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Developing internal crisis communication: New roles and practices of communication professionals

Mats Heide (Department of Strategic Communication, Lund University, Helsingborg, Sweden)
Charlotte Simonsson (Department of Strategic Communication, Lund University, Helsingborg, Sweden)

Corporate Communications: An International Journal

ISSN: 1356-3289

Article publication date: 1 April 2014

16681

Abstract

Purpose

The article has two major purposes. The first purpose is to examine the roles and practices of communication professionals in relation to internal aspects of crisis communication. The second is to suggest new roles and practices for communication professionals that will enable a strategic approach to internal crisis communication. This article is based on empirical material from a larger three-year research project that focuses on internal crisis communication at a university hospital (UH) in Sweden.

Design/methodology/approach

This article is based on empirical material from a larger, three-year research project that focuses on internal crisis communication at a university hospital (UH). For the purpose of this article the authors have mainly analysed transcripts of 24 semi-structured interviews that lasted 1-1.5 hours each. The authors chose to interview both communication professionals and other key persons/crisis managers in order to have the role and practices of communication professionals elucidated not only from the perspective of communication professionals themselves.

Findings

A conclusion from the case study is that communication professionals have a rather limited role in internal crisis communication. Their role is primarily focused on information distribution through the intranet, even though they are also involved in strategic managerial work during the acute stage of the crisis. The communication professionals are first and foremost called for once the crisis has already occurred, which can be seen as a “communication on demand” approach, which limits a strategic orientation. In this paper some new roles and practices for communication professionals are suggested, which involve a strategic approach and cover all the stages of crisis.

Research limitations/implications

Future research needs to go deeper into the practices and processes of these roles.

Practical implications

Important prerequisites for fulfilling a strategic role as a communication professional are membership of the board, diversified communication roles, a developed managerial role, being closer to core operations, and legitimacy.

Originality/value

The absence of a strategic crisis management thinking and discourse in organisations delimits communication professionals to a technical role rather than a managerial and strategic role. Taking internal crisis communication seriously and adopting a broader view of crises will raise new demands on communication professionals, which go beyond the operational and tactical roles in the acute phase of a crisis.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

Work on this article was made possible by a grant from the Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency (MSB).

Citation

Heide, M. and Simonsson, C. (2014), "Developing internal crisis communication: New roles and practices of communication professionals", Corporate Communications: An International Journal, Vol. 19 No. 2, pp. 128-146. https://doi.org/10.1108/CCIJ-09-2012-0063

Publisher

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Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2014, Emerald Group Publishing Limited

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