Communicating in Extreme Crises : Lessons From the Edge

This book is an evidence-based approach to handling common, extreme crises. Extreme crises involve strong moral outrage; moral outrage creates situations where traditional crisis communication advice no longer is effective. These extreme crises create unique demands for crisis managers. This book is an evidence-based approach to handling common, extreme crises. Extreme crises involve strong moral outrage; moral outrage creates situations where traditional crisis communication advice is no longer effective. These extreme crises create unique demands for crisis managers. Moreover, much of the traditional advice and crisis key performance indicators (KPIs) no longer apply. Validated through research, the book establishes the nature of extreme crises, the optimal crisis response for such crises, and the KPIs (outcomes) crisis managers need to measure for extreme crises. It serves as a guide for how to communicate effectively during extreme crises and provides advice based upon experimental research that validates the effectiveness of crisis communication interventions. Readers do not require prior knowledge about crisis communication and crisis management as the book contains summaries of crisis communication and management before exploring the more specialized topic of extreme crises. The chapters include extended case studies, examining communication within such events as the Westpac money laundering, Volkswagen (VW) emissions, and COVID-19 crisis. Communications in Extreme Crises will be of direct interest to scholars of crisis communication in public relations, corporate communication, strategic communication, and organizational communication programs and management. Cover 1 Half Title 2 Series 3 Title 4 Copyright 5 Dedication 6 Contents 8 Acknowledgments 13 Introduction 14 1 Evidence-based crisis communication: how research helps us to understand what works 16 Research methods: creating evidence 17 Informal research methods 17 Content analysis 18 Formal research methods 19 Evidence-based approach to crisis communication 20 Audience orientation 21 Research methods 23 Summary 23 References 24 2 The basics of crisis management 26 Risk management 26 Issues management 28 Reputation management 29 Crisis management 31 The regenerative model 33 Summary 34 References 34 3 Understanding the value of and limitations to crisis communication 36 Crisis communication 36 Organizational crisis defined 38 Typology of crises 39 Crisis interventions 40 Macro-categories of crisis interventions 40 Crisis intervention for reputation 41 Stealing thunder 43 Optimal and suboptimal crisis interventions 44 Summary 45 References 46 4 Mapping extreme crises as part of crisis preparation 48 Crisis types: the starting point for preparation 48 Paracrises 49 Operational crises 50 SCCT: implications for crisis intensity 51 Trust violations: implications for crisis intensity 53 Contextual amplifiers 54 Summary 55 Crisis preparation: basics and consideration of extreme crises 55 Crisis communication plan 56 Crisis team 57 Summary 57 References 58 5 Understanding extreme crises: management misconduct and scansis 60 Moral outrage: basics and connection to crises 61 Cognitive appraisal theory 61 Moral outrage and crises 61 Management misconduct 62 Scansis 64 Scandals 64 Unpacking scansis 65 Race and crisis 67 Why worry about extreme crises 68 IMC data: frequency of extreme crises 68 Moral MUM effect 68 Whistleblowing and cover-ups 69 Summary 70 References 70 6 Considering boundary conditions and rethinking crisis communication outcomes 73 Boundary conditions 73 Danger: flawed conclusions about crisis interventions in extreme crises 75 Rethinking crisis outcomes 80 Transient impressions 80 Value congruence 81 Summary 81 References 81 7 Articulating guidance for extreme crises 84 Extreme crises: the role of moral outrage 84 Optimal crisis interventions following extreme crises 86 Guidance for crisis practitioners 87 Long-term versus short-term 87 Empathetic crisis responses and corrective action 88 Future direction for crisis communication research 89 Summary 89 References 90 8 VW emissions scandal 92 Background on Volkswagen (VW) 92 Description of the emissions scandal 92 Overview of the crisis intervention 93 Summary of stakeholder reactions 95 Discussion questions 96 References 96 9 Purdue Pharma and OxyContin crisis 98 Background on Purdue Pharma 98 Description of the OxyContin crisis 98 Overview of crisis intervention 99 Summary of stakeholder reactions 101 Discussion questions 101 References 102 10 BP and the Texas City explosion, 2005 103 Background on BP 103 Description of the Texas City explosion 103 Overview of the crisis intervention 106 Summary of stakeholder reactions 108 Discussion questions 108 References 109 11 Westpac money laundering 111 Background on