An integrated crisis communication framework for strategic crisis communication with the media: A case study on a financial services provider

Abstract

In order for organisations to survive in an ever-changing milieu in the current business environment, sufficient crisis communication and management practices need to be in place. Despite this, organisational crises are often inefficiently managed, which could be ascribed to the lack of strategic management of crises (Kash & Darling 1998: 180). This article explores the lack of strategic crisis communication processes to ensure effective crisis communication with the media as stakeholder group. It is based on the premise that the media are one of the main influencers of public opinion (Pollard & Hotho 2006: 725), thereby necessitating the need for the accurate distribution of information. Furthermore, the study focuses specifically on the financial industry, which is arguably more sensitive and thus more prone to media reporting because financial services providers manage people's money (Squier 2009). A strategic crisis communication process with the media is therefore proposed, facilitated through an integrated crisis communication framework, proposing a combination of integrated communication (IC) literature, with emphasis on Grunig's theory of communication excellence, to build sustainable media relationships through two-way communication; and a crisis communication process that has proactive, reactive and post-evaluative crisis communication stages, thereby moving away from seeing crisis communication as a predominantly reactive function.     

Towards a new model to describe the organisation–stakeholder relationship-building process: A strategic corporate communication perspective

Abstract

Successful organisations depend on stakeholder perceptions to address changes in turbulent organisational environments, report on the social and environmental impact of activities, the prevalence of public activism, globalisation, emerging issues and crises, and the need to be good corporate citizens through ethical and socially responsible behaviour. Despite the current emphasis on stakeholder relations and management, a lack of research exists on how to build these relationships. This article aims to report and discuss the findings of a study that explored the lack of organisation–stakeholder relationship (OSR) building models, to emphasise the elements and development of an OSR and highlight the need for a generic, strategic, integrated approach for sustainable OSR to contribute towards organisational effectiveness. This will be done using an exploratory literature review to constitute a conceptual framework for OSR building, of which the principles of the framework will be measured among leading Johannesburg Stock Exchange-listed South African organisations, by means of a quantitative web-based survey and qualitative one-on-one interviews. The dominant focus on organisational stakeholders has provided added impetus and importance to the role of corporate communication, hence, this article will simultaneously endeavour to highlight the importance of practising corporate communication strategically, by emphasising its role in OSR.     

变动中的北极治理国际法律体系及中国的挑战和机遇

现行的北极治理国际法律体系不足以应对由于全球变暖、海冰融化所带来的挑战,处在变化、重构之中。中国应把握机遇、采取灵活务实的态度、利用现有的各种国际平台,比如国际海事组织、联合国粮农组织、北极理事会等机构,在诸如极地航行船舶强制性规则的制定、斯瓦尔巴德群岛周边海域法律地位等问题上最大化中国的国家利益。     

“Conservation” as a Catalyst for Conflict: Considering Stakeholder Understanding in Policy Making

Stakeholder negotiation processes are increasingly used in environmental management, but are often difficult due to values differences among stakeholders. These values can be reflected in the language used by stakeholders, which may lead to conflict in negotiation processes. This study investigated whether there are widespread differences among Colorado water stakeholders in how they define the term “conservation,” a key value and policy term, and whether this leads to conflict in negotiations. Using multiple methods in a cross‐sectional case study, use of the term and possible policy implications were analyzed. Stakeholder respondents in this study who had experienced difficulty in water negotiations also perceived a higher degree of miscommunication in their negotiations. The most important finding presented here suggests that clarity of language and transparent discussion of key value‐representative terms may aid in stakeholder negotiations, and that minority stakeholders may be more aware of values and language differences than their majority counterparts.     

