Communicating in a crisis: A risk management issue?

Abstract

This paper argues that most post-exercise or incident debriefs suggest that communications could have been better. It explores some of the difficulties of communicating in a crisis and suggests that if organisational culture does not allow for good communications in ‘peacetime’, then they are unlikely to be any better in a crisis situation. It is therefore suggested that crisis communications should be treated as a risk management issue and given a place on the corporate risk register so that the issue can be managed through an appropriate risk management action plan. The paper mainly focuses on internal communications although it also refers to the importance of media and external communications as part of an overall communications plan. Reference is made to the report following the Virginia Tech disaster in 2007 and the problems associated with communications in a university environment. The paper aims to provide the reader with a clearer understanding of some of the reasons why communications often fail in an incident and suggests some ways in which things may be improved in the future.