Intern kriskommunikation syftar till kommunikation som sker inom en verksamhet i samband med en kris. Utan förberedelser för en välfungerande intern kriskommunikation, ökar risken för att krisen resulterar i stora konsekvenser för både verksamheten och dess anställda. Syftet med studien är att undersöka anställdas upplevelse av den interna kriskommunikationen under covid-19-pandemin, samt hur upplevelsen relateras till eventuella psykologiska kontraktsbrott. 12 semistrukturerade intervjuer med undersköterskor och vårdbiträden inom äldreomsorgen utfördes. Resultatet om informanternas upplevelse av den interna kriskommunikationen kan sammanfattas i tre teman; Motstånd eller samförstånd, Värdelös eller värdefull samt Reaktiv eller proaktiv. Beroende på hur den interna kriskommunikationen upplevts av den anställde, kan relationen till psykologiska kontraktsbrott sammanfattas i de två teman Bortglömd eller uppskattad samt Individ eller verksamhet. Resultaten diskuteras i relation till tidigare forskning om intern kriskommunikation och psykologiska kontraktsbrott, och bidrar med ny kunskap inom området.

This thesis is focused on internal crisis communication during the Covid-19 pandemic at the medical faculty of a major Swedish university (MSU). This thesis aims to examine how the use of internal communication channels at MSU contributed to including employees in internal crisis communication during the COVID-19 pandemic. Our research questions are “How did the organization utilize internal communication channels during the COVID-19 pandemic?”, “What did the employees feel was especially challenging during the COVID-19 pandemic with respect to the internal communication in the organization?” and “How did the employees perceive that the internal communication channels during the COVID-19 pandemic contributed to inclusion? “. Through semi-structured interviews with a convenience sample of eight employees, empirical data was collected and codified using the direct qualitative content analysis approach and applied to the Triage and Assessment System Model and the Contingency Theory of strategic conflict. The methodology is constructivist with a critical epistemology. The cultural environment of an organization utilizing a Scandinavian management style during the crisis highlights the extreme shift in the need and desire for a more apex-driven informational directive approach during the crisis. Our findings suggest that improving value-added feedback channels throughout the organization can increase employee inclusion in crisis communication. Employee inclusion could be further increased by developing a professional development curriculum and establishing clear policies and guidelines.

La presente investigación analizará cómo la planificación y aplicación de la comunicación interna de crisis en una empresa de retail es empleada para difundir el plan de reactivación post-cuarentena a sus colaboradores. En la misma se identificarán los factores que influyeron en la elección de la estrategia y el desarrollo de su implementación desde la perspectiva de los comunicadores organizacionales. Para realizar el estudio con un diseño fenomenológico desde un paradigma interpretativo, la técnica de recolección de datos será la entrevista semiestructura. Los informantes de esta investigación serán los líderes del departamento de comunicación interna de la empresa de retail, dedicados al planeamiento e implementación del plan de comunicación, así como a los consultores de su agencia de comunicación interna, encargados de brindar soporte a la implementación del plan de reactivación post-cuarentena. Se realizará un análisis temático para analizar las entrevistas dado que permitirá buscar e identificar temas importantes para la descripción del fenómeno. / This research will analyze how the planning and application of internal crisis communication in a retail company is used to disseminate the post-quarantine recovery plan to its employees. It will identify the factors that influenced the choice of strategy and the development of its implementation from the perspective of organizational communicators. To carry out the study with a phenomenological design from an interpretive paradigm, the data collection technique will be the semi-structured interview. The informants of this investigation will be the leaders of the internal communication department of the retail company, dedicated to the planning and implementing the communication plan, as well as the consultants of its internal communication agency, responsible for providing support to the implementation of the post-quarantine recovery plan. A thematic analysis will be carried out to analyze the interviews given that will seek and identify important topics for the description of the phenomenon. / Trabajo de investigación