University of Phoenix
HCS/320
Lorena Mesina
June 27, 2013
Dawn Sienkiewicz
Communication and crisis paper:
When working in a hospital, setting whether it’s an emergency room, or management office, there’s going to be a time when you are going to experience some kind of face to face crisis, according to (Coombs, 1999) simply stated no organization is immune to crisis. A crisis can raise inside or outside the organization and according to Reynolds (2006) the moment it occurs, lives may be at risk and the reputation of the organization are at risk. When this happens it involves communication or miscommunication. For example it could be a rumor within the building which is internal or it could turn into lack of communication.
While the importance of crisis communications is widely agreed upon the definition of a crisis is not Heath (2006) said to define a crisis you must first define the risk. According to Heath, risk is an occurrence that can have positive or negative consequences of varying multitudes. The ability to communicate well with people who have a stake in the event may determine whether lives are saved and the organization emerges with its good reputation intact.
I am the director of a Regional Emergency Office. I started receiving official reports that there’s problem with the public water in the area where the water has become contaminated, with a life threatening biological agent. Biological agents have the ability to adversely affect human health in a variety of ways, ranging from relatively mild allergic reactions, to serious medical conditions leading to death. This is a very serious problem around the area as the director I have to make sure this is through and not a rumor from the public.
First I have to make sure all my employees are ok, employees need to hear news about their institution especially bad news from their leadership rather than seeing it