Importance of Communicating Image, Identity, and Reputation in Corporate World

This report discusses the importance of communicating about the image, identity, and reputation of an organization in the corporate world. It explores the concepts of corporate image, identity, and reputation and highlights the significance of maintaining a functional communication about them. The report also emphasizes the role of communication in building a strong brand image, conveying a consistent brand message, and earning a good brand reputation. It concludes by emphasizing the need for managers to master the corporate communication function to achieve organizational goals.

SOUTHERN CROSS UNIVERSITY
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Yu Yan (Student No.)
Akshay Kumar (Student No.)
Vilma Santos (Student No.)
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Title of Report
Abstract
An abstract must be fully self-contained and make sense by itself, without
further reference to outside sources or to the actual paper. Its purpose is to state
the intentions in writing the report and provide a brief outline of the overall aim,
the relevance or importance of your work, key findings and the main
conclusions and recommendations.
It is a well-developed single paragraph of approximately 200 words in length.
The function of the abstract is to outline briefly all parts of the paper.
Although it is placed at the beginning of your paper, immediately following the
title page, the abstract should be the last thing that you write, once you are sure
of the conclusions you will reach.
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Title of Report
Table of Contents
Abstract................................................................................................................................................................ 2
1. Introduction[NB: Include a heading for ‘Introduction]...............................................................5
2. Identity, image, and reputation (Deepgan Jung Bahadur Singh and ID)...............................6
2.1 Issue 1: Image........................................................................................................................................ 6
2.2 Issue 2: Identity.................................................................................................................................... 7
2.3 Issue 3: Reputation............................................................................................................................. 7
3. Corporate responsibility (Gana Yeshwanth Kommalapati and ID)......................................11
3.1 Issue 2: Why managers should communicate externally about corporate
responsibility............................................................................................................................................. 11
3.1.1 Ethical Responsibilities............................................................................................................... 12
3.1.2 Social Responsibilities................................................................................................................. 13
3.1.3 Environmental Responsibilities.............................................................................................. 14
3.2 Issue 2 (sub heading)...................................................................................................................... 15
4. Media relations (Puneet Goyal and ID)............................................................................................ 18
4.1 Issue 1: Communication via Traditional media....................................................................18
4.2 Issue 2: Communication via social media............................................................................... 20
5. Crisis management (Eashita Bhardwaj and ID)...........................................................................24
5.1 Issue 1: Communicating in times of crisis............................................................................... 24
5.2 Issue 2: Communicating before a crisis................................................................................... 26
6. Conclusion[NB: Include a heading for ‘Conclusion’]..................................................................29
7. Recommendations................................................................................................................................... 30
List of Tables and Figures [if appropriate - Number according to each section]
Figure 2.1 Reputation framework………………………………………………………………………….6
Table 3.1 Strategy and society……………………………………………………………………………..9
Table 3.2
Figure 4.1
A table of contents should include all section headings and subheadings:
 Worded exactly as they appear in the report
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Title of Report
 Numbered exactly as they appear in the report
 With their page numbers location.
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1. Introduction[NB: Include a heading for ‘Introduction]
The main introduction to the report written by all team members.
Approx. 150 words.
Here you want to focus on the assessment question (or in the business world the
terms of reference): 'Why and how should managers master the corporate
communication function'?
Consider how each section is a sub function of corporate communications.
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2. Identity, image, and reputation (Deepgan Jung Bahadur Singh and ID)
Introduction
For any organization, communication is one of the most important factor that should never be
compromised because all the operation of an entire organization depends upon a functional
communication. When it comes to the matter of corporate world, it is very essential for the
managers to master the corporate communication function and this report aims to illustrate
the importance of communicating about the image, identity and reputation of the
organization. Firstly this report will elaborate the concept of corporate image, identity and its
reputation and secondly, this report will portray the importance of communicating about them
in the corporate world.
2.1 Issue 1: Image
Image can be considered as the public perception towards the company. It is a basic
impression, belief of the existing customers or the potential customers regarding the brand. It
could also be understood as the aggregation of views and belief related to a certain brand.
This is what customers thinks about the brand. Image is very much connected to the public
relation for any organization and thus, it is more of a result of a concerted effort by the
advertising, branding public relations. It takes a long time for an organization to earn a good
image of itself in the eyes of the customers but it is so vulnerable that it could get jeopardized
any moment. Image is regarded as a reflection of customer’s perception of a brand and it can
be gauged by the associations held in the memory and this is also a shared subjective mental
picture (Ross, Jill & Harradine 2011).
