Adverse relationships between an individual or corporation and its publics can destroy credibility, relationships, marketability, and economic welfare. As such, a genre of discourse is needed to help individuals and organizations respond to charges of wrongdoing. Therefore, the study of image restoration is worthwhile because it provides insight into an important function of our lives. For this thesis study, a content analysis was conducted of media releases and stories produced by the U.S. Air Force regarding a series of sexual assaults at the Air Force Academy in 2002. The purpose of the study is two-fold. First, it determines the image restoration strategies employed by the U.S. Air Force during a crisis situation. Its second -- and primary -- objective is to advance (or reinforce) current image restoration theory by determining whether specific image restoration tactics encourage a positive or negative reporting trend from independent newspapers, and measuring the effectiveness of tactics comprising Benoit's Image Restoration Theory as applied in this particular situation by the U.S. Air Force. Combined, these analyses will demonstrate that Benoit's Image Restoration Theory can be prescriptive rather than simply descriptive (as noted in the review of literature) with the ultimate intent of the study being a determination of how independent media reacts to the image restoration tactics employed by the U.S. Air Force.

Crisis response message strategies were examined using a post test-only randomized experiment (N=252) to determine their influence on perceptual, cognitive, and motivational antecedents to communication behavior in a political context. Results indicate that: (1) strategy type influences perceived strategy effectiveness; (2) situational beliefs influence situational motivation, subjective norm, and attitudes; (3) subjective norm and attitudes influence behavioral intention; and (4) referent criterion, situational motivation, and behavioral intention influence communicative action in publics during a political crisis.

I april 2009 upptäcktes en ny typ av influensa som senare fick namnet A(H1N1). Influensan A(H1N1) innebar en internationell kris och krävde särskilda krishanteringsåtgärder. I Sverige innebar detta att den största nationella massvaccineringen i modern tid genomfördes under hösten 2009 till och med början av 2010. Hanteringen ställde myndigheter, landsting och ansvariga individer inför en rad utmaningar, inte minst gällande planering och kommunikation. Syftet med studien var att studera erfarenheter av och planering inför kriskommunikation vid en pandemi utifrån erfarenheter och uppfattningar hos ansvariga aktörer inom ett landsting. Sju personer som arbetade på olika positioner vid ett landsting intervjuades. Studien har identifierat tre huvudområden. Hur de ansvariga aktörerna beskrev planeringen och kommunikationen vid pandemin, vilka svårigheter och utmaningar aktörerna upplevt i och med kriskommunikationen samt vilka lärdomar och implementeringar som gjorts utifrån ansvariga aktörers erfarenheter. Det framkom att hanteringen fungerade enligt de uppsatta planerna trots att det påpekades att dessa endast skulle ses som en vägledning. Vid hantering av pandemin stötte landstinget på en del svårigheter och utmaningar och för att hantera dessa krävdes ett flexibelt tillvägagångssätt. Efter pandemihanteringen har landstinget samlat på sig lärdomar och idéer om förbättringsområden. Vissa av dessa idéer är redan implementerade i landstingets dagliga arbete och andra är nedskrivna i diverse planverk. Det finns dock lärdomar och erfarenheter som inte är dokumenterade, i dessa fall finns det en risk att lärdomar och erfarenheter lämnar organisationen i och med att medarbetare byts ut. En slutsats var vikten av att alla erfarenheter dokumenteras för att viktig information ska föras vidare till nya medarbetare. / In April 2009 a new type of influenza was identified, which was named the A (H1N1). The influenza A (H1N1) resulted in an international crisis and called for specific management actions. In Sweden the largest national mass vaccination in modern times was conducted from autumn 2009 to early 2010. The crisis management posed authorities, county councils and responsible individuals to face a number of challenges, not to mention the current planning and communication. The purpose of this study was to study the experiences and planning for crisis communications during a pandemic based on experiences and perceptions of responsible actors within a county. Seven people who worked in various positions at the county were interviewed. The study has identified three main areas. How the responsible actors described the planning and communication in time of the pandemic, the difficulties and challenges experienced in the crisis communication by the actors and what lessons and implementations made by the responsible actors' experiences. It was revealed that the crisis management went according to the established plan, but it was also pointed out that the plans would only be seen as a guide. When handling the pandemic the County Council faced number of difficulties and challenges and to manage these a flexible approach was required. After the pandemic management the County Council has accumulated lessons and ideas on areas of improvement. Some of these ideas are already implemented in the daily work of the County Council and others are noted in various planning documents. However, there are lessons and experiences that are not documented, in these cases there is a risk that the lessons and experiences might leave the organization as employees are replaced. A conclusion was the importance that all experiences are documented so that important information will be passed on to new employees.

