Crisis Communication Plans: Poor Predictors of Excellent Crisis Public Relations

1. THE EFFECT OF COMMUNICATION CULTURE IN OTHER CRISES

1.1. proactive communication culture can over- come the lack of a crisis communication plan, the opposite is also true.

1.2. Several case studies provide examples of how an equally strong but closed and defensive communinication culture can neutraliTe any benefit of a crisommunication plan.

1.2.1. Johnson & Johnson

1.2.2. Mc Donalds

1.2.3. Luby's Cafeterias

1.2.4. NASA

1.3. the company knew it had to "do what's right:"

2. COMMUNICATION AUTONOMY

2.1. is another organizational variable that appears to predict excellent crisis communication activities better than the presence or absence of a crisis communication plan.

2.2. Communication autonomy is the amount of power and responsibility an organization gives its public relations staff.

2.3. Excellent public relations requires the ability to immediately implement crisis communication tactics--an important difference that goes beyond preparing and having a crisis communication plan at hand.

2.4. Excellent crisis communication requires the ability to provide information To an organization's relevant publics almost immediately.

2.5. need to give its public relations staff the necessary autonomy to talk with these audiences.

2.6. Organizations need to prevent delays in releasing information typically caused when public relations practitioners have little or no authority to release information themselves.

3. MODEL OF CRISIS PUBLIC RELATIONS

3.1. Crisis communication preparation

3.2. Pre-~risis relationships with relevant publics

3.3. Crisis communication processes and practices

3.4. Post-crisis relationships with relevant publics

4. COMMUNICATION CULTURE

4.1. Organizations often have many different cultures within themselves.

4.1.1. Some organizations encourage two-way communication

4.1.2. others rarely or grudgingly disseminate information to its relevant audiences.

4.2. If an organization does not have a communication philosophy that supports the attributes necessary for excellent crisis public relations, a crisis plan, no matter how effective, will not likely work.

4.3. a great crisis communications plan won't work if "it's not the way we do things here."