Reputational Crisis Management
Subtitle: Co-authors monograph
By: Edited by Milena Tsvetkova
Publisher: Faculty of Journalism and Mass Communication, Sofia University
Published: 2017
Place of publication: Sofia, Bulgaria
Language: bul
Format: Paperback
Number of pages: 304
ISBN-13: 9789548194891
Description: Reputational Crisis Management: Co-authors monograph. Ed. by Chavdar Hristov, Milena Tsvetkova. Sofia: Sofia University St. Kliment Ohridski, Faculty of Journalism and Mass Communication, 2017. 304 p.
Authors: Chavdar Hristov, Petar Kardzhilov, Plamen Atanasov, Hristina Slavova, Kalin Kalinov, Boyan Georgiev, Ina Bacheva
ISBN 978-954-8194-91-4 (paper-back)
ISBN 978-954-8194-89-1 (pdf)
ISBN 978-954-8194-90-7 (ePub)
This book was supported by the Sofia University Science Fund under the Grant of the scientific project, contract No80-10-223/24.04.2017.
Table of contents: title: Chapter 1. Organizational Reputation: Communication and Management Aspects. Globalization of Reputational Crises (Chavdar Hristov); title: The modern society is dominated by constant confrontation between different in their function organisational structures and the mass audience. A significant part of this opposition is built on the basis of diverging expectations between the demonstrated organisational actions and the dominating mass values and beliefs. There are two main factors influencing this process. Firstly, the reputation of the organisation and the extent to which it has earned the social trust bear a significant value for the creation of positive social relations in this dynamic process. Secondly, the globalisation processes in the informational sphere have in turn transformed the reputation crises granting them with a more global nature. Preconditioned by these multilevel societal processes the problems of the organisational reputation begin to outline their own autonomous field with its own peculiarities within the communication theory and the crisis management fields thus setting a new dynamic research field.; title: Chapter 2. Real, Media-reported and reputational crises. Crisis Measurement (Chavdar Hristov); title: One of the definitions of crises is that they are realizing the potential threats that carry a risk of escalation of the intensity information from falling into focus of the media and the public, which prevents normal operation of the organization, affect its image and has additional material losses. This means that only the organization (institution or corporation) depends on whether one crisis remains at the level of "accident" or to become a full-scale crisis.; title: Chapter 3. Methodological Framework (Chavdar Hristov and Kalin Kalinov); title: The chapter briefly covers the methodological foundations of the conducted empirical research. It outlines the benefits of using case studies for reputational crises research which relate to the fact that they are highly context-specific and grouping them for a purely quantitative investigation is quite challenging. Subsequently, the chapter outlines the design for investigation and sets a specific research protocol which guarantees the validity of the results. The provided methodological framework is important as it unifies the work of all authors and allows the comparison of the reached conclusions. Nevertheless, the methodology grants enough flexibility to accommodate the wide range of topics investigated in the book.; title: Chapter 4. Managing reputation, risks and crises. The four categories of reputational risks and guidelines for their management (Petar Kardzhilov); title: The article deals primarily with the four categories of risks to organizations' reputation – problems or incidents arising from external or internal factors. Attention is drawn to the modern challenges of reputation management, as well as to the differences between problem management and crisis management. Guidelines for good management of the individual categories of reputational risks are outlined. The case of the major nuclear disaster in Fukushima explains the interconnections between the four categories of reputational risks.; title: Chapter 5. Managing reputation through the life cycle of risk. Predicting, preventing and resolving reputational risk (Petar Kardzhilov); title: The Life Cycle Risk concept covers six phases of development of risk factors, in each of which the organization can perform specific management actions to predict, prevent, prepare, solve, respond and recover. Good reputation management requires strategic planning by the management and activity of the organizational teams in each of the phases. This chapter pays special attention to the phases of predicting, preventing and resolving reputational risks, which are relatively less discussed in the literature, but the good performance in them is critical against the emergence of reputation crises.; title: Chapter 6. Rumours as an External Threat, Leading to Reputational Crises (Plamen Atanasov); title: Rumours are a communicational practice, creating ambiguity about publically important events. They also incentivise towards intense social actions in an unexpected direction, which is usually different from the one that is necessary. With the introduction of Internet to the important aspects of public communication and the increase in the mediatisation of society, rumours rapidly amplify the ambiguity in the collective perception and in the conditions in which a management decision is made. Thus, they become a powerful tool for inducing reputational crises. From the point of view of the affected company, they are an external threat.; title: Chapter 7. Trolls and Hackers- External Threats Leading to Reputational Crises (Plamen Atanasov); title: Today’s everyday life is intensive, and a significant part of the social interactions is expanded in the web space. In these circumstances every violation of the connectivity or the functionality of the communication network brings the affected organisation much closer to a reputational crisis- something to which trolls and hackers make a significant contribution. Being a product of Web, they operate solely online. From the point of view of the affected company, they are an external threat. While hackers hamper the connection between the communicators, trolls execute an external task and induce an error in the mass behaviour by altering the doctrine spread in the net. Based on the way these specific online perpetrators cause and lead the development of the reputational crises, models have been created for the actions of hackers and trolls.; title: Chapter 8. Computer Viruses and Why the Organisation Reputation Suffers (Plamen Atanasov); title: Computer viruses are a universal tool for blocking the internal and external online connectivity of a company or organisation. In today’s conditions of active communication, the channels of the Big Web mediate a significant part of the message exchange between the organisation and the interested audience, where the stakeholders expect up-to-date accessible information. Viruses severely impede or even completely prevent the delivery of this service. In addition to terminating one of the communication channels of the organisation, virus-induced communication failures seriously undermine