Communication Assessment Project: A Case Study of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals during the Covid-19 Era

“Organizational Communication Assessment”
A Case Study of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals during the Covid-19 Era
Student’s name
Institutional Affiliation
Course
Corse Code
Professor’s Name
Submission Date
Background
The Society for the prevention of Cruelty to Animals is an organization that fights against the ill treatment of animals. The organization located in England was started in 1824, with the aim of preventing the abuse of carriage horses before the arrival of automobiles. At the time, horses were driven across stifling hot summers and freezing cold winters, without or with little, water, food and rest. The only interest of the carriage drivers was to make money and would beat the horses whenever they refused to move (Tutu, 2013)
The first SPCAI helped to pass the laws and regulations that shunned the carriage-horse abuses and business. With the success, the organization expanded to cater for dogs and other animals in its endeavor to curb cruelty. The American Chapter of SPCAI was started in New York City in 1866. Today, SPCAIs are spread all over the world.
SPCAI International was started in the year 2006 in the U.S. The mission being: to advance the safety and wellbeing of animals. Though most people presume that the most humane societies and local SPCAIs are affiliated, well, they are not. Thus, SPCAI seeks to utilize and develop global network that supports both independent animal groups and fight for the cruelty against animals. SPCAI International seeks to help the impact and growth of independent shelters, through information networking, alliance building, international and national programs.
In 2007, SPCAI International commissioned the first ever shelter program-named Shelter Support Fund (formerly Shelter of the Week) (Tutu, 2013). SPCAI International offers monetary support at the local level by funding selected welfare organizations. These grants offer financial help to struggling welfare organizations, in the U.S and globally, and help enhance the physical conditions, improve neuter and spay programs and generally reduce euthanasia rates. The organization also offers cat and dog rescues, wildlife rehabilitation, foster programs, special needs recovery as well as provision of shelters in US and other 60 countries globally.
The second major initiative for SPCAI International was founded in Baghdad named, Operation Baghdad Pups Worldwide. This was done at the request of many combat personnel that served in Afghanistan and Iraq. The program offers clearance, transport and veterinary services to animals that befriend servicemen while on duty. Operation Baghdad is a challenging and expensive program since it does not only serve animals but also offers peace to American soldiers when they return home. To date SPCAI has helped thousands of soldiers transport their animals from Africa, South Asia and Middle East and more.
Along with the animal protection initiative, the organization also runs various Education initiatives. Together with other partners, the organization provides humane education through in-person clinics, school programs, online and printed resources. Through the website, the organization provides animal advocates and guardians referral resources and global information on matters animal care.
Even with the activities that SPCAI has put in place to prevent cruelty on animals, there are atrocities still being done on animals. For instance, 60, 000 are still being slaughtered yearly, 250, 000 animals are hoarded annually, elephant hunting for tusks still prevail, dog trade, dog fighting contestants are still rampant among other cruelty on animals (Rademeyer, 2012).
As we look for a better future for animals, the organization continues to launch other initiatives, expand its scope of programs. Increase the volumes and sizes of shelters and expand education initiatives. Then Covid-19 is another threat to the fight against cruelty on animals.
Communication and Covid-19
Covid-19 is a disease whose symptoms include difficulty in breathing, fevers and dry coughs. The disease outbreak in Wuhan China and has spread to almost all countries of the world (Wu et al, 2020). Some of the worst hit countries include the USA, China, Italy, France and Brazil. Due to the outbreak of the disease, both international and domestic travels were cut off, businesses closed, physical socialization affected and social distance emphasized to control the virus. Thousands of pigs, poultry and other animals were mass buried and burnt alive in China when the government suspected that the animals were carriers of the Corona virus (Broxmeyer 2020). To this point, its cure has not been found, although there are trial vaccines that have been produced. As a result of the aforementioned measures, physical company operations were curtailed and most companies forced to shift online to conduct business. SPCAI is one such organization whose business and operations were shifted online. In this research project, we investigate the role of the Society for the prevention of Cruelty to Animals () website during the Covid-19 pandemic period.
Methodology
