ABSTRACT

The difference between a drama and a crisis is down to good management - or more specifically, good communication. How you communicate with everyone: shareholders, other business partners, employees, the press, and so on, in the hours and days following a potential business crisis is critical. Get it right and the crisis may even strengthen your corporate reputation. Get it wrong and you can imagine the consequences for yourself. Managing Communications in a Crisis details how crisis situations can be identified and dealt with, ensuring the risk to the organisation's financial well-being and reputation is minimised. The book deals with all aspects of communication management in a crisis. Part I considers definitions of a crisis and the theory behind dealing with crisis communications, both externally and internally. Part II explores the practicalities of crisis management communications, the identification of audiences and how each should be dealt with and by whom. The third part of the book contains valuable checklists and succinct supporting information for the key aspects and roles of the communication process. The combination of these three approaches will help you to develop your own crisis strategy, tailor-made for your organization. The text is supported by a wide range of case histories. Some of these you will recognise and others, perhaps through good management, never entered your radar. The authors are highly experienced advisors to companies of all sizes in the demands of crisis management communications. Their company, The Aziz Corporation, is the UK's leading executive communications consultancy, specialising in presentation skills, media handling and crisis management.

part I|83 pages

Understanding Crises and the Theory of Communication

chapter 1|4 pages

Understanding crises

chapter 2|6 pages

Elements of crisis management

chapter 3|8 pages

Stakeholders and audiences

chapter 4|14 pages

Third-party endorsement

chapter 5|4 pages

Communications in a crisis

chapter 6|6 pages

Science versus emotion

chapter 7|18 pages

How the media works

chapter 8|8 pages

Single-issue lobby groups

chapter 9|6 pages

Lobbying

chapter 10|8 pages

The Price of Failure

part II|27 pages

Practical Crisis Communication

chapter 11|6 pages

Practical steps to prepare for a crisis

chapter 12|4 pages

Internal audiences

chapter 13|4 pages

The spokesperson

chapter 14|6 pages

The crisis team

chapter 15|6 pages

Crisis planning and whistle-blowing