Crisis and crisis communication as an object of research: This is the subject of the internationally renowned U.S. communication scientist Prof. Dr. Timothy Coombs. As part of the Media University lecture series about the topic of transformation, he provided insights into his field of research. The PR professor’s online lecture captivated more than 130 students and lecturers.
From Ohio and surrounded by his Grogu “Baby-Yoda” collection, the self-confessed Star Wars fan conveyed via Zoom authentic enthusiasm for his research object: the crisis. “Scansis,” the combination of scandal and crisis, represents the most powerful form of crisis, according to Dr. Timothy Coombs, professor of communication at A&T Texas University. The phenomenon is caused by companies themselves, he said, when they deliberately act immorally for their own benefit. The public’s reaction: such crises are condemned by stakeholders in “flaming” emotionalism as “infamous.”
According to the Situational Crisis Communication Theory (SCCT) of Prof. Dr. Timothy Coombs, classic crisis management strategies do not work in extremely emotionalized “scansis” situations. Stakeholders would demand a “punishment.” A simple apology would not be enough for them. Instead, in addition to a full admission of guilt, they expect a ruthless explanation of how the behavior was reprehensible, what is being done to repair the damage, and what steps are being taken to ensure that it does not happen again. Timothy Coombs includes these crises in the third crisis cluster of his theory, the “avoidable crises”. The two other clusters, the “victim crises” and the “accident crises,” do not evoke “flaming” emotions of this intensity. They are characterized by a “cool emotional stakeholder response.”
