Communication between the Company and Public - Essay Example

Topic: Companies must develop effective Crisis Communication techniques to respond to problems or dangers Name: ID no: Unit code and name: Lecturer name: Assignment No: Due Date: In some cases, company’s products or services can cause unintended harm to consumers. This situation puts a company in an awkward position as it tries to redeem its image. In case of such a situation, the company has to engage the public into crisis communication. Crisis can occur to any company and pose a threat to stability and risk the company’s goals. When a crisis occurs in a company, the responsibility of repairing the image and reputation damaged lies in the organization management (Coombs 2004, p. 268). This is where effective crisis communication comes in. By definition; crisis communication refers to part of communication management that consists of both verbal and written communication between the company and public. This communication takes place before, during and after the crisis. To save the company’s reputation, it’s prudent that stakeholders look into the best communication approach to use in crisis. Effective crisis management is the best option to reduce the risk and uncertainty in a company. This can only be done through strategic planning. The advancement of technology has led to social media being a platform used for crisis communication. Many organizations have adopted these platforms as they provide two ways and one way communication. Use of internet in crisis communication is a tool that is still undergoing major development (Taylor & Perry 2005, p. 215). The purpose of this essay is to look into effective crisis communication that can be employed by the companies. This will be achieved by looking into reasons why effective crisis communication is vital and also examples of effective communication techniques. The essay will look into companies’ case studies on crisis response to differentiate between successful and unsuccessful crisis communication skills. It has been proved that during crisis communication, the public major concern is whether the person communicating to them is really aware of their status and can relate to it. The person passing the communication must show the public that the company fully understands the position they are in and is concerned (Hearit 2006, p. 40). The communication passed out should not only talk about concern but it must it be able show it. Effective communication has the ability to restore calm and heal the affected public. This is due to the fact that during the crisis, the affected public may become agitated by the loss that has occurred to them. Failure of communication in crisis may lead to increased tension and friction between company and public. Having crisis in a company leads to major stress to public affected and the company involved. The stress is psychological following effects such as death or loss of property while the company suffers loss and dented image. Having good communication strategies helps solve these stresses in a great way (Coombs 2004, p. 269). It’s also very important to understand that though crisis happens in a manner that is unpredictable, having a diligent way of approaching it through communication makes sure that the company image is restored. Damaged company image is a big blow to the affected company as well as stakeholders (Greenberg &Elliot 2009, p. 199). When a crisis occurs, one of the most effective communication techniques is through accepting responsibility. Rather than trying to shift blame and denying, a company should accept the responsibility and ask for forgiveness from the affected public. Looking at the case of Maple Leaf, the company CEO accepted the responsibility of Listeriosis outbreak caused by his company products. This was done irrespective of the loss incurred (Greenberg &Elliot 2009, p. 201). Maple Leaf did not look into justifying or denying the wrong doing but took accountability. Through this, the company gained support despite the error. Another effective technique that is employed by companies to communicate in case of crisis is focus on reminding the public about the company’s past positive aspects. This is done by focusing the public attention into the quality services that the company has been offering them in the past years and the trust they had in it. Through this, it becomes easier for the public to understand the error that had brought the crisis. It’s important to know that once a crisis strikes a company, the public tend to forget ion the positive aspect of the company hence it’s the duty of the company to do so through effective technique. Another technique that is employed is acknowledging shared misery (Coombs 2004, p. 267). During communication, accepting the misery that comes with the crisis helps the affected public in gaining hope. This is due to fact that at this time, most of the victims are hopeless and frightened. The company does this by giving recommendations on actions that are going to be taken during their communication. By utilizing internet through social media, the company management using the above strategies can be able to express themselves fast and to many people. Having online communication is an innovation that has become very vital strategy in companies’ crisis management (Taylor & Perry 2005, p. 215). During the year 2009, Toyota who has a good reputation in the United States as one of the best vehicle manufactures suffered a major crisis. The crisis involved accidents caused by the company’s vehicles due to accelerator pedal failures. The first victim of the failure was a family who all died in their Lexus as it crashed into another vehicle due to stuck gas pedal. The vehicle was one of the Toyota brands (Fukue 2010). This was followed by another crash after only four months. It was then discovered that the company had earlier received complaints relating to faulty vehicles. The safety crisis had a great impact as to the company reputation and a good communication strategy was necessary to bring the company back to track. Toyota did this by recalling about 5.4 million vehicles and ordering those having their vehicles to remove floor-mats (Bensinger 2010). Using good communication techniques, it took only three months for Toyota to recover from the crisis. The company used recalls, apologizing and restoring confidence to overcome the crisis. Comparing Toyota responses to the crisis that happened in Asiana airlines, a huge difference emerges. In the Asiana airlines case, a plane accident occurred in July this year killing 3 passengers and injuring 182 others. This happened in San Francisco Airport (Somaiya 2013). The airline was quiet and slow in response and offered a very brief apology to the victims. The company even went into an attempt of silencing its passengers on the issue. The plane pilots shifted the blame to the plane automatic speed controls and equipments on the plane. This is in contrast to Toyota who accepted responsibility and openly talked on the issue. By pointing fingers, it leads to reduced credibility in the company. Asiana airlines showed a failure in communication strategies in their response to the crisis which was a big mistake. In conclusion, it’s important to understand that crisis can happen to any company. The manner in which the company responds to a crisis matters a lot in its success and maintaining its image to the public. Response to a crisis is done through well planned communication to the affected public. Effective communication strategies are vital during crisis response and management as seen. Through the use of effective communication strategies, companies can reduce friction between them and the public as well as return the company’s image. It’s also possible for the company to reduce the stress on public associated with calamity. This can be achieved through the use of strategies such as; taking responsibility and apologizing, recalling the defective products and acknowledging shared responsibility. The involved company must take full responsibility of the outcome from crisis as seen in the case of Toyota and Maple Leaf companies. The company involved in a risk should manage it through identifying it, assessing, planning, responding and then recover. Its also important for companies to know that by choosing not to accept liability in case of a crisis may lead to wrong perceptions from the public. This is because denial and silence are in most cases taken as a sign of guilt. In my opinion, the first communication that the company offers during tonset of a disaster matters a lot. This is the message that prepares the affected people in accepting that the company is concerned with their situation. This means that the company has to consistently provide messages to the public and update them regularly as the situation unfolds. References Bensinger, K 2010, ‘Toyota settles suit over deadly wreck; San Diego crash drew attention to sudden acceleration, leading to huge recalls’, Los Angeles Times, 6th September, retrieved 10 September 2013, . Coombs, W 2004, ‘Impact of past crises on current crisis communication’. Journal of Business Communication, vol. 41, no. 3, p. 265-289. Fukue, N., 2010, ‘Facts and figures on Toyota’s car recall’, Japan Times, 23 February, retrieved 10 September 2013, Greenberg, J & Elliot, C 2009, ‘A cold cut crisis: Listeriosis, Maple Leaf Foods, and the politics of apology’, Canadian Journal of Communication, vol. 34, no. 2, pp. 189- 204, Academic Search Complete database. Hearit, K 2006, Crisis Management by Apology: Corporate Response to Allegations of Wrongdoing, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, New Jersey. Somaiya, R., 2013, ‘Plane Crashes on Landing in San Francisco’, New York Times, 6th July, p.1, Retrieved 10th September 2013, . Taylor, M & Perry, D 2005, ‘Diffusion of traditional and new media tactics in crisis communication’, Public Relations Review, vol. 31, no. 2, pp. 209-217, Academic Search Complete database. Read More