Successful crisis communication in the public sector : communication experts' views on best practices and quality

Abstract

Crisis communication measurements have been adopted in many Finnish public sector organizations in past few years, but there has been a little research about how effective the plans and the measurements made are.

Focus of this research is to define public sector communication experts’ views on best practices behind crisis communication and clarify how they evaluate quality in crisis communication in the public sector. The aim of the study is also to see the comparison between the theory and the views that the public sector experts have. The study is part of the international research “Developing a Crisis Communication Scorecard, coordinated by the Communication department of University of Jyväskylä.

The research was made by comparing the answers of eight communication experts responsible for crisis communication in Finnish public sector organizations. The organization represented national, regional and municipal level operators.

As a conclusion it can be stated that the theory of best practices in crisis communication can be implemented in the public sector organizations in Finland. The most important issue for the organizations in question is that they do their best in a difficult situation, aim for success and try to prevent the crisis from getting worse. For this reason public sector organizations need to protect their reputation and to be a trustworthy actor.