Impacts of Proactive and Reactive Communication on Corporate Image

Impacts of Proactive and Reactive Communication on Corporate Image
Student's Name
Institution affiliation
Course number/name
Instructor name
Due date
Impacts of Proactive and Reactive Communication on Corporate Image
Crisis communication strategies profoundly impact organizational productivity and public, corporate image. Every organization has a corporate social responsibility of proactively communicating when encountering a crisis (Rim & Ferguson, 2020). Proactive communication strategies involve making a statement publicly about the crisis immediately it occurs. Organizations can communicate with the public through a press release, mainstream media, or posting crisis-related information through social media for people to see. On the other hand, reactive communication refers to a situation where organizations hold information and avoid publishing it unless it receives specific inquiries regarding the crisis encountered. Over the past decade, many several organizations have received criticism from the media and general populace for using reactive strategies to manage their crises, while others have received a positive response for utilizing proactive approaches.
When organizations are faced with crises, they tend to worry about their corporate image and attempt to hide their misfortune from the public eye. However, some organizations have been at the forefront of communicating their crises to the public to establish trust and fulfill their corporate social responsibility. According to Beldad et al. (2018), failure to effectively communicate and handle an organizational crisis can be accompanied by detrimental to its credibility, legitimacy, and corporate image. The organization's ability to proactively respond to its crises is what sets it from other firms and gives it a competitive advantage. Another important factor in proactive crisis management strategies is the timing of the crisis-related communication which may help the organization to the situation in control and mitigate the negative impacts of the crisis. Proactive strategies involve communicating the crisis before the information reaches the public. The technique is also known as the "stealing thunder" approach that focuses on rhetoric apology to the public. Organizations that utilize that proactively communicate their problems have a positive corporate image and enhanced public relations.
Effective communication strategically allows the sharing of crisis information internally with the employees and externally with stakeholders outside the organization, particularly the customers and the general public. Previous studies reveal that internal crisis communication eliminates ambiguity and reduces uncertainty among employees (Kim, 2018). Internal communication also motivates employees to participate in the collective mitigation of the crisis actively and forge meaningful relationships with the public. In addition, the employees see proactive communication as a means of promoting integrity and expressing corporate social responsibility. It also helps organizations to control how the narrative is framed and the amount of information shared by the media enabling them to restore their reputation after facing major crises.
Previous research shows th...