Week 1
Literature
Chapter 1 – Defining CC
Central themes
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Corporate communication is both professional practice and theoretical inquiry
Practitioner views on corporate communication emphasise vocational skills and
management competencies
Strategic management views corporate communication as the most relevant and best
perspective for a professional area of practice
Corporate communications is different from other forms of professional communication
because of its basis in corporate perspective, the stakeholders it addresses and the
management activities which fall under its jurisdiction
Traditional views of theory and practice in CC
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Traditionally academics have considered all kinds of practice (mediation in academia,
intervention, consultancy etc.) to be detrimental to the overall academic enterprise of
fundamental research
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The researcher focuses on the wider and more abstract themes and relations among
concepts
The practitioner focuses on a specific problem with the intention of designing strategies to
deal with it
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Theory formed basis of CC practice
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Theory and practice should and do intersect
o Example – reputation institute which develops measures that academically based
but still usable within practice
How to ‘use’ CC theory in practice
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Instrumental use – The traditional view of theory uses where theory is seen to provide
rational solutions to managerial problems in a direct and instrumental way. Very rare as
most theories are not directly applicable and have to be adapted in some way to fit the
problem the manager is facing
Conceptual use – When theory offers ideas, problem definitions and interpretative schemes
as tools for practitioners to use for anticipating and understanding real world problems. The
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impact of conceptual use is that it is less direct and more interpretable than instrumental
use. Makes up most of theory use within CC. For example: when a concept is known and
then adapted to fit the practitioners needs
Symbolic use – The use of terms from CC theories by practitioners for their rhetorical or
symbolic value to legitimise chosen actions and appease senior management. Essentially
used as leverage and validation, no actual applying or adapting as we see with instrumental
or conceptual use.
Reflective practitioners
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Reflective – Practitioners who revise and review their strategies based on academic
concepts, with a greater understanding of their own process. By having theory constantly
challenge, reinforce and generally inform their strategies, reflexive practitioners are more
flexible, find it easier to transfer skills and are overall more sophisticated in their handling of
the problems they encounter.
Theory and practice perspectives on CC
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Academic is guided by a desire to establish theoretical frameworks which describe, map and
explain how organizations communicate and manage relationships with their stakeholders
Practitioners are concerned with what competencies and skills are necessary to solve or
handle these relationships and trajectories of professional development involved.
Basis of the theoretical field of CC
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Communications theory – Focus on rhetorical strategies and symbolism within messages
issued by an organization and the effects that these may have on individuals and society
o Rhetorical analysis (which finds its basis in communications theory) concerns itself
with the phenomenon, process, and effects of communications. Rhetorical scholars
believe that this symbolism is the how and why relationships between stakeholders,
the public and organisations change
Management theory – Concerns itself with the management processes that professionals
use to build relationships with stakeholders. Communicating is a means to an end, with the
end being building and maintaining favourable relationships with stakeholders. Focused on
planning, analysis, programming, evaluative and tactical activities used for communications
campaigns
o Systems theory – For organisations to be effective, they must concern themselves
with their environment. CC is a critical subunit of management functioning.
Managers must control conflict and negotiate between demands of the
environment and the survivability and success of the organisation.
Practice perspectives on CC
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Vocational perspective – a manager who is logical while being creative
Management perspective – Practitioners who use research and planning as the foundation
for their communication programmes and are able to think strategically about the use of
communications
CC can be seen as a management function
Corporate, management and business communications
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Corporate communication – focuses on the organization as a whole and how the
organization is presented to stakeholders both internal and external (reputation)
Business communications – More technical and applied within the organization, with a focus
on skills such as writing and presenting. Focuses on the directly on the communicator
Management competencies – Need to analyse to position and reputation of their
corporation, determine the corporate identity (e.g. values) and create strategies to project
the desired identity and garner the reputation
Corporate communication as a management function
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CC as a management function is actively charged with overseeing and coordinating the work
done by practitioners
CC is also an instrument of management through which all forms of internal and external
communication are effectively used to create favourable relationships with stakeholders
Strategic management
o Professionals need to reflect and be critical of their actions and need to adapt and
change strategies dependent on corporate objectives
o Need to be able to use CC as a management function
o CC is value for the strategic opportunities it can offer corporate strategy and not just
for its operational uses within already existing operations (operational management)
Characteristics of CC as a management function
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Practitioners look at all communications with the belief that they are all connected and link
the communications strategy to the corporate strategy and objectives
CC is a managerial framework used to build and maintain reputation with stakeholders
There is a vocabulary of concepts and sets of techniques used to understand and manage
communication internally and externally between the organization and its stakeholders.
