Crisis-Response Presentations

Crisis-response presentations (also called crisis communication) are meant to reassure an organization’s various audiences (its “publics”) and restore its credibility in the face of an array of threats, such as contaminated products, layoffs, chemical spills, or bankruptcy. Perhaps as a result of an increase in natural disasters, terrorism, and societal violence, the need for crisis communication arises often in both the profit and the nonprofit sectors. Usually these speeches are conveyed via media such as television and radio.

Audience

Crisis-response presentations may target one, several, or multiple audiences, both inside and outside of an organization. A personnel manager may address a group of disgruntled employees unhappy over a new policy. Seeking to allay fears of ruin and shore up stockholder confidence, the CEO of an embattled corporation may target anxious employees and shareholders alike.

Organization

A variety of strategies exist for organizing crisis communication, ranging from simple denial to admitting responsibility for a crisis and asking forgiveness.6 Familiarity with a range of image-restoration strategies will allow the speaker to select the techniques that best apply to the situation at hand.7 In essence, the crisis-response presentation is based on persuasion and argument. Sound reasoning and evidence are essential to its effectiveness. Depending on the issue and the audiences involved, use one or another of the organizational patterns described in Chapter 26, especially problem-solution and refutation.

ETHICALLY SPEAKING

Code of Ethics for Professional Communicators

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Because hundreds of thousands of business communicators worldwide engage in activities that affect the lives of millions of people and because this power carries with it significant social responsibilities, the International Association of Business Communicators developed the Code of Ethics for Professional Communicators.

Articles

  1. Professional communicators uphold the credibility and dignity of their profession by practicing honest, candid, and timely communication and by fostering the free flow of essential information in accord with the public interest.
  2. Professional communicators disseminate accurate information and promptly correct any erroneous communication for which they may be responsible.
  3. Professional communicators understand and support the principles of free speech, freedom of assembly, and access to an open marketplace of ideas, and act accordingly.
  4. Professional communicators are sensitive to cultural values and beliefs and engage in fair and balanced communication practices that foster and encourage mutual understanding.
  5. Professional communicators refrain from taking part in any undertaking that the communicator considers to be unethical.
  6. Professional communicators obey laws and public policies governing their professional activities and are sensitive to the spirit of all laws and regulations. Should any law or public policy be violated, for whatever reason, they act promptly to correct the situation.
  7. Professional communicators give credit for unique expressions borrowed from others and identify the sources and purposes of all information disseminated to the public.
  8. Professional communicators protect confidential information and, at the same time, comply with all legal requirements for the disclosure of information that affects the welfare of others.
  9. Professional communicators do not use confidential information gained as a result of professional activities for personal benefit and do not represent conflicting or competing interests without the written consent of those involved.
  10. Professional communicators do not accept undisclosed gifts or payments for professional services from anyone other than a client or an employer.
  11. Professional communicators do not guarantee results that are beyond the power of the practitioner to deliver.
  12. Professional communicators are honest not only with others but also, and most important, with themselves as individuals; for a professional communicator seeks the truth and speaks that truth first to the self.

Source: International Association of Business Communicators (IABC), accessed December 1, 2013.

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