Date of Award

2012

Publisher

North Dakota State University

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Awarded

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Program

Communication

Department

Communication

College

Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences

Faculty Advisor

Littlefield, Robert S.

Description

This study explored and evaluated the communication strategies used by Fargo city leaders to persuade residents to work together as a community to withstand the repetitive flood hazards that threatened the city on a yearly basis, especially in 1997, 2006, and 2009. The literature review explored vigilance and complacency as well as strategies used by high-reliability organizations (HROs) to manage crises with little or no failures. Difficulties in processing multiple messages, desensitization, and fatigue were identified as barriers to remaining vigilant in the face of multiple crises. The communication strategies applied by the HROs to maintain vigilance were shown to be working; however, limited application of those HRO communication strategies to communities have been undertaken in the field. Individual, in-depth interview data were collected. The data revealed the emergence of risk fatigue as a result of multiple flood experiences; however, the strength of the communication strategies applied by city leaders made members of the community demonstrate resilience through their individual and collective actions to respond when called upon. The findings also revealed that all the HRO principles and tenets were identified from the evaluations of the residents to show that HRO principles can be transferred to communities to make them high reliability communities (HRCs).

Rights

NDSU Policy 190.6.2

Rights Link

https://www.ndsu.edu/fileadmin/policy/190.pdf

Handle Identifier

https://hdl.handle.net/10365/26530

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