Overall definition of CC
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CC is a management function that offers a framework and vocabulary for the effective
coordination of all means of communication with the overall purpose of building and
maintaining favourable relationships with stakeholders.
Key terms for CC
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Mission – the overriding purpose of an organization which falls in line with their values and
the expectations of major shareholders
Vision/strategic intent – desired future state of the organization
Objectives and goals – The short-term statements meant to help achieve the vision
Strategies – include objectives but are more long-term and are often specified to specific
functions (such as finance)
Corporate identity – The basic profile that an organization wants to project to its
stakeholders
Corporate image – The temporary impression of the company
Reputation – The overall view of the company
Seminar
Corporate communication is
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A management function
Offers a framework for effective coordination between internal and external
Overall purpose of establishing and maintaining favourable reputations
The organization is dependent on stakeholder groups
Function
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Internal
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o HR and Employee communication (structure as issue)
External
o Corporate social responsibility reputation
o Image
 Link to customer relations
 Based on one moment in time/fleeting
o Reputation
 Built over time – long term
o Identity
 How you see yourself
Issue
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Privacy
o See Facebook during 2016 elections (Cambridge analytics)
Structure
Greenwashing vs greenwashing
o Overcommunicating about very little or under communicating about doing good linking sustainability to a lack of quality and an increase in prices
Customer relations
The great resignation – Covid phenomenon
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Mass leaving of jobs – America centric
Readjustment of values
Changed conception of what work experience and employee experience should be
Stealing the thunder
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Strategy of coming forward first about an issue – control the narrative
Week 2 – Corporate communication as a field
Literature
Chapter 2 – Corporate communications in contemporary organizations
Chapter 3 – Corporate communication in a changing media environment
Chapter 2 – historical perspective
Central themes
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By the early 1900s, every organization realized (albeit at first rather reluctantly) that it had
to engage through communications with stakeholders in its environment, including the
general public and consumer markets, to remain economically afloat
The task of managing communications between an organization was defined as marketing
functions and the general public and consumer communication was defined as public
relations for the majority of the twentieth century
Through socio-economic developments, and the practical need to coordinate and draw
communications disciplines together, public relations and marketing functions got
integrated into the corporate communications function
Many organizations around the globe have experienced a shift from being in markets
characterized by rigid systems of mass production and consumption to more flexible and
increasingly competitive marketplaces. This, together with a greater call from society for
‘corporate citizenship’, has pushed many organizations into stakeholder management
strategies
Corporate communications is the management function born in this stakeholder era, and
caters for the need to build and manage relationships with stakeholder groups upon which
the organization is economically and socially dependent
Historic models of public relations
Professional development of public relations
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Due to public scepticism, political reform, turmoil and activism throughout the twentieth
century
Couldn’t get away with private relations – Making decisions without concern for stakeholder
(governmental or public) opinion
New groups came into power post industrial revolution spurring a greater need for
consideration and public relations as a field expanded
Went from persuasion to dialogue and relationship building
Professional development of marketing
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Happened because expanding of marketing communications opportunities and increased
competition postproduction era
‘I sell, you buy’ narrative was outdated
Sales Orientation - Energetic personal selling, backed by research, promotions and
advertising and spurred on through increased competition
During the 1950s marketing became a managerial discipline
Moved from an ‘inside-out’ to an ‘outside-in’ approach in its handling of the relationships
between an organization and (potential) customers
Moved from direct persuasion to indirect exerting of power to create favourable conditions
and mutuality
Marketing and public relations together
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Marketing public relations – the publicizing of news and events related to the launching and
promotion of products or services that effectively involves the use of public relations
techniques for marketing purposes
Examples of successful marketing public relations
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Marketing and public relations were further combined when academics (van der Meiden)
stated that they were asymmetrical. One moves in accordance with the other, but they are
still distinct enough that they do not have to be fused
Overlap between marketing and public relations
Early instances of integration include the introduction of these concepts
o IMC – Integrated marketing communications
o IC – Integrated communications
o Corporate communication
Drivers for integration
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Primarily proposed by researcher Anders Gronstedt
Changes part of CC and communication management
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A greater consolidation of communications disciplines
o
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Corporate affairs - media relations, government relations, employee
communications, community relations, investor relations, corporate design, and
issues management
o Public relations/communications
o Marketing - branding, advertising, promotions and direct marketing
Increased coordination from a corporate perspective
o Having a managerial framework made of coordinating public relations and
marketing communications counters the issues that previous fragmentation created
o IMC has lost ground to corporate communications as the guiding managerial
framework for communications management as IMC focuses too wholly on the
marketing perspective
More input of communications into management decision making
o Efforts to affirm and formalize the strategic involvement of communications in a
corporate setting – CCOs becoming members of the board
Rise of the corporate communications manager
o New style manager who can take a more strategic and holistic perspective on
communications, and is also more business savvy than his/her predecessors
Adoption of the vocabulary and concepts of CC
Questions to ask
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What exactly were the socio-economic forces which caused the integration of marketing
functions and public relations which created cc?
