Georgia State University ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University English Dissertations Department of English 1-12-2007 Communication Strategies as a Basis for Crisis Management Including Use of the Internet as a Delivery Platform Gordon Alan Harrison Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.gsu.edu/english_diss Part of the English Language and Literature Commons Recommended Citation Harrison, Gordon Alan, "Communication Strategies as a Basis for Crisis Management Including Use of the Internet as a Delivery Platform." Dissertation, Georgia State University, 2007. https://scholarworks.gsu.edu/english_diss/22 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Department of English at ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University. It has been accepted for inclusion in English Dissertations by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES AS A BASIS FOR CRISIS MANAGEMENT INCLUDING USE OF THE INTERNET AS A DELIVERY PLATFORM by GORDON A. HARRISON Under the Direction of George Pullman ABSTRACT Eighty per cent of small companies without a comprehensive crisis plan vanish within two years of suffering a major disaster—a remarkable and ominous statistic. Crises are occurring more often in all organizations, and when they occur, they are leaving a wake of financial, operational, and reputational damage. Why this trend, now? There are five important reasons: 1) a more volatile workplace involving financial, legal, or management issues within the organization; 2) an extreme production mentality often obscuring the conditions under which crises might otherwise be recognized, addressed, or mitigated; 3) enhanced technological platforms for information delivery, such as the Internet, generating a revolving information door thus promoting organizational stress and crisis; 4) fast-paced and invasive journalism practices that eliminate invisibility for decisionmaking or reaction; and, 5) lack of strategic planning for crisis.