Crisis Creates Conversation

Crisis Creates Conversation

As a public relations student at Ohio Northern we are required to take a Case Studies Class. I am enrolled in this course for the fall semester with Dr. Katherine Fleck. It has been a great class and experience for me so far. The class is based on a lot of learning form experiences and what people have already done. We look at case studies from a learning point of view and we look at how we could put together a case study of our own.

Currently in the class, we are talking all thing crisis communication. We have been going through how we could construct a case of the NFL case. Should we look at it from the point of view of the NFL, the owners, the players, the president or anyone else?

Now, we are looking at longer cases that have already been documented. The most recent has been the Enron crisis. I didn’t know very much about this case or what it meant for so many other companies in our history. If you haven’t heard of the case, there is a wonderful documentary we watched in class called, “The Smartest Guys In The Room.” It is available on Netflix or on white a few more sites as well. It does a great job of going into detail about the background and History of Enron, the case itself, the relationships of the case and company, and the case results. I highly recommend watching it.

Overall, this class has taught me a lot about critical thinking, how to understand a case and how to learn from it. We learn together about leadership, experiences, crisis, ethics and public relations in a general sense. I recommend taking this class even if it is not required!