Video Business - Dave Carroll - Case Study Example

Video Business Case Report Student’s Name Institutional Affiliation Executive Summary The cargo handlers from the United Airlines’ were responsible for damaging a musician’s guitar by the name Dave Carroll. However, the United Airlines deny the claims after Carroll’s several attempts to seek for compensation. Thus, he considers producing YouTube videos on his experiences with the United Airlines. Poor public relations are evident from Carroll’s attempt to lodge a claim as the Airlines’ management declines to take responsibility for the damaged guitar. The incidence is believed to have declined the customers’ satisfaction for three consecutive years. Some of the main causes for customer dissatisfaction related to cost and fees, in-flight services, as well as flight crew. The decision to be arrived should have been ethical implying that it matches with what the society considers as morally right. The criteria need to be enforceable before the law, fair and respect the fundamental human rights. Additionally, criteria should be complimentary implying that it should complement each other There are several alternatives that the United Airlines could have developed to solve short-time crisis. The company had to deal with the problem as swift as possible. Additionally, the company was required to apologized to the public to avoid pointing of fingers as public expects an apology and humility. It was important to examine long-term alternatives so as to avoid long-term damage of the company reputation. In this case, risk management becomes an important ingredient. One of the solutions was to accept the responsibility, instead of denying, and respond to the Dave Carroll’s claims with the shortest time possible, by reimbursing a new guitar. Another solution is that the United Airlines could have acted promptly to the musician’s frustration when Dave Carroll hinted to Ms. Irlweg, a United’s employee who was acting in the United’s interest. The United’s episode caused the company to suffer in terms of destroyed public image and consequential financial loss. Issue On March 2008, a musician by the name Dave Carroll, together with his band, began a one-week visit to Nebraska from Halifax heading to Omaha, by United Airlines via Chicago route. However, what transpired on the journey raised concerns on the public relations of the United Airlines. Carroll alleged that the handlers from the United Airlines severely damaged his guitar. Nonetheless, his persistent efforts to recover the damage with the Airlines were not successful. Frustrated by the incident, he considered it appropriate to post two hilarious videos depicting on that particular occurrence on YouTube (Scott, David & Meerman 2013, 5). Hence, the overwhelming response from the public raised several questions concerning the Airlines’ brands, as well as the marketing communications nature of the internet era. Thus, the incident portrayed serious public relations disaster within the management of the Airlines on how they handled communicated with their customers (Joseph 2010, 3). Causes The overall effect of the Carroll’s video about the Broken Guitar contributed to damaging of the united brand, as well as its customer service (Burke, Ronald, Graeme and Cary 2011, 61). However, the United Airlines would have solved the issue with him before it gets out hand. Immediately after the incident, Carroll attempted to communicate the issue of the damaged guitar to the flight attendant but he was dismissed. Hence, this indicated poor public relations between the Airlines attendants and the customers. Further, his claim for compensation from the United Airlines resulted to frustrations. The customer service department of the United Airlines took much time to reply his fax and when he called the toll free phone number had been discontinued. Some of the reasons for the denial of his claims stated that he failed to report the matter to the Omaha airport on time. Similarly, they argued that the matter was supposed to be directed to Air Canada. However, Air Canada had already disregarded the claim on the basis that it would not recover damages that were caused by the United Airlines. Similarly, the United Airlines it was ridiculous that the an official from the United Airlines demanded to see the access the extent to which the guitar was damaged knowing very well that it was already repaired (Joseph 2010, 1). The incidence is believed to have declined the customers’ satisfaction for three consecutive years. Some of the main causes for customer dissatisfaction related to cost and fees, in-flight services, as well as flight crew (Hill et al 2007, 17). This happened regardless of the Airlines' attempts to enhance on-time arrival coupled with a decreased duration of flight delays. Therefore, despite other macroeconomic factors surrounding the performance of the airlines in the United States, public relations are very important in determining the success of the airline venture. Regrettably, any attempts to improve the customer satisfaction in the industry are affected by the customers’ discontentment with the way the flight crews relate with them, as well as a reduction of in-flight services. Decision Criteria The decision making criteria that should have been followed by United Airlines following the Breaks Guitar incident should have started with problem-solving (Shapira &Baruch 2002, 238). Problem-solving involves eliminating incongruity between the real and the expected outcomes (Slawson. 2012, 689). Therefore, the United Airlines’ public relations department should have taken time to investigate the case and accept the responsibility. This would have helped to improve the services offered by flight attendants before Dave Carroll’s decision to expose them on the YouTube. Hence, their brand and the customer service would not have been damaged if they agreed to accept Carroll’s claim for damaged guitar. Similarly, the criteria should be complimentary implying that it should complement each other. Achievement of one need does not decrease the likelihood for attaining another (Graham & Weiner, 4). Hence, based on the case of Breaks Guitar that went viral on YouTube, the public relations department should have compensated Carroll for the damages caused to his guitar and this would have prevented him from composing songs meant to tarnish their brand. Despite Carroll’s warning that he would be producing three hit songs on the guitar incident (Joseph 2010, 6). Finally, in decision making criteria, the decision to be arrived should be ethical implying that it matches with what the society considers as morally right. The criteria need to be enforceable before the law, fair and respect the fundamental human rights. Therefore, organisations are supposed to come up with ethical standards that are generally acceptable to guide decisions the moment people are faced with conflicting situations (American Psychology Association 2002, 3). For, example in the video case, the United Airlines should have investigated the misconduct of the baggage handlers in order to address the issue in the most appropriate manner. Hence, this would have helped in protecting their brand and improving the customer relations. Alternatives Solve Short-Term Crisis In developing short-term solutions for the public relations crisis that happened, the United Airlines need to realize that mistakes, whether genuine or not, do happen. These mistakes they may threaten the company’s reputation of its brands or quality services the company is claiming to be offering. Therefore, there are various best ways in which the United Airlines could have recovered the already destroyed public reputation through the sweet revenge for the broken guitar (Nichols & Fournier 1999, 299-318). The first important thing the company could have done is to deal with the mistakes as swiftly as possible, to prevent the company’s bottlenecks to surface on public view. Bearing in mind that 24 hours news headlines and internet (YouTube), the Public Relations faux pas may quickly revolve out of control. Therefore, the United Airlines was required to monitor their high reputation smartly on daily basis to grasp reputation-destroying episodes such as that of ‘sweet revenge for the broken guitar.’ Secondly, the company need to apologize as soon as possible, and avoid pointing of fingers as the world is watching, as well as anticipating an apology and humility. This instils public with confidence and trust in hope that the same mistakes would not reoccur. The last short-term solution for the United Airlines is to develop a strong company reputation as the best Public Relations disaster recovery occurs before the incidents spread. The brands with a lengthy history of a strong reputation and professionalism have a higher possibility of being trusted, and eventually excused in case of negative incidents (Bijlsm & Woolthuis 2005, 127). In the Long-Term Prevent Similar Issues It is imperative for the United Airlines to consider the consequences of the long-term alternatives being considered. This consideration is sometimes overlooked since most companies avoid using extra time and effort, as well as fear of encountering possible consequences that may emanate from preferred long-term alternatives. Vital criteria to take into consideration in determining long-term alternatives are the likelihood of success of each alternative, and the extent of risk. The extent of risk includes known risk, certainty, turbulence, and uncertainty. Therefore, it is easier to avoid PR disasters than attempting to fix them. In order to achieve this, United Airlines need to establish the system of balances and checks to ensure that their customer relations are synchronous with public relations to ensure long-term company reputation (Brown, Michael & Paul 2008, 82). The next thing is that the company needs to train their staffs on proper handling of baggage with much care they deserve. The united Airlines should develop strong information management systems with strong feedback where customers’ complaints are addressed with the shortest time possible. Lastly, United Airlines should install camera surveillance so that they can detect any imminent mistakes that can ruin company reputation. Recommended Solutions The United Airlines had several alternatives that it could have adopted to deal with the outfall of its Public relations. The first solution was to accept the responsibility, instead of denying, and respond to the Dave Carroll’s claims with the shortest time possible, by reimbursing a new guitar. The cost of maintaining guitar cannot be forgone by the cost of buying a new guitar. Secondly, the United Airlines could have acted promptly to the musician’s frustration when Dave Carroll hinted to Ms. Irlweg ( who was a great United’s employee working in the interest of company policies) that he would compose three songs about his encounter with United Airlines through videos that could be watched online in You Tube by everyone in the world (Joseph 2010, 6). Therefore, United Airlines could have concentrated on the video being removed from the You Tube instead of requesting the musician the videos so that it could use them to train its employee since the more the video remained online, the more it received hits. Lastly, as soon as the video was launched, United Airlines could have hold a media or public conference to explain to apologize to the public for what happened and what they are doing to contain the situation. This could have been done through devising a comprehensive crisis management plan. Implementation and Implication United Airlines need to adopt the best alternatives for solving short-term and long-term crisis so as to regain its public image. In order to implement these alternatives, United Airlines had to develop strong implementation strategies so as to ensure the life solutions are achieved. The episode had cost severe brand burn for the United Airlines as far as the stock price is considered (Joseph 2010, 3). It is recorded that after a few days after the video was posted online, the company’s stock price declined by 10 percent where its stockholders lost about $ 180 million in value. Although other Airlines had recorded a drop within the same period, the stock price of United Airlines had declined terribly. The implication of the story of the United Breaks Guitars is that the issue of the caricature advertising poses challenges to the advertisers since it is characterized by one-way communication (Berthon, Pitt & Campbell 2008, 6-30). Bibliography American Psychology Association. August 21, 2002. A Journal on ‘Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct. Berthon, P. Pitt, L. and Campbell, C. 2008.“Ad Lib: When Customers Create the Ad”, California Management Review, 50, 4, Summer, pp. 6-30. Bijlsma-Frankema, K., and R. K. Woolthuis. 2005. Trust Under Pressure Empirical Investigations of Trust and Trust Building in Uncertain Circumstances. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Pub. http://public.eblib.com/EBLPublic/PublicView.do?ptiID=240762. Brown, Michael, and Paul Turner. 2008. The admirable company: why corporate reputation matters so much and what it takes to be ranked among the best. London: Profile. Burke, Ronald J., Graeme Martin, and Cary L. Cooper. 2011. Corporate reputation: managing opportunities and threats. Farnham, Surrey: Gower. Graham, S. & Weiner, B. A Journal on ‘Theories and Principles of Motivation. University of California, Los Angeles. Hill, Nigel, Greg Roche, and Rachel Allen. 2007. Customer satisfaction: the customer experience through the customer's eyes. London: Cogent. Joseph, L. 2010. A journal on ‘United Breaks Guitars’. University of Toronto. Nichols. W and Fournier, M. 1999. International Journal of Industrial Organization: Recovering from a bad reputation: changing beliefs about the quality of U.S. autos. Department of Economics, Florida State University, Tallahassee. Pp.299-318. Scott, David Meerman. 2013. The new rules of marketing & PR: how to use social media, online video, mobile applications, blogs, news releases, & viral marketing to reach buyers directly. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&scope=site&db=nlebk&db=nlabk&AN=601778. Shapira, Zur Baruch. 2002. Organizational decision making. Cambridge [u.a.]: Cambridge Univ. Press. Slawson. 2012. A journal on ‘Social Media and the Rise in Consumer Bargaining Power’. Read More