It is very important for the managers to communicate often about the brand image as it is one
of the most vulnerable factor of any organization. Maintaining a functional communication of
corporate image is always going to be helpful to retain the strong position in the market and
to retain the remembrance of the brand in the mind of the customers. Those organization are
to succeed that build up a genuine brand image, convey a genuine and consistent brand
message in such ways which reach their target market(Anon., 2018). Thus, it is very
necessary to maintain a functional communication about image of the organization.
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2.2 Issue 2: Identity
It is the real manifestation of the company’s reality displayed or conveyed through the
organization’s name or brand. It could be the company’s logo, slogan, buildings, assets,
motto, uniforms and any other tangible pieces of evidence created by the organization. This is
something the organization creates and in simple words identity or an organization means in
what way the company wants to get perceived from the customers. Identity of an organization
is also the way the stakeholders can distinguish the company from the next. Brand identity
can also be considered as the set of brand associations that the brand strategist aspires the
build or maintain. These associations represents what the brand actually stands for this also
implies a promise to customers for the company. The communication in between the
company and consumers are in the terms of brand identity and brand image. Brand identity
originates from the company as the company is responsible for building a differentiated
product with unique features the company seeks to identify (Srivastava, 2011). In order to
become a successful manager, it is very necessary to communicate about the brand identity to
within and outside of the organization. As brand identity is something that the company
wants to be known for, without communicating about it, the goal is never going to be
accomplished and if proper and functional communication of the brand identity is not carried
out, then the organization could never achieve the brand identity it thrives for.
There are 3 points which contributes to the corporate identity:
1. An inspirational vision
2. Careful branding
3. Consistent and integrated self-presentation
2.3 Issue 3: Reputation
It is the product of both internal and external constituencies. This is considered to be more of
a result of consistent public relations because reputation is very much connected with
influence of the organization. The more the influence of the organization and its services are,
the stronger reputation the brand can earn. Reputation is all about the experiences of people
connected to the company. When a potential or an existing customers buys and uses the
product, he or she either gets satisfied or dissatisfied with the product out of which an
experience is created and that feeling of experience and that feeling of connection with the
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brand is what brand reputation is all about. The formation of brand reputation means much
more than keeping the consumers satisfied, it is something a company earns over time and
refers how various consumers evaluate the brand. Those companies that have a good brand
reputation are likely to attract more customers and a brand will lose its positive reputation
and they eventually develop a negative reputation as well – if it fails to fulfil its stated
intentions or goals again and again (Veloutsou&Moutinho 2009).
The foundation of a solid reputation exists only when an organization’s image and identity
are perfectly aligned. If there is some issue going on with the brand image or identity then
that organization can never earn a good reputation in the market and the same applies vice
versa as well.
It is very necessary for communication about the brand reputation to be carried out by the
responsible managers in the organization because reputation of the brand and organization is
what all the company is thriving for. A functional communication about the brand reputation
can bring in a goof fortune in the turnover of the company as at the end of the day, it all
relates to the public relations with the customers. There are lots of factors that could affect
the brand reputation and stakeholders are the most important foundation on which brand
reputation relies on and the reputation stakeholders of any organization are partners, owners,
communities, consumers, social media, regulators, third parties / supply chain, employees,
prospective employees, non-governmental organizations, media, government etc.
Conclusion
This report has discussed the concept of brand image, identity and reputation followed by
why they matter for any organization and why they should be communicated within and
outside the organization. As public relation is what any organization fights to win in their
entire operation, a good brand image, identity and reputation can be achieved from a good
communication about them with the customers and other factors and all that could be dine
from the public relation. First, the organization has to identity what it wants to be known for
in the mind of the customers. Then the organization needs to identify what and how
customers really perceive them and the services and experiences they provide to the
customers builds up reputation regarding them and communicating about them in the right
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way and at the right time will assist the managers to master the corporate communication
function.
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References
Anon., 2018. "Developing the right brand image: The Importance of being
authentic",Strategic direction, vol.34, pp. 35-36.
Cleopatra Veloutsou, Luiz Moutinho, 2009,"Brand relatoinships through brand reputation
and brand tribalism",Journal of business research, vol.62, pp. 314-322.
