Chapter Contents
4. Crises Categories
Governments would then make decisions based on these models. Fearn-Banks notes that often organisations may not decide on the outcome that has the maximum benefit but rather on the decision that will satisfy the minimum requirements, a process that is referred to as
‘satisficing’. This is often she states as organisations do not have data at hand to take the ultimate decision.
- Diffusion Theory
The Diffusion Theory is concerned with how ideas spread amongst a population or a public.
Diffusion is explained as the process by which new ideas are adapted over time. The theory identifies five steps in the adaptation process:
1. Awareness – the organisation is exposed to the idea.
2. Interest – the organisation becomes interested in the idea.
3. Evaluation – potential benefits of adapting the idea are analysed.
4. Trial – the idea is trialled for a temporary period.
5. Adaption – the idea is adapted or not.
Adaptation of new ideas, products, services or ideas according to this theory depend on what has happened in the past, who the decision makers are and the idea itself and the level of change a public has to make in order to adapt the idea. This theory again should be referenced at the planning stage of a crisis.
In reality an organisation responding to a crisis will most likely incorporate elements from each of these theories into its crisis communications strategy, combined with knowledge of communications and rhetorical theory and the Theory of Excellence. These theories should form the foundations for all communications campaigns and position an organisation to be prepared for a crisis. A good example of many approaches and theories in play can be seen in the communications strategies used by Governments and organisations throughout the world during the COVID-19 pandemic. An analysis of the COVID-19 pandemic response in terms of crisis communications is contained in this book.
years in operation. As the company began to run out of money it was forced to ground planes and lay off hundreds of staff, including its management and communications professionals.
Another example of a crisis took place in 2015, when following an investigation by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in the US, Volkswagen admitted to cheating emissions tests in order to sell its diesel cars. The company was found to have used special software in some of its cars that enabled it to perform well in emissions tests. The software was discovered by the EPA and Volkswagen was forced to recall millions of its cars worldwide.
The product recall cost the company billions. Another example of a modern crisis situation is a breach of data, which can cause a serious crisis for an organisation today. In 2018, Facebook was found to have used personal information harvested from more than 50 million Facebook profiles without users’ permission. It emerged subsequently that Facebook had known about the data breach for three years previously and had even received several warnings about its data security policies. Billions of dollars were wiped off Facebook’s stock market valuation as news of the crisis broke and a #deletefacebook campaign ran across social media threatening the organisation’s reputation. Crises come in all shapes and sizes, from the seemingly minor as in the case of Kentucky Fried Chicken’s missing chicken crisis to the major crisis that costs the company vast sums of money as in the case of Facebook’s or Volkswagen’s issues or BP’s disaster in the Gulf of Mexico.
Although there is no universally used classification system for crises, many authors have made an attempt to provide some clarity. Coombs (2019), for example identifies crises as either disasters or organizational. Disasters according to Coombs are large scale crises that require responses from ‘multiple governmental units.’ An example of such a crisis would be BP’s oil spill or another example is Boeing’s 737 crisis. In 2019, a Boeing ‘737 Max 8’ aircraft, operated by Ethiopian Airlines, crashed in Ethiopia killing all 157 people on board. The crash followed an earlier incident in October 2018 when the same make of aircraft, this time operated by Lion Air, crashed in Indonesia, killing all 189 people on board. It emerged following the accidents that there had been concern expressed prior to the incidents for the safety of the aircrafts involved. Following the accidents, there was no immediate worldwide directive from Boeing to ground the aircraft with the result that airline regulators took the decision to ground the planes into their own hands. Eventually, air accident investigators found that a series of faults with the plane design was linked to both crashes. Following this report, Boeing said that it was
‘taking actions to enhance the safety of the 737 Max to prevent the flight control conditions that occurred in this accident from ever happening again"’ (BBC, 2019). In the end, Boeing’s Chief Executive of Commercial Airplanes, Kevin McAllister was fired, followed later by Chief Executive, Dennis Muilenburg and the company’s profits decreased in the immediate
aftermath of the crisis. This crisis could be termed a disaster as it was an incident of worldwide interest that resulted in the deaths of hundreds of people. However, at a company level, it also represents an organisational crisis for Boeing.
