ABSTRACT Crises are major challenges all organizations must prepare for. Managers must have a sound knowledge of how to deal with these situations if and when they arise. Crisis communication should be a key element in these preparations. While it is important for an organization to have a crisis communication plan, this does not guarantee success. Organizations must be dynamic and tailor their message specifically for the target audience and crisis situation. This research takes a case study approach to investigate how one public sector organization, a University, communicated with a key stakeholder group, their students, following a series of earthquakes. We find that the organization had an updated crisis management plan, practiced implementation procedures, and a well-trained experienced communication team. The organization used a range of communication tools to reach their key target audience. In addition, it was able to improvise and adjust its communication strategy. In order to meet the information needs of their target audience, new media were used, two way communication was implemented, messages were more precisely targeted, and press communications were altered. However, survey results showed the organization struggled to manage communications across multiple events.

中文翻译：

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调查危机沟通的方法和有效性

摘要危机是所有组织必须准备的主要挑战。管理人员必须对如何处理这些情况（如果发生）有全面的了解。危机沟通应成为这些准备工作的关键要素。尽管组织制定危机沟通计划很重要，但这并不能保证成功。组织必须充满活力，并专门针对目标受众和危机情况定制其信息。这项研究采用案例研究的方法，研究了一系列地震之后，一个公共部门组织（大学）如何与主要利益相关者团体及其学生进行了沟通。我们发现该组织具有更新的危机管理计划，实践的实施程序以及训练有素的经验丰富的沟通团队。该组织使用了一系列沟通工具来达到他们的主要目标受众。此外，它能够即兴和调整其沟通策略。为了满足目标受众的信息需求，使用了新媒体，实现了两种沟通方式，更准确地确定了信息的针对性，并对新闻通讯进行了更改。但是，调查结果表明，该组织努力管理多个事件之间的通信。