the public trust in the abilities of the company or institution to maintain an adequate connectivity in the contemporary communicational setting, the consequences of which lead to a reputational crisis. Therefore, companies invest significant effort and money in software protection, as well as developing and applying a strict communicational discipline in Web.; title: Chapter 9. The Impact of the Political Cartoon on Global Reputation Crisis (Boyan Georgiev); title: The chapter is aimed at exploring the possibilities of the political cartoon. The main objective is to establish the impact of the political cartoon on global reputational crises. Two case studies have been investigated through media analysis, papers, sources from other scientific studies. The first case presents the crisis originating from the Danish newspaper „Jyllands-Posten“ in 2005, known as the „Mohammed-related crisis“ („Muhammed-krisen“). The second case presents the „Charlie Hebdo“ crisis stemming from the terrorist attack in the French satirical weekly „Charlie Hebdo“ in 2015. To achieve the main goal, research tasks are solved related to: 1) 	The impact on the crisis: The political cartoon is the first source triggering the crisis situation; 2) Analysis of the context of the crisis: The context of the crises was caused by the non-integration of ethno-religious communities in Denmark and France; 3) Measures taken on the reputational damage of the state: In Denmark, responses are taking place to avoid responsibility for the emergence of the crisis. In France, there are reactions that lead to the mitigation of the blame as regards the emergence of the crisis; 4) Analyzing crisis communication: The Danish government needs to communicate with many stakeholders for whom it is impossible to build a proper strategy with accurate messages. Crisis communication by the French government is successful because it has a rapid response that matches the interests of stakeholders. In conclusion: Political cartoons as a means of communication can provoke reputational crises when they present contradictory public positions of ethno-confessional themes in today's globalized and multicultural society.; title: Chapter 10. Reputational Aspects of Terrorist Crises (Kalin Kalinov); title: The chapter provides an insight into one of the less researched aspects of terrorism - its impact on an organizational (governmental) reputation. The investigation is conducted from the viewpoint of the “legitimate addressee” or the government in all of its forms – national, regional, local, etc. It is a comparative case study analysis of the terrorist attacks in Manchester 2017 and Charlie Hebdo 2015. The two cases are useful due to the fact that they are both set in European context and have major impact on the reputation of the respective “legitimate addressees”. The two cases are investigated separately by following the processes which bind the governments to particular narratives, defend their reputation and put them in opposition to terrorism. In essence, the terrorist crises are a form of propaganda war between established states and illegitimate non-state actors with violent elements. The chapter concludes that this contradiction is mainly in the narrative field and requires a well-coordinated effort on behalf of the government.; title: Chapter 11. Reputational Crises in Tourism: Specifics and Features (Hristina Slavova and Kalin Kalinov); title: The chapter investigates the defining characteristics of reputational crises in tourism. It is a comparative analysis between two political crises and their impact on the respective tourism destinations, namely the Greek financial crisis and Brexit. It starts with an introduction of the specific elements of reputational crises in tourism followed by a methodological overview. The two cases are investigated separately via an outline of 8 key events in each and a measurement of their impact on local and international tourism. Secondary quantitative data is employed in establishing statistical trends. One of the key findings of the investigation is that the subjective perceptions of the tourists are the most important factor impacting their behavior. The pre-crises stages of both instances have no direct impact on the flow of tourists. The national tourists are the first to react to a political crisis followed by the international ones during the acute crisis stage. Once the events enter a chronic phase, the tourist flow slowly recovers. The same pattern is observed in both instances and might be used for further research in the field.; title: Chapter 12. Reputation crisis of state institutions in the security sector in Bulgaria – the refugee crisis as a triggering event (Boyan Georgiev); title: The chapter aims to present the development of the reputation crisis of state institutions dealing with refugee issues in Bulgaria. The crisis situation with Syrian refugees in 2013 is the reason for the decreased confidence and injured reputation of the Bulgarian institutions in the security sector. Two case studies, respectively two stages of the reputation crisis, have been carried out. Case studies have been investigated through media analysis, comparative analysis of public communication, papers, analyzes and studies, scientific literature. The tasks set and allowed are: 1) Measuring the stages of the crisis: The crisis has a pronounced cyclical character in the two investigated phases. Peak and chronic stages alternate and reflect each new refugee event; 2) Analysis of crisis communication: Two main communication strategies are used in the research phases. The first is to attract allies. The second is a strategy of motivating goals and actions taken; 3) Analysis of the reputation of state institutions: The crisis communication and the anti-crisis actions undertaken do not help to change the positive direction of the damaged reputation. In conclusion, mastering and resolving the reputation crisis of state institutions in the security sector is a difficult and complex process of management and communication during the research period.; title: Chapter 13. The #DANSwithme protests as the beginning of the institutional reputation crisis in Bulgaria. Model of media impact in crises (Ina Bacheva); title: The chapter will examine and analyze the reasons for the #DANSwithme protests and the consequences of them, expressed in a continuous crisis of confidence in the governmental institutions in Bulgaria. This crisis of the institutional reputation will be measured and illustrated on the basis of media publications for the 6-months period from the beginning of the protests as well as the total number of online publications. It will make a comparison with the up-to-date public agenda. The chapter will define the terms "crisis", "reputational crisis", "institutional crisis" and "crisis management" and will analyze the communication approaches during its development. It will also outline the most commonly used media techniques for reporting crises by offering a classification of their impact. It will bring out a Media impact model that will help for the understanding of the media-driven process whereby the crisis event covered by media turns into a reputational and institutional crisis.