Ross, Jill,Harradine, 2011,"Fashion value brands: the relationship between identity and
image",Journal of Fashion marketing and management, vol.15, pp. 306-325.
Srivastava, R. K., 2011,"Understanding brand identity confusion",Marketing intelligence and
planning, vol.29, pp. 340-352.
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3. Corporate responsibility (Gana Yeshwanth Kommalapati and ID)
[Introduction]
Corporate social responsibility is a business system that enables the production and
distribution of wealth for the betterment of its stakeholders through the implementation and
integration of ethical systems and sustainable management practices. The main aim of the
given paper is to examine the need for business communication in a business organisation
concerning corporate responsibility. In this connection, the report is focused on investigating
the way the managers and the business effectively communicate the aspects of ethical, social
as well as environmental responsibilities to every single employee of the organisation and it
can be seen that it is vital that the managers are able to communicate these policies both
internally and externally. This report first looks at ethical responsibilities then focuses on
social responsibility and finally looks at the environmental policies. According to the
viewpoint of Crane, Matten and Spence (2019), managers working in any productive business
entity uses the synergy of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in the concern of boosting
the profit margin of the organisation as well as building and improving better customer as
well as employees’ relationship. This is because, in this modern era of generation, the
customers prefer to vote with their power of money and thereby held the business entities
responsible for the broad daily actions in their livelihood. Concerning to this ideology of the
customers, it was found that the companies are responding positively towards the demands
and desires of the customers. In regards to the employees of the organisation, the firm is
known to practice ethical labour ideologies and volunteering programs that would benefit
the employees (Crane and Glozer 2016).
3.1 Issue 2: Why managers should communicate externally about corporate
responsibility
As stated by Cassidy (2016), the managers in any effective business entity is
accountable to handle the complete corporate responsibility of the business that starts from
planning to communicate the plans of the same to every external stakeholder of the
organisation. This is because corporate responsibility is a factor that turns to be complex as
well as important for a business organisation. If the same is not communicated in a clear and
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concise manner than the complete plans and processes as well as the goodwill of the
organisation is hampered. This is the basic reason the managers should externally
communicate about their corporate responsibility so that the external stakeholders such as the
customers and the suppliers connected to the business understand what the company is
accountable to and builds their expectation accordingly. In this connection, the given paper
explains the different corporate responsibilities and the importance of their communication
internally and externally in a business entity.
3.1.1 Ethical Responsibilities
The managers in any business entity need to communicate both internally and
externally about the ethical responsibilities of the employees connected to the organisation
(Lim and Greenwood 2017). In this connection, the manner in which the managers can
communicate about the same as the means of shaping the social norms, the effective cultural
practices as well as the religious influences in the working organisation. Consumers expect
that the companies must produce good quality services and products and they also demand
environment friendly products and services (Beckford 2016). They always prefer those
companies who are a good corporate citizens. Ethical responsibility is to conduct a business
in such a way that do not harm the society finds way to minimize the negative impacts on the
society. They must follow ethically accepted thing that do not cause any harm to society such
as selling good quality goods and services at reasonable prices comes under the financially
and ethically responsible behaviour.
Moreover, the fact and factor about the reasons behind the communication of ethical
responsibilities between the managers and the business are that the same is termed to be vital
for the plans and processes of any business entity (Knechel and Salterio 2016). This is
because the ethical responsibilities of a business are the pillar of the same, which handles the
critical situations in an industry that requires moral decision making. The same involves the
component of the senior leaders protecting their employees, customers as well as the
community connected to the business firm from any negative consequences that could arise
in the course of action of the business. Thus, the communication between the managers and
the business is necessary to let every individual in the business understand their ethical
standards to be maintained.
