A Perfect Plan

One of the academic resources that I have been finding to be particularly helpful is  an article entitled "Does Planning and Practice Make Perfect?" It is located on the PRSA website as part of their academic journal.

The article itself deals with crisis communication from the viewpoint of top organizations in the world of public relations. A case study was performed to determine if organizations that claim to have a plan in the event of a crisis end up not managing the crisis in the best way. A crisis is defined three ways in the reading. The first definition was "a major unpredictable event that has potentially negative results". A crisis is also defined as an intense event scrutinized by the media or "a major occurancence that could have a potentially negative outcome". The article goes  on to state that the key factor for an organization in the event of a crisis is communication whether it be internal, within the organization or external, with the public. When, where, and how a crisis will occur is unpredictable. Therefore, the plan put into place by the organization may not always work. It is important that the organization be transparent in what is going on to prevent a crisis from escalating.

The article goes on to talk about "communication culture" which means two-way communication is vital for an organization. It also mentions "communication autonomy" which is how much responsibility an organization is taking for the crisis. The article then goes into a case study of whether or not organizations are prepared in the event of a crisis.

This article has been valuable to me because, as someone who is planning an event for their capstone, I have to keep in mind that something may and/or will go wrong and I need to be prepared. By remembering to have open communication and to have a flexible plan in place, I may be better equipped to handle a crisis if one should arise. It's all part of the planing process.