Clila Magen, PhD. Bar-Ilan University International Crisis and Risk Communication Conference, 2017 University of Central Florida “Oh No! Not Again“: Do We Learn From Our Mistakes in Crisis Communication? Clila Magen, PhD. Bar-Ilan University

Apollo, 1967 Apollo, 1970 Space Shuttle Columbia disaster, 2003 Space Shuttle Challenger disaster, 1986 Apollo, 1967 Space Shuttle Columbia disaster, 2003

“It won’t happen to me” syndrome Recurring Crises twice

Crisis event Pre-crisis Crisis Cycle Post-crisis

Literature Review Empirical studies of recurring crises (Martin & Boynton, 2005; Wrigley, Shizuko & Kikuchi, 2006; Miller & Littlefield,2010) Chaos Theory in crisis communication (Murphy, 1996; Seeger, 2002) Discourse of renewal (Ulmer, Sellnow & Seeger, 2007)

Research Questions Do private organizations improve their crisis communication skills in response to prior crises they have experienced? Is there a pattern in the common CC errors that organizations repeat despite their past experiences?

Methodological Design Case study approach- Tnuva & Tiv Taam To examine the learning process of crises of competitors from the same area Qualitative content analysis of media content To examine the learning process of their own crises Structured-focused analysis according to six components retrieved from CC research

Framework for analysis Potential of learning from mistakes Crisis A      Post-Crisis A   Pre-Crisis B Crisis B    Credibility and trust Prompt response Strategies Tactics Stakeholders’ reference Leadership Credibility and trust Prompt response Strategies Tactics Stakeholders’ reference Leadership Potential of learning from mistakes

Credibility and trust

Prompt response

Strategies & Tactics

Leadership Stakeholders’ reference

Findings

Conclusions Similar mistakes were repeated in the two cases (failure to consider stakeholders’ interests, lack of leadership qualities and credibility issues). If there was any crisis communication improvement it was primarily on the exterior “cosmetic” layer. Using a systematic framework for analysis which includes the most frequent components in crisis communication research may assist us in tracing the weak links in the learning process

Learning from mistakes Research limitations Broadening the number of cases analyzed Interviews Learning from media content Crisis A     Post-Crisis A    Pre-Crisis B   Crisis B   Learning from mistakes

clila.magen@biu.ac.il