An organisational crisis is probably the most common type of crisis that the majority of communications professionals could expect to face. Coombs describes this type of crisis as:
‘the perceived violation of salience stakeholder expectations that can create negative outcomes for stakeholders and/or the organisation.’ Examples of organisational crises are prevalent. The Facebook issue described earlier in this chapter was an organisational crisis for Facebook for example. Another interesting example of a crisis that impacted on both the reputation of the person and the organisation was Prince Andrew’s television interview in the UK. The ill-fated interview resulted in a crisis for both the Prince and for the organisation that is the British Royal Family. In 2019, Prince Andrew decided to voluntarily take part in an national television interview with esteemed journalist, Emily Maitlis on the BBC’s flagship television current affairs show, Newsnight. The Prince intended to take part in the interview presumably to clear his and his family’s good name in the light of the allegations made against him regarding his connection with convicted paedophile, Jeffrey Epstein. The interview was an unmitigated disaster for the Prince and for the Royal Family. The Prince performed extremely poorly in the interview and he was ridiculed across social media immediately as the interview aired and in the news media thereafter. Most importantly in terms of crisis communications, the Prince did not apologise or show any empathy for the victims involved in the case. Prince Andrew’s reputation suffered as a result and he lost his role in the Royal Family. Another example of an organisational crisis is Astra-Zeneca’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. As pharmaceutical organisations worldwide started to role out vaccines, Astra Zeneca suffered reputational damage as it appeared to renege on its contractual arrangements with the European Union. Its vaccine has also received negative media coverage as to its efficacy and reported side effects. These are serious crises for the organisation that have the potential to impact on its reputation, share price and revenues into the future.
Doug Newsom offers a useful guide in the classification of crises. She proffers a three-category classification model to identify types of crises as an act of nature, an intentional crisis or an unintentional crisis (Newsom, ref pending). An act of nature is similar in concept to Coombs’ ‘Disaster’. It is a crisis, the fault for which cannot be attributed to any individual or organisation. Examples of an act of nature include an earthquake, a tsunami or the COVID-19 pandemic. At a macro level, this pandemic created a worldwide international public health
and economical crisis for governments. At a micro level, individual businesses worldwide suffered their own crises as a result of the actions that were taken to try and control the pandemic, with economies closed and businesses prevented from trading. Many businesses were immediately plunged into organisational crises of their own where they had to make immediate plans to facilitate staff to work remotely, lay off staff either temporarily or permanently and process issues with many businesses in the retail trade pivoting to online sales. The Coronavirus Pandemic represents a significant global crisis that offers extensive learning opportunities from a communications perspective and will be discussed in a case study later in this book. An intentional crisis according to this topology is a crisis that occurs as a result of the deliberate actions of others. For example, the terrorist attacks of 9/11 in the United States could be classed as an intentional crisis as the terrorists deliberately attacked the Twin Towers and caused destruction, loss of life and an immediate crisis for the American Government as well as governments and businesses throughout the world. An unintentional crisis is an issue that occurs as a result of an organisation’s normal day-to-day activity but one which wasn’t intended. This is differentiated by an Act of Nature as it can be commonly caused by some form of human error. The BP Oil Spill in the Gulf of Mexico for example or the Chernobyl Nuclear disaster in the 1980s are good examples of this type of crisis.
An analysis of crisis topology demonstrates the very different forms that crises present in. If the crisis is large in scale and has caused or has the potential to cause loss of life, it is a very serious crisis that could be classified as a Disaster according to Coombs or maybe as a result of an ‘Act of Nature’ according to Newsom. If however the crisis affects an organisation’s or a person’s reputation and/or revenues, it is likely to be an organisational crisis and one that could be intentional or unintentional. Although crises occur in different forms and have different catalysts, the tools and tactics for planning and responding to all types of crises are the same and can be tailored to an individual crisis as it occurs.