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oai:openscholar.dut.ac.za:10321/42892025-04-03T01:05:33Zcom_10321_13col_10321_14

An assessment of crisis communication at selected car manufacturing companies in Gauteng, South Africa Khuzwayo, Talent Sinenhlanhla Hussain, Sameera Banu Isheloke, Byelongo Elisee Public relations Crisis Crisis communication Crisis management Issues management Risk management Car manufacturing companies Recalls Communication in management Crisis management Emergency management Business planning Submitted in fulfillment of the requirements of the Degree of Master of Management Sciences Specialising in Public Relations and Communication, Durban University of Technology, Durban, South Africa, 2022. South Africa has several car manufacturing companies or plants, referred to as open systems. Due to their nature as open systems, crises are inevitable. Crises have the potential of inducing grave consequences for the organisation’s reputation and, ultimately, its survival. Being prone to conflicting situations necessitates that each organisation have an effective crisis management plan that details the crisis management and crisis communication steps in great detail. However, implementation of crisis communication and crisis management always comes with challenges for the crisis management teams. Increasingly, in the car manufacturing industry, car recalls are being made as certain models tend to have potentially fatal defects. This increase in car recalls is the reason behind the development of this qualitative study. Therefore, the researcher undertook a case study approach, utilising semi-structured interviews to obtain the required data. The value of qualitative research lies in its ability to provide answers to the questions ‘why’ and ‘how.’ Thus, broadening the understanding of crisis management as a phenomenon and the experiences and feelings of the crisis management teams at car manufacturing companies. The research participants were four car manufacturing companies (Companies A, B, C and D) with their head offices in Gauteng, South Africa. The crisis management teams were selected as the target population because they actively attempt to remedy the crises and interact with various organisational stakeholders when a crisis situation occurs. The findings identified gaps in crisis communication planning and implementation, given the ever-changing business and public relations environments in which organisations operate. As a result, the researcher made recommendations that will assist public relations and communications practitioners today and in the future to handle various crises effectively in the motor industry. Ultimately, car manufacturing companies will benefit by improving the protection of their organisations and their stakeholders from reputational and livelihood threats and further reducing those threats’ negative impacts. M 2022-09-29T06:14:17Z 2022-09-29T06:14:17Z 2022-04 Thesis https://hdl.handle.net/10321/4289 https://doi.org/10.51415/10321/4289 en 180 p application/pdf