Attribution Crisis Communication Theory Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays

Introduction

This thesis looks into COVID-19 as a workplace crisis communication. COVID-19 is a pandemic that hit the entire global world. COVID-19 is the greatest challenge in today’s economy ever since World War Two. This pandemic is more than a crisis in the health sector since it has slowed down the economy and affected many people's day-to-day life. The pandemic has also led many people with underlying medical conditions such as diabetes, high blood pressure, and chronic diseases like asthma. This thesis paper discusses the current workplace crisis, the COVID-19 crisis, and how to resolve the crisis using attribution theory. The thesis later discusses one of the communication theories: attribution crisis communication theory, and its relevance to the COVID-19 crisis. The thesis later looks into how attribution crisis communication theory applies in the resolution of COVID-19 as a workplace communication problem.

This inquiry is of a great significance to various organizational leaders and me in understanding the role of crisis communication theories, such attribution theory, in the resolution and management of a crisis in the workplace. The thesis provides ways on how to tackle COVID-19 as a workplace communication crisis or problem. The thesis is also significant as it helps understand various crisis communication theories and their application in resolving various workplace communication problems. One of the major crisis communication theories discussed in the paper is the attribution crisis communication theory (Honigmann et al., 2020). Through attribution theory, the thesis aims at postulating a deeper understanding of COVID-19 as a workplace crisis and how the pandemic has affected the employee behavior. Another goal of the thesis is to identify how attribution crisis communication theory is applied to persuade workers to adhere to workplace safety protocol measures.

This question is important to me in various ways; first, it helps me understand different workplace communication problems. Second, the question helps understand the various useful theories of communication crises and how they apply to resolve a workplace communication problem. A crisis is a situation whereby someone is affected by one more serious problem. Also, a crisis means a perception of unpredictable events that pose a threat to the stakeholders' important expectations and can impact seriously and organization performance, hence leading to negative outcomes.

According to Coombs (2017), crisis communication refers to various technologies, protocols, and systems that enable businesses to communicate effectively during an emergency or a crisis. All businesses of all types need to be prepared to face a wide range of crises such as severe weather, terrorism, fire crime, product recall, and other crises such as COVID-19. Crisis communication aims at ensuring that all relevant workers in the workplace quickly and effectively communicate with each other during a crisis (Institute for PR, 2014). Crisis communication ensures a proper sharing of relevant information by the workers; the information shared aims to allow the organization or the business entity to correct the situation, protect assets and employees, and ensure that the business continues.

COVID-19 a Workplace Communication Problem

The COVID-19 pandemic crisis has brought about a negative effect on society and business sectors at large. COVID-19 pandemic crisis has disrupted the business's activities and operations in every industry. Impacts of COVID-19 range from the organization's financial threat to the organizational employees' work and psychological well-being. One evidence of the impact of COVID-19 is the disruption of education activities Thailand private universities. Private universities and institutions are the most affected in the education industry by the COVID-19 pandemic because operations and revenue of these schools depend on private students' enrollment, majorly students from overseas. (Charoensukmongkol, P., & Phungsoonthorn, 2020). Due to a rapid decline in enrollment, private institutions in the education sector are financially constrained. With educational institutional having financial pressure, many have ways to survive, including merging with other institutions or reducing their staff members. Measures taken by institutions generate a lot of pressure on workers, resulting in a high level of stress and anxiety within the workforce due to the COVID-19 crisis.

Attribution Crisis Communication Theory

A theory is a system of logical ideas that aims to explain a phenomenon based on general principles. Various communication theories elaborate on how information is produced, how the same information is transmitted, and how the message is conveyed (Institute for PR. 2007). One of the communication theories used in understanding crisis management at the workplace is the attribution crisis communication theory. According to Coombs (2004), the attribution crisis communication theory is a set of ideas that aim at explaining the courses of events and behaviors at the workplace. According to attribution theory, when people interact with others, communication decisions are influenced by the participants' attributions in communication. Attribution theory provides a framework for understanding how individuals explain other people's behaviors and their behavior.

Attribution theory holds that people individuals behave the way they do for a reason. Attribution theory is explained using the attribution process; the attribution process has three distinct stages. The attribution process stages include observation of behavior, determination of whether the behavior is deliberate, and categorizing the behavior as to whether the behavior is internally or externally motivated; it is supported by (McDermott, 2009). The attribution process holds that when a person meets another person, how the two individuals interact depends on how the first individual interprets the other individual's behavior. There are two types of attributions involved in the attribution process; internal attributions and external attributions. Internal attributions occur when the other person views the behavior of the other as being caused by something related to personality, for example, attitude. External attributions occur when an observer views another person's behavior due to the situation outside or circumstances.

