scholarly journals Crisis communication and crisis management during COVID-19

Author(s):  
Ruth Wodak

This paper presents results from a comparative and qualitative discourse-historical analysis of governmental crisis communication in Austria, Germany, France, Hungary and Sweden, during the global COVID-19 pandemic lockdown from March 2020 to May 2020 (a ‘discourse strand’). By analysing a sample of important speeches and press conferences by government leaders (all performing as the ‘face of crisis management’), it is possible to deconstruct a range of discursive strategies announcing/legitimising restrictive measures in order to cope with the COVID-19 pandemic where everybody is in danger of falling ill, regardless of their status, position, education and so forth. I focus on four frames that have been employed to mitigate the ‘dread of death’ (Bauman, 2006) and counter the ‘denial of death’ (Becker, 1973/2020): a ‘religious frame’, a ‘dialogic frame’, a frame emphasising ‘trust’, and a frame of ‘leading a war’. These interpretation frameworks are all embedded in ‘renationalising’ tendencies, specifically visible in the EU member states where even the Schengen Area was suddenly abolished (in order to ‘keep the virus out’) and borders were closed. Thus, everybody continues to be confronted with national biopolitics and body politics (Wodak, 2021).<br /><br />Key messages<br /><ul><li>Most governments employed specific modes of crisis communication vis-à-vis the COVID-19 pandemic, depending on the respective socio-political context and historical tradition.</li><br /><li>Crisis communication attempted to persuade people to follow restrictive measures; the legitimation strategies employed usually appealed to authority and quasi-rational arguments; however, sometimes mythopoesis occurred.</li><br /><li>In times of a pandemic, denial of death does not work anymore; dread of death becomes ubiquitous.</li><br /><li>Four macro-frames, embedded in nativist and nationalistic rhetoric, were used to argue for, and legitimise restrictive measures. Some heads of state (or prime ministers) instrumentalised the crisis to install ever more authoritarian practices.</li></ul>

SAGE Open ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 215824402110145
Author(s):  
Ryan P. Fuller ◽  
Antonio La Sala

Organizations should prepare for crises, through identifying crisis concerns, having written crisis communication plans, and designating teams for crisis planning and response, for example. Nonprofit organizations, which represent an important sector of U.S. society, are no different in needing to prepare, but to date, a review of their crisis communication preparedness is lacking. Therefore, a national online survey of 2,005 U.S. charitable organizations was administered to determine nonprofit organizations’ adoption of an anticipatory perspective of crisis management. The anticipatory perspective shifts the organization’s focus from reaction to crises to anticipation of them. According to the survey, 75% of organizations reported at least one organizational crisis in the 24 months prior to taking the survey (circa 2017–2019). Loss of a major stakeholder was the most common organizational crisis that had occurred and the greatest future concern. Most nonprofits (97.5%) reported implementing some crisis communication preparedness tactics. Importantly, charitable organizations can enact communication preparedness tactics without significantly detracting from program delivery. Moreover, given the general concerns within the sector, nonprofit organizations should prepare specifically for loss of a major stakeholder and technologically created crises such as data breaches and negative word of mouth on social media.


2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (3) ◽  
pp. 110-109
Author(s):  
Alexander Kokeev ◽  
◽  
Maria Khorolskaya ◽  

The COVID-19 epidemic has become a major security challenge for Germany. The country was faced with the need to protect its own citizens, transform the health care system and support the economy. On the eve of the elections to the Bundestag, German elite concern how COVID-19 and restrictive measures will affect the electoral preferences of the population. At the same time, the pandemic has become a test for European solidarity. The first isolationist reaction of the EU member states gave way to attempts to find a solution at the supranational level. In a twopart article, the team of authors made an attempt to analyze how the German government solves the problems facing the country at the national and European levels, as well as to identify how citizens’ moods change under the influence of the pandemic, what predictions can be made about the results of the upcoming elections to the Bundestag. The first part is devoted to German anti-virus policy, as well as a study of economic damage and measures to support the economy. The second will analyze the FRG’s policy at the European level, as well as the impact of the pandemic on the mood in society and the political preferences of Germans.