Chapter 3 – Theoretical perspective
Types of organizational identity research methods
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Cobweb – Senior managers coming together and sharing views on the key characteristics of
the organization. They brainstorm and then refine down to the 8 most important attributes
which the organization should be rated on. Only considers managerial perspectives
Focus group – Broader group of representatives and their views are often more detailed
and diverse. Starts with a brainstorming session, which are then synthesised
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Projective techniques – including cognitive mapping and repertory grids, this method is
meant to draw out more detailed feelings about the organization, usually using ambiguous
visual aids. The thematic apperception test is very common, with researchers finding
themes in stories concerning the organization
Laddering – Used to infer basic values that guide people’s work in the organization. It
involves interviews based on employee experience of their work, which are used to decipher
underlying values, leading to important insights
Audit – Structured research method that asks people to select from a list of characteristics
what best describes the company, whose answers are then screened. Easy but not very
detailed.
Identity and reputation
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Stronger identity = better reputation. This is because it acts as a differentiation signal and
that a brand is more legitimate and respected for it
An alignment of reputation and identity is transparency
Transparency definition – The internal identity positively reflects the expectations of key
stakeholders and that key stakeholders’ conceptions accurately reflects the internal identity
CSR and stakeholders
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Corporate social responsibility definition – the responsibility for actions which do not have
purely financial implications, and which are demanded by some identifiable contract
(implicit or explicit)
CSR is both a method of accountability for organizations, as well as a way to boost their
reputation – hard to tell if actions coming from CSR are moral or for appearances
The triple bottom line – People, planet and profits (John Elkington). All of these must be
considered and belief in their legitimacy is essential for success
Stakeholder management and identity
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Identity is central to stakeholder management due to
o An individual may have more than one stakeholder role (both employee, customer
and consumer). An inconsistent identity may send out one image to an employee
and another to the customer, disturbing their reputation – see the case of
reformation, their firing and racism of a black woman and overtly ‘woke’ projected
external identity
o Identity acts an anchor for activities and communications carried out by the
organization. A strong identity ensures consistency in communication
o Identity means distinctiveness, triggering awareness, recognition and instils
confidence – Coke
o Internally a strong identity can improve motivation and morale due to a ‘we’ feeling
– Google
Difference between corporate identity and organizational identity (Christensen and Cheney)
o Organizational – deep questions about who a company is and what they stand for –
Identity. How is it perceived internally?
o Corporate – managing communication of organizational identity to stakeholder.
How is the company presented from the outside? What is their image? How is it
perceived externally?
Reputation rankings
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Based on several areas
o Financial performance
o Product quality
o Employee treatment
o Community involvement
o Environmental performance
o Organizational issues (equality, diversity, ethics, etc)
Reputation definition – A perpetual construct which involves multiple stakeholders who
evaluate multiple characteristics of the organization
o Perpetual construct – Stakeholder perceptions are relatively stable and therefore act
as an asset (brand equity)
o Different communication matters to different stakeholders, so reputation can vary
o Image is more variable and short term, while reputation is consistently more
established
Measuring reputation
Seminar
Quiz in week 6
Social presence theory - Social Presence refers to the degree to which one perceives the presence of
participants in the communication. Social Presence theory argues that media differ in the ability to
convey the psychological perception that other people are physically present, due to the different
ability of media to transmit visual and verbal cues (e.g., physical distance, gaze, postures, facial
expressions, voice intonation, and so on).
