2. ORGANIZATIONAL CRISIS
• Unplanned change within an organization is described as an “organizational
crisis”
• These include the following:
• Natural disasters
• Financial crises
• Terrorism
• Industrial accidents
• Outbreaks of food-borne illness
3. STEROIDS INTHE MLB
• Major League Baseball has recently had an ongoing
issue with their players using performance
enhancing substances
• There are still discussions on how to punish those
who use steroids
4. SUSPENSION HISTORY
• The MLB has handed out 40 suspensions to
players because of steroids in just the last five
years
5. HALL OF FAME POTENTIAL
• Multiple Hall of Fame candidates have been rejected due to
their names being connected to steroids in recent findings
• These include players such as:
• Barry Bonds
• Sammy Sosa
• Mark McGwire
6. BALCO
• BALCO, or the Bay Area Laboratory Co-
operative, was a San Francisco based business
which supplied anabolic steroids to professional
athletes
• They were under investigation by the U.S. Federal
government for multiple years
7. BALCO AFTERMATH
• Before the scandal with BALCO, the MLB did not
have a policy for players who use performance
enhancing substances
• Commissioner Bud Selig immediately instituted a
league wide policy for substance abusers after the
scandal
8. BARRY BONDS
• Bonds and his personal trainer Greg Anderson
were under investigation from 2003-2007 due to
his use of steroids
• Barry Bonds claimed he unknowingly took steroids
that were given to him by Anderson, but that was
found to be untrue
9. MARK MCGWIRE
• Mark McGwire openly admitted to using steroids
throughout his career, including in 1998 when he
broke the MLB single-season home run record
• He claims that he began using steroids in 1996 to
help heal his body due to injuries he suffered in
’93, ’94, ’95, and ‘96
10. RYAN BRAUN
• More recently, during his 2011 MVP season Braun
was accused of taking PED’s
• He repeatedly denied such reports until 2013
when he apologized for his actions
• Ryan Braun served a 65-game suspension and is
still playing in the league
11. TODAY’S OFFENDERS
• While the players in the early 2000’s were linked
to BALCO and a new form of PED’s, today’s
athletes are using an older form of the drug
• Multiple players in 2016 were tested positive for
Turinabol, a testosterone booster which was
developed in 1961
12. INCREASINGTECHNOLOGY
• Constantly gaining new technology allows for the
MLB to not only test today’s players more
efficiently, but also test previous samples as well
13. PENALTIES
• Penalties for offenders have been continuously
increasing since 2005
• Increasing the penalty length has not deterred
players from using PED’s
14. VOIDING CONTRACTS
• There are cases in which a player performs very
well and signs a large contract in the offseason
only to be caught using PED’s right after
• Players are not paid during their suspensions, but
this is only just a small fraction of what the team
has to pay them in the long run
15. PRE CRISIS
• Offensive output increases in the mid 90’s
• Only three players reached 50 home runs from
1961 to 1994 but that number began to increase
significantly
16. CRISIS
• Players begin to test positive for performance
enhancing drugs
• Continue to deny they are involved in such actions
17. POST CRISIS
• Players who were caught begin to acknowledge
their actions and apologize for what they have
done
• Punishments for offenders begin to be more harsh
in an attempt to deter players from using PED’s
18. SUMMARY
• Organizational crises are moments in an
organization’s history that are characterized by
surprise, threat, and the need to respond quickly
• The MLB is constantly working to remove the use
of PED’s in baseball, and while they are currently in
the post crisis stage, there are still instances of
substance abuse in the league
19. QUESTIONSTO CONSIDER
• If the MLB were to increase the punishment for
PED users, how drastic would the change be?
• Can you implement a clause in contracts that
would result in significant losses if a player gets
caught using PED’s?
20. WORKS CITED
• Jaffe, Jay. "Explaining MLB's Recent Wave of PED Suspensions."
Sports Illustrated. N.p., 5 May 2016.Web. 13 Nov. 2016.
• Leach, Matthew. "McGwire Opens Up About Steroid Use."
Major League Baseball. N.p., 11 Aug. 2010.Web. 13 Nov. 2016.
• Miller, K. (2015). Organizational communication:Approaches
and processes (7th ed.). Stamford, CT: Cengage Learning.
