Matthew W. Seeger

Crisis and Emergency Risk Communication as an Integrative Model

This article describes a model of communication known as crisis and emergency risk communication (CERC). The model is outlined as a merger of many traditional notions of health and risk communication with work in crisis and disaster communication. The specific kinds of communication activities that should be called for at various stages of disaster or crisis development are outlined. Although crises are by definition uncertain, equivocal, and often chaotic situations, the CERC model is presented as a tool health communicators can use to help manage these complex events.

Best Practices in Crisis Communication: An Expert Panel Process

The description of “best practices” is widely used to improve organizational and professional practice. This analysis describes best practices in crisis communication as a form of grounded theoretical approach for improving the effectiveness of crisis communication specifically within the context of large publicly-managed crises. The results of a panel of crisis communication experts are reviewed. Ten best practices for effective crisis communication, which were synthesized from this process, are presented and described.

Communication, Organization, and Crisis

Communication is increasingly recognized as an important process in organizational crisis and crisis management. The Three Mile Island incident, the Bhopal Union Carbide accident, the crash of Northwest Airlines Flight 255, and the Exxon Valdez oil spill can all be described as specific, unexpected, and nonroutine events or series of events that created high levels of uncertainty and threat or perceived threat to an organization’s high-priority goals. Crises disrupt employees and communities, damage corporate reputations, and cost hundreds of millions of dollars. Crises also serve as the impetus for investigations and organizational change. This review organizes a dynamic and growing body of communication and organizational literature dealing with crisis, including various developmental approaches used to describe crisis, decision making, public relations, rhetorical approaches, organizational legitimacy, and methodologies for crisis communication research. Research themes and new directions are identifie...

Chaos theory, informational needs, and natural disasters

This study applies chaos theory to a system-wide analysis of crisis communication in a natural disaster. Specifically, we analyze crisis communication during the 1997 Red River Valley flood in Minnesota and North Dakota. This flood, among the worst in modern American history, consumed entire metropolitan areas, displacing thousands of people. The conditions and decisions leading to the disaster, and the subsequent reactions are retraced. Communication related to river crest predictions (fractals), the shock at the magnitude of the crisis (cosmology episode), novel forms of reorganizing (self-organization), and agencies that aided in establishing a renewed order (strange attractors) are evaluated. Ultimately, we argue that preexisting sensemaking structures favoring rationalized, traditional views of a complex system led officials to make inappropriately unequivocal predictions and ultimately diminished the effectiveness of the regions crisis communication and planning.

A post-crisis discourse of renewal: the cases of malden mills and cole hardwoods

This investigation employed two case studies of post-crisis discourse to describe an alternative to apologia as the primary rhetorical stance following organizational crisis. The authors identify three themes of this discourse; strong commitment to stakeholders, an immediate and unequivocal commitment to rebuild, and crisis as an opportunity for renewal. Conclusions are offered regarding the directionality of post-crisis discourse, crisis as a force for organizational renewal, the importance of emphasizing possibilities over issues of cause, blame, and culpability and the role of C.E.O. discourse in framing the meaning of crisis. Implications for enactment, for image restoration theory, and for improved crisis management are offered.

Virtuous Responses to Organizational Crisis: Aaron Feuerstein and Milt Colt

This study examines two recent cases of ethical responses to crisis management; the 1995 fire at Malden Mills and Aaron Feuersteins response, and a 1998 fire at Cole Hardwoods, followed by the response of CEO Milt Cole. The authors describe these crises, the responses of Feuerstein and Cole, their motivations and the impact on crisis stakeholders using the principles of virtue ethics and effective crisis management. What emerges is set of post-crisis virtues grounded in values of corporate social responsibility and entrepreneurial ethics. These include virtues of immediacy of response, supportiveness of victims, and rebuilding and renewal.

Post-crisis discourse and organizational change, failure and renewal

Purpose – To examine the post 9/11 communication of the bond‐trading firm, Cantor Fitzgerald and its CEO Howard Lutnick, according to the discourse of renewal framework.Design/methodology/approach – This case‐study of the discourse of renewal draws upon the messages and statements made by the company and its employees following the 9/11 attacks. The discourse of renewal framework emphasizes provisional responses, prospective statements, and the role of the leader as a symbol of stability in the face of a crisis.Findings – This study provides support for viewing crisis as change‐inducing events with the potential to fundamentally alter the form, structure and direction of an organization. Renewal discourse helped the company survive an attack where over 600 employees were killed and the company offices completely destroyed. While a crisis inevitably create severe harm, it also has the potential to serve as a renewing force for the organization.Research limitations/implications – Few examples of post‐crisis...

Chaos and crisis: propositions for a general theory of crisis communication

Abstract This paper presents key concepts of chaos theory (CT) as a general framework for describing organizational crisis and crisis communication. Principles of predictability, sensitive dependence on initial conditions, bifurcation as system breakdown, emergent self-organization, and fractals and strange attractors as principles of organization are discussed. The implications for crisis communication as an area of practice and inquiry are explored.

Exploring the boundaries of crisis communication: The case of the 1997 red river valley flood

Based on an analysis of the Red River Valley flood of 1997, this study seeks to explicate the expansive and intricate nature of crisis communication research. Specifically, the crisis is examined from four perspectives: (a) chaos theory, (b) retrospective sensemaking, (c) crisis communication logistics, and (a) apologia. This case serves as evidence that multiple methods are necessary for building a complete understanding of complex crisis events. Furthermore, the authors argue that it is essential for crisis managers to adapt interpretive frameworks during crises in order to ascertain the unique nature of each crisis, regardless of previous experiences with similar aises.

Gender and Age Effects on Information-Seeking after 9/11

This study investigated the relationship between gender, age and information-seeking behavior after the terrorist attacks of September 11th, 2001, drawing on uncertainty reduction and placing the study in the framework of a crisis event. Surveys were collected from 1329 respondents from three different geographic regions in the United States between two and five days after the terrorist attacks. Results indicated that females regarded television and radio as more useful than males, while males reported the Internet as a more useful source of information. Differences for age were also found for use of print media and the Internet. These findings are discussed, along with limitations and suggestions for future research.