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3.1.2 Social Responsibilities
The managers in any business entity need to communicate both internally and externally
about the social responsibilities of the employees connected to the organisation. As stated by
Jacques (2017), the effective manner in which the managers of a business should
communicate about the social responsibilities to its effective organisation is by the use of the
diverse pool of organisational resources and precautionary measures of the social goals and
services. The managers should practically communicate the obligation and the commitment
that the employees are accountable to the firm, and they themselves should adhere to the
same. As in this concern, it was stated by Thompson (2017), the phenomenon of social
responsibility is the responsibility of all the level of the employees working within a
productive business organisation. Concerning these criticisms, the managers have to bear
along with the main motive of profit maximisation; the same is accountable to maintain the
same with the adherence to the laws and customs of the society. The managers need to
understand the fact that the effectiveness in the concept of social responsibility can help in
the promotion of the development of the groups as well as expanding the supporting
industries (Hillson and Murray-Webster 2017). Thus, the social responsibility should be
effectively communicated by the managers with the means of lower and upward internal and
external communication that will help in the sharing of the information that is required to be
delivered to the employees. Social responsibility of a company involves the protection of the
interest of society. The business purpose must not be to earn profit but they also consider the
interest of shareholders and work for them. They must carried out such activities that benefit
the society and do not harm the environment. The companies must adopt such practices that
contribute to the society as a whole, like coca cola gave charity fund from its earnings every
year.
As stated by Chaudhri (2016), the managers and the business entity should
communicate about the social responsibilities in the concern that every employee connected
to the business organisation should understand about their accountability to the welfare of the
society along with the protection of their own rights and interests. The same is essential for
the managers can do the business in order to maintain the functional expertise of the firm, the
effectiveness and efficiency in the work of the employees as well as the procurement of a
better organisational structure and healthy working environment both internally and
externally.
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3.1.3 Environmental Responsibilities
The managers in any business entity need to communicate both internally and externally
about the environmental responsibilities connected to the organisation (Crowther 2018). In
this connection, the given report tends to state that the effective way through which the
managers can communicate the environmental responsibilities to its employees is the
adaptation of the legal implications and orders towards the sustainability of the environment.
The adherence to the laws and decrees to keep the environmental factors safe will also keep
the employees in strictness of maintaining the same. As opined by Fayol (2016), when a
business organisation makes any changes or adheres any new laws and orders in the working
conditions of the business, the same becomes essential to be communicated to the employees.
Thus, a new change made in the organisation regarding the adoption of the environmental
changes and factors would be made known to the employees, and therefore the managers
would be able to communicate to the business employees and thus make the communication
effective regarding the concept of environmental responsibilities.
The managers and the business entity should effectively communicate with each other
regarding the environmental responsibilities as the same is to be recognisably maintained in
the organisation under the policies of the government that decides the retention of the
business in the market. As was critically opined by Grover et al. (2018), that a business entity
in order to achieve successful competitive advantage in the business market has to be
accountable to the sustainment of the environment and its aspects and not only its own goals
and objectives towards the attainment of profit and gaining sufficient level of brand and
customer loyalty. If a business organisation fails to maintain its legal obligations towards the
environmental factors, the same is accountable for legal actions and orders. The adversity in
the same may also lead to the termination of the business from the market permanently.
Companies must be concerned about the practices that contribute to the environment.
Business must follow the regulation regarding air. They must dump waste materials properly
and safely, make sure that the trash s collected by the authorized company and they have
completed a waste transfer note upon the collection of waste.
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3.2 Issue 2 (sub heading)
In shaping a CR strategy, a corporation ideally acknowledges the link between
competitive advantage and corporate social responsibility as show in Table 2.1.
Table 3.1 Strategy and society (Source: Developed by the author for this
assignment)
Conclusion
Based on the above shreds of illustration presented in the report, the study can be brought to a
conclusion that a business organisation and its connected managers are highly accountable
towards the plans and responsibilities needed to be carried in the organisation. Concerned to
the given paper, the essential responsibilities are stated as the ethical, social and
environmental responsibilities that the managers and the company are responsible for and
liable to each other. This is because all the connected stakeholders of the company and the
duties of the company are inter-connected to each other and are necessary for the gaining of a
compelling competitive advantage.
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References
Beckford, J., 2016. Quality: a critical introduction. Routledge.
Cassidy, A., 2016. A practical guide to information systems strategic planning. Auerbach
Publications.
Charles Jr, O.H., Schmidheiny, S. and Watts, P., 2017. Walking the talk: The business case
for sustainable development. Routledge.
Chaudhri, V., 2016. Corporate social responsibility and the communication imperative:
Perspectives from CSR managers. International Journal of Business Communication, 53(4),
pp.419-442.
Crane, A. and Glozer, S., 2016. Researching corporate social responsibility communication:
Themes, opportunities and challenges. Journal of Management Studies, 53(7), pp.1223-1252.
Crane, A., Matten, D. and Spence, L. eds., 2019. Corporate social responsibility: Readings
and cases in a global context. Routledge.
