EFFECTIVE HANDLING OF CRISES & DISASTERS THROUGH UNIVERSITY HUMAN RESOURCES

Abstract

Advancement in communication technology has empowered every human to interact with world. A post of social media based on an opinion can reach to million people in hours.  Beside its several positive aspects, it can also lack authenticity. In less developed and less educated countries the spammers are more active using the technology in a negative way.  Recently, when whole world is handling the coronavirus epidemic, much negative and fake news are floating on social media. In COVID-19, outbreak prevention when biologists, chemists and public authorize are putting maximum efforts, the roles of social scientists are very important. It has been observed that the outbreak prevention needs social awareness and changed behavior from people. In the current paper, researcher has interviewed the social sciences researchers to explore role their responsibilities in the of required changing behavior. After taking the interviews of 15 social scientists and university professors, it has been concluded that public awareness messages continuous reminders, practical demonstration from authorities and educating people on importance of social distance can help in prevention of spreading of Crona-virus. The improvement in the quality of communication and guiding public authorizes is the key responsibility of social scientists in crises. The present Paper explains in detail that how required behavior changes can be communicated to massive in an effective way. For quality communication, the paper concludes that, in every communication, the government and media should filter messages through 7Cs of communication which are   completeness, conciseness, consideration, concreteness, clarity, courtesy and correctness. Based on literature review, interviews of social scientists, the authors provide a framework for handling the crisis of COVID-19 through quality communication. The future researchers can do experiments with help of practitioners to change behaviors under crisis.