The purpose of this article is to set up an integrative framework for the study of internal crisis communication in private and public organisations.
The article takes a theoretical approach reviewing the literature on crisis management and crisis communication and discussing the concept of internal stakeholders and the implications of a staged approach.
Two questions that we would like to address in this article-
1. Can and shall an organisation that finds itself in a crisis situation communicate with its internal stakeholders in the same way it communicates with its external stakeholders?
2. What then distinguishes internal crisis communication from external crisis communication?
Crisis communication has established itself as a new academic discipline cherishing ambitions. It is now time to start focusing on the internal dimension of crisis communication, an area clearly suffering from being under-researched.
Communication and relationships are at the centre of this internal communication approach to crisis communication.
Basic Assumptions
1. That research in internal crisis communication must start with a detailed study of the relationship between an organisation and its internal stakeholders.
2. That research in internal crisis communication can best be systematised by applying a staged approach to crisis management where there is a distinction between at least three stages: a pre-crisis stage, the crisis event, and a post-crisis stage.
internal crisis communication is very sender-oriented (a focus on how managers must communicate with employees in a crisis situation)
the study of internal crisis communication
Two Basic Rules
1. The internal crisis communication research must start with a detailed study of the
2. The internal crisis communication research can best be systematised by applying a staged approach
Stakeholders often have different roles and are part of different social networks at one and the same time. Customers as a stakeholder may be divided into a long series of various subcategories or stakeholder groups with different stakes in the organisation itself or in its products. This also applies to employees.
Relation Between an Organisation and Employees
Employees have a different kind of relation to an organisation, which differs from the relationship between the organisation and its external stakeholders.
The relations between the organisation and the employees have an influence on the way employees act, what they are allowed to do and say in everyday organisational life as well as before, during, and after an organisational crisis.
It can be difficult or even artificial to think of the employees of an organisation as purely internal stakeholders, insofar as an employee may have other roles and belong to other stakeholder groups internally or externally.
Employees as internal stakeholders have a stronger and more complex psychological dimension than most of the other stakeholders.
If you compare employees with customers as stakeholders, the former must deal with a workplace and the work that they are performing and upon which they build their life, while the latter must deal with a product that they have acquired.
Internal crisis communication also comprises situations where the employees communicate inside the organisation, among each other or to the management, or across organisational boundaries.
Purpose of Internal Crisis Communication
The study of internal crisis communication will hopefully generate new insights that will improve our understanding of how private and public organisations and their internal stakeholders communicate before, during, and after a crisis.
First, there is a clear need for stakeholder differentiation.
Finally, there is a need for an interactive communication model taking into
considering the complexity and dynamics of organisational crises, and defining both managers and employees as active sense-makers and sense-givers.
Why is Internal Crisis Communication Important?
In the rush to deal with the crisis and the impact on external audiences, internal communications can sometimes be forgotten. However, with the right approach, effective internal communication can be one of the most effective ways of ensuring that your crisis does not get any worse.
Written by- Prabhveet Kaur
Edited by- Nidhi Jha
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