Crisis Simulation 2019: The UBIS Catering Hellas incident
Our teams Overachievers and Addictives were found to face an extremely difficult but so entertaining exam in this years Crisis Management course. Trying to put into practice the theory of our lectures we became the main protagonists in a simulation game of a crisis. Our goal was to recreate a story and within 3 days build through our strategies with our teammates and the other teams in order to give the story a “happy ending”.
The story behind the crisis.
We were divided into 3 teams. Team number 1 was a catering company after the name UBIS CATERING HELLAS, team number 2, which was my teams role, was the Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs and team number 3 were Greek Media representatives. The theme of our simulation game was that the Ministry and representatives from the English state were meeting up in Athens to discuss the latest developments in the political scene of Europe. The subject of the discussion was the brexit and its effects to other european countries. So the English representatives came to Athens and after the encounters with the Greek party they went of to the hotel they were staying, Hotel Asty. The crisis in this situation was that one of the representatives felt ill with fevers and stomach disturbances. The media got involved and soon the case became a public matter in Greece and the rest of Europe.
How did it work?
The simulation was a 3 day game which ended on the fourth day on which we had to play out our roles in a Media news show and present to our classmates and teachers how exactly we handled the situation. Each one of these days our teachers sent us information about the day to day progress of the crisis.
Wednesday 16th of January
On this date we found out that the English representative Beth Carbon after dining at the hotel’s restaurant felt ill and had stomach pain. We found out that the in charge of the hotel’s restaurant was a catering called UBIS CATERING HELLAS. The ministry after the this news contacted immediately with the catering company and was told that there are medical results been done in order to enlighten the situation. At the same time we were accepting multiple calls from the Greek Media which also sent us questions about the case for us to answer. The Ministry released a Press Release giving answers to all the questions that had arised.
Thursday 17th of January
On Thursday we found out that another representative of the English mission was ill. Our strategy was to immediately contact with the catering and ask them to send us the medical results straight away because of the word that was spreading out fastly. The media’s pressure towards us was increasing and bombarding us with calls and questions. Our strategy was to maintain our calmness and be as honest as we can without giving out to many information before the release of the medical results. So the Ministry released an official epistle to the Media informing he nation about the evolution.
Friday 18th of January
This last day was a settling point in the game. The medical results and the tests and research around the catering’s food came out to be clear. Although, there were rumors out that all this illness was a terrorist action. So we had to reassure the Greek nation that it’s all just rumors and everyone is safe. We posted a video on the media with our Communication Manager talking about the situation in depth, explaining what happened and giving an end to the crisis.
Saturday 19th of January
The Ministry with the catering company went on the show and explained the whole situation answered the Media’s questions and officially ended the crisis simulation.
The experience.
This sort of exam was stressful but at the same time one of the best experiences. We were given the opportunity in this simulation to truly understand the way the government and society actually works and responds to crisis when it outbreaks. We went through 3 days of working hard but mostly communicating. Finding ways to make “allies and enemies” and serving our role in the best way we could. After it was all over we understood our mistakes, our weak spots and how we could’ve done better and that will definitely use this knowledge from now on to translate the steps of what is happening in the world.
A big thank you to my team, the other teams of the game and of course our teachers for the opportunity the gave us!
(our ppt presentation is in the link below)
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1xnvmS0vZBoi9ugwa9na1tWmG2D9yGTbz0odtMbeIImo/edit?usp=sharing
Written by Maria Griva
Ministry of Foreign Affairs team (A2): Eva Constantinou Maria Griva Maria Kall Thanasis Papadopoulos pontikaki_anastasia Eirini Tsv
