
Charlotte Simonsson
Leadership, internal communication & communication professionals

What Was That All About? On Internal Crisis Communication and Communicative Coworkership during a Pandemic
Författare
Summary, in English
Findings – The pandemic is an example of a wicked problem that involves a lot of ambiguity. Often organizations try to handle wicked problems by trying to control it through traditional management skills and practices. A pandemic demands a leadership, culture and communicative approach that highlights the importance of coworkers. In the studied organization the authors found knowledge and rhetoric about the value of coworkers and communicative coworkership. However, top management does not encourage, support and award practices that are in line with the espoused culture. The key to success is top managers that walk the talk and act as role models.
Practical implications – Crisis managers and crisis communicators need to focus more on improvisation, flexibility, listening and how to approach and make sense of the uncertain. In general, there is a tendency to rely too much on simple tools and to oversimplify complexity. Complex crises such as the pandemic raise new demands on leadership. Effective crisis leadership in a complex crisis seems to be much more democratic and collaborative than often assumed. If coworkers are expected to act as ambassadors or organizational representatives, they also need to be given better support for that role.
Originality/value – This article highlights the importance of closing the gap between espoused and enacted culture in order to change from a managerialistic internal crisis communication to a process internal crisis communication approach.
Keywords Internal communication, Leadership, Communicative coworkership, Internal crisis communication Paper type Research paper
Avdelning/ar
- Institutionen för strategisk kommunikation
- Samhällsvetenskapliga fakulteten
Publiceringsår
2021-07
Språk
Engelska
Sidor
256-275
Publikation/Tidskrift/Serie
Journal of Communication Management
Volym
25
Issue
3
Dokumenttyp
Artikel i tidskrift
Förlag
Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Ämne
- Media and Communications
Status
Published
ISBN/ISSN/Övrigt
- ISSN: 1363-254X