从“战略竞争者”到“利益相关者”：美国对华战略定位转变与台湾问题——一种建构主义的分析视角

身份、认同和利益对美国对华战略定位的变化有着重要的影响。小布什政府上台后,美国对华战略定位经历了从“战略竞争者”到“负责任的利益相关者”的转变。“利益相关者”意味着美国开始考虑以非敌对的心态接受中国作为崛起中大国的身份。希望与中国在强调共同利益中与美国和美国主导下的国际社会建立集体认同。规范中国崛起的政策行为,鼓励中国承担相应的责任。在“利益相关人”的战略定位下,中美在台湾问题上的核心矛盾不可能改变,但反对“台独”有望成为中美共同的“义务”和“责任”,美国会强化要求中国以“负责任的”和平方式解决台湾问题,并以台湾的“民主”作为样板,迫使中国接受和融入西方的民主价值理念。     

The public affairs of internationalisation: balancing pressures from multiple environments

Managing public affairs is a very complex task for internationalising firms. Multinational companies (MNCs) are not only single organisations operating in a global environment, but at the same time they are collections of interlinked subsidiaries that operate in a diversity of national environments. This paper investigates conceptually how subsidiaries of MNCs build relationships with internal MNC counterparts and external market and non‐market actors as they mature and build resources and capabilities. It shows that, in order to understand the dynamics of public affairs management in MNCs, we need to study the relationships of MNCs and their subsidiaries with a variety of stakeholders in the internal and external environment of the organisation. Copyright © 2004 Henry Stewart Publications     

Managing the reputation of restructuring corporations: send the right signal to the right stakeholder

When restructuring their operations, companies intend to minimise environmental uncertainty; however, corporate restructuring increases the unintended uncertainty for stakeholders, as constituents often lack the information or understanding on how ongoing reorganisations would affect them. This paper proposes to manage restructuring through reputations, ie send information signals to the constituents. This contribution analyses the problems of reputation, integrating knowledge on information efficiency and information problems, and proposes five tasks of reputation management of restructuring corporations: release more information, release consistent information, simplify information, reach your stakeholders and reach competitors' stakeholder(s). Copyright © 2004 Henry Stewart Publications     

北极地缘政治的多尺度特征——兼论北极问题与南海问题的本质不同

随着北冰洋海冰融化速度的加快,北极的国际关注程度逐渐增加,北极权益的争夺也愈演愈烈。由于北极地区的特殊性和复杂性,北冰洋沿岸国和非北冰洋沿岸国都试图寻找符合本国利益诉求的战略定位,因此导致目前北极地区的相关概念混乱不清,不利于北极问题的可持续性解决,也有可能演化成地区冲突。本文探讨了北极地缘政治的多尺度特征,包括地理区域尺度、地缘安全区域尺度、地缘政治区域尺度和地缘经济区域尺度的特征,并在此基础上辨析了北极地区的北冰洋沿岸国与北极国家、"近北极国家"与北极利益攸关者、大北极国家与泛北极共同体等相关概念;并对北极问题和南海问题进行了正确区分,阐述了北极问题和南海问题在本质上的不同之处。明确北极地缘政治的多尺度特征及相关概念,才能更加有利于我国的北极可持续发展建设实践,也能够避免其他国家将北极与南海相提并论,避免干扰我国南海权益的正当维护和北极权益的正当争取。     

The coordination of policy priorities among regional institutions from the Baltic Sea to the Arctic: the institutions – coordination dilemma

We examine the coordination of policy priorities among the Arctic Council, the Barents Euro-Arctic Council, the Council of Baltic Sea States, and the Nordic Council of Ministers. The member states of these groups established these institutions to coordinate their regional cooperation. However, the member states ended up having to coordinate the parallel work of these institutions. This coordination effort influenced their cooperation, creating an institutional coordination dilemma. We analyze how interests, leadership, and identity politics influence this dilemma and how negative, problem-solving, and positive forms of coordination can amend its effects regarding the temporal consistency of policy priorities and their sectoral overlap.     

利益相关者理论的金融机构治理分析

公司治理是有关公司控制权的一系列正式和非正式的制度安排,涉及公司内部各利益主体和外部利益相关者的权力分配,单纯以公司内部讨论公司治理结构已不能完全解释公司治理的诸多问题,公司治理不仅限于通过股东会、董事会、监事会及管理层所构成的治理结构为基础的内部治理,而是公司内外所有利益相关者通过一系列内部机构和外部机制来实施的共同治理。