2020 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 151-156
Author(s):  
T. Pisоchenkо ◽  
◽  
S. Agafonova ◽  

Annotation. Introduction. The author investigates in his article the main drawbacks of the Ukrainian legislative base that may cause difficulties for employers and employees during the COVID-19 pandemic. While reading this article you will find several solutions on how to limit salary expenses of you company or firm, lead in remote or part-time working schedule on the enterprise and grant employees unpaid leave. The article also deals with the procedure of the paper work that should be done while processing sick leaves of the people who suffered from the COVID-19 disease or contacted with the COVID-19 patients. Purpоse. The purpose of this article is to identify the shortcomings of labor legislation during quarantine and restrictive measures related to the spread of coronavirus disease (COVID-19). Consider and analyze new approaches in building labor relations between employees and employers in the face of rising unemployment and the introduction of telework. Results. The pandemic covered 210 countries and territories. Studies have shown that tens of millions of people have lost their jobs. According to various social survey centers, every third company surveyed optimized the payroll, sent employees to remote work with a reduction in wages, reduced staff and transferred some workers to contracts. Today it is possible to exercise the right to receive partial unemployment benefits for insured workers who have lost part of their wages due to forced downtime or reduction of working hours due to quarantine. Cоnclusiоns. Today, much responsibility lies with the subjects of labor relations, much depends on the employees and employers, on their responsibility and charity. State aid to those categories that were more vulnerable during the crisis remains important. Financial assistance can take the form of grants and grace periods on outstanding loans – in order to support and overcome the profitability crisis. Keywоrds: labor relations; pandemic; wages; COVID-19.


2018 ◽  
Vol 4 (6) ◽  
pp. 926-943
Author(s):  
Luiz Alberto De Farias ◽  
Sergio Andreucci

O artigo descreve os rituais e as estratégias de relações públicas utilizadas pelas assessorias de comunicação de empresas e organizações dos diversos segmentos, atuantes no mercado nacional, realizadas por meio de ações, programas e planos estruturados de gestão de crises.  Analisa ainda as vulnerabilidades da identidade, imagem e reputação organizacionais, os processos narrativos, as táticas aplicadas, a preparação dos porta-vozes, a função dos comitês de crises, a efetividade na intermediação das relações entre as organizações e a imprensa e as suas interfaces com a opinião pública.   PALAVRAS-CHAVE: relações públicas; crise; comunicação; opinião pública; reputação.     ABSTRACT The article describes the rituals and strategies of public relations used by the communication advisors of companies and organizations of the various segments, operating in the national market, through actions, programs and structured plans of crisis management. It also analyzes the vulnerabilities of organizational identity, image and reputation, narrative processes, tactics applied, preparation of spokespersons, the role of crisis committees, effectiveness in mediating relations between organizations and the press and their interfaces with public opinion.   KEYWORDS: public relations; crisis; Communication; public opinion; reputation.     RESUMEN El artículo describe los rituales y las estrategias de relaciones públicas utilizadas por las asesorías de comunicación de empresas y organizaciones de los diversos segmentos, actuantes en el mercado nacional, realizadas a través de acciones, programas y planes estructurados de gestión de crisis. Se analizan las vulnerabilidades de la identidad, imagen y reputación organizativas, los procesos narrativos, las tácticas aplicadas, la preparación de los portavoces, la función de los comités de crisis, la efectividad en la intermediación de las relaciones entre las organizaciones y la prensa y sus interfaces con la opinión pública.   PALABRAS CLAVE: relaciones públicas; crisis; la comunicación; opinión pública; reputación.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephanie McGuinty

The practice of crisis communication has evolved since the rise of digital technologies and social media. Defined as an unexpected and non-routine event with high levels of uncertainty, crisis management plans and strategies are essential for organizations’ successes. Failure to strategically manage crises through both traditional and digital media may result in significant damages and losses. This MRP examines a recent corporate crisis - the case of Chipotle Mexican Grill during the 2015-2016 E. coli outbreak across the United-States - and looks at how the social media strategy (namely Twitter) influenced the outcome of the case. Using a combination of data analytics, company financials, and theoretical frameworks, this research brings to light the importance of measuring online data, and makes suggestions on how companies may use social media to manage various types of crises. Keywords: crisis communication, crisis theory, crisis management, crisis strategies, image repair, social media, crisis and technology, brand equity


