Goals and Objectives

In every communication effort, we need to develop the purpose and objectives. The purpose is a general statement about the reason of the risk communication and “objectives are statements of specific, measurable details to be accomplished” (Lundgren and McMakin, 2004, p. 115). Lundgren and McMakin (2004) also mentioned that legal issues, organizational requirements, the risk itself, and audience requirements are important factors for the purpose and objectives of the risk communication.
The important laws mentioned in the book were Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), and the requirements set forth by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).
To know your own organization’s requirements and policies, crisis managers should know how much they can involve with the public, how much information they can release, and how they develop the communication materials and processes in general. This does not only apply to crisis managers. Ideally, all employees in the company or an organization should acknowledge of their organization’s requirements and policies. It is very important for the organization because it directly means how well communication is possible and core values are shared within the organization. From public relations perspective, I believe this is the core for the employee relations. Shared values and two-way communication should be guaranteed for the effective employee relations.
Risks are classified as three categories: care communication, consensus communication, and crisis communication. Care communication is for situations in which the risk is no loner in doubt, and includes the risks from using tobacco and contracting the AIDS virus. Consensus communication is for situations in which the audience will help assess and manage the risk, and includes operation of a hazardous waste incinerator, siting of electrical power transmission lines, and cleanup of a Superfund site. Finally, crisis communication is for an immediate risk, and includes a chemical plant fire, an earthquake, and a train derailment. I understood that care communication is everyday efforts to prepare the risk and consensus communication is the situation which needs to clarify how to understand it. Crisis communication is an emergency which should be prepared before as a plan.
Related to audience requirements, Lundgren and McMakin (2004) explained that audience generally wants to know about any risks that would prevent their living a good life for care communication. For consensus communication, the audience generally wants to contribute to a decision about how to assess and manage the risk. For crisis communication, audience generally wants to learn how to minimize their risk as quickly as possible. To know the audience’s needs is very important because the goal of risk communication is to make the audience prepared for the crisis. From this chapter, I learned about the new concept, “consensus communication” in risk communication. I think consensus communication is somewhat related to community relation because it needs an agreement or participation from the audience. Generally, the audience of consensus communication may be the community in risk communication. The community should be directly involved with the risk and plays an active role for efficient consensus communication.