Bet kuri organizacija savo veikloje anksčiau ar vėliau susiduria su įvairaus pobūdžio krizėmis. Sparčiai vystantis ir modernėjant technologijoms, krizinių situacijų kiekis bei jų įvairovė didėja. Krizinė situacija organizacijai gali atnešti didelių finansinių nuostolių, padaryti daug žalos jos reputacijai ar netgi sužlugdyti organizacijos veiklą. Tačiau tinkamai suvaldyta krizė gali tapti ir naujų postūmių pradžia. Krizių komunikacija yra vienas pagrindinių krizių valdymo elementų. Magistrinio darbo tikslas – išanalizuoti organizacijų komunikacinę elgseną krizės metu teoriniu bei praktiniu aspektais ir pateikti pasiūlymus organizacijų komunikacijos krizių metu veiksmingumui didinti. Tyrimo objektas – organizacijos komunikacija krizinės situacijos metu. Teorinėje darbo dalyje nagrinėjama krizės samprata, priežastys ir ypatybės. Aptariami pasiruošimo krizinėms situacijoms etapai, svarbiausi krizių komunikacijos žingsniai. Pateikiamos galimos krizių komunikacijos strategijos bei modeliai ir jų taikymo ypatumai, taip pat Situacinė krizių komunikacijos teorija ir jos reikšmė organizacijos reputacijai. Tiriamojoje darbo dalyje, remiantis žiniasklaidos analize, nagrinėjamos trys skirtingo pobūdžio organizacijų krizinės situacijos ir šių organizacijų taikytos komunikacinės priemonės, vertinamas jų veiksmingumas. Taip pat pateikiama atliktos ekspertų anketinės apklausos, kuria siekta atskleisti viešųjų ryšių specialistų nuomonę apie krizinių situacijų valdymo ir komunikacijos ypatumus... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / Later or sooner each organization in its activity meets various kinds of crisis. The amount and variety of critical situations is increasing in a rapid development and enhancement of technologies. Critical situation can bring big financial losses to an organization, cause much damage to reputation or even ruin its activity. However a proper management of a crisis may become a new push forward. Crisis communication is one of the key elements of crisis management. The aim of the Master’s thesis is to analyse the communicational behaviour of organizations during the crisis employing both theoretical and practical dimensions. The object of the research is the communication of the organization in a critical situation. The theoretical part deals with crisis concept, causes and characteristics. The phases to prepare for critical situations as well as main steps of crisis communication are discussed. Possible crisis communication strategies and models, peculiarities of their application as well as Situational crisis communication theory and its importance to the reputation of organization are introduced. With reference to the analysis of the media three critical situations of organization bearing different manner and communicational means that have been applied by these organizations as well as their efficiency has been dealt with in the research part of the thesis. The analysis of the results of conducted expert questionnaire polls, which aimed at disclosing the point of view of... [to full text]

The goal of risk and crisis communication is to reduce and contain the harm inherent in a threat. In order to achieve this goal, risk and crisis scholars call for continued testing of messages surrounding these events; specifically, messages that address the needs of the at-risk message receiver. Previous scholarship suggests that these messages should include adapting and instructing information (Coombs, 2012), and should be designed using pedagogically sound instructional approaches (Frisby, Sellnow, Sellnow, Lane, & Veil, 2011; Sellnow & Sellnow, 2010). In order to meet this call, this dissertation tested an instructionally sound message that includes both adapting and instructing information related to a foodborne illness event including a hypothetical E. coli contamination in ground beef affecting the state of Kentucky. Foodborne illness outbreaks are unique in that they must address those at risk of contamination while simultaneously addressing the needs of those experiencing the crisis (i.e. those already contaminated). The research tested the ability of participants to make positive sense of risk message related to the E. coli outbreak; specifically exploring the effect of augmenting traditional video warning messages with converging Twitter messages and positive sensemaking on behavioral intentions and self-efficacy. Results indicate that individuals who are able to make positive sense of the message, report greater self-efficacy and behavioral intentions in line with message recommendations. Further, individuals who receive an IDEA model message and converging Twitter messages report greater attitudes and beliefs related to the message than individuals who receive a traditional video warning message. These findings indicate a need for continued research on the role of positive sensemaking and the type of message received as they directly affect perceptions of messages and intentions to comply with recommendations.

