Mired in deception: escalating an environmental disaster in Colombia

摘要

Crises are inevitable and managers prepare for such incidents. DCOL's case represents a good example of where every guideline on how to address a crisis, in terms of responding to stakeholders, was totally dismissed. By understanding that in a crisis scenario, every company has the right (and duty) to defend its strategic interests, a company with a dubious reputation may see no other way but to mislead its stakeholders. Nevertheless, such a company may then acquire a dynamic that gradually pulls it into some kind of "delusional quicksand," taking it to the point of no return. In this case, DCOL's responses were delayed, inconsistent and erroneous, which in turn, generated the perception of the company lacked confidence, credibility and transparency. The final result was an overdrawn reputational account with a company's image severely affected (even to the present date), because of the way in which its executives addressed the crisis at hand, even more so than by the crisis per se.