2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 121-131
Author(s):  
Albin Skwarek

The article deals with the issues of the functioning of enterprises in the conditions of crisis. It presents the specifics of crisis management and proposals for remedial actions that should be considered by companies affected by the crisis. The main thesis of the article is that company management in crisis situations is based on a combination of reactive and prospective decisions taken in order to counteract the destabilization of its functions. The research problem boils down to answering the question: whether and to what extent, in the face of the uncertainty caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, are micro and small enterprises inclined to make quick prospective decisions? For the purposes of this article, a survey method was carried out, which enabled the implementation of the main goal of the article, which was to identify and assess the usefulness of actions taken and solutions implemented by the surveyed entities in connection with the Covid-19 pandemic. The adopted research hypothesis assumes that micro and small enterprises, in the face of a pandemic, make quick, prospective decisions to a limited extent.


2018 ◽  
pp. 217-246
Author(s):  
Conor O'Dwyer

This chapter begins with a review of the book’s argument and principal findings. It then discusses theoretical and applied lessons for the study of sexual citizenship and the practice of LGBT activism in the new EU member-states of postcommunist Europe. The chapter’s remaining sections reflect on the argument’s implications for other social issues and regional contexts. These include the women’s movement in contemporary Poland, Roma activism in Hungary, and LGBT activism outside the sphere of potential EU applicant-states (especially the former Soviet Union and Latin America). Animating this discussion is the question of how to account for instances when social movements fail to thrive, or even wither, in the face of backlash. A second animating question is what counts as social movement “success,” policy gains or organizational development? The chapter concludes with some speculation about LGBT activism in the US and Western Europe in light of the contemporary turn to populist-nationalist politics in both places.


2021 ◽  
pp. 147-163
Author(s):  
George Pagoulatos

EMU was a brainchild of contrasting parental personalities. Integrationist European ambition joined disparate national pursuits to create an imperfect EMU architecture, though one amenable to correction through crises. When the debt crisis hit the periphery, recessionary national adjustment was supported by insufficient Eurozone-level reforms. The EU opted for incremental crisis management and paid a price in terms of fragmentation. The Eurozone debt crisis bequeathed a contradictory legacy of both raising the visibility of the reform agenda and raising the bar of political difficulty in bringing it about, having divided Europe between (heartless) ‘creditor’ and (reckless) ‘borrower’ countries. By raising the stakes of EU failure, the Covid-19 crisis operated as a reform accelerator. The joint reaction demonstrated that the EU maintained its survival instinct, drawing on the political capital invested in its preservation. The Eurozone’s reform conundrum remains the glaring gap between what is widely admitted as necessary and what is realized as politically feasible. Consecutive reform attempts have been frustrated by country coalitions that resist movement towards further risk sharing (through the fiscal, financial or monetary channel) or deny any further transfer of national autonomy. There are ways out of the EMU straitjacket. One is formally deferring the rules. Another is saying things without doing them. A third strategy is doing things without saying them. The momentous leap of ‘Next Generation EU’ notwithstanding, EMU remains incomplete, even though confidence in its ability to survive has been greatly boosted by its resilience in the face of the two severe, consecutive crises.


2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 197-209 ◽  
Author(s):  
Donald Blondin ◽  
Arjen Boin

Abstract The nation state is discovering the limits of its crisis management capacities. The Ebola and Zika outbreaks, the financial crisis, the downing of flight MH17 over Ukraine, sinking ships overfilled with refugees, cyber-attacks, urban terrorism and existential environmental threats serve as strong reminders of the complex origins and transboundary dimensions of many contemporary crises and disasters. As these transboundary aspects of modern crises become increasingly manifest, the need for international, collaborative responses appears ever clearer. But that collaboration does not always emerge in time (or at all). Even in the European Union, which has various transboundary crisis management mechanisms in place, the willingness to initiate joint crisis responses varies. This observation prompted our research question: Why do states collaborate in response to some transboundary crises but not others? We bring together the crisis and collective action literatures to formulate a theoretical framework that can help answer this question. This article identifies crucial factors that facilitate a possible pathway toward a joint response.


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