作者：辛西娅·休伯特

2021年1月19日

When a wildfire, pandemic, or other crises strike, good communication can mean the difference between order and chaos – and in some cases life and death.

博彩平台商业教授开发了一种新工具，旨在帮助公司、机构和非营利组织在自然灾害期间更有效地向员工、利益相关者和公众传递信息。

“Communication during these events is critical,” said Ryan P. Fuller, an assistant professor of Management and Organizations. “Small errors in communication can lead to serious problems. Effective communication can create order out of chaos.”

Fuller和他的三位同事开发了一份调查问卷，组织可以用它来评估他们在危机中传达信息的能力，以及他们的沟通如何影响对事件的反应和恢复。 The paper, authored by Fuller, 囊状态 Professors Laura Riolli and Amy Mickel, and Clemson University’s Andrew Pyle, recently was published in the 国际商务传播杂志.

“The goal is to offer a tool for organizations to use to assess how they communicated during a particular event,” Fuller said. “They can use the results to assess their strengths and weaknesses and make changes or adjustments” that can aid them during future crises.

今年2月，富勒将与北加州非营利组织资源中心Impact Foundry的成员分享他的研究。 Tiffany Rosso, the group’s director of capacity building, said organizations should welcome the new resource.

“Crisis management and crisis communication have to be part of an organization’s sustainability plan,” she said. “They help organizations be more efficient and effective.”

Fuller和他的合作者利用自然灾害的案例研究开发了他们的工具，并将其分发给全国各地的数百名员工、志愿者和各种机构、企业和非营利组织的利益相关者。 他们的调查要求受访者对他们的组织在危机期间沟通的具体因素进行1到7级的排名。

研究人员开发了另一份专门针对COVID-19大流行期间沟通的问卷。

Fuller说，尽管许多组织在灾难发生后分析了他们的沟通效果，但他们通常主要依靠轶事信息。 The new tool provides a broader and more scientific “summary of perceptions.”

研究表明，世界范围内正在发生更多、更严重的自然灾害，包括野火、干旱、地震和龙卷风。 根据国家环境信息中心的数据，在1980年至2020年间，美国遭受了近300次与天气有关的重大灾害。

“Crisis management and crisis communication have to be part of an organization’s sustainability plan. They help organizations be more efficient and effective.”

The Federal Emergency Management Agency’s National Risk Index ranks each county’s risk for damage from natural disasters. The index considers, among other things, a community’s expected annual loss from such disasters, including how many people and how much property could be affected.

The index ranks 11 communities, including three in California, at “very high” risk. 萨克拉门托 County ranks “relatively high” on the list because of its vulnerability to calamities such as drought, lightning strikes, and flooding.

富勒说，加州紧急服务办公室等机构可以在野火和其他灾害期间使用危机通信工具。

他说，在危机期间，适当的沟通，包括警报和关于逃生路线的通知，可以帮助人们安全撤离受威胁的社区。他强调，沟通中断可能是致命的； 例如，去年加州的野火造成至少30人死亡。

罗索说，冠状病毒大流行是一种不同的灾难，它突出了危机沟通对非营利组织的重要性。

Impact Foundry’s nearly 600 member organizations desperately needed help when the pandemic suddenly forced people into isolation. 罗索说，Impact Foundry帮助他们从面对面的研讨会、会议和筹款活动转向在线形式。 她说，对一些人来说，这些信息帮助他们维持了下去，因为许多非营利组织的财务利润率很低。

“We responded quickly and well, but we still have things to learn,” Rosso said, adding that she was eager for more information about the tool Fuller and his colleagues developed. “All organizations need to incorporate good crisis-communication practices so that they’re better prepared for whatever might happen in the future.”

危机沟通工具的概述可以在线查看.