Crowther, D., 2018. A Social Critique of Corporate Reporting: A Semiotic Analysis of
Corporate Financial and Environmental Reporting: A Semiotic Analysis of Corporate
Financial and Environmental Reporting. Routledge.
Fayol, H., 2016. General and industrial management. Ravenio Books.
Grover, V., Chiang, R.H., Liang, T.P. and Zhang, D., 2018. Creating strategic business value
from big data analytics: A research framework. Journal of Management Information
Systems, 35(2), pp.388-423.
Hillson, D. and Murray-Webster, R., 2017. Understanding and managing risk attitude.
Routledge.
Jaques, E., 2017. Requisite organization: A total system for effective managerial organization
and managerial leadership for the 21st century. Routledge.
Knechel, W.R. and Salterio, S.E., 2016. Auditing: Assurance and risk. Routledge.
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Lim, J.S. and Greenwood, C.A., 2017. Communicating corporate social responsibility (CSR):
Stakeholder responsiveness and engagement strategy to achieve CSR goals. Public Relations
Review, 43(4), pp.768-776.
Thompson, J.D., 2017. Organizations in action: Social science bases of administrative theory.
Routledge.
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4. Media relations (Puneet Goyal and ID)
Subject: Communication via Media relation
[Introduction]
Media relations is a vital part of every organization because it helps a business to co-ordinate
externally via mass and social media in order toshare news, maintain and protect the
organization’s reputation by dealing with negative publicity and to maintain the status.The
department of media relation is responsible for the distributing and writing the news release
and respond to the media enquires. The golden rule to make a good relation with media is to
be a media friendly company and to be connected with the social media. It is essential that
managers are able to communicate effectively with the media relation. This report firstly
examines communication via traditional media by managers and then focus on
communication via social media.
4.1 Issue 1: Communication via Traditional media
Traditional media mainly helps managers to deliver messages externally to consumers but it
is also a way to inform staff. Managers must communicate with traditional media companies
such as television, radio and newspapers because to make consumers aware about the new
products and services offered by the organization (Men 2013). They can also communicate
about the reputation of the organization so that more and more investors will invest in the
organization and that leads to be the higher profitable company(Men 2013).
Managers need to communicate externally via traditional media because while
communicating with public it covers the mainstream media that lead to big effect where
public trust the brand and see it as a reliable. While connecting to audiences media act as a
third party support for the brand offers (Adoni media 2019). Another reason of managers to
communicate externally via traditional media is instantly identifiable and a average person is
also aware about the newspaper rather then the popular blog in their area. Another reason of
managers to communicate externally via traditional media is the outlets and authority has
more status then the social media and the coverage also help to gain more credibility. The
traditional media always publishes the latest coverage and bloggers take the news as they
hear from traditional media and write their news. Another reason that managers communicate
via traditional media is that traditional media has a big audiences both online and offline.
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Managers can communicate internally with traditional media news agencies, radio partners,
televisions by conducting press conferences, product launching conferences, meetings,
seminar and exhibitions about their organizations, organizations ceremony.
Investors of company must know that the money they are investing on the shares is bias and
they are equally important to the organization about the products and services(Quain 2018).
He further states that managers need to communicate internally with staff about media
relations because the staffs needs to know about new advertising campaigns and messages to
the public sothey can easily deliver their message to the consumers. He continuous that print
media is the most powerful communication to reach customers expectations. It also allows
customers to read and respond by their own convenience. He explains that the
communication via traditional media can completely abandon broadcast media to reach
maximum audience because maximum numbers of public still watch television and listen
radio.
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4.2 Issue 2: Communication via social media
Managers need to communicate externally via social media to increase the awareness among
the brand and maximise the sales of the organization. It is important to communicate in an
effective manner with the common objective of winning the journalists by their professional
work (Pang 2010). He further continues that it helps managers to make the media relation to
next level. Managers can communicate much larger audience via social media in the form of ‘
Brand related communication’ conversations (kapoor, Jayasimha & Sadh 2013, p. 43-59). He
further states that an organization can make a big market segment, communicating via social
media. Shen et al. (2016) defines that the managers can communicate externally via social
networking like Facebook that provides a medium to connecting with public and friends that
also inclines the effectiveness of advertising on Internet. Managers can easily deliver their
message communication via social media in just couple of seconds because the social media
have a connection worldwide so now a person can deliver their updates worldwide in a quick
time. Sashi (2012) states that managers communicate externally with consumers via social
media to build a good industry relationship with the consumers. She further states that if
managers communicate externally with the consumers, they will be more confident about the
product and services provided by the company and will invest more because once company
make trust with consumers, it will built a good positive environment for the managers to
communicate externally to the consumers.PR Newswire (2012) states that communication via
social media is an effective manner to communication by managers and the consumers and
also have the opportunity to have a public discussion with the representative of the brand.