Week 3 – Stakeholder communication and media relations
Literature
Chapter 4 – Stakeholder management and communication
Stakeholder model of strategic management
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Moved away from neo-classical economic theory to socio-economic theory
o Neo-classical – the purpose of organizations is to make profits I their accountability
to themselves and shareholders, with that being the only way that a business can
make wealth for itself and society (input-output model)
o Socio-economic – accountability is larger and extends outside shareholders for the
ongoing success of the Organization and the welfare of society (strategic
management)
o Main difference is that under neo-classical all shareholder funnel towards the firm,
while stakeholder based strategic management has more parties and is a codependent relationship (stakeholders)
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Engagement with stakeholders can be for both normative (altruistic) and instrumental
reasons. These two often work together, reaping rewards in terms of reputation which then
get instrumental return
o Normative reasons are underlying concepts such as rights, social contracts, morality,
etc. Stakeholders seen normatively are people who have a legitimate interest in
aspects of corporate activities, regardless of economic benefits or harms
o Instrumental reasons are the connection between stakeholder management and
corporate performance. This means that although a behaviour may start as altruistic
driven by normative pressure, this may have instrumental outcomes for the
organisation
Nature of stakeholders
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Stakeholder definition – any group or individual who is affected by or can affect the
achievement of the organization’s purpose and objectives
Certain stakes from different stakeholders may not coincide, putting pressure on the
organization
Three types of stakes
o Equity – some direct ownership such as stockholders
o Market/economic – economic interest such as employees, customers, and suppliers
o Influencer – societal interest such as environmental groups, government agencies
and trade organizations
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Two types of stakeholders
o Contractual – financial transactions and necessary for survival
o Community – those who are influenced or influence the corporation and not
essential for economic survival
Stakeholder communication
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Often begins through analysing stakeholders using the following questions
o Who are the stakeholders?
o What are their stakes?
o What opportunities and challenges do they represent?
o What responsibilities (economic, legal, ethical and philanthropic) does the
organization have to all its stakeholders?
o What is the best way to communicate with and respond to these stakeholders?
o How do we address their challenges and opportunities?
Stakeholder salience model
o Salience is how prominent a stakeholder is to an organization based on the
stakeholder’s power, legitimacy and urgency. The more salient (prominent) a
stakeholder is the more they are prioritized and need to be actively communicated
with
 Power – The power of the stakeholder upon the organization
 Legitimacy – How legitimate is the claim laid by the stakeholder
 Urgency – The degree to which the stakeholders claim demands immediate
action
o Three types of stakeholders with one attribute
 Dormant – They have the power to impose will but do not have legitimate or
urgent claims. Examples include those who wield power through spending
lots of money or commanding news media attention (such as prospective
customers). Little interaction with the organization. They have the potential
to acquire a second attribute (urgency or legitimacy) and practitioners
should be aware of their possible impact
 Discretionary – Those who have legitimate claims based on interactions with
the organization but have no power or urgency. For example, corporate
charities
 Demanding stakeholders – Those who gave urgent claims but no power or
legitimacy. This may be slightly bothersome but does not have enough
traction to become powerful. For example, a lone protestor
o Three types of stakeholders with two attributes
 Dominant – Both powerful and legitimate but no urgency. Examples include
those who regularly transact with the organization such as employees,
customers and owners
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Dangerous – Powerful and urgent but no legitimacy. Seen as dangerous as
they may resort to coercion or violence. Examples include employee
sabotage and terrorism
 Dependent stakeholders – Have urgent and legitimate claims but no power.
They rely on others for their power, often through advocacy. For example, a
town populace may depend on the media or lobby groups against a nuclear
power plant close to them.
Stakeholders that have all three attributes
 Definitive – Powerful with legitimate and urgent claims. Extremely salient,
communication with these is of top priority. The actions of these
shareholders when they feel their interests are not being served may
include the removal of senior executives.
Power-interest matrix
Strategies for stakeholder communication
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Informational strategy (one-way symmetrical model) – Informing stakeholders. Examples
include press releases, news letters and company website reports.
