CIPR

Theories and analysis – Minimum teaching time: 20 hours

Aims

To develop an understanding of the theories and knowledge required for analysing the causes and weighing the likelihood of unexpected circumstances that demand urgent responses or that might lead to the need for crisis management.

To develop the skills and knowledge needed for auditing, planning and managing public relations for when the pressure mounts for an urgent response or during a crisis

Learning outcomes: at the end of the module students should be able to:

• critically evaluate a wide range of relevant public relations theories and concepts
• understand the roots of reputation and the risks it runs
• understand the opportunities for reputation development presented by out of the ordinary occurrences
• understand the winning, maintenance and destruction of trust or the withdrawal of society's permission to operate
• identify, research and write case studies that can be used to develop best practice
• analyse and define types of crisis
• analyse trends in management practice, organisations and their working environments to predict when a crisis might arise
• appreciate the needs of the news media and an organisation's publics and the impact of social media, when normal service is interrupted or not available for a number of reasons
• appreciate the ways in which a crisis can be averted
• understand the appropriate application of a range of primary and secondary research tools
• realise the requirements of producing realistic risk communication audits
• understand the importance of sourcing, reviewing and critiquing appropriate case studies and literature
• make links between theories, concepts and practices outlined in earlier modules and current public relations practice
• create scenarios for testing an organisation's readiness to respond
• build test and maintain plans for managing public relations during a crisis

Indicative content

• Public relations and media theories
• The organisation in society
• Case study identification, compilation and analysis
• Issues management workshop
• Risk assessing
• Analysing crisis prone organisations and underlying causes
• Theories and practical examples will be examined to evaluate the opportunities and threats to trust and reputation, which out of the ordinary occurrences present to organisations
• The role of the media (news and social) will be considered using real and hypothetical examples
• Research methods needed for auditing organisations so that effective plans can be created
• Planning issues will be reviewed along with the different requirements demanded by the level of the response needed and any developing crisis
• Testing methods and scenarios for the plans will be explored

Assessment: A set of recommendations for a response/crisis management plan and testing system, based on research of a specific organisation, with supporting methodology and rationale. 6000 words

Reading and reviewing:

You should supplement this with additional reading, especially of newspapers relevant magazines, websites and blogs.

Core texts

• Bland, M (1998) Communicating Out of a Crisis, London: Macmillan
• Wolstenholme, S [ed.] (2009) The PR Digest, Harlow: Pearson Education & The CIPR
• Regester, M & Larkin, J. (2008), Risk Issues and Crisis Management, Kogan Page/CIPR, 4th ed
• Seymour, M and Moore, S (2000) Effective Crisis Management: worldwide principles and practice. London: Cassell

Highly recommended

• Cornelissen, J (2004) - Corporate Communications: Theory and Practice, London: Sage
• Deegan, D. (2001) Managing Activism, Kogan Page/CIPR, 2nd ed
• Fearn-Banks, K. (2008) Crisis Communication Student Workbook. London: Routledge
• Gilpin,D & Murphy, PJ (2008) Crisis Management in a Complex World, Oxford, OUP.
• Heath, RL (2001) - Handbook of Public Relations, London: Sage Macmillan
• L'Etang, J, (2008) – Public Relations: Concepts, Practice and Critique, London, Sage
• L'Etang, J and Pieczka, M (eds) - Critical Perspectives in Public Relations London: Thomson – latest edition
• Tench, R and Yeomans, L, Ed. (2006) - Exploring Public Relations, Harlow: Pearson
• Stauber, J & Rampton, S (1995) – Toxic sludge is good for you: lies, damn lies, and the Public relations industry, Monroe, M E: Common Courage Press
• Susskind, L and Field, P. (1996) Dealing With and Angry Public: the Mutual Gains Approach to Solving Disputes. New York, The Free Press

Journal articles

• Courtright, JL & Slaughter, GZ (2007), Remembering Disaster: Since the Media Do, so Must Public Relations, Public Relations review 33 (2007) 313-318
• Murphy, P (1991) Game Theory Models for Organizational/Public Conflict, Canadian Journal of Communication, vol. 16, nu. 2
• Pauly, JJ & Hutchison, LL (2005) Moral Fables of Public Relations Practice:The Tylenol and Exxon Valdez Cases, Journal of Mass Media Ethics 20 (4), 231-249

Additional recommended reading

• Denzenhall, E & Weber, J (2007), Damage Control:How to wet the upper hand when your Business is under attack, London, Portfolio
• Fredriksson, M (2009) On Beck: Risk and Subpolitics in Reflexive Modernity, in Ihlen, O van Ruler, B & Frederiksson, M (eds) Public Relations and Social Theory: Key Figures and Concepts, New York: Routledge
• Heide, M (2009) On Berger: A Social Constructionist Perspective on Public Relations and Crisis Communication, in Ihlen, O van Ruler, B & Frederiksson, M (eds) Public Relations and Social Theory: Key Figures and Concepts, New York: Routledge
• John, S & Thomson, S (2003) New Activism and the Corporate Response, Basingstoke:Palgrave Macmillan