Imagen y reputación en la gestión de crisis

Abstract

Los especialistas en relaciones públicas figuran entre los mediadores elegidos por las instituciones para ayudar a los a los altos ejecutivos a tomar decisiones estratégicas adecuadas tanto en circunstancias normales como en tiempos de crisis. La gran variedad de disciplinas que los académicos emprenden para caracterizar el cuerpo de conocimientos necesarios para la comunicación de crisis ha generado un efecto Torre de Babel y ha dado lugar a numerosas líneas de investigación posibles. Por otra parte, para que la gestión de la reputación cumpla una función significativa dentro de una empresa, debe apoyarse claramente en la planificación y gestión de las relaciones públicas. Además debemos tener en cuenta que la reputación deriva de la imagen y, por tanto, depende de ella.

Public relations specialists are among the mediators chosen by institutions in order to assist high executives to make appropriate strategic decisions during both normal circumstances and times of crisis. The large variety of disciplines that academics undertake to characterise the body of knowledge required for crisis communication has generated a Tower of Babel Effect and led to many possible lines of research. On the other hand, if reputation management is to fulfill a significant function within a company, it must clearly rest on public relations planning and management. Furthermore, we should keep in mind that reputation derives from and therefore relies on image. From the point of view of public relations, crisis management involves developing relationship activities with each of the organisation's strategic audiences. The audience's image, attitude and behavioral intentions towards the organisation itself need to be adequately considered in order to achieve the two parties' desired complementary behaviors. Crisis management revolves around the concept of relationship at every stage: detection, prevention, containment, recovery and learning. In order to facilitate the stages of crisis detection and prevention among all sorts of organisations, these need to rely on two-way, symmetrical public relations management.