This communication project will utilize the Katie Paine’s assessment methodology to assess The Society for the prevention of Cruelty to Animals () website. Katie Paine’s assessment is a 7-step measurement criterion for PR campaigns, websites and social media in not-for-profit organizations. It is a formal measurement technique, guided by rules, processes and regulations established by academicians and researchers (Paine, 2011). To properly measure the impact of using the Paine’s methodology, the seven steps that have to be adhere to. The seven steps of Paine’s measurement are as below:
1 Defining website goals
2 Defining the websites target audience
3 Defining website benchmarks
4 Defining website metrics
5 Defining time and website cost
6 Selection of website data collection tools
7 Collecting and analyzing the website data
Target Audience
The SPCAI campaign targets over 25 million animal lovers in The USA and 60 other countries all over the world who use its website in one way or the other. The secondary audience in this campaign will include educational institutions, students and animal feed manufacturers. The Corona Virus pandemic has forced people to restrict movement and turn to the virtual means of doing business. As a result, SPCAI also shifted to doing business and communication through its website.
Objectives
The main goal of the () website is to be the primary communication channel for the organization’s clients with the respect of ensuring the well-being of animals in the UK, US and all over the world. The objectives of research are:
* To evaluate the effectiveness of the website in fighting animal cruelty in the Covid-19 season
* To find out the best approaches the organization uses to protect animals.
* To assess people’s awareness of the website in offering information and solutions regarding animal cruelty.
Benchmarks
Internal Benchmarks
Here the researcher will look at the effectiveness of the website visa vie the mainstream media in managing animal cruelty. \Here we will look at the traffic of The Society for the prevention of Cruelty to Animals () website in regards to its response to the different needs of animals and animal lovers. The internal benchmark will investigate the performance of the () website compared to the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animal () website.
Since, the first case of the novel Corona Virus in December 2019, no dependable vaccine has been found for the disease. Therefore, SPCAI like other organizations has shifted their services online. The virus has caused an unfamiliar business environment where physical interaction is an outdated affair; even the world economy is going digital. It is the curtailed movement that has made SPCAI business and communication to go online.
External Benchmarks
SPCAI is an organization that advocates for humane treatment, anti-cruelty and rights of animals. According to the website, the organization advocates against cruelty against animals and inhumane treatment of animals. In matters fundraising, SPCAI website has a donation that donors can use to donate funds to the organization. Both SPCAI website and its competitor ASPCAI fundraise through donations. Both organizations fight against the cruelty against animals working against puppy mills, dog fighting, dog trade, and adopt animals among other issues. The difference between the two is that SPCAI advocates for the plight of domesticated animals and rehabilitates wild animals; ASPCAI only deals with anti-cruelty against domestic animals.
According to the WHO, best practices of dealing with the Corona virus states that people should social distance, hence the SPCAI website would be the best avenue of requesting for goods and services provided by the organization. The clients are expected to place orders of any animal related products and services online and wait for the delivery of the service or product by the organization at the doorstep. The animal organizations, businesses and individual owners adapt to the new normal and conduct business with the company via, e-mail, phone numbers and social media sites provided on the organization website. In the Covid-19 era, no organization is superior over the other since all businesses have gone online.
KPI Matrix
Key Performance Indicator (KPI) implies measurable attributes of an organization that shows how effectively it is attaining its goals/objectives (Choudhary, 2016). And a metric is something that adds an organization’s value.
Objective

Output KPIs

Attitudinal KPIs

Behavioral KPIs

Communication
Objective #1
To evaluate the effectiveness of the website in fighting animal cruelty in the Covid-19 season.

The metric to be looked at in regards to this objective is client awareness of the SPCAI website. SPCAI offers a variety of services. The organization engagements include animal adoption, veterinary supply aid, shelter support fund, transporting military pets and education of pet owners.

The attitudinal KPI in regards to this objective is whether the clients found the website impactful in handling business.

The behavioral KPI here is the reaction and response of the clients to the website in terms of how they did business on the website or through it.

Communication Objective #2
To find out the best approaches the organization uses to protect animals

The KPI to look out for is the strategies used by the organization to ensure that animals are safe.

The attitudinal KPI to look at here is client’s preferences of certain solutions...