Illustration on how to measure reputation

Your reputation is the general belief or opinion that other people have about you.

If you are considered trustworthy and kind, you have a
good reputation. Reputation comes from the Latin word reputationem, which
means "consideration." It's how people consider, or label, you — good or bad.

Reputation management is a complex task and the measurement of it particularly

so, concerned as it is with diverse stakeholder groups and their respective,
sometimes differing, evaluations of an organization. Getting the right level of
engagement with stakeholders is a critical factor in a firm achieving its objectives,
because from that engagement business recommendation and take-up will flow

The most universally understood measure of corporate reputation is stock price, a

prime determinant of which is a company’s earnings. Others might include quality of
management, quality of products, value for money of products, client orientation,
credibility of advertising claims, treatment of employees, dedication to
charitable and social issues, and commitment to protection of the environment. Of
course, even in the same industry or market, not all stakeholder groups will agree
on measures or, if they do, ascribe the same importance to these. (Not to mention
the general public, standard stakeholders comprise customers, employees,
investors, and suppliers.) The deeper question, therefore, is: do organizations have
one reputation or many? (And so, might an alignment process ever reconcile
different perceptions to give a more accurate, consensual picture of an
organization’s corporate reputation than the stock price currently offers for those
listed?) The Reputation Institute, for one, works to promote seven dimensions: (i)
products and services, (ii) innovation, (iii) workplace, (iv) governance, (v)
citizenship, (vi) leadership, and (vii) performance. 

You can also create a causal map (boxes and arrows) where one of the boxes is
"reputation." Then, it is simply a matter of measuring the inputs and outputs from
the reputation box - and identifying the "hidden" effects of reputation on the
outputs.

