Crisis Communication
Ing. Šárka Zapletalová, Ph.D.
Katedra Podnikové ekonomiky a managementu
KRIZOVÝ MANAGEMENT

•One of the types of communication in crisis and before the crisis.
•Standard communication in a non-standard situation.
•Specific form of social communication.
•It is a crisis management tool and is part of crisis scenarios.
•It is about interpersonal, interpersonal, group and mass communication
Prostor pro doplňující informace, poznámky
Crisis Communication

1.unpreparedness
2.unconscious
3.ignorance
4.silence
5.withdrawal
6.fabrications
7.naivety
•
Prostor pro doplňující informace, poznámky
Mortal Sins of Crisis Communication (Antušák, 2009)

•The purpose of crisis communication is
–releasing the right information at the right time and in the right place, thus achieving the
timely preparedness of authorities and elements of crisis management for follow-up;
–reduce public uncertainty, thereby helping to ensure their "effective" behavior;
–prevent or at least mitigate the extent of negative publicity damaging the reputation of the
organization.
•The subject of crisis communication is the communication of information:
–between and within the authorities and elements of the crisis management system;
–the public, the media, experts, forensic experts and law enforcement authorities;
–subordinates, employees of the company, family members and other interested legal and natural
persons.
Prostor pro doplňující informace, poznámky
Purpose and Subject of Crisis Communication

•principle of direct responsibility
•principle of independence
•principle of accuracy and brevity
•principle of credibility
•principle of knowledge of things
•principle of expected response worst case principle
•principle of seeking support
•principle of truth
•principle of openness
Prostor pro doplňující informace, poznámky
Principles of Crisis Communication (Hálek, 2008)

The emergence of the crisis
•The greatest intensity of communication, speed, truthfulness, unambiguity
•
The course of the crisis
•Decrease in communication intensity
The final phase of the crisis
•Increasing the intensity of communication
Prostor pro doplňující informace, poznámky
Crisis communication during crisis proceedings

•appear before employees and clearly provide them with unpleasant information (what the situation
is) so as to prevent the spread of rumors, misinformation and distortions;
•to inform employees what it means for them and what is expected of them in order for the company
to be able to get out of the crisis (temporary reduction of salaries, increased efforts, partial
redundancies, etc.);
•explain the next steps and present the vision of the future so that key employees, informal
leaders and important employees can be recruited.
Prostor pro doplňující informace, poznámky
Internal crisis communication

•Media character, communication with the external public through the media - creating a media image
(media image)
•
•Recipients of external crisis communication: Customers Investors Government, regional and local
actors Insurance companies and lawyers
Prostor pro doplňující informace, poznámky
External Crisis Communication

•It is an event, sometimes more, sometimes less significant, which becomes the subject of an agenda
that the media informs in detail.
•The main goal of the company in case of a media-exposed problem is to solve the problem
satisfactorily.
•Ways of solution: the problem of being publicly acknowledged to an extent that declare that there
is no recurrence of the present (move it to the past) declare that it is now being worked on not to
repeat itself.
Prostor pro doplňující informace, poznámky
Exposed media image

•The sharply negative media image is created by combining several exposed problems together. The
media creates a negative image of a company that is the "embodiment of evil".
•
Possible Solution:
•Solution of the overall media image
•Introduction of means to improve the media image
•Increasing active positive communication with the media
•Increasing contacts with journalists
Prostor pro doplňující informace, poznámky
Extremely negative media image

•The managed campaign is reflected in negative comments and information about the company in
various media at regular intervals and with increasing importance. Mentions tend to escalate into
larger media problems. They are often not based on any facts or, conversely, information that is
not commonly available.
•
Campaign sources:
•Employees
•Business Partners
•Competition
•Dissatisfied customers
Prostor pro doplňující informace, poznámky
Managed campaign

•Imbalances are manifested in texts that are essentially related to the problem of the company or
interest, where the company is not mentioned or only very marginally.
•
•Preference is given to competition that the company considers to be less significant.
•
•The competition is getting significantly more space.
Prostor pro doplňující informace, poznámky
Imbalances

•Responsive press releases and statements
•Press conferences on media-exposed issues
•Media lobbying
•Crisis advertising
•Striving for social activation
•Media patronage by the authorities
•Concentration / dispersion of the source of the problem
•Externalization of the problem
•
Prostor pro doplňující informace, poznámky
Media image enhancers (Bednář, 2011)

•Communication
•Organizational security of crisis communication
•Choosing the right medium
•
Prostor pro doplňující informace, poznámky
Effective crisis communication

•Identification and knowledge of target recipients
•The aim of creating a message is to convey the maximum amount of information that the audience
will be able to perceive, understand and remember.
•
Basic recommendations for the formulation of the communication:
•provide a message that promotes kindness, openness and commitment;
•the communication should not only contain technical data and information;
•the communication should help build credibility;
•the communication should be structured and organized, limiting the information to only three key
messages, message always short (range 7 - 12 words);
•repetition of key information
Prostor pro doplňující informace, poznámky
Communication

