The conflict seriousness is at about an 8.5 because a lot of damage has been done but not enough to cripple the company totally, there is potential to curb and lessen the impact of this dilemma by using a combination of different methods to address the issue.The involvement of the media has increased the fragility of the case and the potential to lose donors, staff and clients are side effects that need to be addressed immediately.
The board, comprising of people of various opinions about what should happen most likely agree that there needs to be measure in the work-place preventing further damage to the company and stricter measures and guidelines to work, must be set up. The boards interests is in maintaining the company integrity.To address the matter, a series of steps need to be taken. Firstly, at this point, the staff involved in this problem has been momentarily suspended from work but has a written report of what happened. The report as well as information gathered from client involved in this case will help in understanding the issue more.
According to the website People Building Peaces’ article, Better Media, Less Conflict, “Conflict sells; …the media tend to dramatize conflicts (either openly or tacitly) by focusing on irreconcilable differences between the parties, extreme positions and inflammatory statements...Furthermore, most news media ordinarily only turn their attention to conflicts at points of high public interest, such as dramatic escalation phases, unusually violent incidents, peace treaties, or other events considered especially newsworthy” (Veen).It is true that an organization that sets out to do well and ends up doing otherwise is one that is newsworthy. The media has become interested only because of the conflict in place and the administrators must stay calm in the face of a media that only publicizes this negative issue.
A press conference will be necessary to make a public statement that says that the individual behavior is not reflective of company policy, belief, and culture, but is rather contradictory so the company is taking disciplinary acts accordingly.The company should also say that they are in conversation with their clients to listen to their concerns and address them and as a result, the company will dedicate the next three days into meeting to strengthening current policies and addressing concerns of all parties involved. It would also be in the interest of the company to invite a media that is more objective that will highlight that it was an individual rather than the company that resulted in this problem to strengthen the company’s integrity.The press report should close by restating the organization’s mission and assure the public that the intentions are to continue as a company that has grown out of the conflict to make it a better one.In the three day retreat, a series of meetings and planning will take place. On the first day of the meetings, administrators and case managers will return calls to donors and clients that have showed concern and let them know what the company is doing everything to prevent such a case from happening again.
They would ask them if they have any suggestions that would help prevent this case from happening again, and to let them know that the staff member involved had been removed from the work-place. Other case managers will be out in the neighborhoods meeting one on one with the clients to assure them that more is being done to ensure their safety and informing them that they have the right to not say anything to the media.Exercising active listening skills will help the case managers to understand and better address the needs of the clients. On the second day, directors will meet with board members to provide an incident report and the way to move forward and continue is to discuss policies and procedures to strengthen the company’s image and policy concerning narcotic use and other policies of conduct.
Teaching materials will also be gathered to be used in a staff meeting in which company policy will be reviewed and information about narcotic use will be taught to employees. The website OHS Health and Safety Ltd has a website providing quick and easy question and answers and probable solutions that a company can take on to deal with this drug abuse problem.The company can contact this company as well as many others with questions on how they can address this issue as an organization. Knowing that the statistics will help the staff in understanding the prevalence and likelihood of drug abuse and help in identifying situations before they get out of hand, according to OHS Health and Safety, 77% of drug abusers are employed ( 2009).