Damage control strategies

A good Public Relations offer must be able to put in place strategies to use whenever
a crisis hits to control the damage as soon as possible. Damage control involves
reducing negative perception caused by crisis situation which can either be
unexpected event or series of events.
Whenever a crisis befalls on a company, product or service, the public relations
Officer has to be quick to serve its image or reputation.
For example in the scandal where rumors went round that ZAMBEEF was
embalming beef products to prevent the products from perishing in the year 2016.
As a public Relations officer in this situation the first thing to do, is to develop an
immediate public response strategy, even if it's limited. 
Before releasing any communication to the public, there is need to ensure that you
conduct a top-to-bottom data audit to identify what's been affected by the breach.
From there, keep your user base up to date. Taking responsibility for the breach and
possessing up goes a long way for retaining.
Immediately after that make certain a strategy is developed, preferably in less than
24 hours and ensure the message to be delivered carries an apology even if its not
the fault of the company, the message has to be well prepared know what you want
to say and what your action will be immediately after the initial statement. This
approach involves identifying the right spokesperson and creating a means for
monitoring the public's response beforehand.
In order to succeed in damage controlling, Responding to a crisis as soon as possible
is the best way to go, because the affected people demand feedback at least with
24:00hrs, when ZAMBEEF Public Relations management delayed in responding to
the rumor, members of the public took the rumor to be the truth and they stopped
buying not only the condemned product but even other products were affected.
Within a few days in all the ZAMBEEF outlets they faced a reduction in the number
of customers until they responded to explain what was on the ground and with time
after coming in the open they regained credibility among their customers.
Also Provide deadlines for further information after the initial announcement so
that people may know that you care and you are concerned, just like what ZAMBEEF
did, it did not only hold one time announcement, but continued to inform and assure
people on how safe the product is and that the rumor was not true.
Communication is very cardinal even in a crisis situation, it has to play its role hence
both Communicate internal and external stakeholders must be communicated to
effectively.
Sketch the entire situation for your team and explain to customers precisely what
happened. Be sincere and provide as many details as needed.
Take control of the narrative always be a step ahead of the press and competitors
looking to leverage your misfortune. Take control of the narrative and be
transparent in admitting the mistakes that led to the breach. Highlight what you're
doing to prevent future incidents and do everything possible to assure your
customers still believe in you. This will allow you to mitigate any damage to your
brand and accelerate recovery time.
Be press ready, proactively inform press of the data breach before news headlines
break, being selective about whom you choose to share this information with. Based
on the severity of the breach, be sure your CEO is prepared to speak to the press.
People are loyal to those that are sincere so be honest and avoid being defensive. A
common thread amongst companies that came out of data breaches relatively
unscathed is honesty. This means working quickly internally to identify the full
scope of the breach and then communicating that as simply as possible while
staying honest. The second a CEO goes on the defensive or tries to cover up any
aspect of a data breach is when users and customers start to flee.
Ensure that you take responsibility, When facing a data breach, a company should
devise a statement taking responsibility for its actions. Taking responsibility will
maintain credibility. People can forgive mistakes faster than silence. When a
company is vague or slow to tell their story, the audience will fill in the blanks and
write their own stories. Control your message by taking responsibility.
Show your customers that they are your first priority, Recognizing the data breach
and addressing that the company's utmost priorities will be to combat, secure and
protect the customers' information, regardless of who they are, will show that the
company's dedication is to the customers. Regardless of any financial or
reputational outcome the company might face after, the customers are always first.
Draft a crisis and reputation management plan for next time. If you don't have one
already, draft and implement a crisis and reputation management plan for your
company. This document will outline specific measures to take if and when a data
breach (or other negative situation) occurs. It should include key spokespeople,
talking points, tough questions and suggested answers, etc. Be proactive now so you
are prepared for a potentially harmful moment later. 
Crisis management is very important to work on if you want the image of your
company or product to survive sometimes unflattering rumors go round affecting
you business and cliental.
A rumor is information (usually unflattering and unsubstantiated) that is spread
from one person to the next. A rumor can pop up anywhere and at any time, and it
must be immediately handled by you and your team. When a damaging rumor
circulates, here's what you can do:
 Don't pretend the rumor doesn't exist, specifically when the rumor is
extremely damaging to your reputation and has the potential to gain
widespread traction with the general public. This can give the upper hand to
the person spreading the rumor and make you look suspicious. Silence is
usually not a solution, nor is responding with "no comment."
 Promote the opposite of the rumor thoroughly, but without directly
repeating, and thus spreading, the rumor. For instance, should a rumor state
that the donation money you collected at a charity gig were used for other
means, you might release a statement that focuses entirely on how well the
charity benefited from your contribution, provides verifiable evidence to
 back up your statement, and includes a supporting quote from the charity's
director or a benefactor.
 If you're able to identify the source of the rumor, address the issue head
on. Demand an immediate retraction and public apology for the careless
reporting. In extreme cases, when a rumor can cause you serious harm and
prevent others from doing business with you, and when the source is
noncompliant, let him or her know that you're prepared to immediately
contact lawyer who will investigate the matter and file a legal claim.
A mistake is something that one does in poor judgment, whether it's made
intentionally or unintentionally. So, the next time, consider this three-part strategy
to address it on your website, blog, or social media pages:
 Admit to the problem and apologize publicly. It's always better to own up to
your own bullshit. For instance, should you foul up a live performance due to
your out-of-control behavior, you might issue a statement that includes
something like, "We deeply apologize to all of our fans for our behavior and
poor performance onstage last night. Clearly our drinking has reached a
point that is out of control."
 Limit the scope of the problem by putting it into perspective, which helps to
deflate the issue. In keeping with the above example, you might want to add
something like, "In several years of performing live and playing hundreds of
gigs on the road, we've always delivered for our fans. This is the first time an
unfortunate incident like this has ever occurred."
 Outline a solution that shows you're taking responsibility. This can rebuild an
even greater level of trust and respect than what you had before the incident.
For instance, you might want to conclude the example statement with,
"There's nothing that we can do to make up for our behavior and the
cancellation of the show last night, but we can refund everyone in the
audience and return back to your city to give you a performance to
remember
 
Monitoring and evaluation plan for my company

The monitoring and evaluation system must be incorporated in every company or

organization as it determines whether the organization is using its resources
efficiently and effectively. The M & E system collects information, evaluates
company performance in terms of activities and relates it to goals and plans for the
company and its various departments. If monitoring and evaluation structure is
immaculate the effectiveness and competition of the organization can become
overall. Having a good monitoring and evaluation system starts with developing the
system that's most appropriate for the organization.