Social media also gives occasion to the mangers to express their thoughts to the consumers
and public (Liu & Kim 2011, p 233). They further states that social media has given a way to
managers to express their message for the consumers and communicate in their own way.
Managers can communicate via social media externally by the journalists, editors, newsroom,
Facebook, twitter, Instagram and YouTube that are very beneficial to managers to
communicate externally about the news, events, services and latest offers. Regular
conducting of seminars with media also help managers to communicate via social media and
make people aware about the product and services through social media. Managers can
communicate externally via social media with conducting press conferences with media to
provide information about the launching of new product and services in future. Social apps
are the best source of providing information to the consumers as these apps are used
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worldwide by the consumers and message can easily provide information in quick access.
This is the fastest and cheapest method to communicate via social media with the consumers
and investors to promote their product.
Managers need to communicate internally via social media to make staff aware about the
products, guidelines, and services in the organization.It is also important for managers to
communicate about the negative publicity and the image of the organization via social media
through the common channel of organization. There are some challenges of negative
publicity need to manage in the organization with the staff members of company (Blake et al,
2013). They further state that it is important to deal with the negative publicity to maintain a
organization reputation and brand image. They continue that managers and staff are equally
responsible to find a solution and effective way to handle the situations of negative publicity.
The best way to handle the negative publicity is to acknowledge mistakes and selected staff
to speak on the behalf of the organization. Mohamad et al. (2017) states that through the
access to social media, managers can easily communicate to upper and lower level
management that have fair access to communication technology. He further states that
managers set a platform to communicate via mass media internally.
Mangers in organization can communicate via common organization emails, common groups,
texts, companies web Facebook page, tweets on company’s page and lot more internally with
the lower level or high-level management. The social app Facebook and twitter can help
managers to communicate internally with the common web page of the organization. The
managers can communicate internally with the staff with posting the latest information on
companies web page and managers can also make staff aware about the new launching
products and services to be offered to the consumers. Social media is a great opportunity for
manager to communicate with their consumers and public.
Conclusion
It is clear that it is important for managers to communicate via social media and traditional
media to the consumers and investors about the news of the organization. It is clear from the
secondary research that managers need to communicate internally and externally via
traditional and social media. I recommend that managers should communicate internally and
externally with media relations with best information and a good source to provide
information to the consumers.
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References
Adoni Media 2019, why publicity through traditional media is important,
https://www.adonimedia.com.au/why-traditional-media-is-still-important/.
Blake A, Bonk K, Heimpel D, Wright C 2013, ‘Effective communication strategies engaging
the media, policy makers and the public’, Child welfare, vol. 92, no. 2, pp. 217-33.
Kapoor PS, Jayasimha K.R, Sadh A 2013, ‘Brand related managers to consumers.
Communication Via Social media’, IIM Kozhikode society and management review, vol. 2,
no. 1, pp. 43-59
LiuF, Kim S2011, ‘How Organization Frame pandemic via social and traditional media’,
Public relation Review, vol. 37, no. 3, pp. 233-244
Men, L 2013, Engaging employees effectiveness of traditional channels, viewed 29 May
2019,
https://instituteforpr.org/engaging-employees-effectiveness-traditional-vs-new-media-
channels/
Mohamad E, Ahmad A,Mohamad S, KhadijahW, 2017, ‘Breaking the Traditional
communication flow’, SHS Web of Conferences, vol. 33, p. 00044
Pang A 2010, ‘Mediating the media: A journalist’s centric media relation model’, Corporate
communication, vol. 15,no. 2, pp. 192-204.
