Role of Social Media in Crisis Management - Research Paper Example

DRAFT Literature Review Introduction This section examines the role of social media in crisis management within organizations. It will analyze the scholarly work on this function that includes scholarly publications, peer-reviewed journals and books amongst other educational resources. These are as argued and elaborated below: Social Media in Public Relations Social media has always been used by most organizations as a means of communicating with the masses as well as relating with the public or clientele served by the organization. To this end, Lattimore et al (2004) have attempted to define what public relations entail. According to Lattimore et al (2004) refers to the management and leadership function of the organization that enables it to attain its aims while at the same time defining its values for organizational change. However, in order to achieve this, the public relations endeavor must be capable of bringing together the internal and external functioning of the organization so that it can inculcate positive relationships with its environment. Lattimore et al (2004) further state that there has emerged a new form of media other than the traditional media that has played an essential role in public relations endeavors. This is the social media that the organizations have increasingly relied on in order to manage crises that may arise in the management of these entities. Liu, Austin and Jin (2011, p. 346) have defined social media to describe Web-enabled applications that rely on content generated or manipulated by users that are used in the sharing and communication of these content between individuals, the public or different organizations. These authors posit that the emergence of the social media as a tool for communication and sharing of content has been attributed to the fact that they offer faster feedback while at the same time offering a two-way system of communication. An emerging way of social networking that has been ably used by organizations to manage crises is blogging. Liu (2010, p. 28) states that this is because these blogs provide information to customers and may also display their opinion to the public. Further, blogs especially the political blogs may be important tools for communication especially when crises arise and can also help in the monitoring of responses of the targeted audience. An example of blogging a social media tool can be through the use of the micro blogging site Twitter which can help the users to build organization-public relationships that help in times of crisis. Crisis communication Social media has played an important aspect in the management of crises whenever they occur within organizations. Coombs (2012, p. 2) describes crisis as the belief that an unpredictable occurrence that may take place that may interfere or impede the expectations of the stakeholders served by the organization and may affect the performance and outcomes of the entity. In the advent of the technology and social media, organizations have increasingly experienced different cases of crises in the management of their affairs. For instance, according to Pauchant and Mitroff (1992), organizations can experience, economic, human, technical or social crises that may affect their operations, productivity as well as their competitive advantage. On the other hand, Fearn-Banks (2012) argues that crises within an organization may be categorized as external economic and information attacks, major damages, breaks as well as internal and psychological crises. Further, Coombs (2009) used the situational crisis communication theory (SCCT) in the categorization of crises and found that some affected the victim that called for minimal responsibility, natural disasters, violence at the work place, unverified claims (rumors), tampering with products, accidents and technical errors. In addition, other crises were found to be product harm, crises that could be prevented, crises caused by human errors, as well as organizational misdeeds amongst others. In the case of businesses or other profit-generating organizations, the crises may be specific to the type of products or services that they deal in or offer to their clientele. Coombs (2007) refers to crisis communication or crisis management as a process that is aimed at preventing or lessening the effects of damage that a conflict or a crisis may cause to the organization and those served by it. To him, this can only be achieved through three faces that include the pre-crisis stage, the response to the crisis and the period after the crisis. In the first stage, the effort is the prevention or the preparation for the crisis while the second phase entails the actual response to the crisis. In the final stage, Coombs (2007) argues that the organization must prepare for the next commitments that may lead to a crisis while at the same time gather follow-up information on how the crises can be avoided in future. Social Media and Crisis Management Social media has been one of the most important tools used in the management of crises within organizations. Additionally, organizations have improved their uptake of social media as a tool of communicating to the internal and external worlds and operations of the organization. Choi (2012, p. 312) argues that public relations practitioners in the organizations may use social media as opposed to the traditional media in the sharing of information just at the beginning of crises. To explain this, Choi (2012) has showed how British Petroleum (BP) used the social networking and micro-blogging site Twitter to handle the Gulf oil spill. In this context, BP used five frames that entail information, update, social