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...union used defensive ingratiation strategies to build their cases and protect their reputations. The university also used denial to argue that the strike was not disrupting operations. The university and the union both relied on e-mails, Web sites, and press releases to update their constituencies. The difference was that for the union in particular, technology both expanded the options for sending information and accelerated the flow of information when conditions changed. The case study illustrates that technology has diminished an organization's control of crisis communication by opening numerous communication channels for others to use to explain their positions and build support.
Keywords: crisis communication: faculty strike: communication technology: communication strategy; case study
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Unfolding crises require consistent, timely, and credible messages targeted to the affected organization's multiple stakeholders. Although it often addresses a wider range of stakeholders than conventional reporting, crisis communication is an important part of corporate reporting with a key purpose being to maintain the organization's reputation and credibility as it addresses the crisis. Traditionally, public relations guidelines for crisis communicators have recommended that the organization have a single spokesperson who can speak authoritatively for the organization on the crisis's status and any response the public would be required to take (Ferguson, 1999; Ogrizek & Guillery, 1999; Pinsdorf, 1987; Regster & Larkin, 2002). While the single spokesperson can insure a consistent message, many organizations facing complex crises rely on crisis management teams with multiple spokespersons who all draw from the same information to coordinate their crisis messages and their relevance to various stakeholders (Coombs, 1999; Covello, Minamyer, & Clayton, 2007; Lerbinger, 1997).
Regardless of who communicates during a crisis, the organization's stakeholders expect fast, accessible crisis information. If this need is not met, the organization's credibility and reputation can easily erode. As a result, organizations in crisis in both the public and private sector rely increasingly on technology to speed communication to their varied stakeholders including the public at large. Targeted messages with information adapted to various stakeholders' needs are posted simultaneously on corporate and government Web sites and sent electronically to e-mail boxes, PDAs (personal digital assistants), and mobile phones. Technology greatly expands the options for message transmission in a crisis.
The employee strike is one type of crisis that creates multiple communication challenges. The labor problems that lead to a strike can create a crisis that requires careful management to protect the organization's reputation as well as its relationships with and commitments to such key stakeholders as customers, vendors, shareholders, and nonunionized employees. The organization's leadership team must simultaneously communicate its positions to its various constituencies even as it focuses on negotiating with union representatives.
In the past, an organization's top leadership could control much of the information about a strike, often by working with a public relations firm or its own professional communication staff with either capable of drawing on well-established media relations. Leadership also had internal communication outlets and networks to apprise all employees of the latest developments.
The union involved in a strike also needs to get its side heard and uses varied media to share its messages with the public. In the past, these media were often limited to picketing, rallies, and union meetings with only telephone "trees" to alert members of breaking news on strike activities and negotiation updates. The grapevine was also a relevant, although usually poorly controlled, element of labor's communication. In the balance, because an organization's top leadership usually had the best access to other media, it had the upper hand communicating messages to stakeholders.
Educational institutions present a special case when labor problems result in strikes, particularly by faculty. As with a business strike, an institution's leadership works to establish its voice as the legitimate source of information and to articulate the strike's consequences on students. Leadership can also use media relations to frame the discord in favor of the institution's leadership with relevant stakeholders including parents, prospective students, alumni, interested community members, and the faculty.
Likewise, the striking faculty union must establish its voice and credibility with most of these same stakeholders and the administration. As a result, such a strike may lead to competing messages and create inconsistent views for the institution's many stakeholders. Previously routine forms of communication are replaced with crisis messages sent through varied communication channels aimed at building support for either the administration or the union.
The purpose of this study is to examine the crisis response strategies of a university and its striking faculty union and the changing uses of technology for communicating with key stakeholders. The review of literature first examines the role of communication in crises and then the response strategies organizations engage in during a crisis. The article next explores how technology, particularly through Internet applications, has changed the ways unions communicate. The case study that follows explores one university's faculty strike and the changing communication practices that were facilitated through technology. Implications for organizations managing crisis communications in a technology-rich environment are next.
REVIEW OF LITERATURE
Communication's Role in Crisis Management
Crisis management models proposed by both researchers and practitioners recommend preparing for a crisis by first developing plans, then using crisis management teams to implement planned responses as the crisis unfolds, and finally conducting a postcrisis review that allows the organization to modify its plans for future events. A number of books in the popular business literature provide strategies as well as practical guidelines for planning for and managing a crisis (e.g. Coombs, 2006; Dezenhall & Weber, 2007; Fink, 2000; Mitroff & Anagnos, 2000; Pinsdorf, 1987; Smith & Elliott, 2006).
Communication scholars have focused more specifically on communication's role in a crisis. Barker and Horsley (2002) proposed a synthesis model of crisis communication that provides a framework for developing a crisis communication plan to be used before, during, and after a crisis. They found that key components of successful crisis communication for the public sector included some previous experience communicating during an actual crisis event, a postcrisis evaluation that led to revised public relations efforts, and coordination with other political leaders, government agencies, or institutions.
Researchers have also examined communication's role in protecting an organization's reputation as well as managing its organizational legitimacy. Legitimacy is managed successfully when stakeholders perceive that an organization's actions are consistent with its stakeholders' expectations. Suchman (1995) argues that legitimacy management "rests heavily on communication--in this case, communication between the organization and its various audiences" (p. 586). For Massey (2001, p. 155), "on-going strategic communication targeted toward a specific organizational audience" is required to manage and protect organizational legitimacy.
Furthermore, the organization's crisis communication choices may reflect its perceptions of the crisis' nature. Penrose's (2000) study found "a link between external communication and the perception of a crisis as a threat and an opportunity" (p. 167). Organizations that understood both the threat and opportunity inherent in a crisis tended to engage in planning precrisis and postcrisis activities that can lead to effective external communication with the organization's stakeholders, which in turn helps a company maintain its reputation.
Ray (1999) notes that the greater the uncertainty about resolving the crisis, the greater...
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