•Communication team
•Spokesperson
•External expert
Prostor pro doplňující informace, poznámky
Organizational Security of Crisis Communication

•Internal crisis communication - reports, press releases, fact summaries, websites, meetings with
employees, telephone information lines, intranet, e-mail, articles in the internal press, etc.
•External crisis communication direct - reports, SMS messages, leaflets, community meetings,
newspaper articles, websites, telephone information lines, home visits, radio and TV, billboards,
summaries of facts, manuals, instructional films and videos, letters, etc.
•External crisis communication via media - press releases, press conferences, clear fact sheets,
personal visits, websites, e-mail, etc.
Prostor pro doplňující informace, poznámky
Choosing the Right Medium

Crisis communication planning parts:
•Acute situation management (short-term and fast)
•Consequence recovery (medium term)
•Prevention of similar situations in the future (long-term)
Crisis communication planning procedure:
•Performing threat analysis and comparison of possible crises
•Awareness of opportunities and setting goals and tasks of crisis communication
•Determining the main building blocks of crisis communication
•Formulation of basic topics of crisis communication
•Selection and comparison of alternatives
•Elaboration of a crisis communication plan
•Implementation of an accepted model of crisis communication within the organization
Prostor pro doplňující informace, poznámky
Crisis Communication Planning

•The spectrum of strategies in reputational crises is wide and the boundaries between them are
permeable.
•There are no clear solutions.
•Generally speaking, crises (or responsibility for them) can either be denied or accepted, either
in full or in part.
•The theory usually recommends full acceptance.
•deny - diminish - deal.
Prostor pro doplňující informace, poznámky
Communication Strategies in Crisis

•"There is no crisis."
•"The crisis exists, but we have no responsibility for its outbreak."
•"There is a crisis, but it has nothing to do with us."
•This approach is ethically justifiable only if it is based on truth.
•Even if you deny the crisis, you must thoroughly explain the whole situation and the attitude of
the organization to the media.
Prostor pro doplňující informace, poznámky
Communication Strategies in Crisis: Deny-denial Strategies

•Partial acceptance of responsibility, efforts to reduce the impact of the crisis on the reputation
of the organization.
•Efforts to weaken the link between society and the crisis. An attempt to show that the problems
also have other causes and causes, or that the problems are not as great as presented by the media
or opponents.
•An effort to put events into a broader context.
•An attempt to present a different perspective.
Prostor pro doplňující informace, poznámky
Communication Strategies in Crisis: Strategies diminish

•Accept full responsibility.
•Controlled openness, cooperation with the media.
•Efforts to resolve the crisis and repair the damage, preventive measures for the future.
•Active steps in finding an agreement with the injured party.
•It has been shown many times in the past that if an organization has really made a mistake, it
pays to admit responsibility.
•An honest and proactive approach will usually prevent far greater losses associated with the
complete destruction of the company's reputation.
Prostor pro doplňující informace, poznámky
Communication Strategies in Crisis: Deal Strategy

Distraction.
•An effort to shift the attention of the public and the media to another agenda.
•Common in politics (film Shake the Dog).
•Ethically questionable.
Offer a different perspective
•Comparison with another similar event.
•Emphasizing minimal impact.
•Transfer to another, more favorable context (transcendence).
•A reminder of past merits and "good deeds".
Complete reversal of the angle of view
Prostor pro doplňující informace, poznámky
Tactical Variants

Problem concentration
•An attempt to translate the core of the problem into a single cause "It's all to blame ...".
Scapegoat
•Dispelling the problem
•Finding the core of the problem in many small factors
•Emphasizing the complexity of the matter
Externalization of the problem
•An attempt to move the core of the problem out of the corporation and out of the zone that can
affect "The supplier is responsible for everything (government, unions ...)".
•May lead to "ping-pong"
•The corporation itself is a victim (force majeure, competitive attack, employee malice).
•Problems are the result of provocation.
•The company could not influence or prevent the event in any way, it had no control over it.
•The company had good intentions.
•It was an accident.
Prostor pro doplňující informace, poznámky
Tactical Variants

•Apology: Only if the organization has made a real mistake and accepts full responsibility.
•Expression of regret: Appropriate even if the organization is not the sole or main culprit.
•The promise of victim compensation.
•Active damage repair.
•Take measures to ensure that the situation does not recur.
Inappropriate tactics:
•"If they do, so can we."
•"Nobody ever minded."
•"In the end, it always turned out well."
Prostor pro doplňující informace, poznámky
Tactical Variants

Spin doctoring
•Reckless enforcement of the perspective that is most beneficial to the organization;
•Manipulation, lies, half-truths, doublespeak, propaganda.
Astroturfing
•Creating the misleading impression that the public (customers, readers, listeners ...) has a
certain attitude, prefers a certain product or has a certain opinion on a certain topic;
•Fake reader letters, phlogs, klaka, activity in social networks.
Prostor pro doplňující informace, poznámky
Ethically Questionable Communication Strategies