Persuasive strategy (two-way asymmetrical model)– An organization tries to change the
knowledge, attitude and behaviour of stakeholders to a favourable setting through
campaigns, meetings and discussions. Educational campaigns are a great example
Dialogue strategy (two-way symmetrical model)– The active consultation with stakeholders,
leading to mutual understanding and decisions. There is a difference between involving
(soliciting input and feedback) and engaging (Joint partnerships)
Stakeholder management vs engagement
Chapter 8 – Media relations
Journalism and news organizations
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Production of news content works on two levels
o Journalists who on an individual basis consult sources, write news stories
o Other parties within the news organization (copy editors) who edit stories before
they make it into print based on their news routines
 Journalists have limited control on the final say or look
News routines may reflect a certain ideology or political orientation (media logic)
Effect of news coverage on corporate reputation
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Agenda setting theory
o News coverage has a generally amplifying effect on corporate reputation, both good
and bad
o The frequency of which a news organisation reports on a public or political issue
determines the issues salience in the public eye
o Two levels
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1. Objects of news coverage such as political candidates or organizations –
Focus on salience of the object and degree to which it readily comes to mind
2. Concerns how media organizations frame how the public thinks about
something by selecting and emphasising certain aspects
Framing news stories
Seminar
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Legitimacy – The level of social license to operate a organization has
Connect with rolf harbers on linkedin
Week 4 – CC Core concepts (brands, identity, reputation) and Issues Management
Literature
Chapter 5 – Corporate identity, branding and company reputation
Central themes
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Three concepts form the cornerstones of corporate communications: stakeholders, identity
and reputation
Understanding stakeholder management facilitates the ability of organizations to manage
within the current business environment
An organization needs to attend to a rich variety of claims and interests of stakeholder
groups in the environment, yet at all times needs to profile a coherent corporate identity of
itself to each and every one of these groups
Corporate identity involves the self-representation of an organization through
communications, products and services, and employee behaviour. It is based on the basic,
distinct and enduring values of an organization that guide its operations and that, when
figuring in communications, set it apart from rival organizations in the eyes of important
stakeholder groups
The ways in which stakeholder groups regard and value the organization is defined as
corporate reputation. Ideally, from a corporate perspective, such a corporate reputation is in
line with the communicated corporate identity and thus broadly consistent with the way in
which the organization wants itself to be understood
Corporate identity, image and reputation
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What is the symbolic construction of an identity – caring citizen
Distinctiveness – A corporate identity which will help stakeholders to identify the
organization. Externally this should trigger favourable recognition, internally it should boost
morale and motivation
Impact – A corporate image can directly impact how stakeholders support the organization
Stakeholder – Individuals may have more than one stakeholder role and these can boost or
counteract one another in relation to corporate image – see badly treated employee as an
also favourably treated consumer
Birkgit and Stadler’s corporate image management model
o Symbolism – Corporate logos and company house style of an organization
(stationery)
o Communication – All planned forms of communication such as corporate
advertising, events, sponsorships, publicity and promotions
o Behaviour – The behaviour of all employees that leaves an impression on
stakeholders
o Implications of the model
 Corporate identity is a broad concept. Communication practitioners bear
responsibility for corporate symbolism and communication. Product and
brand managers are responsible for the positioning of products and services.
HR and middle managers are responsible for incentivising and supporting
employee behaviour
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o
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Corporate identity (born from symbolism, communication and behaviour)
should emerge from and reflect the organizations core mission, strategic
mission and the corporate culture of the organization
Corporate personality vs corporate identity
 Corporate personality is the soul of the organization – what drives and
creates the image
 Corporate identity is how that is expressed – how is the image constructed
Corporate identity vs organizational identity
 Organizational identity are the core values shared by people within the
organization
 Corporate identity is the communication of those values through symbolism,
communication and behaviours
Corporate branding
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Good reputation is based on:
o High visibility – degree to which corporate themes are visible in all internal and
external communication
o Distinctiveness – Degree to which corporate identity or positioning of the company
is distinctive
o Transparency – Degree to which an organization is open about its behaviour
o Consistency – Degree to which organizations communicate consistent internal and
external messages
Different identity structures
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An organization’s identity should be lived and feel authentic. If you say you stand for
something but do not show it in any way, then your value will not feel legitimate
Aligning identity, image and reputation
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Hatch and Schultz toolkit for analysing the alignment between vision, culture and image
o Factors
 Vision – Senior management’s aspirations for the organization
 Culture – The organization’s values as felt and shared by all employees of
the organization
 Image - The impression that outside stakeholders have of the organization
o Questions – set 1
 Does the organization practise the values it promotes?
o
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 Does the organization’s vision inspire all its subcultures?
