Crisis communication (public relations)

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Crisis communication or crisis PR (from English Public Relations ) describes the public relations work of companies, authorities and other organizations in the context of crisis situations.

Concept of crisis communication

The Crisis Navigator Institute for Crisis Research, a spin-off from the University of Kiel, describes all internal or external events that pose acute dangers to living beings, the environment, assets or the reputation of a company or institution as crises. Crisis communication then comprises all measures for communicative avoidance (potential crisis phase), early detection (latent crisis phase), coping (acute crisis phase) and follow-up (post-crisis phase) of crisis situations. A distinction is made between three types of crises: accounting crises ("bankruptcies"), communicative crises ("scandals") and operational crises ("disruptions"). According to the institute's surveys, there are around 40,000 financial crises and around 280 operational and communicative crises (which have become public) every year in the DA-CH region.

In contrast, the Crisis Communication research group at the TU Ilmenau defines the term as a social negotiation process in the context of situations that are perceived as threatening and disruptive, to which observers intuitively or strategically attribute the crisis status. In terms of time, crisis communication then includes public and non-public communication processes in anticipation of crises, during acute crises and after crises. In social terms, crisis communication refers to individual and organized actors who participate or interact in communication processes in a crisis context. From a factual point of view, all communications relating to the crisis process are considered. This includes u. a. strategic crisis communication by organizations in the context of press work and journalistic conflict and crisis reporting.

A special field of crisis communication is the accompaniment of investigative and criminal proceedings, especially in business and tax law, but also in the private sector, especially with prominent personalities (litigation PR).

Strategic crisis communication

Strategic crisis communication is part of crisis communication management for proactive prevention and early detection of crises, preparation for crises, acute communicative management of crises and communicative post-processing or evaluation of organization-related crisis communication. The aim of strategic crisis communication is to minimize the observable or hypothetically expected crisis-related loss of reputation and trust among relevant stakeholders and thus to maximize the scope for action to achieve the strategic goals of the organization under the given conditions. In addition, crisis communication has the goal of effectively disseminating information and behavioral instructions in a crisis context in order to avert damage to affected stakeholders and to support them in dealing with the crisis psychologically.

Company crisis communication

Occasions for crisis communication in the economy are, for example, incidents in power plants or in the chemical industry or food scandals . A distinction is made between internal and external crises. Typical examples are:

In-house
External
  • Attacks by disappointed ex-employees
  • Character assassination by competitors
  • Indirect influence on the public image of the company through the misconduct of other companies in the same industry.
  • Product extortion
  • earthquake
  • Accidents

Crisis communication of the state and its organs

In the field of public administration, crisis communication is becoming increasingly important , especially in the case of non-police security, which is separate from local authorities . In a broader sense, military crises are also the subject of (political) crisis communication.

The Federal Office for Civil Protection and Disaster Aid ( BBK ) , an authority of the Ministry of the Interior , is responsible for crisis communication in the Federal Republic of Germany .

dynamics

There is an increase in activities in the area of ​​crisis communication (expansion of press offices to include appropriately qualified employees, media training for managers and spokespersons and the commissioning of specialized consulting agencies). The driving forces here are a critical consumer public, non-governmental organizations (consumer, animal welfare, trade unions , product testers) that are more capable of campaigning and better networked with journalists , a tendency to scandalize media reporting and so-called campaign journalism (newspaper crisis, downsizing of editorial offices , reduced circulation, etc.) and the increasing individualization of public communication ( Web 2.0 ).

Crisis prevention and communication during the crisis

As part of crisis prevention, the company identifies weaknesses, develops language rules and contact lists, prepares crisis teams for emergencies and practices regular information exchange with industry-relevant actors ( politicians , administration, NGOs ...) as well as continuous and open press and public relations work.

In a crisis situation, the increasing public attention and the initially prevailing lack of valid information quickly develop additional rumors, speculations, allegations and accusations; in such situations it is important to inform the public quickly.

In the event of a crisis, there is a conflict of interest in communication between the company and the public; in the event of a crisis, crisis communication methods are intended to limit the damage to the company's image and to maintain trust in the company.

In some cases, attempts are made to formulate general instructions for corporate crises in crisis manuals. Engel and Zimmermann warn in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung about patent recipes in this context . According to them, certain misconduct should also be avoided:

  • Denial / reinterpretation of facts
  • Refuse responsibility
  • Relate the consequences
  • Fend off criticism
  • Arrogance, ignorance, lack of concern

Crises that take place on social media platforms are known as " shit storms ". Well-known example: Greenpeace vs. Nestle.

