Recognizing_and_Minimizing_Tort

University of Phoenix Business Law 3/01/2010 When dealing with large organizations and companies, there will always be outside entities that threaten a company’s well being. An organization must fight to establish a good public image and be consistent to gain favor with the public. A wrong move in the public eye can cost a company millions of dollars to re-establish that firm foundation within the surrounding areas. The level of trust that is created can most often disappear with one mistake made and can take years to rebuild. Alumina Inc. realized the significance of a mistake that they made five years earlier and had to fight and use strategic planning to make the problem go away. Targeted by the EPA for non-compliance with the environmental norms, Alumina was ordered to clean up, due to the fact that FAH in test samples were higher then the prescribed limit. Alumina reacted quickly to fix the situation, however, five years later they are still dealing with the after affect of falling below compliance and are struggling to keep the organizations public image from becoming tainted. One tort or risk found in the simulation that Alumna Inc. must face in order to have a positive public image is not playing fire with fire. In the first simulation Alumina Inc. fired back to allegations of continued negligence with a record of their previous five-year stint as positive standing with the EPA. This quick reaction caused the media and public to view the organization as being defensive, and having something to hide. The organization must be aware of these types of tactics used by the media and other informational outlets that are baiting a reply. A strategy must be enforced of how and when to react to allegations. I believe a team must be formed to quickly and effectively deal with situations as they arise. An organization should detect when negative press is prying for a response and act accordingly. The best way to prevent future damage to the company and ensure the level of negative publicity stays at a minimum would be to identify the companies own strengthens and weaknesses to better prepare themselves for the attack of others. An internal investigation would only strengthen the organizations ability to deal with allegations and prepare the organization to effectively respond to negative press. The second tort or risk that was reflected in the simulation was at the point where Ms. Bates and the local newspaper threatened legal action against the company. There where many different ways that this could have been approached by the company. The suggestion of releasing no information to the public reflects the idea of the company is approaching the dilemma by hiding all relevant information in order to save itself the scrutiny of dealing with the negative press. This will only make the public more suspicisious and cast a cloud of uncertainty over the actions within the company which will only strengthen the publics belief that the organizational practices do not have the publics best interest at heart. The idea of giving releasing all the information to the public is also not a well though out strategy. By doing this the company will be releasing confidential information that other companies and competition will have access to. By doing this, it gives competition a better gage on the company’s strengths and weaknesses. It also will enable the media to highlight all of the negative aspects of the company’s past that has plagued them for the last five years. This will open old wounds for the company and discredit all the work that they had previously done in order to help establish creditability within the eye of the public. By only allowing partial information to be examined, Alumina can still provide the public with the information that they are requesting, while also help create a milder reaction from the media and public alike. By taking this approach Alumina Inc. is also able to continue to globally exercise within the trade market. The idea of hiring someone to investigate Kelly Bates is also not a good decision. The consequences of that may be invasion of privacy. By investigating Ms. Bates, he makes the company look as if again they have something to hide. It is also against the Bill of Rights, which highlights privacy in the fourth bill of rights. The third tort or risk that appeared in the simulation happened when Kelly Bates threatened to sue the company for millions of dollars for the role she believed the company played in her daughter’s leukemia. Although Alumina did not play a part in the disease of Kelly Bates daughter, this situation is more about the choosing your battles then who is right and who is wrong. If the organization did choose to go into litigations against Kelly Bates, it would cost the organization thousands of dollars. In addition to the money is time. A lot of time needs to be committed to the case in order to come out victorious. It is also difficult for a large company known to make millions of dollars in revenue to be looked at as the victim. Many times when individuals go up against larger corporations, they are looked at as the victim and sometimes receive help from other public interest entities. If this were to happen, the case could go wither way. This could prove to be a decision that would damage the reputation of the company, win or lose. The best idea in the situation that Alumina Inc. is in is to try to negotiate and come to some sort of middle ground. They will appear as sympathetic towards Ms. Bates situation towards the public and will save a large amount of time avoiding going through litigations. They will have to lose some money through the negotiations process, but the in the end the public image for the company will stay intact. Although there are many factors that effect the overall perception of an organization, with strategic planning the image of the company can reflect a positive image to the public. The risks and torts that were displayed throughout the simulation had many different ways that they could have been handled. By acknowledging the fact that fighting fire with fire in the first risk, Alumina was able to reduce negative press by looking inward and first accessing any alleged wrong doing on their part. By doing this it allowed to know exactly where they stood and how to proceed against the negative allegations. The second tort or risk allowed Alumina Inc. the ability to defend itself against these allegations and still contain a strategic edge by allowing only some documentation to be released to the public. The third risk or tort gave Alumina Inc. the option to negotiate with Ms. Bates and come to an agreement outside of court. By choosing this tactic, Alumina Inc. lost money, but saved a large amount and time and more importantly gave positive exposure to the company. REFERENCES: 1. Abbott, A. A. (Ed.). (2000). Business Rules and Regulations.. Washington, DC: National Association of Social Workers Press. 2. Tracy, J. D. (1993). Erasmus. In Analyzing Business Risk (Vol. 18, pp. 489-491). New York: Encyclopedia Britannica. 3. Jennings, M. M. (2006). Business: Its legal, ethical, and global environment (7th ed.). Mason, OH: Thomson.