Monitoring refers to an organized process of overseeing and checking the activities

undertaken in a project, to ascertain whether it is capable of achieving the planned
results or not. Conversely, evaluation is a scientific process that measures the
success of the project or program in meeting the objectives.
Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) is used to assess the performance of projects,
institutions and programmes set up by governments, international organizations
and NGOs. Its goal is to improve current and future management of outputs,
outcomes and impact. Monitoring is a continuous assessment of programmes based
on early detailed information on the progress or delay of the ongoing assessed
activities. An evaluation is an examination concerning the relevance, effectiveness,
efficiency and impact of activities in the light of specified objectives.
Green-valley is a company whose objective is to ensure that Zambian people
especially those living in Villages reduce on cutting down of trees for unaccepted
methods of farming, charcoal production and firewood. This objective of the
company is in line with the 7th National development plan to intensify efforts in
Environmental management to be worked on in both short and long term.
According to the Zambia Environmental Management Agency the environmental
current issues include air pollution resulting in acid rain in the mineral extraction
and refining region; chemical runoff into watersheds; loss of biodiversity,
deforestation; soil erosion; desertification; lack of adequate water treatment
presents human health risks.
RESULT
CHAIN
Inputs Financial, human and material
resources
Activities -Selling improved braziers that
require use of little charcoal at an
affordable price.
- Teaching people about
acceptable ways of farming.
-Encouraging household gardens
-stopping unnecessary cutting
down of trees
Outputs Lifestyle changed
outcomes Environmental management,
Afforestation, use of acceptable
farming methods, improving
livelihoods while managing the
environment.
Impacts People taking responsibility in
managing the environment
INDICATIVE EXAMPLE
Spending on Environmental
Management
-reduced charcoal production
-reduced cutting down of trees
-Improved Agriculture
-improved household food
security
-household income generation
from selling garden produces
-reduced cutting down off trees
People being responsible on
environmental management
People living sustainable lives
without degrading the
environment
Health environment
In order to address issues of environmental degradation Green-valley organization
has established a monitoring and evaluation system by first following the required
steps involved in designing monitoring and evaluation System.
Purpose and scope of M&E
It is important to develop an M&E plan before beginning any monitoring activities
so that there is a clear plan for what questions about the program need to be
answered. It will help program staff decide how they are going to collect data to
track indicators, how monitoring data will be analyzed, and how the results of data
collection will be disseminated both to the donor and internally among staff
members for program improvement. Remember, M&E data alone is not useful until
someone puts it to use! An M&E plan will help make sure data is being used
efficiently to make programs as effective as possible and to be able to report on
results at the end of the program.

Identifying performance questions, information needs and indicators

It is imperative for the organization to list problems it wants to solve such as

deforestation, unnecessary cutting down of trees and environmental degradation
among others, the organization will look at the losses it has incurred, the risks and
underperforming departments further the organization has to identify future
problems and prevent them.
This step can also include listing the things the organization wishes to learn about
how the organization performs.
Make a list of indicators for each problem organization wants to solve. Indicators
will be concrete and measurable, as well as objective as possible. Without consistent
measurability, it's difficult to develop a meaningful framework for monitoring and
evaluating the different processes in the organization.

Planning information gathering and organization

Determine how you will observe and measure the indicators you have chosen. This
includes the scale you will use, the points at which you will make observations, and
the frequency with which you will record and measure.

Planning critical reflection processes and events

Write a brief job description for each observation task, for each indicator, for each
area you want to address. This can just be a sentence or two. At this stage, you're
still developing the plan, not writing a formal process document.
Assign somebody for each job description. Multiple people can hold multiple job
descriptions, or you can assign them to individuals best placed to make and
understand the observations.
It's best to assign a title to the job description rather than a specific individual. If the
line manager is responsible for a task, the task will get done by who ever the line
manager is. Job description helps for the responsible person to works in line with
the job description

Planning for quality communication and reporting

Determine how you will use the information you gather from the previous steps. In
some cases, you'll base the analysis by comparing the reality to benchmarks you set.
In others, you'll base it on growth or decline as compared to other time periods.
New companies might use industry averages, or use the first set of measurements as
a baseline.

Planning for the necessary conditions and capacities

Write a rough draft of the monitoring and evaluation system. Hand it off to
somebody you trust who hasn't been involved up to this point. Ask that person to
read it and report anything that doesn't make sense.
Make the necessary changes and clarifications, then format the document into a
formal process manual.