See also

literature

  • Peter Engel, Walther Scheuerl: Litigation PR. Carl Heymanns Verlag, Cologne 2012, ISBN 978-3-452-27537-0 .
  • Arnd Joachim Garth: Crisis Management and Communication . Gabler Verlag, Wiesbaden 2008, ISBN 978-3-8349-0948-0 .
  • Peter Höbel, Thorsten Hofmann: Crisis Communication . 2nd completely revised edition. UVK, Konstanz 2014, ISBN 978-3-86764-211-8 .
  • Jürgen Kleikamp: Small manual of crisis communication . Greven Verlag, Cologne 2012, ISBN 978-3-7743-0602-8 .
  • Tanja Köhler: Crisis PR on the Internet. Possible uses, influencing factors and problem areas . VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften, Wiesbaden 2006, ISBN 3-531-14898-2 .
  • Michael Kunczik , Alexander Heintzel, Astrid Zipfel: Crisis PR. Corporate strategies in the environmentally sensitive area . Böhlau Verlag, Cologne and Weimar 1995, ISBN 3-412-11794-3 .
  • Ralf Laumer, Jürgen Pütz (ed.): Crisis PR in practice. How communication professionals deal with crises. Daedalus Verlag, Münster 2006, ISBN 3-89126-240-X .
  • Jan Lies: Crisis Communication and Prevention . In: Jan Lies (Ed.): Practice of PR Management, Strategies - Instruments - Application , Wiesbaden 2015, ISBN 978-3-658-06912-4 , pp. 248-255.
  • Doris Märtin : Nothing knocks me over so easily. How to master crises and why failure is not a mistake . Campus, Frankfurt am Main 2010, ISBN 978-3-593-38551-8 .
  • Hartwin Möhrle (Ed.): Crisis PR - Recognizing, mastering and preventing crises . Frankfurter Allgemeine Buch, Frankfurt am Main 2007, ISBN 978-3-89981-135-3 .
  • Wilfried Nocker: The effects of crisis communication on the image of the Liechtenstein financial center based on the current tax affair . Diplomica Verlag 2010, ISBN 978-3-8366-8757-7 .
  • Tobias Nolting, Ansgar Thießen (Ed.): Crisis Management in the Media Society. Potentials and perspectives in crisis communication . VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften, Wiesbaden 2008, ISBN 978-3-531-15384-1 .
  • Frank Roselieb (Ed.): Managing the crisis . Frankfurter Allgemeine Buch, Frankfurt am Main 2002, ISBN 3-934191-71-1 .
  • Frank Roselieb, Marion Dreher (Ed.): Crisis Management in Practice: Learning from Experienced Crisis Managers . Erich Schmidt Verlag, Berlin 2008, ISBN 978-3-503-10090-3 .
  • Andreas Schwarz: Crisis PR from the perspective of the stakeholders. The influence of cause and responsibility attributions on the reputation of organizations. Springer VS, Wiesbaden 2010, ISBN 978-3-531-17500-3 .
  • Andreas Schwarz, Matthew Seeger, Claudia Auer (Eds.): The Handbook of International Crisis Communication Research . Wiley-Blackwell, Chichester 2016, ISBN 978-1-118-51676-8 .
  • Andreas Schwarz and Martin Löffelholz: Crisis communication: preparation, implementation, success factors . In: Ansgar Zerfass and Manfred Piwinger (Hrsg.): Handbuch Unternehmenskommunikation . Springer VS, Wiesbaden 2014, pp. 1303-1319, ISBN 978-3-8349-4542-6 .
  • Ansgar Thießen: organizational communication in crises. Reputation management through strategic, integrated and situational crisis communication . VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften, Wiesbaden 2011, ISBN 978-3-531-18239-1 .
  • Frank Wilmes: Crisis PR - It's all a question of tactics. BusinessVillage, Göttingen 2006, ISBN 3-938358-30-0 .
  • Peter Wolff: Internet Monitoring - How to Protect Your Image and Brand Against Internet Attacks . Expert-Verlag, 2005, ISBN 3-8169-2291-0 .
  • Thomas Ullrich, Mathias Brandstädter: Crisis Communication - Basics and Practice: An introduction with a supplementary case study using the example of a hospital. Verlag Kohlhammer, Stuttgart 2016, ISBN 978-3170222496 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Crisisnavigator - Institute for Crisis Research - a spin-off of the University of Kiel
  2. ↑ International research group on crisis communication at the TU Ilmenau
  3. ^ A b Andreas Schwarz: Strategic crisis communication of organizations . In: Romy Fröhlich, Peter Szyszka, Günter Bentele (eds.): Manual of Public Relations Scientific principles and professional action. With lexicon. 3. Edition. Springer VS, Wiesbaden 2015, ISBN 978-3-531-17438-9 , pp. 1001-1016 ( springer.com [accessed August 31, 2016]).
  4. ↑ Crisis communication. In: Federal Ministry of the Interior. Retrieved September 13, 2016 .
  5. ↑ Customers sanction misconduct. In: Handelsblatt. September 26, 2007. (online)
  6. ↑ See Steffen Burkhardt: Medienskandale. On the moral explosive power of public discourse. Herbert von Halem Verlag, Cologne 2006.
  7. ↑ a b cf. "Crisis PR in Practice" (for references)
  8. ↑ The crisis as an opportunity. In: food newspaper. September 22, 2006 and: The Secret Shoppers. In: Handelsblatt. September 17, 2008 (online)
  9. ↑ Anyone who has to look up the manual first has already lost in the crisis. In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. October 25, 2004.
  10. ↑ Greenpeace vs. Nestle