Communication Strategies As a Basis for Crisis Management Including Use of the Internet As a Delivery Platform
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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. There is an increasing body of evidence suggesting that crises in an organizational environment, whether created by act-of-God or manmade circumstances, have defined and predictable characteristics often relating to communication problems in the discourse community. It is also evident that solutions exist to reduce the incidence and the intensity of crisis within this discourse community. Approaches include organizational vulnerability assessments, messaging strategies, forensic media tactics, and dedicated efforts to build relationships with important stakeholders. Each of these has as its foundation a vigorous strategic communication plan. Crisis plans are necessary in today’s business environment, and effective communication is an essential element of any crisis plan. This dissertation will focus on communication methodology as a means of crisis avoidance and crisis mitigation. INDEX WORDS: Crisis, Crisis Management, Crisis Communication, Hostile Media, Organizational Dynamics, Crisis Strategy. University Crises, Corporate Crises, Georgia State University, PhD, Doctorate, Dissertation. COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES AS A BASIS FOR CRISIS MANAGEMENT INCLUDING USE OF THE INTERNET AS A DELIVERY PLATFORM by GORDON A. HARRISON A Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy In the College of Arts and Sciences Georgia State University 2005 Copyright by Gordon Alan Harrison 2005 COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES AS A BASIS FOR CRISIS MANAGEMENT INCLUDING USE OF THE INTERNET AS A DELIVERY PLATFORM by GORDON ALAN HARRISON Major Professor: George Pullman Committee: Tom McHaney Baotong Gu Electronic Version Approved: Office of Graduate Studies College of Arts and Sciences Georgia State University December 2005 iv Acknowledgements _____________________________________________________________________ Tremendous thanks to my committee chair, Dr. George Pullman, for his direction and friendship during the last three years. He took on a task indeed when he agreed to steer the course for my doctoral program. Also, my sincere appreciation to Dr. Tom McHaney and Dr. Baotong Gu, who participated on my committee with wonderful stewardship and enlightened guidance. I look forward to our friendship in the future. Thanks also to Corrin Sorteberg and Lesli Cotton in the HR Department of Georgia State University who contributed mightily to me by pulling me through the bureaucratic maze of graduate school. To my friend Robert Hobbs, the great leader of the state’s budget: my appreciation for prompting me to start the journey and to stay the course. To President Rob Watts: thanks for allowing a bit of flexibility in my work schedule to write my dissertation. To Speaker of the House of Representatives Terry Coleman: you do not know how much that big office in the LOB helped me. My acknowledgement to Kennesaw State University with consideration that a PhD examination of organizational crisis and discourse community collapse would have escaped me but for my tenure at KSU. At Crisis U., I have seen it all. Lastly, I appreciate my family for late nights, early mornings, and binge writing amid a litter of espresso cups and Diet Coke cans. My dear wife Frances, a Masters degree holder in composition and wonderful intuitive editor, did not read or edit the first word of my papers. However, she was my crutch, and she put up with me (no small task)! And to my golf buddies who just did not care—I appreciate that too. I am not certain why I did this at all. I suppose I just wanted my kids to be proud of their dad in the midst of a challenging period in our lives. Thanks Jessica, Amy, and Katherine for hanging with me. I love you always. v Dedication _____________________________________________________________________ This dissertation is dedicated to two individuals eternally important to me—my best friend and wife Frances and my remarkable friend, poet Sam Hamill. Sam, your poems give me perspective and help me to appreciate the good things around me. We are two of a kind, looking to the river for peace. I hope our paths cross someday near the Yangtze. Namaste. And to Frances, it is indeed our time. Like the river and its banks we are two islands forging a course in the center. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS v TABLE OF CONTENTS vii LIST OF TABLES ix LIST OF CHARTS x CHAPTER I OBJECTIVES, RESEARCH QUESTIONS, AND METHODOLOGY 1 II CRISIS MANAGEMENT IN CONTEXT 7 PART I MODERN DEFINITION OF CRISIS AND CRISIS COMMUNICATION 7 PART II HISTORICAL CONTEXT: CHANGES IN THE INFORMATION LANDSCAPE 14 PART III CRISIS COMMUNICATION IN CONTEXT TO RHETORIC 37 PART IV CRISIS COMMUNICATION IN CONTEXT TO CRISIS MANAGEMENT 71 PART V CRISIS COMMUNICATION IN CONTEXT TO MEDIA AND PUBLIC RELATIONS 100 PART VI THE WEB IN CONTEXT WITH OTHER DELIVERY PLATFORMS 126 PART VII EXAMINATION OF ONLINE ORGANIZATIONAL COMMUNICATION 159 III EXAMINATION OF THE DISCOURSE COMMUNITY: STRATEGIC PLANNING FOR CRISIS MANAGEMENT 182 PART I MESSAGING TO, FROM, AND WITHIN THE DISCOURSE COMMUNITY 188 PART II DEVELOPMENT OF A CRISIS PLAN 198 PART III DEVELOPMENT OF A MEDIA OPERATIONS PLAN 222 vii IV THE WEB AS A DELIVERY PLATFORM FOR CRISIS COMMUNICATION 237 V CONCLUSIONS, AREAS OF FURTHER STUDY 315 WORKS CITED 323 APPENDICES I SURVEY INSTRUMENTS 337 II KEY WORDS AND DEFINITIONS 342 III PERSONAL INFORMATION 347 viii FIGURES Figure # Issue Page # Figure 1 Microsoft Zolob Worm Crisis Site 266 Figure 2 MS Zolob Worm Removal Tool 267 Figure 3 MS Historical Worm Infections 268 Figure 4 MS Zolob Worm Glossary of Terms 268 Figure 5 MS Zolob Worm Links 269 Figure 6 MS Zolob Threat Overview 269 Figure 7 MS Virus Information 270 Figure 8 MS Contextual Crisis Statements 274 Figure 9 MS Contextual Crisis Statements 275 Figure 10 MS Newsroom Briefs 276 Figure 11 MS Crisis and Legal Pages 277 Figure 12 MS Legal Media Releases 278 Figure 13 MS Homepage 280 Figure 14 MS Legal Cases 281 Figure 15 Shell Oil Crisis Example 287 Figure 16 Shell Oil Crisis Example 291 Figure 17 Shell Oil Contextual Crisis Sites 295 Figure 18 Cobb School System Crisis Site 302 Figure 19 MDJ Response 309 Figure 20 MDJ Letter on Cobb School System Crisis 311 Figure 21 MDJ Letter on Cobb School System Crisis 311 ix Figures Figure # Issue Page # 1 Organizational Discourse Communities 182 2 Crisis Plan Development 198 3 Examination of Media Stakeholders 222 4 Typical Media Organizations 224 1 CHAPTER I: DISSERTATION OBJECTIVES, RESEARCH QUESTIONS& METHODOLOGY _____________________________________________________________________ Lying in hammocks, we speak so solemnly of distant thunder, distant rain –Issa, translated by Sam Hamill Statement of Concept Research in the field of crisis management suggests that crisis planning has the potential to reduce the incidence and the intensity of crisis. Crisis planning strategies can be applicable to most organizations, including private companies, non- profits, and higher educational institutions. Crisis planning methodology includes: a. Specialized messaging to multiple stakeholders; b. Communications strategies involving the discourse community; c. Crisis forecasting and crisis prevention strategies; d. Formation of crisis management teams; e. Vertical and horizontal organizational strategy, including the relative positioning and influence of the chief communications officer; f. Use of the Internet in crisis communication and crisis management. The greatest barrier to these strategies seems to be the unwillingness of management