Coombs (2004) notes that individuals' attributes are influenced by three guidelines; consistency, consensus, and distinctiveness. Consensus explains how other individuals in the same scenario would behave. Consistency aims at understanding whether the person under observation behaves the same way. Distinctiveness aims at understanding how the behavior of the observed person is varied across situations. The three guidelines are useful in attributing the cause of behavior as either internal or external, attributed, but patterns emerge when the observer combines the three guidelines. Apart from the three guidelines, two more guidelines influence whether an observer makes am external or internal attribution. In a scenario where a person breaks a social, a behavior typically for a situation, observers tend to make internal attribution. In occasions where social cues are absent, observers tend to make an external disposition.

According to McDermott (2009) attribution theory as a crisis communication theory is of great importance since it provides a framework for understanding other people's behaviors and behavior. The theory provides essential guidelines necessary for the interpretation of actions, so it is useful in examining workplace communication problems.

The relevance of Attribution Theory to COVID-19 Crisis Communication

The characteristics of a crisis are that they are negative and unexpected. The two characteristics, which are negative and unexpected, are also the key characteristics identified in the attribution theory to be the driving individuals' needs to search for the cause of an event notes (Thompson, 2019). In this case, COVID-19, as any other crisis, came unexpectedly, and it has affected humanity negatively across the globe. After COVID-19 emerged, different individuals made attributions concerning the crisis. In this case, attribution theory is related to COVID-19 as a workplace communication problem since the question seeks to understand how events such as COVID-19 occur. It should be understood that the attribution’s various stakeholders in the organization make about a crisis have behavioral consequences to the organization. COVID-19 crisis has made employees behave in a certain way in the workplace. Evidence from a private university in Thailand shows the adverse impacts of COVID-19. The university being private institutions, they depend on the enrollment of students majorly from overseas.

With COVID-19 at their doorstep, private universities have witnessed a sharp drop in students' enrollment; the sharp drop in student enrollment has led to a decline in the revenue of private universities. With the decline of revenues at hand, private universities have sought other means to surviving since they need to cater to other ongoing expenses, which has made the employees uncertain of their job. Many employees now in this time of the COVID-19 crisis are uncertain about their job security since downsizing has is being applied in universities' work units to reduce the expenses the universities spend on workers it is supported by (Charoensukmongkol and Phungsoonthorn 2020). With downsizing being effected by private universities in this time of corona, the remaining employees are overloaded with workloads, and they are uncertain about their work procedures.

Due to social distancing and lockdowns as measures to minimize the spread of the COVID-19 virus, many universities have shifted to online teaching, which has created a lot of difficulty for staff and faculty members who are not familiar with online working or online teaching. Although many of the learning and teaching activities have shifted to online, a section of staff employees must go to school to attend to various duties. These have made those employees feel uncertain about their chance of contracting the virus when they travel to the university. Through uncertainties, workers have gone through as a result of the COVID-19 crisis has made them behave in a certain way. The relationship between the COVID-19 crisis and employees' behavior attributes comes from the relationship between attribution theory and the COVID-19 crisis. Thus attribution theory is very relevant to the COVID-19 crisis since the theory helps understand and explain how the employees behave in a certain manner in this event of COVID-19 pandemic.

Application of Attribution Theory in Understanding Workplace Crisis Management and Resultant Employee Behavior.

Attribution theory crisis theory is important in understanding workplace management and resultant employee behavior. To manage the workplace crisis, leaders and managers need to understand why their subordinates behave the way they do. Since crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic come unexpected and negatively impact the workplace, it makes employees also behave in an uncertain way (Lewis, 2016). When it comes to workplace crisis management, two aspects need to be considered according to the attribution theory. Attribution theory, as one of the communication theories, helps understand workplace crisis management in various ways; first, attribution theory states that it is important to understand different individual attributes to manage a crisis at the workplace.

The attribution theory explores and encourages a deeper understanding of the attributes since these attributes have an adverse effect on both leaders and subordinate behavior. To understand the workplace crisis, consider the following scenarios of two leaders with different attribution styles. Consider a situation involving two leaders, one who has an internal or interpersonal attribution style, which implies that the leader favors internal attributes such as intelligence. The second leader favors external attributes that are controllable to enhance employee performance outcomes. In the two cases, the leader with internal attributes will spend time nurturing poor performers employees since the leader assumes that either employee has or doesn't have (Coombs, 2007). The second leader with external attributes views employee performance within relation to organizational procedures. The leader aims to change policies to achieve good performance from employees instead of holding them responsible.

From the above case, it is evident that the attribution is a perspective through which leaders view, diagnose, and manage workplace crises. The way a crisis is managed at the workplace is influenced by the leader's attribution style participating in the crisis management procedure. Although workplace leaders have different varied attributions, employees also have different attributes styles, which may conflict with their leaders' attribution style (McDonald and Crawford 2012). Since attribution theory is concerned with understanding different attribution styles, it helps understand workplace crisis management and resultant employee behavior.

