Crisis Communication

Crisis communications are generally considered a sub-specialty of the public relations profession that is designed to protect and defend an individual, company, or organization facing a public challenge to its reputation. These challenges may come in the form of an investigation from a government agency, a criminal allegation, a media inquiry, a shareholders lawsuit, a violation of environmental regulations, or any of a number of other scenarios involving the legal, ethical, or financial standing of the entity.

By definition a crisis is an unexpected and detrimental situation or event. Crisis communications can play a significant role by transforming the unexpected into the anticipated and responding accordingly.

A crisis is any situation that threatens the integrity or reputation of a company, usually brought on by adverse or negative media attention. These situations can be any kind of legal dispute, theft, accident, fire, flood or manmade disaster that could be attributed to the company. It can also be a situation where in the eyes of the media or general public the company is not reacting to one of the above situations in the appropriate manner.

If handled correctly the damage can be minimized.

One thing to remember that is crucial in a crisis is tell it all, tell it fast and tell the truth. If the does this, they have done all that can to minimize the situation.

Effectively responding to the challenges of a crisis requires more than the typical skills of the public relations professional, requiring instead experience at the highest levels of the field, such as investigative reporting, politics, etc. Crisis communications can include crafting thorough and compelling statements, known as “messages,” often tested by research and polling.
Effective crisis communications strategies will typically consider achieving most, if not all, of the following objectives:

> Maintain connectivity > Allow distributed access > Streamline communication processes > Maintain information security > Ensure uninterrupted audit trails > Deliver high volume communications > Support multi-channel communications > Remove dependencies on paper based processes > Provide instant access to accurate information.

Employees play a very vital role in crisis situation, as they are the representatives of the company. Along with external constituents it is required that internal constituents be communicated of the situation. Timely communication of crisis situation helps in avoiding rumors and false facts. Management should communicate in oral and in written with its constituent’s viz. employees, stake holders, suppliers etc. These days’ companies use various means to keep its constituents informed like company newsletter, e-mail communication.

21st Century Communication Trends

Communication, data, speed, digital, security, Internet... All these words are all over the media, in most commercials and advertisements - there is no doubt that 21st century will be the century of information. And of course all the information should be accessible and here comes communication. So whether to call it Information Century or Communication Century is a bit unclear.

Borgatti's Theory identifies five trends into viz. globalization, diversity, flexibility, flat hierarchical structure and network. In some or the other way all these five trends are inter linked or connected. If organizations are going global they need to be flat and flexible to adapt to the diversities and network plays a vital role in continuous floe of information within and outside organization among the constituents.

Nations are becoming increasingly integrated through trade, foreign investment, technological advances and cultural influences. Globalization offers extensive opportunities for truly worldwide development and can be attributed to sales, management, research, and manufacturing. As a company wants to grow, it requires market expansion thus increase its visibility, exposure, and accessibility to increase the demand for the product in the markets. Globalization helps in increasing visibility of the company, increase in revenue and profits and also helps in achieving economies of scale thereby reducing production cost. Globalization has both positives and negatives associated with it.

Adoption of Flat Organization Structure is another trend, which is rapidly spreading around the corporate world. Few layers of management characterize it, Chain of Command from top to bottom is short, and span of control is wide.




Links: http://www.imf.org/external/np/exr/ib/2000/041200.htm#X

Corporate v/s Product Advertising

Corporate advertisement is usually done with an intention to reinforce corporate identity, promote its positive image and to influence about company reputation. Mostly corporate advertisement is targeted towards investors (existing and prospective), community, public, governmental departments, prospective talent pool etc. Corporate advertisement can serve dual purpose for the organization. It can help built identity, image and reputation, which are followed by increased sales and profitability.

Product advertisement on the other hand is more targeted towards a particular brand or category of products. The main purpose of product advertisement is to induce a particular brand of the product against its competitor brand by giving product features and other related details. These advertisements are targeted towards customers to increase the market share and sales. If we turn around the pages of magazines, newspapers or for that matter even TV channels, we come across many product advertisements.

Both these advertisements have their individual target audiences and medium of communication. Corporate advertisements can be found in business magazines, business section of the newspaper and news channels whereas product advertisement is more visible in any entertainment channel, gossip magazines etc.