 KEY STEPS IN ESTABLISHING MONITORING AND EVALUATION SYSTEM

Key steps in establishing Monitoring and Evaluation System

Step One: Conducting a Readiness Assessment to determine the capacity and

willingness of the government/organization and its development partners to
construct a results-based M&E system.
Step Two: Agreeing on Outcomes to Monitor and Evaluate addresses the key
requirement of developing strategic outcomes that include Environmental
management, Afforestation, use of acceptable farming methods, improving
livelihoods while managing the environment that then focus and drive resource
allocation and activities.
Step Three: Selecting Key Indicators to Monitor Outcomes, so the degree to
which the outcomes are being achieved can be assessed.
Step Four: Gathering Baseline Data on Indicators involves describing and
measuring the initial conditions being addressed by the outcomes as illustrated
below;

Indicator Data source(s) Timing

Training
Number of trainings held with community Every 6
attendance
members months
sheets

Number of outreach activities conducted Activity sheet Every 3

 Indicator Data source(s) Timing

different villages months

Number of seed, improved braziers distribution Every 3- 6

distributed in different villages sheet months

Percent of community members receiving key

Population-
messages on environment management Annually
based surveys
through the media

Percent of community members reporting to other

have used what they received for the population- Annually
intended purpose based survey

Number and percent of community service

providers offering required services to Programs Every 6
community member in regard to officer months
environmental management

other
Number and percent adhering to key
population- Annually
messages on environmental management
based survey

Step Five: Planning for Improvements requires setting realistic targets and
recognizes that most outcomes are long-term, complex, and not quickly achieved.
 When an agreement is made on how data will be collected, it is also necessary to
decide how often it After creating monitoring indicators, it is time to decide on
methods for gathering data and how often various data will be recorded to track
indicators. This should be a conversation between program staff, stakeholders, and
donors. These methods will have important implications for what data collection
methods will be used and how the results will be reported.
The source of monitoring data depends largely on what each indicator is trying to
measure. The program will likely need multiple data sources to answer all of the
programming questions. Below is a table that represents some examples of what
data can be collected and how.

Information to be collected Data source(s)

Implementation process and

Program-specific M&E tools
progress

Service statistics Facility logs, attendance sheets

Reach and success of the program Small surveys with primary audience(s),
intervention within audience such as provider interviews or client exit
subgroups or communities interviews

The reach of media interventions Media ratings data, brodcaster logs,

involved in the program Google analytics, omnibus surveys

Reach and success of the program Nationally-representative surveys,

intervention at the population level Omnibus surveys, DHS data

Focus groups, in-depth interviews,

Qualitative data about the outcomes
listener/viewer group discussions,
of the intervention
individual media diaries, case studies

Step Six: Monitoring for Results is the administrative and institutional task of
establishing data collection, analysis and reporting guidelines; designating who will
be responsible for activities; establishing quality control processes; establishing
timelines and costs; working through roles and responsibilities; and establishing
guidelines on transparency and dissemination of the information and analysis.
Step Seven: Evaluative Information to Support Decision Making focuses on the
contributions that evaluation studies and analyses can make throughout this
process to assess results and move towards outcomes.
Step Eight: Analyzing and Reporting Findings is a crucial step, as it determines
what findings are reported to whom, in what format, and at what intervals.
Step Nine: Using the Findings emphasizes that the crux of the system is not simply
generating results-based information, but getting the information to the appropriate
users in a timely fashion.
Step Ten: Sustaining the M&E System recognizes the long-term process involved
in ensuring the longevity and utility of an M&E system. Six criteria are seen as
crucial to the sustainability of an M&E system: demand, structure, trustworthy and
credible information, accountability, incentives, and capacity.
Conclusion,
After following these 6 steps, the outline of the M&E plan should look something like
this:
1. Introduction to program
 Program goals and objectives
 logic Model/Logical Framework/Theory of change
2. Indicators
 Table with data sources, collection timing, and staff member
responsible
3. Roles and Responsibilities
 Description of each staff member’s role in M&E data collection,
analysis, and/or reporting
4. Reporting
 Analysis plan
 Reporting template table
5. Dissemination plan
 Description of how and when M&E data will be disseminated
internally and externally
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