Quain S, Traditional communication channels, viewed 25 October 2018,
https://smallbusiness.chron.com/traditional-communication-channels-65162.htm
Sashi C, 2012, ‘Customer engagement, Buyer seller relationship and social media’,
Management decisions, vol. 50, no 2, pp. 253-272
Shen C, Chiou J, Hsiao C, Wang C, Li H2016, ‘Effective marketing communication via
social networking site’, The moderate role of the social tie, vol. 68, no. 6, pp. 2265-2270
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5. Crisis management (Eashita Bhardwaj and ID)
[Introduction]
Crisis management is a process which helps an organization to deal with disruptive and
unforeseen event that threatens to harm the organization, its employees, customers and
stakeholders. Communication is considered as a quick way of handling a crisis. Crisis is of
many types:- financial-when a company loses its assets and can’t pay debts anymore;
technological-it includes software failure; crisis of malevolence-when someone hack’s into
the company’s software ad tamper the products; natural-like hurricanes, tornados, volcanoes
and earthquakes; personnel-when an employee is involved in unethical or illegal misconduct.
Some examples of crisis from the past are: 9/11, financial crisis of 2007-2008, 2009 Dubai
debt standstill. As requested, using secondary research, I have completed a research on why
and how should managers communicate during crisis management. It is clear that managers
should communicate during the crisis, because failure to communicate during the crisis can
ruin the company’s reputation and jeopardize organizations long term viability. This report
examines firstly how managers should communicate in times of crisis, then focuses on how
managers should plan a crisis.
5.1 Issue 1: Communicating in times of crisis
Communicating during a crisis is important so that true and right information is passed to the
customers, stakeholder as well as the employees. Communication is necessary to clear the
rumors related to the crisis, if any. There are two emotions that emerge during the times of
crisis communication and these are anger and anxiety (Coombs 2015). He states that
stakeholders are angry because crisis have occurred and have caused harm to the others and
to the organizations image and reputation, And anxiety is produced because people are
worried that the crisis will harm them and can occur again. He further states that
communicating during a crisis will reduce the negative effects of a crisis. Natti 2014 states
that while communicating during a crisis, manager’s response should be quick, accurate and
consistent. Firstly, a quick response is important at the time of crisis because it helps the
organization to tell its side of the story, a quick response is important to avoid media to fill
the information gap and spread information which may not be 100% true. Secondly, it is
important to give accurate information so that people may know about what has happened
and how that crisis can affect them. Thirdly, it’s important to provide same information on
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every communication platform possible, because different information on different platforms
will only create more confusion and it can worsen the situation (Natti et al 2014). There are
some other points which a manager should keep in mind while communicating during a
crisis, which are: take responsibility and apologize, be transparent and accountable, be
honest, put the public first, always provide constant flow of information, be accessible,
understand the situation carefully, and be ready for social media backlash (Forbes agency
council 20 June 2017). Most of the crisis situations get framed by the media, so they are the
first audience which should be considered communicating with (Pisciotta 2010). The key
audiences mainly include employees, investors/board members, customers, elected officials,
press, etc (Pisciotta 2010). Communication vehicles like in person open forum, and video
conferences should be used for communication (Pisciotta 2010). It is therefore clear
managers should communicate clearly with the employees, media, stakeholders, customers so
that they can prevent the company’s reputation from further damage.
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5.2 Issue 2: Communicating before a crisis
Crisis can happen at any time or place, it is important for organizations to develop a crisis
management plan and give information about that to the employees so that they can be
prepared and deal with a crisis patiently and according to the plan, and can prevent the
organization from further damage. The members of the crisis management team are legal,
security, operations, finance, human resource (Thompson 2018). Crisis management plan
includes appointing a spokesperson with the right skills, at the right position: should be
eligible enough to be the face of the organization during the crisis, should be given right
training (Thompson 2018). The crisis management model most companies follow is a three
stage approach, consisting of pre-crisis, crisis and post-crisis (Lando 2014). The pre crisis
stage is the time before the crisis has even occurred (Lando 2014). He states that it is a
proactive stage and helps in taking possible actions to prevent crisis. The pre crisis stage
includes detection, prevention and crisis preparation (Lando 2014). He further states the
signal detection stage includes detecting of the warning signs. The second stage is the crisis
itself and it marks the beginning of the crisis (Lando 2014). It is divided into two stages,
which are crisis recognition and crisis containment (Lando 2014). It is very important to
communicate with the stakeholders during this stage. Third stage is post-crisis. It is important
to make sure that the stakeholders are left with a positive impression of the efforts made by
the organization during the crisis (Lando 2014). The post crisis actions also helps them
company to get prepared for the crisis in the future. Chong (2014) explains the word ‘crisis’
by using first letters of the words like coping, rethinking, initiating, sensing, intervening, and
sandbagging. He further describes these words; coping here means to deal with the situations
and take the necessary steps required, rethinking- managers should think how and why the
crisis have occurred, initiating- managers should initiate and follow the crisis management
plan and deal with the situation as soon as possible, sensing- it includes detecting the early
warning signs of the crisis, intervening- in this step managers are supposed to re-check the
warning signs and consults the experts about the crisis, sandbagging- if intervention step fails
to work, sandbagging should be done to prevent the organization from further damage
(Chong 2014). Another important component of the crisis management plan is to develop a
crisis communication plan (Seeger 2006). Any company facing crisis should respond quickly,
accurately and confidently during and after the crisis (Seeger 2006). There are many different
audiences which will be waiting for the information about the crisis and it is important to
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present the information they need (Seeger 2006). The public perception of how the
organization has handled the incident can impact positively or negatively (Seeger 2006). It is
very important to make a crisis management plan, and more important to communicate
appropriately before, during, and after a crisis.
