Internal Communication During the Crisis. Case study - Suceava County Hospital

• Author: Florentina Popa
• Position: Senior Lecturer, PhD, Danubius University of Galati, Romania
• Pages: 296-303

European Integration - Realities and Perspectives. Proceedings 2020

296

Internal Communication during the Crisis.

Case Study - Suceava County Hospital

Florentina Popa1

Abstract: Internal communication in an organization is affected by a crisis, although current research in

communication crisis through crisis plan, aimed at reducing to a minimum the increase of entropy internal

organization of staff. During the paper I want to analyze the relationship between the dynamics of crisis and

internal communication, how communication flows both vertically and horizontally within th e team may lead

to escalation of the crisis with negative consequences for the entire organization. Every crisis highlights the

weaknesses of the organization stronger, however, post-crisis analysis offers o pportunities that can be turned

into strengths. I want to highlight opportunities that can benefit Suceava County Hospital, especiall y in

internal communication in crisis COVID 19.

Keywords: crisis; crisis communication; internal communication; crisis plan

Introduction

The crisis generated by the COVID-19 pandemic facing the whole world highlights the problems

faced by health systems in all countries, but in Romania this crisis overlaps with older suffering

caused by underfunding and poor management. Romania was affected by the transmission of the virus

from people who worked seasonally in other countries in the European Union and who returned to the

country with the temporary closure of companies. One of the regions with a large number of migrants

is Bucovina, respectively the area of Suceava County which soon became an outbreak of infection

with Covid 9. The first target was Suceava County Hospital, a newly built hospital and which

benefited from significant investments in equipment and funds for training medical staff. However, it

did not cope with the local crisis, which led to an organizational crisis due to poor management and

insufficient preparation for pandemic management. We analyzed the crisis situation at the Suceava

County Hospital because the magnitude of the events was high, and the entropy in the maximum

internal organization.

Internal communication in an organization is influenced by a crisis situation, although current research

in the field of crisis communication, through the crisis plan, aims to reduce to a minimum the increase

in the entropy of the internal organization of the team. For the research I used qualitative methods to

help me provide an overview of the events that took place and the causes that gave rise to the crisis

situation. From the first information received in the press, a first conclusion emerged that it was a

faulty internal communication, and from the study of the documents on the website of the hospital and

the Ministry of Health, as well as the information in the press, most of them based on information

provided by hospital staff, we were able to identify the causes that amplified the crisis situation caused

by the pandemic.

1 Senior Lecturer, PhD, Danubius University of Galati, Romania, Address: 3 Galati Blvd., 800654 Galati, Romania,

Corresponding author: florentina.popa@univ-danubius.ro.