CRISIS MANAGEMENT THEORY

Abstract

The author draws attention to the importance of crisis communication as one of the key elements of the management and leadership process in modern complex crises. He highlights the basis of empirical results that researchers of crises have obtained in recent years in Slovenia and other European countries. The author places crisis communication within crisis management and leadership and demonstrates its linkage and interdependence with other elements of this process. He outlines a theoretical definition of the phenomenon of crisis communication and identification of the circumstances that accompany it, in which he highlights the process of globalisation, widening and deepening of mass communication, the stratification of contemporary societies and the degradation of the authority of state authorities. He places particular stress on the role of the mass media in creating linkage during crises and providing information for effective crisis management and leadership. The author provides some theoretical and empirical supplements for creating an effective strategy and tactics of communication in crises, in which he proposes openness, pro-activeness and the credibility of the authorities in communicating with various publics.