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Discourse of Renewal is a theory in crisis communication that seeks to establish emphasize "learning from the crisis, ethical communication, communication that is prospective in nature, and effective organizational rhetoric.” With a prospective approach, Lippett established the organizational renewal theory that would lead organizations “to higher stages progressively and to preclude a decline toward a lower stage” of organizational recovery. With the application of discourse of renewal practices, organizations and communities “can consider developing a crisis plan and, more important, build their crisis communication skills over time”.

Components of Renewal Discourse
Organizational discourse process when an organization is managing a crisis possesses multiple stages and components. Components that construct this framework include “four theoretical objectives central to Discourse of Renewal: organizational learning, ethical communication, a prospective rather than retrospective vision, and sound organizational rhetoric”.

Learning
Organizational learning requires the organization as a whole to take account of a crisis situation and consider what caused the crisis to occur and consider how it should have been handled. Crises often make the the weak parts of an organization or an organization’s response plans visible. This visibility allows these vulnerabilities to be examined and remedied in order to prevent similar failures from occurring in future crisis situations. Additionally, it may allow an organization to put plans in place that will allow future crises to be prevented due to the gaps in the organization’s originally structures.

Ethical communication
When responding to a crisis, organizations need to be honest, moral, and ethical in addressing the public and stakeholders regarding the status of the crisis and the information they know regarding its causes and consequences. If an organization engaged in unethical behavior prior to a crisis, “those lapses are eventually revealed during and after the crisis”. When an unethical organization attempts to re-emerge after a crisis, it is likely that they will fail to fully recover due to their past unethical actions. Therefore, full recovery for unethical organizations is often seen as an unlikely or impossible event.

Prospective versus retrospective vision
Due to the future-oriented approach of renewal discourse, information, rhetoric, and actions taken by the organization throughout the recovery process should be forward-looking and planning for a prosperous recovery. Although establishing blame may be preferred in order to attempt to admonish guilt, it is important for organizations to remain positive and seek to move to a post-crisis stage. Movement to post-crisis and recovery stages suggests “organizations committed to renewal direct their messages toward the ultimate goal of rebuilding the organization so that it is more resilient to crisis, cleanly focuses on values of social responsibility, and more attentive to stakeholder needs”. This process also focuses on aspects critical in organizational culture and examines how a positive culture can lead to a more positive outcome when managing a crisis.

Effective organizational rhetoric
Organizations in crisis must communicate with the public and with stakeholders who are affected by that crisis. By interacting with these groups positively and expressing messages with a prospective outlook, organizational leaders can express confidence regarding the organization’s ability to overcome the crisis. In order for this confidence to be received by these audiences, organizational leaders must “frame the crisis in a way that inspires, empowers, and motivates” the public and stakeholders regarding the future of the organization. The languaging and information conveyed by organizational leaders possesses the ability to comfort impacted stakeholders when messages are delivered positively; however, negative deliveries can instill concern in the public and stakeholders. A lack of confidence from the public and stakeholders due to the information they received can drastically impact the outcome of an organization’s renewal efforts as well as the relationship the organization has with future stakeholders in the post-crisis stage.

= Usage = The overall Discourse of Renewal framework directs organization’s to consider how to plan for a crisis. A major challenge organizations face when planning for a crisis or when they are attempting to manage a crisis situation is the image they convey throughout the recovery and the overall implications of a crisis. It is important that an organization seizes the opportunity to change the minds of the public and of stakeholders regarding what the crisis means for that organization. A prospective outlook and a plan for direct, honest, and informative communication and recovery allows organizations to establish a positive reputation when responding to a crisis. By engaging in positive discourse and acknowledging the problems they are facing, to the public and the stakeholders, an organization can plan for how to proceed in the post-crisis stage.