Application of Attribution Theory in Resolving COVID-19 as a Workplace Communication Problem

Crises occur daily today, and organizations and other businesses, are vulnerable to these crises. Crises take many forms, such as natural disasters, for example, floods and fire. Other types of crises include; terrorism and diseases such as COVID-19, which is currently threatening the world. When crises such as COVID-19 happens, an organization's quick reaction and effective planning are required to manage the crisis notes (Coombs, 2004). Managing the workplace crisis requires a collaborative effort from both the workplace and the leaders in charge to manage the crisis effectively and efficiently. Crises are unexpected and negative, which implies that crises occur without any person's knowledge within the organization. The results of the crises impact the organization negatively.

The current workplace crisis at hand is the COVID-19 pandemic; I will discuss how attribution theory is used in resolving COVID-19 as a workplace crisis. COVID-19 pandemic has lead loss of thousands of lives. Apart from negatively impacted the health sector, the COVID-19 crisis is also an unprecedented socio-economic crisis. COVID-19 has caused stress to every country across the world; it has devastated many nations' socio-economic. This requires organizations to come up with effective ways to manage the COVID-19 crisis. Among the most affected sectors as a result of the COVID-19 crisis is workplace operations. Many people are losing jobs daily, and others are uncertain about the events going to happen the next day since the crisis continues to affect various workplaces every day. It is also important for workers to change attitudes and behaviors towards workplace safety to minimize disease spread.

The disease effects show the stamina the companies have in dealing and responding to such a crisis. To respond to a crisis effectively and efficiently requires the company to strategically plan and incorporate effective crisis management policies to manage the crisis. In resolving the COVID-19 crisis as a workplace crisis, communication is of great importance. Communication in this perspective entails both external and internal communication. Good strategic planning needs to be done before the crisis's occurrence to enable effective mitigation supports (Denner et al. 2019). Communication is of great importance in sharing information within a workplace during a crisis; hence when a crisis occurs, it requires the management to establish a good crisis communication structure in the workplace to assist in managing the crisis.

There are various ways organizations communicate to the external environment concerning the crisis, including publication of the relevant information concerning the crisis on the organization websites for the organization to get support from the external environment. Crisis communication within the organization to resolve the crisis and manage it will involve sharing relevant information on social media platforms and site notes (Ghanem et al. 2009). This ensures information transfer and ensures the effective and smooth flow of information from one employee to the workplace. COVID-19 is transmitted in various ways, from one person to another. One way COVID-19 is transmitted from an infected person to a healthy person is through surfaces and objects. Research is done by the WHO shows that the COVID-19 virus can survive on surfaces and objects for six days.

Crisis communication is useful in managing the COVID-19 crisis at the workplace; through the sharing of relevant information concerning COVID-19 preventive measures social media sites, employees will know how to prevent themselves from the disease. Through the information shared, I will persuade my co-workers to follow and adhere to COVID-19 safety protocols such as wearing masks, regular washing of hands with soap, sanitizing, and keeping social distance. Enlighten employees with relevant information concerning the spread and preventive measures of COVID-19 will help resolve the workplace crisis. (Coombs, 2007) notes that the intranet site's communication value is achieved when used in conjunction with mass notification systems to reach stakeholders and employees.

As the chosen communication theory, Attribution theory is the appropriate theory in managing the COVID-19 workplace crisis. Attribution theory concepts provide a conclusion that needs to be answered by establishing and developing reason and evidence; this leads to a course of action. The crisis influences stakeholder's attribution. Attribution theory states that individuals seek for the cause of events, especially the negative and unexpected events. When using attribution theory

Conclusion.

Attribution theory is a vital theory is the management of crises at the workplace. Crisis communications are essential since they provide the public with crucial information throughout the crisis period. Crisis communication aims to help the organization recover from the crisis; an efficient crisis communication seeks to notify, convey, and warning information concerning the crisis. Attribution theory is essential in resolving and managing workplace crises such as COVID-19 since the theory helps understand and explain how individuals behave the way they do.

A crisis occurs in various forms, such as terrorism, floods, and diseases; its effects negatively impact the workplace. Crisis happens unexpectedly and brings about negative impacts on the workplace. Attribution theory states that people seek to find the cause of an event or a crisis when it occurs. Effective strategic planning and crisis communication is required to respond and manage a crisis effectively. Attribution theory is relevant to the current workplace crisis, which is the COVID-19 pandemic. After the crisis's eruption, people seek to understand the causes of the crisis; it is at this point where attribution steps in since it explains individuals behave the way they behave. Understanding why individuals behave the way they do, changing those attitudes and behaviors towards workplace safety during the COVID-19 crisis becomes easy through attribution theory, persuading co-workers to follow safety protocols since they understand why the safety protocols are important as measures to curb COVID-19.

Attribution Crisis Communication Theory - Assignment Example

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