How to Contribute to Crisis Communication Potentials - Essay Example

Business Academic Skills Name: ID no.: Unit Code and Name: Lecturer’s Name: Assignment no.: Due Date: Communication is an important aspect that needs fostering in business environments in order to attain success and promote the smooth running of business activities. For practitioners like public relations and journalists, communication needs to be accurate, timely, and effective. The paper is going to give focus to crisis communication by looking at the theoretical framework, which conceptualizes this strategy of managing problems of legitimacy faced during uncertainty and risk periods in organizations and powerful institutions around the globe. Secondly, advancement in technology has emerged as an important communication tool and thus, the report will the use of Internet for organizations when faced by a crisis. According to Greenberg and Elliot, crisis communication is when an attempt is made to control information and allays the negative public reaction when changes occur suddenly and are dramatic for organizations because this tarnishes their reputation and eventually, compromises their autonomy of operations (2009, p. 191). Crises, on the other hand, represents the critical moments in an organization's life. This implies the times when organizations are able to rise to the juncture and assert its leadership, response mismanagement and miscommunication, remain silent and outside their influence sphere. Crises are linked to immediate events, with concrete meanings and the impact that have a tendency to be charged emotionally and are visible (2009, p. 191). Therefore, corrective actions can be communicated and organized for ways that are both localized and generalized with the aim of containing consumers’ emotional reactions that are hostile. In addition, have the potential to gain political responses from other regulatory bodies and the government. Diffusion is a term described as a process of communicating innovation overtime through certain channels among members of a social system (Taylor & Perry 2005, p. 209). The intention of this discussion is to examine techniques adopted by organizations during crisis response. Innovational tools are going to be described in order to give a clearer understanding of how different authors present and contribute to crisis communication potentials. The literature review gives concise and succinct information of the authors. The final section of the discussion gives examples of organizations that have successfully used strategies that help curb the crisis. In addition, an examination of how new, mediated tactics of communication have influenced media relations. The article by Greenberg and Elliot (2009) gives focus to crisis communication and look into the case of Maple Leaf Foods where the worst food contamination case was reported. As a result, the crisis called for a response strategy that is going to be discussed in length showing how effective apologies are since they restore confidence and trust of consumers. Furthermore, the article addressed endemic anxieties and uncertainties to the contemporary society through the distribution and disruption of blame and risk to stakeholders. The article also touches on the importance of crises to the corporate public relations and asserts that their harmfulness is translated to their grievances, which are rhetoric in nature and are an organization’s resources, actions, or plans that may be considered to interfere and impinge upon the autonomy of the organization. The management of the organization also apologized to the people that were affected, and this contributes to the aspect of media relation with the organization thus, bestows their trust with consumers. The apology in this case, acted as a concern that wrong was committed and an assurance that a repeat would not occur in the future. The support accorded to the organization shows how effective crisis communication in situations when the risk to a business is high. Taylor and Perry (2005), talk about new media tactics that have diffused the traditional ways in improving crisis communication. However, traditional tactics have also been used in response to crisis because they offer control of information. Their main concern in this article is on the Internet and shows this by using a five point-in-time study of the use of Internet to an organization during crisis communication. The response of using the Internet is fast, effective, and timely and thus, gives organizations a new way of communicating with publics and journalists. Research results show how some organizations have been quick to adapt to using the Internet for crisis response. They also present innovative media potential that has spurred Internet use that include connecting links, two-way communication, and multimedia effects tactics. Microsoft has been used, in this article, to portray that even huge company’s face crisis and the strategic responses they used in solving the issue. The article is effective in this discussion because it gives a reminder to organizations on the importance and benefits attributed to having an open kind of communication during crisis. Phillips (2013) is a recent article that gives up-to-date information on the ‘truths of crisis communication’. The truths discussed all relate to the media and their role when it comes to crisis communication. For example, the media, during a crisis, will be the first to cast good and bad guys; media always sides with the victim; the company can be broken or saved by social media, and thus, organizations need to communicate immediately and also ensure that their receptionists has media training. Furthermore, spokesperson chosen should be able to speak volumes and should apply the right way when apologizing. Lastly, it should be noted that, during such instances, lawyers are subject to making the situation worse. The article is straight and gives succinct description of all truths stated by supporting them with relevant information. In Greenberg and Elliot’s article, the crisis manager of Mable Leaf Foods, was able to respond to the issue of food contamination in a positive manner and immediately. The apology or mortification given by McCain, CEO, showed that the organization accepted responsibility of the outbreak and promised their customers commitment in setting things rights (Greenberg & Elliot 2009, p. 192). This crisis communication strategy is positive because he took the ground and accepted that the company was at fault, which enable the company regain its trust and loyalty from consumers. A negative response was applied by Sanlu Group vs. KingCar Group case that involved the breakdown of a melamine-tainted milk powder in China, Mainland (Lyu 2012, p. 780). The toxic milk crisis was reported by many media outlets, and thus, the response they used was that of denial, justification, excuse, and concession (Lyu 2012, pp. 784-5). This crisis communication strategy is negative since the organization used tactics in evading the problem and not addressing the crises. It is imperative for organizations to realize their mistake especially when it comes to matters dealing with food because poisoning can lead to death instances. To the company, this will mean that consumers will lose their trust and go to their competitors to seek their services and products. In conclusion, the discussion on crisis communication is a topic that needs to be considered by organizations because it is vital for the smooth running of organizations. Furthermore, crisis communication strategy leaves organizations in a position to regain their trust and loyalty to customers and thus, is an essential tool that needs to be investigated in order to find maintain their flow of activities. In addition, this response strategy is significant for organizations because it communication is a tool that is used by organizations in relaying their activities. Hence, public relations act as a subset of communication activities, which are significant during response of crisis. In this writer’s opinion shows that at the response stage, communication is improved, and reduction of crisis damage is promoted, which is a good outcome. As a result, the outcome purposes to have effective management of crisis and that of communication. The truths mentioned concerning crisis communication gives an organization a clear direction to take and ensure that responses applied during crises are relevant to prevailing circumstances. From this, it is evident that crisis communication is a concept that needs to be embraced more by organizations by utilizing online communication tools that have made communication be timely, effective, and accurate. References Greenberg, J & Elliot, C 2009, ‘A Cold Cut Crisis: Listeriosis, Maple Leaf Foods, and the Politics of Apology’, Canadian Journal of Communication, vol. 34, pp. 189-204. Hale, JE, Dulek, RE & Hale, DP 2005, ‘Crisis Response Communication Challenges: Building Theory from Qualitative Data’, Journal of Business Communication, vol. 42, no. 2, pp. 112-134/ Lyu, JC 2012, ‘A comparative study of crisis communication strategies between Mainland China and Taiwan: The melamine-tainted milk powder crisis in the Chinese context’, Public Relations Review, vol. 38, pp. 779-791. Phillips, B 2013, ‘Eight truths of crisis Communication’, Financial Executive. Taylor, M & Perry, DC 2005, ‘Diffusion of traditional and new media tactics in crisis communication,’ Public Relations Review, vol. 31, pp. 209-217. Veil, SR, Buehner, T & Palenchar, MJ 2011, ‘A Work-In-Progress Literature Review: Incorporating Social Media in Risk and Crisis Communication’, Journal of Contingencies and Crisis Management, vol. 19, no 2, pp. 110-122. Read More