responsibility, attribution of responsibility and what could be done in handling the crisis. In addition to these five frames, BP adopted 11 keywords that included response, update, latest, effort, claims, information, operation, BP CEO, picture/photo, volunteer, and shoreline that helped in handling the crisis at the time. Fearn-Banks (2011) has further introduced examples on how social media can be used in the management of crises. He argues that people use social media as a means of evading or managing crisis situations, for instance families using Twitter to escape from cases of wildfire disasters in California. Social media can also be used in normal practice such as revealing the reaction of customers in the social media platforms to influence the public relations policy of an organization. In addition, organizations can at times use the social media platforms or modes of communication in order to warn and inform their clients of the existence of certain phenomenon. Homes (2011) argues that in the management of crisis within an organization, the social media may be used when a crisis has occurred in order to offer the stakeholders the relevant information especially those that are considered integral and require urgent attention. In addition to this, social media can be used by organizations that desire to manage crisis when there is need to remedy the spread of misinformation about the operations or conduct of the entity. Schultz, Utz and and Gӧritz (2011. P. 20) therefore carried out an examination of the crisis communication strategies through the use of different media and found that social media especially through the use of blogs helped in the management of crises. This is because these platforms offered the chance of apologies, delivery of timely information before the damage is done and sympathy, which in essence helps in the amicable and satisfactory solution in cases of crises. Despite the above advantages of social media in the management of crises within organizations, failure to control it may also lead to the escalation of crises. This implies that wrong or mistaken messages that are disseminated through social media platforms such as Twitter may have an immediate impact on the stakeholders served by the organization. Social Media and Crisis Management Theories There are several theories of crisis management in relation to social media and communication related to it. Ham, Hwang and Cameron (2011, p. 144) have enumerated the different theories that have been used in the management of crises covering the period 1999 to 2009. The major theories that they found out included but not limited to contingency theory Image restoration theory, excellence theory, organization-public relationship, framing, crisis response strategies and situational crisis communication theory. Others include stakeholder theory, legitimacy theory, situational theory of publics, agenda building theory, attribution theory, stealing thunder theory, communication response strategy and agenda setting theory. In addition to these theories, other researchers have proposed other crisis management theories that include the framing theory (Barnett, 2008; Liu, 2010; Park & Reber, 2010; Schultz et al., 2011) and the diffusion of innovation theory (Taylor & Perri, 2005; Hong, 2007). However, the role of social media in the management of crises within organizations has been given much prominence and discourse through the use of the situational crisis communication theory (SCCT) and the organization-public relationships theory. Organization-Public Relationships Theory The organization-public relationships theory can be used in the explanation of the relationship between the entity and the public or stakeholders in how crises are handled. The rationale for this theory is the fact that since organizations possess intimate relationships with the public, it is important to manage any crisis that may arise and affect the financial or emotional standing of the organization. Pursuant to this, Lee and Kim (2012) as well as Park and Reber (2012) state those organizations stand to immensely benefit by cultivating a mutual understanding between it and the public. Lee and Kim (2012, p. 79) argue that better relationships between the organization and the public can help in the sustenance and the maintenance of the reputation of the organization after the occurrence of a crisis and its consequences. The organization-public relationships theory has therefore been used in the management of crisis and communication with stakeholders. For instance, Brown and White (2011, p. 76) have discussed the effects of attributing responsibility for a crisis that occurs within an organization and argued that when they occur, it is important to build and maintain a positive relationship with the stakeholders served by the entity. To this end, Park and Reber (2012, p. 240) state that regardless of the relationship between the organization and the stakeholders, the view on the cause of the crisis will still have an effect on whom to bear the responsibility for it and its management. Choi and Kim (2011, p. 40) have also argued that social media is a two-way communication that helps in the cultivation of positive relationships between an entity and the stakeholders. This leads to proper solution to conflicts whenever they arise, hence underscoring the importance of this theory. Situational Crisis Communication Theory (SCCT) Coombs (2009, p. 271) argues that the SCCT is a systematic mode of examining the risk that a crisis may create against the organization and choosing the right mode of responding to the crisis when it occurs as well as handling the situation that arises after the crisis so that