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What the Weick?! Crisis Management
- 1. Weickian Approach to Public Relations and Crisis Management Chapter 2 By: Julie Sousa PR Theory Spring 2010
Editor's Notes
- The key to Weick’s Model is human interaction is the central phenomenon to organizing. Organizations are just a thought it is the continuous streams of people interacting and communicating that make the organization what it is. Think: Business building without any workers is not a business. Hierarchy of the organizations communication and interdependence within the organization are critical issues for public relations. Sociocultural Evolutionary Theory- How people adapt in order to survive within the changes of their social and cultural environments (Think: crosswalks around Bridgewater State suddenly change). Information Theory- Transmitting the message efficiently without the loss of information. This can only happen if the appropriate channels (people) are given the appropriate codes (messages). (Think: what are the most effective ways to transmit information and who should be transmitting it?) Systems Theory- The system (organization) works as a whole even though it is split into the system, the subsystem, and the suprasystem. Weick believed that all parts of the hierarchy were important and dependent on each other. Negative and positive feedback allow the organization to maintain balance in the organizing process. The process of organizing is the main focus not the actual organization. (Think: With a missing link in the game of telephone where does the message go?)
- Information is key in an organizational environment. Environment is the action, view, and perception that organizational members make in response to a message. Organizations rely on data and PR professionals rely on all sources of information that can be gathered in order to develop an appropriate response Information Equivocality- level of understandability of messages to which organization members respond. The more equivocal the situation the more difficult it is to respond to. Example: Profit margins drastically drop without warning. Appropriate organization leaders will have to gather information as to why this happened and what can be done in the future to prevent it from happening again (also the job of PR Pros) Some inputs are considered low-equivocality and the organization should act very clear, simple, and based on past experience with similar issues.
- Inputs are what is being dealt with in the organization. Example: Crisis within a company. Message about a recalled product. Rules help people within the organization achieve familiarity with inputs that are standard. These messages should be consistent and appropriate for the situation. Some standard rules for organizations are printed directions, form letters, and rate sheets-these are common inputs Cycles are interlocked communication behaviors that allow organizations to process highly complex inputs. Weick introduces the idea of a cycle that is a three part exchange of conditionally related material Act-introduces the idea Response- reacts to the idea Adjustment- adjust to the idea Using this cycle in an organization with equivocal information inputs makes it more manageable for communication cycles to be cohesive and easy to follow
- Enactment Phase- The decoding process of information that is given. The organization attends to the information that is present and the environment surrounding it. The level of input is determined, which cycles will be used and the rules to be followed. PR Pro’s will make sense of the issue and register the level of equivocality . Selection Phase- Decisions are made about how the rules and patterns of the organization will be effected by the information and how the information will be distributed. PR Pro’s will develop the best communication strategies for addressing specific organizational issues. Retention Phase- Previous information about how the organization has handled other inputs is gathered and stored for future use if they were successful. This is where organizational intelligence is formed. There are two feedback loops- 1) Connects retention to enactment 2) Connects retention to selection PR Pro’s use the positive feedback loops are used to gather information from past experiences (retention) to guide interpretation (enactment) and response (selection) to organizational issues. Monitoring the reaction to different strategies to and activities to determine their effectiveness in accomplishing organizational goals. (Michael hits Meredith and comes up with a plan to tell the office without making him sound guilty. In the selection phase Michael words the information so that it sounds like a crisis with a good ending. In the retention phase it is learned that taking the whole office to the person in crisis is not a good idea)- Example of how NOT to communicate a crisis Organizational intelligence is key for a public relations professional in order to keep the message consistent.