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Medientyp:
E-Artikel
Titel:
Developing internal crisis communication : New roles and practices of communication professionals
:
New roles and practices of communication professionals
Beteiligte:
Heide, Mats;
Simonsson, Charlotte
Erschienen:
Emerald, 2014
Erschienen in:Corporate Communications: An International Journal
Sprache:
Englisch
DOI:
10.1108/ccij-09-2012-0063
ISSN:
1356-3289
Entstehung:
Anmerkungen:
Beschreibung:
<jats:sec>
<jats:title content-type="abstract-heading">Purpose</jats:title>
<jats:p> – The article has two major purposes. The first purpose is to examine the roles and practices of communication professionals in relation to internal aspects of crisis communication. The second is to suggest new roles and practices for communication professionals that will enable a strategic approach to internal crisis communication. This article is based on empirical material from a larger three-year research project that focuses on internal crisis communication at a university hospital (UH) in Sweden. </jats:p>
</jats:sec>
<jats:sec>
<jats:title content-type="abstract-heading">Design/methodology/approach</jats:title>
<jats:p> – This article is based on empirical material from a larger, three-year research project that focuses on internal crisis communication at a university hospital (UH). For the purpose of this article the authors have mainly analysed transcripts of 24 semi-structured interviews that lasted 1-1.5 hours each. The authors chose to interview both communication professionals and other key persons/crisis managers in order to have the role and practices of communication professionals elucidated not only from the perspective of communication professionals themselves. </jats:p>
</jats:sec>
<jats:sec>
<jats:title content-type="abstract-heading">Findings</jats:title>
<jats:p> – A conclusion from the case study is that communication professionals have a rather limited role in internal crisis communication. Their role is primarily focused on information distribution through the intranet, even though they are also involved in strategic managerial work during the acute stage of the crisis. The communication professionals are first and foremost called for once the crisis has already occurred, which can be seen as a “communication on demand” approach, which limits a strategic orientation. In this paper some new roles and practices for communication professionals are suggested, which involve a strategic approach and cover all the stages of crisis. </jats:p>
</jats:sec>
<jats:sec>
<jats:title content-type="abstract-heading">Research limitations/implications</jats:title>
<jats:p> – Future research needs to go deeper into the practices and processes of these roles. </jats:p>
</jats:sec>
<jats:sec>
<jats:title content-type="abstract-heading">Practical implications</jats:title>
<jats:p> – Important prerequisites for fulfilling a strategic role as a communication professional are membership of the board, diversified communication roles, a developed managerial role, being closer to core operations, and legitimacy. </jats:p>
</jats:sec>
<jats:sec>
<jats:title content-type="abstract-heading">Originality/value</jats:title>
<jats:p> – The absence of a strategic crisis management thinking and discourse in organisations delimits communication professionals to a technical role rather than a managerial and strategic role. Taking internal crisis communication seriously and adopting a broader view of crises will raise new demands on communication professionals, which go beyond the operational and tactical roles in the acute phase of a crisis.</jats:p>
</jats:sec>