Crisis communication

Crisis communication is a sub-specialty of the public relations profession that is designed to protect and defend an individual, company, or organization facing a public challenge to its reputation.[1][2] Crisis communication is aimed at raising awareness of a specific type of threat, the magnitude, outcomes, and specific behaviors to adopt to reduce the threat.[3] The communication scholar Timothy Coombs defines crisis as "the perception of an unpredictable event that threatens important expectancies of stakeholders and can seriously impact an organization's performance and generate negative outcomes"[4] and crisis communication as "the collection, processing, and dissemination of information required to address a crisis situation."[5]

Meaning can be socially constructed;[6] because of this, the way that the stakeholders of an organization perceive an event (positively, neutrally, or negatively) is a major contributing factor to whether the event will become a crisis.[7] Additionally, it is important to separate a true crisis situation from an incident.[8] The term crisis “should be reserved for serious events that require careful attention from management.”[7]

Crisis management has been defined as "a set of factors designed to combat crises and to lessen the actual damages inflicted."[9] Crisis management should not merely be reactionary; it should also consist of preventative measures and preparation in anticipation of potential crises. Effective crisis management has the potential to greatly reduce the amount of damage the organization receives as a result of the crisis, and may even prevent an incident from ever developing into a crisis.[7]

  1. ^ Barrera, Andria. "When Public Scrutiny Requires Crisis Communications". Gutenberg Communications. Archived from the original on 14 March 2016. Retrieved 28 February 2014.
  2. ^ Bundy, J.; Pfarrer, M. D.; Short, C. E.; Coombs, W. T. (2017). "Crises and crisis management: Integration, interpretation, and research development". Journal of Management. 43 (6): 1661–1692. doi:10.1177/0149206316680030. S2CID 152223772.
  3. ^ Reynolds, Barbara; Seeger, Matthew W. (2005-02-23). "Crisis and Emergency Risk Communication as an Integrative Model". Journal of Health Communication. 10 (1): 43–55. CiteSeerX 10.1.1.475.2836. doi:10.1080/10810730590904571. ISSN 1081-0730. PMID 15764443. S2CID 16810613.
  4. ^ Coombs 2007.
  5. ^ Coombs, W.Timothy; Holladay, Sherry.J (2010). The Handbook of Crisis Communication. Malden:MA: Wiley-Blackwell. pp. 20. ISBN 978-1444361902.
  6. ^ Maines, David R. (2000). "The Social Construction of Meaning". Contemporary Sociology. 29 (4): 577–584. doi:10.2307/2654557. JSTOR 2654557. S2CID 62900803.
  7. ^ a b c Coombs 2012, p. 19.
  8. ^ Coombs, W. Timothy (2004). "Impact of past crises on current crisis communications: Insights from: Situational crisis communication theory". Journal of Business Communication. 41 (3): 265–289. doi:10.1177/0021943604265607. hdl:10818/19239. S2CID 154326081.
  9. ^ Coombs 2007, p. 5.