Effective communication

Message, medium and audience are the three elements around which all mass communication revolves. Whereas it is a general belief that PR is the art of making unacceptable things palatable, it is also said that at is ninety percent doing and ten percent talking. “PR is an area of mass communication which makes things known as they are, to the person who want to know, at the time and place needed and in an idiom which is understandable and usable,” says J Jethwaney, AK Varma and NN Sarkar of Indian Institute of Mass Communication on whose teachings this article is based.

As against lobbying, corporate communication is a deliberate, planned and sustained effort to establish and maintain mutual understanding between an organisation and its publics. “lobbyists are a product as well as exploiter of a system where power favours those who manipulate better,” says Aroon Purie, the Editor-in-Chief of India Today in its January 2011 issue.

Crisis is an untoward and unexpected happening/event that drives you to the wall or puts you in a soup to make everything chaotic.

A crisis can be personal, corporate, national or international and most of these are taken unaware by a crisis. A crisis is a test to measure our planning and sound judgment which makes all the difference. There can be many types of disasters and crisis and all organisation should have disaster management plan wherein a communication plan to handle media in times of crisis should be inbuilt and actually should be patterned to the organisation’s own potential exposure to calamity. For example a disaster plan of a Hydro Plant will be very different from that of a Thermal Plant because the potential risk areas will be quite different in the two cases. Disaster plan is prepared for worst hoping for the best.

Most organisations either do not have disaster management plan or it did not contain the information dissemination plan. It often happens that in the life of an individual or an organisation that a thing that must needs to be done gets the least attention. CC is an aspect in an organisation which requires most urgent attention and redressal, and yet it is generally least talked about or is looked for as a fire-fighter.

In the background of the hydro projects, the companies should also have a disaster plan not only to have the potential areas of risk identified but that should also dovetail with communication programme duly prepared to be put into action without leaving room for improvisation.

Organisation should have a disaster management group duly identified so that precious time is saved in getting approval and directions from appropriate authorities in times of crisis. No two situations can be similar; however, a checklist can be prepared which may hold good for all types of situations.

In a crisis situation media are insistent and demand quick answers. We should realise their need to see that, the organisation image is not messed up. The project should share the facts available and should supplement them with more facts to see that the information shared is not fumbled, denied. Media have other sources of information too. Information can be gathered from other sources by media which proves erroneous.

A communication vacuum created by official sources gets filled up by grapevine or the irresponsible information given by others. Credibility comes into question and once it dithered, no one takes you seriously next time and one looses allies in the media for all times to come.

In the interest of not losing face after a few hours, the least we could do to avoid giving categorical statements to prevent sacrificing the truth. There is no harm in telling the media that you are awaiting the latest information. Also in an emergency situation. there is no choice but to speak to the media.

The steps to be taken, should an emergency arise are:-

i.   The first step is to alert Security for taking charge of situation and also PR person at unit and Corporate Communication for coping with media enquiries containing the following broadly:-

• What is the emergency.
• How it occurred or a few inferences.
• Number of casualties, if any, and whether the injured have been removed to hospital.
• Have families been informed. In our case what is the extent of damage of families submerged in the water (whatever may be the dispute).
• When all the facts are likely to be available.

lIdentifying the spokesperson at unit, CC etc. The employees must be advised to refrain from speaking for the company to the outsiders.

• lnnounce a telephone number of public enquires. A responsible officer should attend the calls.
• Create a Press Centre, if the situation warrants for continuous feeding to the media or when more facts are expected. The information should be logged to know what information was released to whom at what time. This will help in releasing updated information to the media.
• In a situation of crisis, media takes interest in sensationalisation. We may not avoid that but having sufficient number of give able pictures ready, helps. If press insists on taking pictures, necessary help should be extended.
• latest position to be loaded on website constantly.
• Handling a crisis can turn it into a corporate image building opportunity. No one has control over crisis but openness, clarity, precision and empathetic communication in a planned manner can help the affected people to appreciate the organisation’s dilemma and its sincere efforts to cope with the crisis keeping the human interest above everything else.

Public opinion swings from one extreme to other in a crisis situation, specially when lives of human being are involved. The swing is not necessarily based on reason. Emotion, anger, lack of trust, propaganda are some of the governing factors for that.

There are instances when faced with crisis one rises to the occasion and turn the crisis to a responding opportunity.

It is very important that the organisation understand and appreciates the need for open communication with the concerned constituent publics including State Govt., local Administration and the media in times of crisis.

CC department should have management support and have adequate infrastructural facilities.

let it be known that information dissemination and communication of feedback in a targeted way plays a vital and visible role in corporate life of any Organisation and, therefore, the CC function needs to be positioned and used properly.

Thus it has emerged that the credibility and transparency occupy esteemed positions in creating an image of any organisation. The simple adage handed down from grandmothers ‘speak the truth’ goes a long way in creating high esteem.

Here it may be concluded that image management, therefore, is a critical responsibility. Behind the success of all major organisation there is passionate image management exercise based on transparency and credibility. Any relationship not based on credibility will lead to disaster.