 Are the vision and culture sufficiently different from its competitors?
Questions - set 2
 What images do stakeholders associate with the organization?
 In what ways do employees and stakeholders interact?
 Do employees care what stakeholders think of the organization?
Questions – set 3
 Who are the stakeholders?
 What do they want from the organization?
 Is the organization effectively communicating its vision to its stakeholders?
Chapter 10 – issue management
Defining issues
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Issue definitions
o Public concern about the organizations decisions and performance that may or may
not also involve
o A point of conflict in opinions and judgements regarding decisions and operations
Crisis definition – an issue that requires both decisive and immediate action. This may be
due to public pressure, intense media attention or direct danger (faulty products)
Managing issues
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Process of managing issues
1. Environmental scanning
 Identified through DESTEP (broad analysis of demographic, economic, social,
technological, ecological and political developments) or SWOT (analysis of
strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats)
2. Issue identification and analysis
 Once issues go from latent to significantly active they require further
analysis. This is done using the position-importance matrix, which is
concerned with the position of a stakeholder or public on a particular issue.
They are then categorized according to this position and their salience to the
organization. There are 4 types of stakeholders within the matrix
 This also includes the life cycle of an issue
Life cycle of an issue
3. Issue-specific response strategies
 Four options
 Buffering strategy – Stonewalling the issue and delaying its
development, done through postponement or silence
 Bridging strategy – Organization being open to change and
recognizing an issue and its levity. When organizations adapt
organizational activities in reaction to external expectations
 Advocacy strategy – Trying to change stakeholder expectations and
public opinions on an issue through issue campaigns and lobbying.
Trying to persuade them that the organizations position on the issue
is both rational and morally legitimate
 Thought leadership strategy – The company identifies an issue
before it is active or intense and stakes a leadership position on the
issue. For instance, shell attempting to adopt solar and wind power
early to be seen as a vanguard
4. Evaluation
 Evaluation of how the issue developed and how stakeholder and public
opinion changed
Influencing public policy
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Lobbying involves a lobbyist designated by an organization or group to facilitate influencing
government and public policy in that groups favour
Lobbying is typically done through directly contacting government officials
Industry coalitions – Alliance of organizations in the same industry who through donations
or lobbying attempt to have a voice in the policy forming process
Grassroots campaigning – An organization engaging with members of its own group and/or
others with a stake in an issue to persuade legislators to support its public goals. Legislators
depend on constituent votes, so if enough voters support on thing, this can be a powerful
tool
Anti-corporate activism
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Activist groups affect the reputation of the organization by raising an issue through media
attention with the broader public, and mobilizes other groups and individuals
Activist groups are referred to as being radical or reform oriented. Reform orientation refers
to trying to change specific norms, laws or practices
Two types
o Reform oriented groups
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o Radical groups
Radical groups want to change the deeper value systems in society with a broader scope
than reform movements. They do not believe that companies can be part of the solution
CC impact – A movement can be a loose collection of groups which can be quick to mobilize.
