Internal Communication – Essential Component of Crisis Communication

By George David
Journal of Media Research (2011) 72-81

Purpose and Audience

David examines the importance of internal communication to an organization and its ability to support a crisis. “The lack of accurate, adequate, timely and fluent information during a crisis dramatically affects the trust people have in their own organization, thus endangering the commitment they should show in cooperating to crisis resolution” (p. 72).

The target audiences for this article are technical communication writers looking for information to better reach their audiences in internal communications; organizations that have or could have a crisis; and technical communications students looking to enhance their knowledge in internal communication.

Organization

The organization of David’s article begins with a background, or basic understanding, of the need for effective internal communications to properly manage a crisis and also help reduce any further damage that could result from a lack of effective communications.
He then explores the need via a theoretical approach. David suggests that the need for crisis communications is equally as important as media communication. His justification is “Internal publics will behave like external ones if they do not have the sentiment of belonging” (p. 74).

Lastly, David explores a checklist created for communication practitioners. He explains that internal communication “must be characterized by honesty and openness (Regeter, Larking, 1998, 198). To these two essential features, we would also add appropriateness (timely information) and completeness (provision of all of the information need by the members of an organization facing a crisis)” (p. 76).

Level of Detail
David goes into great detail explaining his communication practitioners’ checklist. The lists includes emphasis on communicating from the start of a crisis and sharing as much information as possible with the organization’s employees. The list also focuses a lot of attention on the delivery of the communication and ensuring that the communication sender is respectful of the situation’s severity.

While David’s information is useful to a communication practitioner, it lacks the slightest hint of research and the sources are infrequent within the article. Furthermore, the article fails to present any information on areas that could be examined in the future.

Citation and References
David cites a several sources that he used for both background and quoted material within the article. I think he failed to do an adequate job of combining several different disciplines and presenting a fair, balanced and ethical presentation. Nearly all of his references have “crisis communication” within the title of the work. With a lack research and a very limited scope, I was left wondering whether the information was true and whether it could be validated.