Conclusion
This report shows that it is important for managers to communicate in times of crisis. It is
clear from the secondary research that communicating properly during the crisis and making
a crisis management plan will help in reducing the negative effects of the crisis and will help
in saving the company’s reputation. Managers should know which strategies provide
maximum repair potential and how to avoid making the crisis situation worse. I recommend
that while managing crisis, managers should use corporate communication function.
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References
Coombs, W 2015, ‘the value of communicating during a crisis: insight from strategic
communication research’, Business Horizons, vol.58, no.2, pp.141-148, https://www-
sciencedirect-com.ezproxy.scu.edu.au/science/article/pii/S0007681314001505
Chong, J 2014,’six steps to better crisis management’, Journal of Business Management,
vol.25, no.2, pp.43-46,
https://www-emeraldinsight-com.ezproxy.scu.edu.au/doi/pdfplus/10.1108/027566604105254
07
Forbes agency council 2017,’13 golden rules of PR crisis management’, retrieved from
https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2017/06/20/13-golden-rules-of-pr-crisis-
management/#5c95f0641bcf
Lando, A 2017,’ the critical role of crisis communication plan in corporations’ crises
preparedness and management’, Global Media Journal, vol.7, no.1, pp.5-19, https://search-
proquest-com.ezproxy.scu.edu.au/docview/1543483211?OpenUrlRefId=info:xri/
sid:primo&accountid=16926
Natti, S, Rahkolin, S, Saraniemi, S 2015, ‘Crisis communication in key account
relationships’, Corporate Communications: An interactive journal, vol.19, no.3, pp.234-246,
https://www-emeraldinsight-com.ezproxy.scu.edu.au/doi/abs/10.1108/CCIJ-08-2012-0056
Pisciotta, 2010, ‘How to communicate in a Crisis’, Inc. retrieved from
https://www.inc.com/guides/how-to-communicate-in-a-crisis.html
Seeger, M, 2006,’Best practices in crisis communication: an expert panel process, Journal of
Applied Communication Research, vol.34, no.3, pp.232-244,
http://vodppl.upm.edu.my/uploads/docs/Artikel%201%20-%20%20Best%20Practices.pdf
Thompson, S 2018,’the complete guide to crisis management and communication’, Virtual
Speech, retrieved from https://virtualspeech.com/crisis-communications-and-management-
guide
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6. Conclusion[NB: Include a heading for ‘Conclusion’]
This is the main conclusion for the WHOLE report.
Summarise the report’s findings and evaluate the main facts.
You need to link back to the main introduction and the overall theme of
corporate communication.
Avoid writing new ideas or findings.
The conclusion may include a summary of what the finds mean.
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7. Recommendations
On the basis of the understanding of the study, the given report tends to suggest few strategic
implications that would help a productive business organisation to be effective and efficient
in the market of the business environment (Charles Jr, Schmidheiny and Watts 2017). The
same are specified as below.
 Aligning with the mission and values that the company needs to set at the multitude of the
ways to give back their part of the responsibility to participate and fulfil the activities of the
community.
 Aligning with the services of the business in a recognisable and significant manner.
 Mobilising the employees with the help of a recognisable community and committee
members.
 Volunteering the team building activities in the organisation and delegating proper and
concerned authorities to the interested team.
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