Scanning and monitoring the environment is essential, as is active communication and
engagement with the activist groups
Seminar
Week 5
Literature
Chapter 11 – Crisis communication
Defining Crises
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Crisis definition – An event or issue that requires decisive and immediate action from the
organization
1. Immediate action can be triggered by public pressure, intense media attention or
direct danger to employees, customers or members of the general public. Including
culture and organizational failures in the interactions between social, interpersonal,
processes and tech
Crisis management
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Steps to dealing with a crisis
1. Anticipation – the capacity of organizations to predict and prevent potential crisis
scenarios from arising before they have occurred
2. Resilience – Ability to cope with a crisis once it occurs. A resilient performance is one
where members of the org improvise and act mindfully in real time to deasl with the
crisis and minimize its impact – enhanced through training employees (crisis
contingency plans)
5 levels of contingency plans
1. Minimal planning drawn up around a few contingency plans drawn up for an
emergency response – limited set of plans such as an evacuation during a fire
2. Extensive planning but is limited to natural disasters and potential human errors –
measures for damage containment and business recovery
3. Extensive contingency plans which include crisis procedures for probable natural
disasters, human errors and training for employees to implement crisis procedures
4. Similar to stage 3, but an organization-wise consultation of potential crises and their
impact on stakeholders. Stage 4 has a broader scope and includes a company’s
product defects, tampering and social issues surrounding a supply chain, operation
and contributions to society
5. All of the previous stages but also incorporates environmental scanning and early
warning systems to identify crises as early as possible
Impact of a crisis on corporate reputation
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Poses both a financial and reputational threat
o Financial – Disruption in operations may lead to a loss of income. If reputation is
damaged this may affect long term earnings
o Reputation – Favourable stance to unfavourable stance with stakeholders which
may change how they interact with the organization
1. Boycotting
o Roots to this lie in the way an organization deals with a crisis and how much care an
responsibility they show to those affected by the crisis
Reputational capital
o Any previous accumulated reputation may act as a buffer against lasting negative
impacts
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Definition of reputational capital – an organizations stock of perceptual and social
assets – the quality of the relationship with its stakeholders and the regard to which
the company is held
Each company has a reservoir of goodwill based upon their reputational capital – the
larger this is, the easier the backlash of a crisis may be long term
Halo effect - the accumulated reputational capital protects an organization during a
crisis and negates long lasting reputational damage, with the opposite also being
true
Organizational stigma – Collective stakeholder group-specific perception that an
organization possesses a fundamental flaw or quality which is evidenced by
repeated crises or failures which leads to stakeholders discrediting and singling out
the organization (a negative social evaluation). This is encompassed through
disidentification
Crisis communication
1. Start by communication practitioners releasing information to the media
and using communication to address the physical and psychological
concerns of those affected by the crisis
 After this response the communicators should focus on
communicating more broadly with stakeholders and focus on
reputational capital
 During and in the aftermath of a crisis, the company must supply
those directly affected with information of what happened, how the
company is managing the crisis and what corrective actions are
being taken to protect them from similar situations in the future
2. Determine the organizations responsibility for the crisis and to communicate
about its actions to stakeholders. By determining how much responsibility
the stakeholders expect from the organization, the organization can then
frame the crisis, explain the company’s actions and aim to minimize the
damage to its reputation and image
 The company may frame itself as the victim when there is a weak
perception of their responsibility (such as a natural disaster or
product tampering)
 When the organization is perceived to be in the wrong, the correct
communication strategy would be to acknowledge responsibility
and demonstrating how the company is taking immediate steps to
resolve a crisis – this can minimize feelings of anger and frustration
amongst stakeholder and the company is seen to be determined to
fix the issue in a potentially positive way
Communicating about a crisis

Four types of crises
o Dimensions
 Internal/external – whether the crisis resulted from something done by the
organization
 Unintentional/intentional – Was it committed deliberately by an actor or not
o Types
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Faux pas – An unintentional action transformed into a crisis by an external
actor
 Often begins as an issue between an organization and a particular
external actor who challenges the appropriateness of the
organization’s actions. When the organization does not engage with
this or if public opinion and stakeholder expectations become
unfavourable, this may become a crisis. Social responsibility is the
focal point of a faux pas
 When there is minimal organizational responsibility this may lead to
a downplaying strategy or a halo effect one, possibly through
scapegoating or banking on reputational capital
Accidents – An unintentional action which happened during normal
organizational operations. Product defects, employee injuries and natural
disasters are examples. There is little organizational responsibility unless the
organization was directly responsible. Stakeholders and the public are less
likely to blame and react negatively to nature related accidents than human
induced ones
Transgressions - Intentional acts taken by an organization that knowingly
places stakeholders or publics at risk or harm. Selling defective products,
violating laws, withholding safety information or illegal bookkeeping are all
examples
Terrorism – Intentional acts taken by external agents. These actions are
meant to harm the organization directly. Product tampering, hostage taking
and workplace violence are all examples

How to create communication plans for probable crisis scenarios
Seminar
Guest lecture


Importance of a holding statement
o First statement put out post crisis
 Consider
 Is it our issue? What is it?
 Who cares?
 Express sympathy and empathy
 What are we doing about it?
 When did we know and when did we act? Timeline!
Start creating a Q&A
Case studies
Week 6
Literature
Chapter 9
Tutorial