Organizations are important sources of communication during natural-hazard crises. How members of an organization perceive these communications (e.g., creating confusion, causing disorder, providing clarity, and restoring order) influences response and recovery from such a crisis. Using Chaos Theory as a guiding framework, the authors developed a new instrument measuring the perceived effects of an organization’s communication on crisis-organizing processes. Three distinct studies were conducted to assess the reliability and validity of this new instrument: the “Perceived Effects of Communication on the Crisis-organizing Process (PEC-COP)” scale. This one-factor scale can be used by both scholars and practitioners to assess the effects of an organization’s communication on how people organize (i.e., react and respond) during a crisis. By gaining greater insight into how an organization’s communication is perceived, the organization can better prepare to communicate in ways that promote efficient and effective crisis-organizing processes throughout a natural-hazard crisis. Effective communication can create order out of chaos.

在自然灾害危机期间，组织是重要的沟通渠道。组织成员如何看待这些沟通（例如，造成混乱，引起混乱，提供清晰性和恢复秩序）会影响这种危机的响应和恢复。作者使用混沌理论作为指导框架，开发了一种新的工具，用于测量组织的沟通对危机组织过程的感知影响。进行了三项不同的研究来评估这种新工具的可靠性和有效性：“沟通对危机组织过程的感知影响”（PEC-COP）量表。学者和从业人员都可以使用这一单因素量表来评估组织沟通对危机期间人们如何组织（即做出反应和做出反应）的影响。通过更深入地了解组织的沟通方式，组织可以更好地准备进行沟通，从而在整个自然灾害危机中促进有效而有效的危机组织过程。有效的沟通可以创造混乱的秩序。