Links: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advertising

Media Relations

Media relation plays a very important role in shaping company’s image among its stakeholders. The first and most important communication to economically essential individuals and audiences is an accurate description of what the company is and does. To be successful in today’s business environment, companies need to be open to its constituents. This openness helps company to preserve its corporate image, enhancing reputation, weathering crises, and maximizing organizational potential. Earlier the role of media relation person or spokesperson was not so well defined and there was no specific person assigned for the task of spokesperson. However with the development of communication technologies the role of spokesperson has become very vital and media relation is becoming as crucial as it was never before.

A positive relation with media by proving correct and required information helps organization create a strong public image. Media relation’s activities include helping the public to understand the organization and its products. Similar to effective advertising and promotions, effective media relations often depends on designing and implementing a well-designed media relation’s plan. The plan often includes description of what you want to convey to whom, how you plan to convey it, who is responsible for various activities and by when, and how much money is budgeted to fund these activities. Similar to advertising and promotions, a media plan can be very useful, as this helps in specifying what media methods that are used and when.

Often, message is communicated through the media that is, newspapers, television, magazines, etc. Publicity is mention in the media. Organizations usually have little control over the message in the media, at least, not as much as they do in advertising. Regarding publicity, reporters and writers decide what will be said. Thus “no comment” policy can never be an option while talking to media. The media has the power to build organization up or knock it down, but it will likely have no interest in doing so if organization provides all the required information, co-operate and play by the book.

Internal Communication

Internal communications, also known as employee relations, includes all communication within an organization. Internal communications may be oral or written, face to face or virtual, one-on-one or in a small group.

Effective internal communication - which can be said to be "downward, upward, and horizontal" - is a vital means of addressing organizational concerns. Good internal communication helps to establish formal roles and responsibilities for employees. Listening to employees (an integral part of two-way communication) enables management to identify strengths and weaknesses, which helps in the process of decision making, and fosters esprit du corps.

Internal communications helps employees to understand the organization's vision, values, and culture. Furthermore, internal communication, when implemented effectively, can be crucial in a time of crisis, providing employees with not only a strategy to handle a crisis, but the facts surrounding such an event. As arguably some of the most invested individuals in an organization, trusted and valued employees can prove to be excellent partners when addressing a crisis. By maintaining open lines of communication between management and employees, effective internal communications can enhance stronger relationships throughout all levels of the organization.
Excellent internal communications cannot simply be implemented and left alone; the process must be ever-changing and adaptable for success.

Some of the features of Internal communication are,
Transparent and timely (when details have been confirmed and approved, messages should be presented to employees before any external public);
Clear;
Concise;
Informative;
Independent.

Some of the channels of Internal Communication adopted by the companies are,
Intranet,
A regular Town Hall (an informal session where employees can listen to and talk with the organizational representative such as a managing director, CEO, etc),
Conference calls,
Internal newsletters,
E-mail,
Message boards,
Print materials and Virtual meetings.

Common Causes of Problems in Internal Communications.

1. Attitude of ‘If I know it, then everyone must know it’, practiced by top management.
2. Assumption of ‘I told everyone, or some people, or...?’.
3. Negligence on the part of peers quoting like, ‘Our problems are too big to have to listen to each other!’

Links: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internal_communications
http://www.managementhelp.org/mrktng/org_cmm.htm

Communication Relevance

Communicating professional knowledge is a key activity for today’s specialized workforce.

The efficient and effective transfer of experiences, insights, and know-how among different experts and decision makers is a prerequisite for high-quality decision-making and coordinated organizational action. Situations of such deliberate knowledge transfer through interpersonal communication or group conversations can be found in many business constellations.

Experts from various domains need to share their views and insights regarding a common goal in order to agree on a common rating of risks, requirements, industries or clients. Project leaders need to present their results to the upper management and share their experiences of past projects in order to assess the potential of new project candidates. Scientists who work as drug developers present new avenues for future products those business unit managers must assess.

Market researchers present their statistical analyses of recent consumer surveys to the head of marketing. Strategy consultants present the findings of their strategic company assessment to the board of directors in order to devise adequate measures.

