| Course | D649 Crisis Communication |
|---|---|
| Task | Task 2 |
| Paper type | Crisis communication plan |
| Length | About 800 words, 4 pages |
| Format | APA 7 |
| School | Western Governors University (WGU) |
| Program | BS Communications |
| Updated | September 2026 |
Free sample paper for D649 Task 2
Tell Them What to Do Within the Hour: An Internal and External Crisis Communication Plan for a Composite Rural Electric Cooperative
Student Name
School of Business, Western Governors University
D649: Crisis Communication, Task 2
Course Instructor
Month Day, Year
Tell Them What to Do Within the Hour: An Internal and External Crisis Communication Plan for a Composite Rural Electric Cooperative
Purpose and Scope
After a billing system failure sent inflated bills to about 9,600 of its 41,000 accounts, the composite Iowa cooperative Prairie Ridge Electric committed to a written crisis communication plan. The review of that incident found a slow and vague first statement, employees who learned about the problem from callers, and messages posted on channels the most affected members rarely saw. This plan covers any event that causes sudden harm, confusion or loss of trust among members: billing or payment errors, extended outages, a data breach, a serious injury to an employee or member, or misconduct by a leader. Routine storm outages remain under the existing outage plan unless they last longer than 72 hours.
The plan has two parts that run together. The internal plan makes sure the people members will call, meet or read about know the facts first. The external plan makes sure members, the public and partners receive accurate information they can act on, quickly and through channels they actually use.
Crisis Team and Roles
The crisis team is small so it can meet within 30 minutes by phone. The chief executive leads and approves all external messages. The communications manager drafts messages, manages channels and monitors social media. The member services director manages call center staffing and scripts. The operations or finance lead, depending on the crisis, supplies facts and fixes. The cooperative's attorney reviews messages involving legal exposure but does not delay safety or action information. The board chair is informed within two hours and speaks publicly only on governance questions.
The spokesperson is the chief executive for any crisis in which the cooperative is at fault or members are harmed; research on situational crisis communication shows that when responsibility is high, stakeholders expect the organization's leader to accept it (Coombs, 2007). For technical updates the operations lead may speak, always introduced by the chief executive's first statement.
Stakeholders and Channels
Table 1 maps the cooperative's stakeholders to what they need first and how they will be reached. The channel choices reflect the membership: older than the state average, many on farms with limited broadband, and loyal to local radio.
| Stakeholder | What they need first | Primary channels | Timing |
|---|---|---|---|
| Employees, especially call center staff | Facts, a script and what to tell members to do | Staff text alert, 15-minute huddle, shared FAQ | Before any public message |
| Affected members | Whether they are affected and what to do now | Text alerts to 22,000 enrolled numbers, automated calls, email | Within 1 hour of confirmation |
| All members | What happened and what the cooperative is doing | Facebook, website banner, local radio, bill insert | Within 2 hours; daily updates |
| Local media | Accurate facts and access to the spokesperson | Media advisory, phone briefing | Within 2 hours |
| Board of directors | Scope, member impact and legal exposure | Call from chief executive | Within 2 hours |
| Banks, regulators, statewide association | Technical detail and coordination | Direct calls from finance and operations leads | Same day |
Internal Crisis Communication Plan
Internal communication comes first because employees are both an audience and a channel. Scholars of internal crisis communication argue that employees shape how a crisis is understood outside the organization through what they say to customers, friends and neighbors, and that they need information at least as early as the public (Frandsen & Johansen, 2011). In the billing incident, call center staff took more than 5,000 calls before receiving any briefing.
Under this plan, when the crisis team confirms an incident, the member services director sends a staff text alert within 15 minutes and holds a standing huddle for all member-facing employees. The huddle covers four points: what happened in plain words, which members are affected, what members should do, and what employees should not say, such as guesses about cause or blame. A shared FAQ document is updated at least twice a day and each update is marked with the time. Staff who cannot answer a question are coached to take the member's number and promise a callback within four hours. Line crews and field staff, who talk with members in their yards, receive the same text alert and a three-sentence summary they can repeat.
External Crisis Communication Plan
The first external message goes out within one hour of confirming an incident, even if the cause is not yet known. It follows a fixed order: what happened, who is affected, what members should do now, what the cooperative is doing, and when the next update will come. Seeger (2006) identifies honesty, accessibility and meeting the public's need for usable information as core practices; the fixed order puts the usable information near the top.
The spokesperson carries three key messages through every interview and update. First, we made a mistake, and we are sorry for the harm it caused. Second, here is exactly what we are doing, and here is when it will be done. Third, if you were affected, here is what to do, and here is who to call. Updates follow a published schedule, such as 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. daily, so members and reporters know when to look, and each update states what has changed since the last one.
Sample first message for a billing error: Some Prairie Ridge members received January bills that are much higher than their actual use because of an error in our new billing system. If your bill looks wrong, do not pay it yet; if you pay by automatic draft, we have stopped all drafts for this cycle. We are correcting every affected bill and will reimburse any bank fees you are charged. We will post an update at 4 p.m. today. Call 1-800-555-0142 or reply to this text with questions.
Timeline
Hour 0 to 1: crisis team convenes, facts are confirmed, harmful processes such as bank drafts are paused, staff alert and huddle, first member text and call. Hours 1 to 2: public statement on all channels, media advisory, board chair call. Day 1 to 3: updates on schedule, spokesperson interviews on local radio and television, call center extended hours, compensation announced where the cooperative is at fault. Rest of the first month: corrections completed and confirmed to each affected member, member forum, summary of what will change. After the crisis: independent review, results shared with members, plan updated.
