Conceptualizing Crisis Communication

Communication is woven throughout the entire crisis management process because of the demands to generate and disseminate crisis knowledge and the need for management of stakeholder reactions. This chapter considers the application of crisis communication to the entire crisis management process. It's structure follows the basic crisis management process: pre-crisis, crisis response, and post-crisis. The role of crisis communication at each phase of the crisis management process is examined. The bulk of the chapter focuses on the crisis response phase because it is the most thoroughly researched phase of crisis management from a communication perspective. As with the other crisis response communication research reviewed thus far, Situational Crisis Communication Theory (SCCT) identifies crisis response strategies. SCCT organizes previously delineated crisis response strategies using Attribution theory as a guiding light. Reputation repair is a valuable aspect of crisis response communication. Organizations spend a great deal of time, effort, and money on building a favorable reputation.