Smoke Detectors and Fire Extinguishers How German Crisis Communication Professionals Involve Internal Stakeholders in Pre-Crisis Management

Anyone who wants to protect their home from fire is well advised to have smoke detectors and fire extinguishers. For organisations, crises can feel like their house is burning. That is because crises can cause tremendous harm to them and their stakeholders. However, in times of increasing uncertainty, no organisation is immune to it. Instead of being reactive in the crisis phase, organisations must become active already in the pre-crisis phase. Metaphorically speaking, preventive and preparatory measures for organisations can serve as crisis detectors and extinguishers. Crisis communication is a vital part of effective crisis management. In academia and practice, a crucial aspect has been overlooked for a long time: Crisis communication has mainly focused on the external perspective. It is only in the last ten years that internal stakeholders have been more widely as increasingly valuable actors. In addition to management, it is increasingly acknowledged that employees can help prevent crises and should be involved in the preparation. The thesis contributes to a better understanding of the field by conducting qualitative research and poses the question: How do German crisis communication professionals approach the involvement of internal stakeholders in pre-crisis management? In-depth interviews were conducted with 11 experts from Germany. Their knowledge and experiences were analysed inductively with the help of thematic analysis. The results show that the German experts strove to provide excellent pre-crisis communication and that, for them, this naturally included the involvement of both managers and employees. This illustrates that while the internal perspective in crisis communication is understudied in academia, it is highly valued in practice. A holistic approach to internal and external communication is needed. Experts used risk, issues, and reputation management to prevent or mitigate crises. In addition, they acted as internal advisors, alerting management when a decision could be reputationally damaging. Regarding crisis preparation, regular training, crisis plans, templates, and establishing the spatial and technical infrastructure are standard. All practices must remain realistic and practically applicable. What emerged strongly in the analysis, however, is the magnitude of the influence of organisational factors, namely coordination and institutionalisation of pre-crisis management and the culture. The prioritisation of the pre-crisis phase in the overall organisation is crucial. Moreover, processes and structures must run smoothly, and interdepartmental cooperation is decisive. A high-reliability culture is conducive to crisis management. Building trust is one component of it, and communication professionals could mediate between employees and managers. They should also work on crisis sensitisation and resilience. Furthermore, good leadership – not only at the senior level – is a relevant influencing factor. Communica¬tion should try to enable and positively influence these organisational factors as a driving force, simultaneously demonstrating its own strategic value. As a precondition, communication needs to be professionalised. This applies to both its role within the organisation and the capabilities of the communication department.