Communications & Crisis Essay

The Texas Division of Emergency worry (TDEM) has begun to drive official reports stating that the humans water supplies of several towns in the South east Texas (SET) area acquire become contaminated with life-threatening biological agents. As director of this office, it is my debt instrument to address contingency plans within the government and the existence without creating panic. Areas of focus pull up stakes include external and internal communion impart, dialogue advantages and ch every last(predicate)enges, communication strategies, applicable technology, technology utilization, and media opportunities. Successful management of the situation requires the constitution of squads and communication channels. Organization police squad ups include a state relations team, territorial dominion relations, media relations, and a crisis communications team (CCT).State, district, and media relations will communicate with CCT playing as coordinator. As the director of TDEM , I will be in charge of the CCT and oversee all organization operations. The state relations team till will be in charge of communications with the Texas incision of Health, the Texas Department of Public Safety, the Texas Emergency Management Council (TEMC), and other government officials. harmonise to Texas law, mayors and county judges serve as indispensability management directors, bearing the office for maintaining an emergency management program within their respective jurisdictions (TDEM, 2014).This will dish up with local emergency coordinations. The district relations team will secure with local authorities to organize emergency response operations. The media relations team will communicate with local and online media sources and keep them in physiqueed of the issue.Our organizations communication channels puke instantly connect with multiple organizations at at a time. This gives our organization a major advantage. We have the ability to spread and collect inform ation speedily and on a grand scale. Information needs to be disseminated as fast and efficiently aspossible. The challenges associated with communications is the coordination of all efforts. According to genus Athene du Pre, lack of communication fundament lead to duplicated efforts, costly (and mosttimes life-threatening) delays, frustration, and squandered time (Du Pre, A., 2003). During crisis events delays and wasted time potbelly cost lives. This means that our team essential keep in constant communication with other organizations to hold overlapping efforts. Crisis communication is an ongoing act.Having a crisis communication plan is classic so that more than than time can be spent acting and less time be spent making decisions. Examining the communication process of other crisis events can be a useful government agency to line successful strategies. In 1979, the Three Mile Island reactor malfuncti cardinald. The major form of communication used to report the eve nt at the time were televisions and intercommunicates. approach to information was limited and local television and intercommunicate station drill hole the bulk of human race inquiries. Organization communications had to be accomplished via teleph whizs or face-to-face. Public communications were also limited to telephones and face-to-face. In 2005, Hurricane Katrina ravaged the city of New Orleans and left a large portion of it underwater. The major forms of communication during this event included television, wireless, and the network. With this event the internet provided quick club and communication with multiple entities. Information could also be transferred on speedy and larger scale.However, with this particular event a large portion of the popular had to go without electricity for an extended period of time. Without electricity television, radios, and the internet cannot be operated. Smartphones existed at the time, but were not as abundant. Those with smartphone s and cell phones had a undersized window for communications after the loss of electricity. Unfortunately, these devices require recharging and are futile after so umteen other(prenominal) hours. Examination of these scenarios provide proof of the grandeur of information entree during times of crisis. In 1979, their limited resources increased the levels of man concern. In 2005, their lack of resources reduced the number of communication channels. Many throng were left clueless and helpless. I believe that a close way of utilizing this knowledge is to prepare for similar situations. Publishing emergency information to the public on a wide variety of channels means more access to information, less confusion, and better coordination of efforts.Fortunate for us, the currentscenario is not a threat to public electrical systems. However, we should be prepared for interruptions or breakdowns amongst communication channels. Each team should have contingencies in place, in case on e or more resources is lost. These contingencies should include backup agencies, officials, and media sources. Teams should also have contingencies in place incase internal communications are interrupted or broken-down. Organization teams should allocate responsibilities between diverse members. If something happens to a team member, their responsibilities should both be divide up amongst all other team members or given to a single member. This largely depends on the size of responsibility and number of available team members. If an entire team becomes unavailable, then that teams responsibilities will be divided by the CCT and distributed amongst the remaining teams.Public contingency plans mustiness also be addressed. In this scenario there are effectively 2 distinct immediate dangers. Lack of public knowledge leading to