The defining characteristic of 2020 is life interrupted. Countries around the globe are impacted by wholescale stay-at-home orders, looming economic collapse, heightened public attention to systemic racism, and associated protests. Even as global events create immense disruptions for individuals, these events also necessitate responsive actions from public and private institutions. In this Dialogue essay, we argue that the current crises emphasize the need for public organizations to sustain relationships by infusing communication efforts with empathy. Using an organizational theory approach of crisis management, we argue for the importance of focusing on governance legitimacy in times of crisis and highlight three communication strategies public organizations can use to strengthen relationships and improve crisis management performance.

COVID-19 is forcing alterations to administrative communication. Higher education institutions transitioning online during the pandemic offers a fertile ground to analyze what happens to organizational communication within administration when the mode is primarily remote. Using a content analysis of emails and participant interviews, this work finds that while administrators intend to communicate empathy, messages fall short of fostering connection with faculty due to failing to cultivate buyin through quality feedback channels. The takeaways of this study of remote communication is that despite its mode, communication must be two way, and the authenticity of organizational communication becomes more important under pressure-filled circumstances.

This case study uses the approach by the Texas government to attempt a state takeover of Houston Independent School District (HISD) to examine the impact of framing on awareness and acceptance of executive action. This work extends recent studies in Georgia and Massachusetts that find stakeholder relationships, the role of Republican governors, and assigning blame as key components of takeover analysis. Using framing analysis, this case study analyzes the impact that framing the takeover action and approach has on these relationships. These findings present an understanding of how narrative construction makes an executive action consistent with administrative and political power to gain acceptability.

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This study aims to explain the adoption and spread of school turnaround legislation in the American states. While turnaround policy started in New Jersey in 1989, it did not spread rapidly or widely until the eras of No Child Left Behind and Race to the Top (RTTT). We specifically address how RTTT leveraged a coercive federalism that helped propel policies like school turnarounds. Using data on turnaround adoptions from 1989 to 2019 and applying diffusion of innovations theory, we find evidence that ideological learning and RTTT competition relate to the policy's spread among the states, though there is stronger evidence for a horizontal diffusion than a vertical one. The findings build on a growing literature regarding the dynamics of federal oversight in policy diffusion and contribute to understanding how competitive incentives like RTTT can have ripple effects on nonwinning states. Related Articles Butz, Adam M., Michael P. Fix, and Joshua L. Mitchell. 2015. “Policy Learning and the Diffusion of Stand‐Your‐Ground Laws.” Politics & Policy 43(3): 347–77. https://doi.org/10.1111/polp.12116. Maranto, Robert, Julie Trivitt, Malachi Nichols, and Angela Watson. 2017. “No Contractual Obligation to Improve Education: School Boards and Their Superintendents.” Politics & Policy 45(6): 1003–23. https://doi.org/10.1111/polp.12216. Satterthwaite, Shad. 2002. “State Charter School Adoptions: A Probit Regression Model.” Politics & Policy 30(1): 32–9. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1747-1346.2002.tb00633.x.