What these diverse situations all have in common is the problem of knowledge asymmetry, which has to be resolved through interpersonal communication. While the manager typically has the authority to make strategic or tactical decisions, he often lacks the specialized expertise required to make an informed decision on a complex issue. Because of the wide scope of decisions that need to be made, a manager frequently has to delegate the decision preparation to experts who – based on their professional training and previous experience – can analyze complex situations or technological options in a more reliable manner. The results of such analyses then need to be communicated back to the manager, often under considerable time constraints.
The knowledge communication challenge, however, begins long before that, at the time when the manager has to convey his or her knowledge needs and decision constraints to the experts in order to delegate the analysis task effectively.

Links:
http://www.knowledge-communication.org/Research%20Note%20on%20Knowledge%20Communication%20and%20Management%202.0.pdf

Communication Technologies

Communication is a process that allows beings - in particular humans - to exchange information by one of several methods. Communication requires that some kinds of symbols from a kind of language are exchanged. There are auditory means, such as speaking or singing, and nonverbal, physical means, such as body language, sign language, paralanguage, touch or eye contact.
Communication happens at many levels (even for one single action), in many different ways, and for all beings, and some machines. Communication is usually described along a few major dimensions:
Content (what type of things are communicated)
Source (by whom)
Form (in which form)
Channel (through which medium)
Destination/Receiver (to whom)
Purpose/Pragmatic aspect (with what kind of results)

Between parties, communication content include, acts that declare knowledge and experiences, give advice and commands, and ask questions. These acts may take many forms, including all variations of nonverbal communication. The form depends on the symbol systems used. Together, communication content and form make messages that are sent towards a destination. The target can be oneself, another person (in interpersonal communication), or another entity (such as a corporation or group).

As a process, communication has synonyms such as expressing feelings, conversing, speaking, corresponding, writing, listening and exchanging. Communication is often formed around the principles of respect, promises and the want for social improvement. People communicate to satisfy needs in both their work and non-work lives. People want to be heard, to be appreciated and to be wanted. They also want to accomplish tasks and to achieve goals. Obviously, then, a major purpose of communication is to help people feel good about themselves and about their friends, groups, and organizations. For these types of communication, there must be a transmission of thoughts, ideas and feelings from one mind to another.


Forms of Communication
Non-verbal
Nonverbal communication is the act of imparting or interchanging thoughts, opinions or information without the use of words, using gestures, sign language, facial expressions and body language instead. Much of the “emotional meaning” we take from other people is found in the person’s facial expressions and tone of voice, comparatively little is taken from what the person actually says (More Than Talk).

Language
A language is a syntactically organized system of signals, such as voice sounds, intonations or pitch, gestures or, written symbols which communicate thoughts or feelings. If a language is about communicating with signals, voice, sounds, gestures, or
Human spoken and written languages can be described as a system of symbols and the grammars by which the symbols are manipulated. The word "language" is also used to refer to common properties of languages.

Channels / Media
The beginning of human communication through artificial channels, i.e. not vocalization or gestures, goes back to ancient cave paintings, drawn maps, and writing.
The adoption of a dominant communication medium is important enough that historians have folded civilization into "ages" according to the medium most widely used. The media effects what people think about themselves and how they perceive people as well. What we think about self image and what others should look like comes from the media.
Digital and computer communication shows concrete evidence of changing the way humans organize. The latest trend in communication, termed smartmobbing, involves ad-hoc organization through mobile devices, allowing for effective many-to-many communication and social networking.

Electronic media
The previous century was a revolution in telecommunications, which has greatly altered communication by providing new media for long distance communication. The common communication channels via analogue and digital media are,
Analog telecommunications include traditional telephony, radio, and TV broadcasts.
Digital telecommunications allow for computer-mediated communication, telegraphy, and computer networks.
Communications media impact more than the reach of messages. Modern communication media allows for intense long-distance exchanges between larger numbers of people (many-to-many communication via e-mail, Internet forums). On the other hand, many traditional broadcast media and mass media favor one-to-many communication (television, cinema, radio, newspaper, magazines).

Mass media
Mass media is a term used to denote, as a class, that section of the media specifically conceived and designed to reach a very large audience (typically at least as large as the whole population of a nation state). The mass-media audience have been viewed by some commentators as forming a mass society with special characteristics, notably atomization or lack of social connections, which render it especially susceptible to the influence of modern mass-media techniques such as advertising and propaganda.

Reference:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communication