HRM624 Assignment No. 1 announced

Semester “Spring 2011”
“Conflict Management (HRM624)”
Assignment No.1 Marks: 15

The Tylenol Crisis
In the fall of 1986 a Consumer Products company, was confronted with a crisis when seven people died furtively. Authorities resolute that each of the people that died had ingested an Extra-Strength Tylenol capsule laced with cyanide. The news of this incident traveled quickly and was the cause of a massive, nationwide panic. These poisonings made it necessary for the company to launch a public relations program immediately, in order to save the integrity of
both their product and their corporation as a whole.

The tainted Tylenol capsules were from four different manufacturing lots. Evidence suggests that the pills were taken from different stores over a period of weeks or months. The bottles, some of which had five or less cyanide laced capsules and one which had ten, were tampered with and then placed back on the shelves of five different stores.

After this crisis, the company was faced with quite a dilemma. They needed to find the best way to deal with the tampering, without destroying the reputation of their company and their most profitable product, Tylenol. "I don't think they can ever sell another product under that name," advertising genius Jerry Della Femina told the New York Times in the first days following the crisis.

Questions:
a) How this crisis can be turned into an opportunity for the organization? (Marks 7.5)

b) Suggest some ways to deal with or prevent uncertain conflicts constructively. (Marks 7.5)

Important Tips
1. This Assignment can be best attempted from the knowledge acquired after
watching video lecture no. 1 to lecture no. 11 and reading handouts as well as
recommended text book).
2. Video lectures can be downloaded for free from Online VU Lectures

Schedule
Opening Date and Time April 18, 2011 At 12:01 A.M. (Mid-Night)
Due Date and Time April 21, 2011 At 11:59 P.M. (Mid-Night)
Note: Only in the case of Assignment, 24 Hrs extra / grace period after the above mentioned due date is usually available to overcome uploading difficulties which may be faced by the students on last date. This extra time should only be used to meet the emergencies and above mentioned due dates should always be treated as final to avoid any inconvenience.

Important Instructions:
Please read the following instructions carefully before attempting the assignment solution.

Deadline:
• Make sure that you upload the solution file before the due date. No assignment will be accepted through e-mail once the solution has been uploaded by the instructor.

Formatting guidelines:
• Use the font style “Times New Roman” and font size “12”.
• It is advised to compose your document in MS-Word 2003.
• Use black and blue font colors only.

Solution guidelines:
• Every student will work individually and has to write in the form of an
analytical assignment.
• Give the answer according to question.
• For acquiring the relevant knowledge don’t rely only on handouts but
watch the video lectures and use other reference books also.
 

Rules for Marking
Please note that your assignment will not be graded or graded as Zero (0) if:
• It has been submitted after due date
• The file you uploaded does not open or is corrupt
• It is in any format other than .doc (MS. Word)
• It is cheated or copied from other students, internet, books, journals etc…