A strategy for the Thai Department of Disease Control for use in internal communication in situations such as the MERS, H5N1 and influenza crises

Abstract

In a pandemic crisis, fast actions save lives, thus sense making and internal communication are the most critical elements of teamwork needed to give direction to those actions. This study attempts to find out how an agency tasked with handling outbreaks of infectious diseases, namely the Thai Department of Disease Control (DDC), a department of the Thai Ministry of Public Health, actually handles pandemic crises, with an eye to discovering what the DDC does right, and possibly uncovering what might be improved. This study contextualizes, and analyzes interviews with members of the DDC team who worked during the H5N1 (2004-2006), influenza (2008-2009) and MERS-CoV (2015-2016) pandemic incidents, because these pandemic cases produced effects both internal and external. The researcher has consulted many theorists, such as Karl E Weick, David F.Haas and more, to analyze data that was collected. This case study illustrated potential factors that could interfere with team communication in the DDC during a crisis, delved into some of the causes of these factors, and made some suggestions for changes to the DDC`s internal communication strategies during a crisis, which may be of use to similar organizations in similar situations as well.