This study examines the connection between organizational crisis communication and sensemaking. In particular, the research focuses on messages of instructing, adjusting and reputation management and the use of social media in distributing these messages through and by the Tokyo Disney Resort during the earthquake/tsunami/nuclear crisis that hit Japan in 2011. Case study methods are used to analyze news coverage, Twitter and YouTube videos, informed by personal interviews and documentation related to the crisis and the Tokyo Disney Resort. The analysis found that the Tokyo Disney Resort provided messages of instructing, adjusting and reputation management in order to effectively foster the sensemaking process, which was corroborated by personal communication with cast members. Messages of instruction were delivered regularly through a park-wide speaker system and cast members who also provided instruction to minimize harm. Adjusting information was evident in effectively taking care of guests’ physical and psychological needs through provision of food, water, blankets, etc. and by keeping them updated about the status of the outside world. Finally, messages of reputation management were apparent in the Resort’s willingness to put people above profit by sacrificing food, products and money to help victims of the disaster.

In a crisis managers are confronted with a dilemma between an ethical responsibility to respond to victims and their fiduciary responsibility to protect shareholder’s wealth. This study provides empirical evidence that a company apology made during a crisis can have a positive or negative effect on stock price depending on the level of responsibility for a crisis born by the firm. We use Coombs’ (2007) Situational Crisis Communication Theory to classify crises and appropriate re-sponse type for 235 unique crises between 1983 and 2013. We use event study methodology to study the effect of an apology on returns. The results show that managers apologizing to those affected for a victim or accidental crisis jeopardize shareholder wealth; however offering an apology for a preventable crisis offsets this negative effect.

In line with Schwarz’s (2008) suggestion of extending Situational CrisisCommunication Theory (SCCT) with Kelley’s covariation principle, the presentresearch aims to further examine the applicability of integrating a covariation-basedapproach to crisis responsibility assessment into the SCCT framework. Specifically, acontent analysis was conducted to verify the basic assumptions for applying acovariation-based approach in crisis communication context. A follow-upexperimental study was exercised to test the effect of consensus information – themissing variable in SCCT – on crisis responsibility attributions. The researchsuggested that a covariation-based approach of crisis responsiblilty assessment couldbe legitimately applied in the SCCT framework, and that crisis responsibilityassessment in the SCCT framework could be improved, at least in some particularsituations, by more consistently and systematically taking into account the threeinformation dimensions in covariation principle as integrated information patternsrather than separately considering the effect of one single information dimensionalone.Keywords:

Crisis communication has been widely researched for an economic purpose, with the focus on preventing damage to a corporation’s reputation or the restoration of a politician’s image. Additionally, crisis communication also found its utility for natural hazards as well as for terrorist attacks. However, identified as being a research gap, this thesis focuses on studying the prepared crisis communication of mega-event and festival organizations in case of a serious incident. The purpose of this thesis is to contribute to the area of crisis communication in the way that it focuses on the process of preparing for a possible crisis with the creation of effective communication manuals, action plans, etc. rather than investigating the post-crisis communication. Through using the uncertainty reduction theory and the chaos theory, it is possible to investigate the internal crisis management processes of organizers that go beyond protecting its reputation, but focus more on saving human lives as uncertainty and chaos get reduced. A deductive approach was taken through conducting interviews and carrying out a thematic analysis of written documentary sources, such as manuals and action plans, as well as the transcripts. In general, one can say that the awareness about the importance of a crisis management and communication plan rises. Regular trainings and a constant collaboration with external partners, such as the blue light organizations, are seen as central to the emergency planning process. Moreover, to guarantee an effective crisis communication, often smaller task groups within the crisis management team are in charge of instructional crisis communication. Knowledge about different threat-scenarios and functions of external specialists reduces uncertainty and supports actions to reduce chaos. This thesis and its findings have a societal relevance, in the sense that it allows a wider and deeper understanding of crisis communication in an area of application that does not seem to be very common. Through insights into the crisis management process of the different event- and festival organizations, one can become active today and threats to human lives can be minimized or even avoided in the future.

The whole work deals with problems of crisis intervention concentrated on a specific area of working place in the telephone line of confidence. This work includes the theory concerning our theme, from the general characteristics of crises to crisis intervention. Further it engages in the telephonic crisis intervention. It explains main rules of crisis intervention and deals with suicidal themes and questions of ethics. The whole work contains the description, classification, comparison and summary of information and facts. In the conclusion, it focuses on the possibilities and limitations during communication between both parts of telephone calls.