Recovery and Relationship Repair
Recovery depends on relationships built before and after the crisis. A study of a manufacturer that kept paying employees after a fire destroyed its plant found that established, trusting relationships with stakeholders helped the company recover support after the crisis (Ulmer, 2001). For a cooperative, the equivalent is visible member ownership: a forum where members question leaders directly, a written account of what went wrong, and follow-through reported at the annual meeting. The communications manager will track member sentiment through call volume, social media comments and a short member survey one month after any crisis.
Testing and Maintenance
A plan that sits in a binder fails under pressure. The crisis team will hold a tabletop exercise twice a year using a different scenario each time, and the call center will rehearse its first huddle. Contact lists and the text alert list will be checked quarterly. The plan will be reviewed after every activation and at least once a year.
Conclusion
This plan corrects the failures of the billing incident: employees learn first, affected members hear within an hour what to do, the chief executive speaks when the cooperative is at fault, and every message travels through channels members use. Coordinated internal and external communication, with a clear timeline and a repair phase, gives Prairie Ridge a way to keep members' trust when something goes wrong.
References
Coombs, W. T. (2007). Protecting organization reputations during a crisis: The development and application of situational crisis communication theory. Corporate Reputation Review, 10(3), 163-176. https://doi.org/10.1057/palgrave.crr.1550049
Frandsen, F., & Johansen, W. (2011). The study of internal crisis communication: Towards an integrative framework. Corporate Communications: An International Journal, 16(4), 347-361. https://doi.org/10.1108/13563281111186977
Seeger, M. W. (2006). Best practices in crisis communication: An expert panel process. Journal of Applied Communication Research, 34(3), 232-244. https://doi.org/10.1080/00909880600769944
Ulmer, R. R. (2001). Effective crisis management through established stakeholder relationships: Malden Mills as a case study. Management Communication Quarterly, 14(4), 590-615. https://doi.org/10.1177/0893318901144003
What the D649 Task 2 instructions ask
In the second D649 task you build a crisis communication plan for an organization, often the one from Task 1. Your instructions usually require a crisis team with roles, a spokesperson, stakeholders and channels, internal and external communication plans, key messages, a timeline and a way to recover and review afterward. Some versions ask for sample messages or holding statements. The internal side carries real weight: the task expects you to plan how employees learn about a crisis and what they say, not only what the public hears. A plan should also fit the crisis types the organization is likely to face. Generic templates copied from a manual, without the organization's own audiences and channels, tend to be scored approaching competence because nothing in them reflects the case.
How this D649 Task 2 example is built
The plan begins with its scope, listing the kinds of events that trigger it and those left to the storm outage plan. Roles are assigned by position, and the spokesperson choice is justified with situational crisis communication theory. A stakeholder table follows, with what each group needs first, its channels and timing. The internal plan explains why employees come first and lays out the staff alert, huddle, shared FAQ and callback rule. The external plan fixes the order of every first message, gives the spokesperson three key messages and includes a full sample text for a billing error. A compressed timeline, a recovery section drawing on stakeholder relationship research, and a testing schedule with tabletop exercises complete the plan before a brief conclusion.
Where the D649 Task 2 rubric puts the marks
Every D649 Task 2 aspect lands in one of three bands: competent, approaching competence or not evident. Aspects on the crisis team and spokesperson check that roles are clear and justified. Stakeholder aspects ask whether you identified the right audiences and what each needs. Separate aspects cover the internal and external plans, so an evaluator will look for concrete steps on both sides, including timing and channels. Message aspects reward drafted content that is accurate, empathetic and actionable, not a note that messages will be prepared. Timeline and recovery aspects look for specific sequences from the first hour onward and a plan to rebuild trust and review performance. APA citations of crisis research and clear professional writing are assessed as well, so theory should appear where it justifies a choice.
D649 Task 2 help: what sends it back
Crisis plans come back for revision when they forget the people inside the building. If the call center learns about a crisis from callers, the plan has already failed, so write the internal steps first. Another common problem is leading with reputation. A first message that talks about the organization's commitment to excellence before telling people what to do reads as self-protective. Put the action for the audience at the top. Third, plans often promise to communicate quickly without saying how quickly; name the hour or the day. Fourth, channels must match the audience. Older rural members, for example, may rely on radio and text rather than an app. Finally, include testing. An untested plan is a document, and evaluators expect drills and a review after every use.
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D649 Task 2 questions, answered
Does D649 Task 2 need a sample message?
Many versions ask for key messages or a holding statement, and including one strengthens any plan. This sample drafts the full first text for a billing error so the evaluator can see the message order the plan requires.
Who should be the spokesperson in a D649 crisis plan?
Choose based on the crisis type. When the organization is at fault, stakeholders expect a senior leader to accept responsibility, so this plan names the chief executive and lets technical leads handle detailed follow-up updates.
How much internal communication does D649 Task 2 need?
Enough to show employees are briefed before the public and know what to say. This sample gives call center staff a text alert, a short huddle, a timed FAQ and a callback rule.
Should the D649 plan cover more than one crisis type?
A plan works best when it names the events it covers and adjusts for each. This one lists billing errors, long outages, data breaches, injuries and leadership misconduct, with the same team and timeline for all.
Where can I find a free D649 Task 2 sample paper?
This page publishes the whole plan, stakeholder table and sample text message included. If your organization faces different risks, the desk will draft a first custom plan to your D649 rubric without charge.