Knight Management Center: The Future of Management Education. Courtesy of Stanford Graduate School of Business

Whether it results from a firm’s own missteps (think BP) or from strategic activism or media action (think Greenpeace), crisis is increasingly - almost inevitably - on the agenda for today’s executives.

Whatever its origins, a crisis causes the harsh spotlight of public opinion to shine on a firm and that can do lasting damage to its reputation.


Program Dates: June 5 - June 8, 2011

Application Deadline: May 2, 2011

Program Tuition: $5,500 USD


In this intensive three-day program, participants will learn how to scan their organizations for crisis threats, how to strategically prepare for crisis events, and how to develop the leadership skills to productively manage a crisis when it eventually strikes.


Content Overview


The program studies crisis management from a leadership and strategy perspective, not merely as an exercise in public relations.

Knight Management Center: The Future of Management Education. Courtesy of Stanford Graduate School of Business

Experiential learning is used intensively, and a rich set of case studies and crisis simulation exercises complement the theoretical and conceptual frameworks to help participants improve their strategic thinking, team management, and communication skills in high-stress situations.

Knight Management Center: The Future of Management Education. Courtesy of Stanford Graduate School of Business

Over three full days, participants will come to understand the nature of crisis and why some firms are more crisis prone than others.

Knight Management Center: The Future of Management Education. Courtesy of Stanford Graduate School of Business

The program will also study the key external stakeholders who generate and participate in crises, and show participants how to organize their firm and lead their people in preparing for and responding to crises.


Key Takeaways

• A process for scanning a firm’s business practices for political and social risks

• Techniques for successfully solving problems in high-pressure crisis situations characterized by complex decision environments, time pressure, high stakes, unanticipated events, and information overload

• Strategies for integrating crisis management into a firm’s overall business strategy

Knight Management Center: The Future of Management Education. Courtesy of Stanford Graduate School of Business

“The challenges of crisis management often catch leaders by surprise. Only at senior levels are managers typically assigned responsibility for external stakeholders and crisis management, and at that point they are unfamiliar and unprepared for the challenges involved. Effective leadership in crisis situations demands a new way of thinking about leadership and management, and new tools to implement a vision and strategy. This program is designed to deliver these to managers and prepare them for the next crisis, from wherever it may come.”
Steven Callander
Faculty Director

Inspiring Residence and Event Space in the Heart of Campus. Courtesy of Stanford Graduate School of Business

Program dates, fees, and faculty are subject to change.
If a program is cancelled, Stanford will refund the program tuition in full but is not responsible for travel, accommodations or other expenses incurred by the participant.


Who Should Attend


The broad relevance of the topic makes this course suitable for most senior executives, general managers, government officials, leaders of nonprofit organizations, and public relations professionals.

The Schwab Residential Center is a beautiful residential and event facility located across the street from the Stanford Graduate School of Business. The Center is home to 230 students - primarily first-year MBAs, and to hundreds of Executive Education Participants who come to study at the Stanford Graduate School of Business each year. The Center also hosts a multitude of catered events featuring the distinctive, award-winning cuisine and service of the Schwab Executive Dining team. Courtesy of Stanford Graduate School of Business

Anyone who wants to be prepared to face challenges that result from crisis, and play out in the media and public domain (legal issues, protests, strikes, media scrutiny), will find this program valuable.

The Center combines convenient on-campus housing, well-equipped group study areas, access to a comprehensive computer network, and both indoor and outdoor space for informal meetings with peers. Courtesy of Stanford Graduate School of Business

Crisis management is particularly relevant for executives of companies with high brand-name recognition, market leaders, growing companies, firms in regulated (or potentially regulated) industries, firms in industries subject to activist pressure, and companies with a substantial corporate social responsibility (CSR) identity.

The Center is a complex of small three- and four-story apartment buildings set among landscaped courtyards on the Stanford Campus. It includes a fountain, grassy areas, a courtyard filled with palm trees and another area that hosts a small orchard of ornamental fruit trees. Courtesy of Stanford Graduate School of Business

Applicants should have at least 10 years of work experience, including five years of management experience, and must occupy significant leadership roles within their organization.


Faculty Director


Steven Callander

Associate Professor of Political Economy, Graduate School of Business Trust Faculty Scholar for 2010-2011

Steve Callander Photo: Stanford Graduate School of Business

Steve Callander conducts research at the intersection of management, economics, and political science.

His recent work studies decision making and learning in complex environments.
His scholarly articles appear in more than a dozen publications that span the fields of management, economics, and political science.

Steve Callander’s research interests are in theoretical political economy.
He has worked mainly on the behavior of voters and candidates in elections as well as the design of electoral systems.

His recent focus has been on the complexity of policy making, understanding how uncertainty and learning affects political outcomes in a variety of institutional settings.
His research has appeared in leading journals of economics and political science.

Steve Callander is an Associate Professor of Political Economy at the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

His research has been published in leading journals of economics and political science, including the Journal of Politics, the Journal of Political Economy, and the Journal of Public Economics.

He received a B.Commerce (Honours) from the University of New South Wales, Australia, and a MS and PhD from Caltech.

Before moving to Stanford, he taught at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and was a visiting scholar at the Harris School of Public Policy at the University of Chicago.


Other Faculty


Sarah A. Soule

Morgridge Professor of Organizational Behavior; Professor of Sociology (by courtesy), School of Humanities and Sciences; Graduate School of Business Trust Faculty Fellow for 2010-2011

Sarah A. Soule Photo: Stanford Graduate School of Business

Sarah A. Soule's research examines state and organizational-level policy change and diffusion, and the role social movements have on these processes.