exposure, and difficulties decontaminating the public water supplies. In regards to public knowledge, its important that information be disseminated not only finished technological communication channels, but through ground communication channels as well. Public and municipal attend employees of all types should be called upon to spread the word throughout the public. The more entities that can be informed via employer to employee, the better. In regards to decontamination, the public should be fully certain that government agencies are working around the clock to solve the issue. government entities should also offer access to alternative water supplies. During times of hurricanes, many agencies and charitable services hand out bottled water from multiple locations in their respective cities.This strategy should be utilized with the current scenario. If necessary, these services should be offered for as long as they are needed. As indicated in the previous scenarios, technology and the spread of the information go hand in hand. With the rise to power of the internet and digital communications, the communication process has become m uch more versatile. genial media often provides as a communications network for the public. Social media users can connect with other users and members of the public to share information and orchestrate efforts. In todays world many people have smartphones that are capable of internet access. These devices provide people with the ability toaccess information no matter where they are. The downside to this technology is the requirement of data access. time of crisis can overwhelm internet infrastructure, making communications slow or impossible. Short messaging services (SMS)s are a good way of combating this effect. The benefit of SMSs is that they operates on the mobile carrier maneuver rather than the connection used for mobile voice and data, allowing messages to be delivered and true on mobile devices even when the networks are too congested to shake voice calls (Anonymous, 2014).Emergency alerts are also able to be broadcasted this way. Those with smartphones can be sent i nstant notifications keeping them updated with current information. These systems can be used to inform a large number of people all at the same time. Compared to previous crisis scenarios, its possible that some technologies could be used differently. With the expansion of available communication channels, reliance on some technologies may not be as abundant as it once was. Television and radios no longer bare the sole burden of emergency broadcast communications. This can free up the efforts of local news and radio stations. Fewer public inquires to contend with, increases the overall resources of the stations. People will tranquilize call the stations for information, but the number will be importantly lower than it was in previous scenarios. In some cases television and radio may not even be utilized. Advancement in technologies has allowed the understructure computer to become the central hub for information in some homes, and amongst many college students. Computers can be u sed for watching television and listening to radio programming. This technology increases the need for broadcasting emergency information over internet channels.Media opportunities of this management crisis include verbosity broadcast. According to a study from the University of Texas, redundancy is often necessary to overcome the noise in peoples lives because it reveals that peoples unavoidableness perception increased after receiving 3 messages (Stephens, K., Barrett, A., & Mahometa, M., 2013). Having the media broadcast continual information will help increase the urgency perception of the public. The more people that are made aware, the less potential there is for casualties. Social media could also be used as a way to broadcast emergency information to different groups. Sites like Facebook and Twitter, can be used to spread information. Users connected or subscribed todifferent groups receive notifications from those groups.This allows for information to be spread quickly across a major network. Often groups will be connected to other groups. When one group learns of the emergency they can then share the information with another group, and so on. Crisis management is an urgent matter that must be handled fleetly and efficiently. Planning and communications are vital for coordinating efforts. To protect the public, organization and communication strategies and contingencies must be in place. intercourse channels must be established and their advantages and challenges should be known. Applicable technologies and their utilizations should be identified. Media opportunities should also be known so that appropriate communication channels can be utilized as a means of keeping the public informed.ReferencesAnonymous. (2014). Dynmark global SMS is most effective communication channel during emergency. (2010). Wireless News, Retrieved from http//search.proquest.com/docview/750383013?accountid=458 Du Pre, A. (2003). Communicating near Health (2nd ed.). Bos ton, MA McGraw Hill HIPAA compliance. Corrections Forum, 12(1), 15-16. Retrieved from http//search.proquest.com/docview/214412170?accountid=458 Seeger, M. W. (2006). Best Practices in Crisis Communication An Expert Panel Process. Journal of Applied Communication Research, 34(3), 232-244. doi10.1080/00909880600769944 Stephens, K., Barrett, A., & Mahometa, M. (2013). organisational Communication in Emergencies Using Multiple Channels and Sources to Combat racket and Capture Attention. Human Communication Research, 39(2), 230-251. doi10.1111/hcre.12002 Texas Department of Emergency Management (TDEM). (2014). Retrieved from http//www.txdps.state.tx.us/dem/ he Fiscal Year of 214.