An exploration of the role of communication during the in-crisis situation | Zendy

Tanya Le Roux | Zendy

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An exploration of the role of communication during the in-crisis situation

Author(s) -

Tanya Le Roux

Publication year - 2013

Publication title -

jàmbá journal of disaster risk studies

Language(s) - English

Resource type - Journals

SCImago Journal Rank - 0.424

H-Index - 12

eISSN - 2072-845X

pISSN - 1996-1421

DOI - 10.4102/jamba.v5i2.67

Subject(s) - crisis communication , corporate communication , confusion , public relations , organizational communication , business , crisis management , term (time) , desk , exploratory research , political science , psychology , stakeholder , sociology , law , physics , quantum mechanics , anthropology , psychoanalysis

‘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 post-crisis 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.

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