This study explores message strategies that are used by organizations during crises that involve technical details. Using the literature, the authors develop an integrative coding scheme that builds on Coombs' crisis-message-strategy typology. In addition, the authors develop a parallel set of strategies called technical translation message strategies. Using content analysis, the authors analyzed 154 accounts representing 10 different technical crises. The findings suggest that different crisis-message strategies are used to communicate to different stakeholders. The findings also indicate that when technical details are discussed, organizations rarely go beyond an attempt to directly state the technical facts with little or no explanation provided to the stakeholders. The practical applications of these findings include using the developed coding scheme to evaluate past crisis-management efforts and to help proactively plan for the future.
Adams, J. S., & Roebuck, D. B. (1997). Exploring neglected terrain: Communication with employees during crises. Organization Development Journal, 15, 63-72.
2.
Agresti, A. (1992). Asurvey of exact inference for contingency tables. Statistical Science, 7, 131-153.
3.
Allen, M. W.,& Caillouet, R. H. (1994). Legitimate endeavors: Impression management strategies used by an organization in crisis. Communication Monographs, 61, 44-62.
4.
Augustine, N. R. (2000). Managing the crisis you tried to prevent. Harvard business review on crisis management (pp. 1-31). Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press.
5.
Babbie, E. (1996). The practice of social research (8th ed.). New York: Wadsworth.
6.
Barton, L. (1993). Crisis in organizations: Managing and communicating in the heat of chaos. Cincinnati; OH: Southwestern.
7.
Bland, M. (1998). Communicating out of a crisis. London: Macmillan Business.
8.
Coombs, W. T. (1995). Choosing the rightwords. Management Communication Quarterly, 8, 447-477.
9.
Coombs, W. T. (1999). Ongoing crisis communication: Planning, managing and responding. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
10.
Coombs, W. T., Hazleton, V., Holladay, S. J.,& Chandler, R. C. (1995). The crisis grid: Theory and application in crisis management. In L. Barton (Ed.), New avenues in risk and crisis management (Vol. 4, pp. 30-39). Las Vegas: University of Nevada–Las Vegas Small Business Development Center.
11.
Cowden, K., & Sellnow, T. L. (2002). Issues advertising as crisis communication: Northwest Airlines' use of image restoration strategies during the 1998 pilot's strike. Journal of Business Communication, 39, 193-219.
12.
Dougherty, D. (1992). Crisis communications. New York: Walker and Company.
13.
Egelhoff, W. G., & Sen, F. (1992). An information-processing model of crisis management. Management Communication Quarterly, 5, 443-484.
14.
Einsiedel, E.,& Thorne, B. (1999). Public responses to uncertainty. In S. M. Friedman, S. Dunwoody,& C. L. Rogers (Eds.), Communicating uncertainty: Media coverage of new and controversial science (pp. 43-58). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
15.
Fink, S. (1986). Crisis management: Planning for the inevitable. New York: AMACOM.
16.
Freeman, R. E. (1984). Strategic management: A stakeholder approach. Boston: Pitman.
17.
Friedman, S. M., Dunwoody, S., & Rogers, C. L. (Eds.). (1999). Communicating uncertainty: Media coverage of new and controversial science. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
18.
Frooman, J. (1999). Stakeholder influence strategies. Academy of Management Review, 24, 191-205.
19.
Ginzel, L. E., Kramer, R. M.,& Sutton, R. I. (1993). Organizational impression management as a reciprocal influence process: The neglected role of the organizational audience. Research in Organizational Behavior, 15, 227-266.
20.
Heath, R. L. (1994). Management of corporate communication. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
21.
Johnson, C. E., Sellnow, T. L., Seeger, M. W., Barrett, M. S., & Hasbargen, K. C. (2004). Blowing the whistle on Fen-Phen. Journal of Business Communication, 41, 350-370.
22.
Krippendorff, K. (1980). Content analysis: An introduction to its methodology. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.
23.
Lerbinger, O. (1997). The crisis manager facing risk and responsibility. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
24.
Lewenstein, B. V. (1995). Science and the media. In S. Jasanoff, G. E. Markle, J. C. Peterson,& T. Pinch (Eds.), Handbook of science and technology studies (pp. 343-360). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
25.
Levy, M. R., Robinson, J. P.,& Davis, D. K. (1986). News comprehension and theworking journalist. In J. P. Robinson& M. R. Levy (Eds.), The main source: Learning from television news (pp. 211-228). Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.
26.
Massey, J. E. (2001). Managing organizational legitimacy: Communication strategies for organizations in crisis. Journal of Business Communication, 38, 153-183.
27.
McKeachie, W. J. (1999). Teaching tips: Strategies, research, and theory for college and university teachers (10th ed.). Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin.
28.
Mitchell, R., Agle, B., & Wood, D. (1997). Toward a theory of stakeholder identification and salience: Defining the principle ofwhoand what really counts. Academy of Management Review, 22, 853-886.
29.
Mitroff, I. I. (2004). Crisis leadership: Planning for the unthinkable. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley.
30.
Ogrizek, M.,& Guillery, J. M. (1999). Communicating in crisis: A theoretical and practical guide to crisis management. New York: Aldine de Gruyter.
31.
Pearson, C. M., & Clair, J. A. (1998). Reframing crisis management. Academy of Management Review, 23, 59-76.
32.
Pearson, C. M.,& Mitroff, I. I. (1993). From crisis prone to crisis prepared: A framework for crisis management. Academy of Management Executive, 7, 48-59.
33.
Pfeffer, J.,& Salancik, G. R. (1978). The external control of organizations: A resource dependence perspective. New York: Harper & Row.
34.
Priest, S. H., (1999). Popular beliefs, media, and biotechnology. In S. M. Friedman, S. Dunwoody, & C. L. Rogers (Eds.), Communicating uncertainty: Media coverage of new and controversial science (pp. 95-112). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
35.
Ray, S. J. (1999). Strategic communication in crisis management lessons from the airline industry. Westport, CT: Quorum.
36.
Rogers, C. L. (1999). The importance of understanding audiences. In S. M. Friedman, S. Dunwoody, & C. L. Rogers (Eds.), Communicating uncertainty: Media coverage of new and controversial science (pp. 179-200). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
37.
Rowan, K. E. (1999). Effective explanation of uncertain and complex science. In S. M. Friedman, S. Dunwoody,& C. L. Rogers (Eds.), Communicating uncertainty: Media coverage of new and controversial science (pp. 210-224). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
38.
Sellnow, T. L. (1993). Scientific argument in organization crisis communication: The case of Exxon. Argumentation and Advocacy, 30, 28-42.
39.
Sturges, D. L. (1994). Communicating through crisis. Management Communication Quarterly, 7, 297-317.
40.
Ulmer, R. R.,& Sellnow, T. L. (2000). Consistent question of ambiguity in organization crisis communication: Jack-in-the-Box as a case study. Journal of Business Ethics, 25, 143-155.
41.
Wynne, B. (1993). Public uptake of science: Acase for institutional reflexivity. Public Understanding of Science, 2 (4), 321-337.
42.
Wynne, B. (1995). Public understanding of science. In S. Jasanoff, G. E. Markel, J. C. Peterson,& T. Pinch (Eds.), Handbook of science and technology studies (pp. 361-388). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
43.
Zehr, S. C. (1999). Scientists' representation of uncertainty. In S. M. Friedman, S. Dunwoody, & C. L. Rogers (Eds.), Communicating uncertainty: Media coverage of new and controversial science (pp. 3-22). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
