Coombs Chapter 7 – Crisis Containment and Recovery

This was a very informative chapter on how to proceed once the organization is in crisis mode; that is, an incident has occurred, and now you must figure out what information to communicate to your stakeholders, how much information, and when. As Coombs points out, the timing and completeness of information given out is essential to maintaining the organization’s reputation and credibility throughout the situation, which is the particular point I'm going to focus on in this post.

Coombs says that the essential elements in any containment are compassion and control. “The crisis team must prove to stakeholders that it is in control of the crisis, and the team must remember to show concern for victims” (p.113). In addition, four topics must be addressed in the containment and recovery stages; initial response, reputational management concerns, enactment of the contingency and business resumption plan, and follow-up communication (p.113).

The initial response must be very carefully planned, as it’s the first public statement by the organization, and it sets the tone for the rest of the crisis. If the organization comes across as in control, yet compassionate in the initial response, the chances are much higher that they will be able to maintain that posture throughout the situation and that they have a better chance of surviving the crisis. It’s also key that the organization respond quickly. Especially in this era of 24/7 technology, “if the crisis team does not supply the initial crisis information to the media, some other group will” (p.115). Lack of information from the organization gives rise to speculation and rumors, which are very reputationally damaging in the long and short term. Also essential is providing at least some information – the “use of silence reflects uncertainty and passivity by an organization” (p.115), as well as a perceived lack of control over the situation. Heath & Kempner state that “a quick response is necessary to get the organization’s definition of the crisis – its side of the story – into the media and out to the stakeholders” (p.115).

The organization must deliver a consistent message – “speaking with one voice means coordinating efforts of the official spokespersons and discouraging other organizational members from becoming unofficial spokespersons” (p.117). By controlling who has access to the media, you ensure that consistent messaging is used, which reduces the chance of rumors and speculation. In addition, the organization must be as open with the media and its key stakeholders as possible.. “A typical struggle in crisis management is between the legal perspective for limited disclosure of crisis-related information and the public relations perspective for full disclosure of crisis-related information” (p.118). The important thing to remember is to be honest with whatever information you provide; “when delays are necessary, tell stakeholders why the question cannot be answered and when they might be able to expect a response” (p.118).

Finally, stakeholders must be kept informed as to how the crisis affects them. Coombs calls this instructing information, of which there are three main types: basic information about what happened (who, what, where, when, why and how), information that lets stakeholders know what they themselves need to do to protect themselves from the crisis (e.g boil drinking water, evacuate an area), and finally, the stakeholders must be kept informed about what is being done to correct the situation. Once this instructing information has been presented, the crisis team can begin to use crisis communication to address reputational concerns (p.120).