An exploration of the role of communication during the in-crisis situation
Abstract
‘The critical component in crisis management is communication’, but somehow the
vague concept of ‘communication‘ is always cited as a problem in in-crisis situations.
Furthermore, available corporate communication literature mainly focuses on pre- and postcrisis
reputational communication, relying only on following lists or a linear one-way push
of information for the in-crisis stages. The exploratory method of reflective or interpretive
action research of a hazardous material emergency desk-top simulation exercise was used
to examine (1) what is meant by the term communication in the in-crisis situation, and (2) the
contribution that corporate communication and the corporate communication practitioner
can make during an in-crisis situation. This study found that there is confusion regarding
the term communication, but even more, that each person involved also interpreted the term
slightly differently, which could easily lead to confusion and/or the creation of an unclear
common operating picture. The extent of the contribution that the corporate communication
practitioner, as conduit of the corporate communication discipline, can make is also discussed.
This paper comes to the conclusion that the contribution of corporate communication to the
in-crisis situation will greatly add to the successful clearing up of an emergency situation.
Collections
- Faculty of Humanities [2033]