. This is something we take very seriously and will find a resolution to
correct any wrong doings found in our investigation immediately. We have discontinued serving
meat in our restaurant as an extra precaution while the investigation is on-going. We are open to
any questions or concerns the community may have and have provided contact information to
our Crisis Communication Committees Community Communication Representative for anyone
to reach out to them directly for additional information regarding the allegations and our
investigation.
The second communication that would be delivered to external stakeholders will be the
result of the investigation. This would be communicated to the Gazette and posted publicly on
the business website. This communication will outline the areas and steps taken in the
investigation. This will also address any health issues found during the investigation. The
communication will lastly provide clearly and honestly all the steps taken in the restaurant as a
resolution to treat and prevent the issue of food poisoning from happening again. By remaining
this honest and clear from start to finish, a formal communication of follow up will not be
required. However, by maintaining and open door with internal stakeholders and external
stakeholders to be able to have questions and concerns addressed and answered in a timely
manner through the provided resources will be extremely important. It will be essential for the
communication committee to always be available to help answer any questions and concerns as
they arise before, during, and after the investigations resolution is completed.

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References
Zaremba, A. J. (2010). Organizational Communication: foundations for business and
collaboration (Third ed.). New York: Oxford University Press, Inc.