Westpac 111 Description of the Westpac money laundering case 111 Overview of the crisis intervention 112 Reactions to the crisis and crisis interventions 116 Discussion questions 116 References 117 12 Wells Fargo and secret accounts 118 Background on Wells Fargo 118 Description of secret accounts case 118 Overview of crisis intervention 119 Summary of stakeholder reactions 122 Discussion questions 123 References 123 13 EF Hutton and check-kiting 125 Background on EF Hutton 125 Description of EF Hutton check-kiting case 125 Overview of crisis interventions 126 Summary of stakeholder reactions 127 Discussion questions 127 References 128 14 The Mylan Pharmaceuticals price hike 129 Background on Mylan Pharmaceuticals 129 Description of the Mylan price hike case 130 Price increase scandal 130 Overview of crisis intervention 131 Summary of stakeholder reactions 133 Discussion questions 134 References 134 15 Rio Tinto destroys cultural site 136 Background on Rio Tinto 136 Description of the Juukan Gorge case 136 Rio Tinto timeline 137 Overview of crisis interventions 137 Juukan Gorge page 144 Summary of stakeholder reactions 146 Discussion questions 147 References 147 16 COVID-19 and pandemic communication 149 What is a pandemic, and how does it affect organizations? 149 Anxiety as a driver for pandemic communication 150 General effects of anxiety 150 Empathy as a key factor 151 Sample COVID-19 messages 152 Amazon excerpts from email messages to customers 152 American Airlines 153 Home Depot 155 Columbia Sportswear 156 Best Buy 157 Hallmark 159 Discussion questions 160 References 160 17 What we have learned 162 Models of crisis management 162 The three-stage model 162 The regenerative model 163 Reflecting on the importance of the crisis intervention 164 Guidance for extremophile crisis managers 165 Conclusion 167 References 167 Index 168 Audience,orientation;,Risk,management;,Crisis,communication;,Paracrises;,Cognitive,appraisal,theory;,Scandals Audience orientation,Risk management,Crisis communication,Paracrises,Cognitive appraisal theory,Scandals "This book is an evidence-based approach to handling common, extreme crises. Extreme crises involve strong moral outrage; moral outrage creates situations where traditional crisis communication advice no longer is effective. These extreme crises create unique demands for crisis managers. Moreover, much of the traditional advice and crisis key performance indicators (KPIs) no longer apply. Validated through research, the book establishes the nature of extreme crises, the optimal crisis response for such crises, and the KPIs (outcomes) crisis managers need to measure for extreme crises. It serves as a guide for how to communicate effectively during extreme crises and provides advice based upon experimental research that validates the effectiveness of the crisis communication interventions. The book does not require prior knowledge about crisis communication and crisis management; it contains summaries of crisis communication and management before exploring the more specialized topic of extreme crises. Chapters include extended case studies, examining communication within such events as the Westpac money laundering, VW emissions and COVID-19 crises. Communications in Extreme Crises will be of direct interest to scholars of crisis communication in public relations, corporate communication, strategic communication, organizational communication programs and management"-- Provided by publisher This book is an evidence-based approach to handling common, extreme crises. Extreme crises involve strong moral outrage; moral outrage creates situations where traditional crisis communication advice no longer is effective. These extreme crises create unique demands for crisis managers. Moreover, much of the traditional advice and crisis key performance indicators (KPIs) no longer apply. Validated through research, the book establishes the nature of extreme crises, the optimal crisis response for such crises, and the KPIs (outcomes) crisis managers need to measure for extreme crises. It serves as a guide for how to communicate effectively during extreme crises and provides advice based upon experimental research that validates the effectiveness of the crisis communication interventions. Readers do not require prior knowledge about crisis communication and crisis management as the book contains summaries of crisis communication and management before exploring the more specialized topic of extreme crises. Chapters include extended case studies, examining communication within such events as the Westpac money laundering, VW emissions and COVID-19 crises. Communications in Extreme Crises will be of direct interest to scholars of crisis communication in public relations, corporate communication, strategic communication, organizational communication programs and management.