Crisis management: A case of Dalhousie University
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Crisis management: A case of Dalhousie University
Introduction
It is not often that a university is at the centre of a Public relations crisis, but this was the case in 2015 when derogative Facebook posts by students from Dalhousie University were made public. The questionable posts were made on a private Facebook group Class of DDS 2015 Gentlemen, which was made up of at least 12 fourth-year dentistry male students. Some of the Facebook posts were attacks on their female classmates and had been going on for months before a whistleblower finally exposed the group because she was mentioned in one of the disturbing posts on the group. The conversations on the group also consisted of sexist comments and jokes about using chloroform on their female classmates. It was not until after that the University took action; all those involved were banned from clinical practice. By now the situation was escalating into high profile story and threatening to blow up into an uncontrollable crisis.
Communication strategy
To deal with the situation, the university PR department sort the intervention of a third party PR firm who were responsible for managing communications among other PR activities. Secondly, the University invested in strategic external communications focusing on activities such as media monitoring and releasing response messages to the public. Media monitoring involved taking note of all discussions related to the University on both traditional and digital media. Finally, there was the so-called “Difficult Conversations session” which included training and coaching university faculty on the appropriate way to respond to the issue when called upon. The training focus was mainly directed towards high ranking officials who would likely interact with the media, including the president.
Literature Review
Managing external communications can be one of the most challenging aspects of crisis management partly because people are unpredictable (Hošková-Mayerová, 2016)). To deal with the dynamics of external communications, some researchers emphasize the need to hire external experts as Dalhousie University did. In an explorative study by Broekema, van Eijk and Torenvlied, (2018), for example, the researchers assert that hiring an external expert can be beneficial depending on the situation. Also, there are challenges associated with involving external experts in crisis management, most notably the risk that the experts spread the word of the crisis escalating it further. Moreover, Broekema et al. (2018) note that external experts are often not actively recruited by the (strategic) crisis management response; the implication here is that the role of external experts is poorly coordinated making the contributions of such experts ineffective.
The role of effective communication during a crisis can hardly be overstated. For Dalhousie University hiring an external expert was the first step to ensuring effective communication post the crisis. Secondly, there was media monitoring which is part of the overall media communication strategy. Effective communication entails engaging audiences on multiple channels and monitoring both online and offline conversations (AlSaqer, 2018; Eriksson, 2018; Broekema et al., 2018). Recent research is particularly interested in online communication, including social media and its role in crisis communication (AlSaqer, 2018). According to Jin, Liu and Austin (2014), it is crucial for public relations officials to find strategic ways of using social media because people increasingly use these platforms. Researchers also assert that the origin of a crisis is a crucial determinant of the public’s preferred source of information. In other words, the public prefers to hear news about online crises from online sources. What is interesting, Jin et al. (2015) assert, is that despite the importance associated with effective online communication “there is scarce theory-grounded research to understand key factors that affect how publics consume crisis information via social media compared to other sources.”
External communication can only be effective when well-crafted messages are released to the public (Eriksson, 2018). This is what did after the crisis, with President Richard Florizone leading the way. For example, referring to the language used by the denstiry students, the president said it was “unacceptable and deeply disturbing.” Researchers emphasize the importance of this kind of clear, timely and precise communication (Eriksson, 2018). And further evidence shows that PR officials should look for opportunities to engage in dialogue (Erikson, 2018). This is where training becomes essential. In fact, a rich body of research supports Dalhousie University’s move to seek training for its top officials. AlSaqer (2018), for example, states that “to achieve that, both education and training are significant in crisis communication planning.” Previous research also shows that training leaders enable them to make the right decisions regarding both internal and external communications (Hošková-Mayerová, 2016). Most importantly, there should be a bare minimum of training and education although the focus should be on specific target groups (Hošková-Mayerová, 2016)
Conclusion
In summarization, Dalhousie University’s response to the denstiry crisis was well coordinated and effectively executed even though the decision to ban the culprits took longer than would have been ideal. As previous research asserts, the key to Dalhousie University’s success is not a single factor, but instead, the organization had to employ a multipronged approach that focused strategic communication to ensure that the public received only desirable messages. The only thing that could have been done better is the University’s social media strategy since it is the future of online crisis management.
References
AlSaqer, L. (2018). The Role of Public Relations in Crisis Communication Planning in Bahraini Organisations. KnE Social Sciences, 76-87.
Broekema, W., van Eijk, C., & Torenvlied, R. (2018). The role of external experts in crisis situations: A research synthesis of 114 post-crisis evaluation reports in the Netherlands. International journal of disaster risk reduction, 31, 20-29.
Eriksson, M. (2018). Lessons for crisis communication on social media: A systematic review of what research tells the practice. International Journal of Strategic Communication, 12(5), 526-551.
Hošková-Mayerová, Š. (2016). Education and Training in Crisis Management. Online Submission.
Jin, Y., Liu, B. F., & Austin, L. L. (2014). Examining the role of social media in effective crisis management: The effects of crisis origin, information form, and source on publics’ crisis responses. Communication Research, 41(1), 74-94.
Using the literature review from Part 1 of this assignment, prepare a (double-spaced, 12-point font) report on
the chosen topic that includes the following:
At least 5 academic sources
Answers to the following:
What was the catastrophic event?
What communication strategy did your chosen company use and did you feel is was an effective approach?
What could they have done differently and why? Be sure to substantiate your argument with research.
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