…as expert identifies causes of reputation damage, management strategies
Causes of reputation damage to organisations, management strategies and elements of crisis communication have been identified at the lecture series of the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (NIPR), Edo State chapter.
An associate professor of communication, Igbinedion University, Okada (IUO), Dr. Chinedu Odoemelam, made the identification in a lecture titiled, “Crisis Communication and Reputation Management”, which was part of the activities for the NIPR, Edo State chapter’s general meeting for the month of September, 2023.
He noted that crisis can jeopardise organisation’s reputation and create irredeemable damage because most organisations do not know enough about the drivers of their reputation to identify or protect against reputational risk, as any incident that reduces trust among any single stakeholder group has the possibility to create reputational risk.
The associate professor of communication, who is also the Dean of Students, IUO, said an analysis of reputation damage to corporations over recent years yields a categorisation of causes under headings such as cultural, managerial and external.
According to Odoemelam, a risk to reputation occurs where the organisation fails to meet the expectations of a specific stakeholder group.
“The key to effective reputation management is therefore the management of expectations. Bridging the gap between the expected and actual behaviour”, he added.
Dr. Odoemelam gave avoidance, mitigation, admittance of the true situation, embracing full disclosure and leveraging on media relations as some of the strategies to adopt in crisis communication and management of organisational reputation.
The meeting/lecture, held online at the weekend, was the first under the new executive of the NIPR in Edo State led by James-Wisdom Abhulimen, who used the window to formally announce the formation of five standing committees and their respective mandates.
Abhulimen named the committees as Membership, Advocacy and Professional Practice, Education and Conference, Publicity, as well as Finance and Development, all of which, according to him, will be pivotal to the successful running of the affairs of the chapter.
Besides, the chairpersons of the committees unveiled their programmes of action aimed at taking the NIPR to unprecedented heights in Edo State and beyond.
