Communicating through Crisis

Abstract

Crisis communication, communication by an organization during an organizational crisis, has been overlooked as a tool for contributing to the long-term benefits of an organization experiencing crisis. Generally, crisis communication has been relegated to a defensive role, where the premise of crisis communication is the need to offset potential negative consequences of not communicating. This article suggests that crisis communication should be a part of the larger issues of communication policy and strategy that may lead to more effective and efficient influence of opinion development among members of publics important to organizations. The article builds a case for the need to consider crisis communication in a larger context, then proposes a model of Crisis Communication Content that may serve as a framework for research into the efficacy of communication during crisis episodes.

Reflections on a meta-analysis: Crystallizing thinking about SCCT

“…Instructing and adjusting information are essential elements for crisis communicators. Instructing information helps people to protect themselves physically from a crisis while adjusting information helps people to cope psychologically with a crisis (Holladay, 2009;Sturges, 1994). Unfortunately, there has just been too little research on instructing and adjusting information to be part of this analysis.…”

Communicating throughout Katrina: Competing and Complementary Conceptual Lenses on Crisis Communication

“…Likewise, the news media were both a part of the solution and a part of the problem at diff erent times. To put this in perspective, a growing body of scholarship attests to the crucial roles that communication plays in successful crisis management ( Berge 1990;Comfort 1994;Coombs 1999Coombs , 2006Garnett 1992;Hale, Dulek, and Hale 2005;Lagadec 1987;Lerbinger 1980;Mitroff and Pearson 1993;Scanlon et al 1985;Sturges 1994 ). According to Pijnenburg and Van Duin, "Indeed, most of the time crisis situations turn out to be, to a large extent, information and communication crises" (1991,70).…”

System effectiveness of detection, brief intervention and refer to treatment for the people with post-traumatic emotional distress by MERS: a case report of community-based proactive intervention in South Korea

“…People who recover from infectious diseases with a high mortality rate such as MERS, often show emotional instability resulting from the experience of facing death [4]. Family members of people killed by such diseases also often become depressed following the sudden loss [5].…”