#Crisis
Illustration from Dana Heimes
It seems we have reached a moment where everything feels like a crisis, as unpredictable economic, defense, environmental and technology disruptions send us staggering from one disaster to another.
But though the temperature around geopolitical events has been rising for years, scholarly research hasn’t considered the role of culture in how organizations navigate crises. That’s now changing, thanks to Krishnamurthy Sriramesh, who is publishing a collection of global cases aimed at examining the impact of sociocultural variables on crisis communication.
Sriramesh, a professor of public relations, previously applied a framework of five cultures—political, economic, media, activist and societal influences—to address how organizations conduct PR. When the pandemic hit, “I realized there was an opportunity to explore culture as a key variable in the way crises are created and resolved,” he said.
That idea has resulted in a book, Global Cases in Crisis Communication: A Socio-Cultural Approach, published earlier this year; he also co-edited a volume of crisis cases from Asia and is working on a case study book from Africa. He intends to finish the series with a book of 10 cases from Latin America.
When completed, he’ll have published nearly 55 cases from 45 countries, and while COVID was the genesis for the project, Sriramesh considered it too dated for this series.
While a couple of cases focus on the pandemic, the rest address a variety of crises in business, religion, politics—and, oftentimes, the interplay among these larger forces.
“Look at digital media and A.I.—they are having significant impacts on culture even as we speak,” Sriramesh said. “If you’re looking at a case that’s six, seven years old, and your focus is on socio-cultural variables—well, your society has changed substantially during that time. Crisis communication scholarship needs to be current and holistic.”
In his books—both on PR and crisis communication—Sriramesh contends all five cultures are interrelated. The political ideology of a country, for example, determines its economic and media environment. So, to effectively respond to crises, leaders must understand these five cultures and how they combine in the organizational environment.
In tapping his extensive global network to find authors, Sriramesh made clear he was looking for insights that would help societal and organizational leaders respond to crises more effectively.
“I tell the contributors they have to link scholarship and practice, to include takeaways that challenge professionals to look back, to reflect and to apply what they learn here to their future actions,” he said.
One example: Sriramesh co-authored a chapter with consultant Mark Dillen, a former senior official at the U.S. Department of State, analyzing support for Ukraine during the Biden and Trump administrations leading up to the 2024 presidential election.
Sriramesh said their analysis showcases how public diplomacy and rhetoric often overshadow geo-strategic realities.
“In crisis situations, you start at the top,” Sriramesh said. “Biden appeared physically and ideologically tired. Trump exploited that to effectively stifle help to Ukraine, which previously had bipartisan support.”
Joe Arney covers research and general news for the college.