Current projects include an NSF-funded analysis of advocacy group effects on environmental legislation in the US; an analysis of how protest impacts multi-national firm-level decisions regarding divestment in Burma; a study of how protest affects the outcomes of shareholder resolutions; and an analysis of how protest affects stock prices of targeted firms. She has just finished a book with Cambridge University Press, entitled Contention and Corporate Social Responsibility.
And, she recently completed a book (with David Snow) called, A Primer on Social Movements.

Recent published work has appeared in the American Journal of Sociology, Administrative Science Quarterly, the American Sociological Review, Social Forces, and the Annual Review of Sociology.

Sarah A. Soule is the Morgridge Professor of Organizational Behavior at the Graduate School of Business.

She received her BA in Sociology from the University of Vermont in 1989, and her PhD in Sociology from Cornell University in 1995.

She joined the faculty of Sociology at the University of Arizona in 1995, and in 2006 she moved to the Sociology Department at Cornell University.

In 2008, she joined the faculty at the Stanford Graduate School of Business.
Her major areas of interest are organizational behavior, social movements, and political sociology, and her research is situated at the intersection of all these areas.
In particular, she seeks to understand how social movement theories can shed light on organizational processes, and how organizational theories can inform studies of social movements.


Highlighted Sessions


Crisis Simulation

Effective crisis management is a skill that needs to be practiced.

With its modern architecture and decor, the Schwab Residential Center provides an unparalleled living environment for executives. Each air-conditioned suite includes a private bath plus a shared kitchen. Courtesy of Stanford Graduate School of Business

During the program, participants will be put through two extended crisis simulations which will allow them to apply the frameworks and conceptual tools developed earlier in the session, and to improve their strategic thinking, team management, and communication skills in high-stress crisis situations.

Residents have a comfortable private room with ample study space and connections to the Business School's computer network. Courtesy of Stanford Graduate School of Business

One of the simulations will place participants in the role of the crisis management team for a large multinational firm facing multi-directional pressure from well-organized activist groups as well as their own employees, all playing out in front of an adversarial media.


Activists, NGOs, and the New Business Environment

Crisis may be the bane of business but it is often the strategic tool of choice for activists and non-governmental organizations (NGOs).

Residents have a comfortable private room with ample study space and connections to the Business School's computer network. They also have a private bath and share a full kitchen with one other resident. Courtesy of Stanford Graduate School of Business

By deliberately generating a corporate crisis, activists hope to pressure companies to respond in ways that they otherwise would not.

One of the key challenges presented by these crises is that they do not arise from the usual, contract-based interactions that characterize “normal” business interactions.

Courtesy of Stanford Graduate School of Business

For example, animal rights activists do not contract with pharmaceutical companies.
They use aggressive, unexpected tactics designed for maximum visibility and shock effect to force industry-wide change to advance their goals.

Courtesy of Stanford Graduate School of Business

To prepare, predict, and manage strategic crises, leaders must understand the motives, tools, and strategic capabilities of these groups.

Courtesy of Stanford Graduate School of Business

This session will develop a deeper understanding of activists and how business can confront or cooperate with them to further their own goals.

Location and Facilities


The program is held at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, on the Stanford University campus, which is situated on 8,180 acres in the rolling foothills.

Courtesy of Stanford Graduate School of Business

Located 35 miles south of San Francisco, Stanford University is just a few miles from Palo Alto and the high-tech industrial center of Silicon Valley.

The campus is 25 miles south of San Francisco International Airport and 20 miles north of San Jose International Airport.

Courtesy of Stanford Graduate School of Business

Opened in spring 2011, the Knight Management Center has transformed the Stanford Graduate School of Business into a vibrant and unified indoor-outdoor, living and learning community.

Participants will take classes at this new state-of-the-art campus, which features tiered classrooms with extensive floor-to-ceiling glass, the latest in audiovisual technology, numerous breakout and study rooms, outdoor seating areas to encourage informal discussion, and an open collaboration lab that employs hands-on and design thinking techniques.

Courtesy of Stanford Graduate School of Business

Designed to facilitate interaction and spontaneous intellectual discussion between faculty, students, and alumni, the Knight Management Center is also Platinum certified by the U.S. Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) program - an inviting and stimulating space that encourages people to learn, innovate, and dream.

Participants will reside in the Schwab Residential Center, across the street from the Knight Management Center.

With its modern architecture and decor, the Schwab Residential Center provides an unparalleled living environment for executives.

Each air-conditioned suite includes a private bath plus a shared kitchen.

Courtesy of Stanford Graduate School of Business

The Center combines convenient on-campus housing, well-equipped group study areas, access to a comprehensive computer network, and both indoor and outdoor space for informal meetings with peers.

The Center's outstanding dining facility provides a wide array of choices for breakfast, lunch, and dinner and will accommodate special dietary needs and preferences.

Stanford has many amenities located nearby.
A large shopping center and Palo Alto's commercial district are only a mile away.

Music, theater, sports, and fine restaurants are available in the communities that surround the campus.

Monterey Bay, spectacular portions of the Central California coast, and Napa wine country are all accessible within a few hours of the campus.


Contacts:

Stanford Graduate School of Business

Knight Management Center
655 Knight Way
Stanford, CA 94305-7298
Phone: +1.650.723.2146

Schwab Residential Center
680 Serra Street
Stanford, CA 94305-6090
Phone: +1.650.725.6880
www.gsb.stanford.edu  


Luz Deras
Associate Director, Programs
Office of Executive Education
Stanford Graduate School of Business
Phone: 650.724.6301
Toll Free: 866.542.2205 (US and Canada)
Fax: 650.723.3950
Email: deras_luz@gsb.stanford.edu  


Source: Stanford Graduate School of Business

http://www.gsb.stanford.edu/exed/lcm/index.html  



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