the reputation of the entity is maintained. This theory arose from the attribution theory earlier mentioned that holds that the members of the public or the stakeholders view crisis in 28 situations, its history, the internal crisis responsibility as well as the reputation of the organization before the crisis occurred. In this theory, Coombs (2009) holds the view that the stakeholders can assess the crisis from two aspects that consist of the history of the crisis and the prior relational reputation. The crisis history examines whether the organization has in the past experienced a crisis of the same magnitude or type, while the prior relational reputation denotes how the stakeholders have developed perceptions about the organization in other instances. Accordingly Coombs (2009) state that both of these aspects can have a direct or indirect impact on the threat that the crisis may cause to the reputation of the organization. In an earlier work, Coombs (1995) found out that the moment stakeholders that there is likelihood to be a reputational threat, they often follow two steps. Coombs (1995, pp. 246-258) states that the first step is that the stakeholders will evaluate the preliminary crisis responsibility as well as the type of the crisis before evaluating the history of the crisis and the prior relationship reputation. Most studies that have been carried out in the recent past have analyzed social media and SCCT in the management of crisis within organizations. For instance, Schwarz (2012, p. 430) found out in his research that postings made by members of the public and stakeholders on bulletin boards is evidence of them responding to complaints and apportioning blame. After the analysis of these posts and complaints, the organizations considered the best strategies of managing the crises would not be to deny responsibility or blame departments or individuals, which would have eventually affected their reputation. In addition to this, Lee et al (2012) have shown that the type of media will ultimately influence the efficacy of the strategy of communicating the crisis hence its management. For instance, Lee et al (2012, p. 77) found out that a corporate blog as a social media platform may be important when implementing an accommodative strategy, while the internet news may be useful as a defensive strategy. It is worth mentioning that the form of crisis information such as through the use of social media have a positive correlation with the perception of the public, their responses and how they will hold the reputation of the organization in esteem. Liu, Austin and Jin (2011, p. 345) have explained this through their social-mediated crisis communication model (SMCC), even though this has not been exhausted by other scholars. Despite this, the number of studies that have explored the role of social media in the management of crises within organizations have increased and grown over time. Most of these studies underscore the important role that public relations practitioners play in the use of social media in managing these crises, preventing them or even the period after the crisis. This study seeks to examine the role of social media in the management of crisis whenever they are anticipated, they occur or after occurrence within organizations. Reference List Barnett, B. (2008). Framing Rape: An Examination Of Public Relations Strategies In The Duke University Lacrosse Case. Communication, Culture & Critique, 1(2), 179- 202. Brown, K. A., & White, C. L. (2011). Organization-Public Relationships and crisis response strategies: Impact on attribution of responsibility. Journal of Public Relations Research, 23(1), 75-92. Choi, H., & Kim, H. (2011). The influence of OPR(Organization-Public Relationships) Formed by the usage of Twitter on publics conflict resolution will. Journal of PR Research, 15(3), 5-40. Choi, J. (2012). Crisis Communication Through Twitter: An analysis of BPs response to the deepwater horizon disaster. New media and public relations (2nd ed., pp. 311-319). New York: Peter Lang. Coombs, W. T. (2012). Ongoing crisis communication: planning, managing, and responding (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks: CA: Sage. Fearn-Banks, K. (2011). Crisis communications: a casebook approach. New York, NY: Routledge Ham, C. D., Hwang, S., & Cameron, G. (2011). Placing crisis management research in context – An analysis and a call for the state of crisis management research in public relations. Journal of PR Research, 15(3), 144-174. 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Using Public Relations To Promote Health: A Framing Analysis Of Public Relations Strategies Among Health Associations. Journal of Health Communication, 15(1), 39-54. Park, H., & Reber, B. H. (2012). The Organization-Public Relationship and crisis communication: The effect of the Organization-Public Relationship on publics perceptions of crisis and attitudes toward the organization. International Journal of Strategic Communication, 5, 240-260. Pauchant, T. C., & Mitroff, I. I. (1992). Transforming the crisis-prone organization: preventing individual, organizational, and environmental tragedies.. San Francisco, Ca: Jossey-Bass. Schultz, F., Utz, S., & Goritz, A. (2011). Is the medium the message? Perceptions of and reactions to crisis communication via twitter, blogs and traditional media. Public Relations Review, 37, 20-27. Schwarz, A. (2012). How publics use social media to respond to blame games in crisis communication: The Love Parade tragedy in Duisburg 2010. Public Relations Review, 38, 430-437. Taylor, M., & Perry, D. (2005). Diffusion Of Traditional And New Media Tactics In Crisis Communication. Public Relations Review, 31(2), 209-217. Read More