Which concept or idea resonated the most with you (and why)?

236 Sometimes rapid communication is required, as in the case of a workplace violence incident. The Virginia Tech massacre was a seminal event that illustrates such a Alaskan coast. He sent other executives to manage the situation instead, creating the 237 scenario. The April 2007 incident consisted of two attacks approximately three hours impression that he thought the crisis was trivial (Vernon, 1998). The United Airlines case apart (Reilly, 2008). What is troublesome in communication is that students were still addressed at the beginning of this chapter provides a contrast. United CEO Oscar Munoz going to classes several hours after the first shooting (Madhani & Janega, 2007). Federal made himself readily available to address the crisis and was quick to apologize for legislation was passed to require notification systems on university campuses and United's response once all the facts were known. In most cases, the designated military bases to ensure that this problem would not recur (Magnuson & Parsons, 2014). spokesperson will not be the CEO, but an articulate top manager who can speak West Virginia University at Parkersburg was an early adopter when it installed an convincingly and with empathy. In many large background in public relations. large organizations , this person has a emergency paging system in all classrooms and critical administrative areas. The system consisted of paging phones and overhead broadcast speakers to provide quick The spokesperson selected should be able to communicate effectively and messaging on the main campus in Parkersburg and at its rural Jackson County Center professionally on behalf of the organization, not just because he or she is the most campus, 35 miles away (Gnage, Dziagwa, & White, 2009). it is standard practice to text senior person available. Barton (2001) illustr ) illustrates an example from the 1999 Columbine faculty, staff, and students with emergency information. Colorado) High School shootings. The initial spokesperson was selected because of Finally, employees should be advised not to respond to reporters' questions, but seniority. Unfortunately, he lacked the relevant technical knowledge of the incident and instead should refer all inquiries to the organization's designated spokesperson was quickly replaced by a more knowledgeable spokesperson. A spokesperson's communication skills are critical because the role is a highly visible one. Coombs, 2015; Wailes, 2003). Using a single designated spokesperson helps ensure the organization's message is consistent. Updating employees regularly on the progress and Ideal Skills for the Spokesperson the crisis's status through internal reports can help maintain a sense of normalcy in day- The spokesperson should appear pleasant on camera, present crisis information clearly, to-day operations. It also has a significant effect on decreasing the flow of rumors and and answer difficult questions effectively (Coombs, 2015). Appearing pleasant on inaccuracies seeping out to the media (Wailes, 2003). amera means maximizing the delivery style elements of: Crisis Communication with External Stakeholders . Maintaining eye contact. The speaker should look at the audience at least 60% of Communicating with external stakeholders requires designating a spokesperson skilled at the time. interacting with various media outlets and public groups. Communication must also Using hand gestures. Hand movements emphasize a point. follow a strategy that fits the severity of the situation. . Varying voice inflection. Doing so helps avoid a monotone delivery style. Designating a Spokesperson . Changing facial expressions. Avoid a blank stare, a "deer in the headlights" look. Companies should designate a single spokesperson for press conferences and other . Avoiding verbal disfluencies. Avoid filler words and utterances like um and uh traditional means of communication. There is no set rule on who this person should be, Coombs, 2015). except that it should be consistent with the organization's hierarchy and culture. The Difficult questions should not be deflected. The spokesperson should communicate a appointed person may also vary according to the type of crisis encountered. A production crisis might be addressed more effectively by a member of the CMT with a ense of compassion and concern for the victims of a crisis. The restaurant chain Chi- production or manufacturing background. Likewise, a problem with information Chi's stopped operating in the United States in 2004 due in part to a crisis it faced in technology (IT) may be led by a crisis team member from another department. September 2003. An outbreak of hepatitis A, stemming from a shipment of green onions When should the chief executive officer (CEO) be the spokesperson? In general, the Used in salsa, resulted in three deaths and more than 600 illnesses (Veil, Liu, Erickson, & more severe the crisis, the more likely the CEO should be in control and visible to the now, 2005). A divisional vice president made the first official public response by the public. The classic case that supports this adage is the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill. CEO any on November 4, 2003. 2003. In looking for the compassion and concern of the Lawrence Rawl chose to remain at Exxon headquarters rather than visit the oil-drenched company's communication response, Veil and colleagues noted:230 Chapter 8: Crisis Communications Landscape Strategic Crisis Survey Planning Opening Chapter Case: United Airlines Wants you OFF the Planel - Part 1 Management Organizational Learning On April 9, 2017, Dr. David Dao was seated on United Express flight 34 11, which was The about to take off from Chicago for a short trip to Louisville, Kentucky. Shortly before the Chapter 4: Internal A Strategic Approach to Crisis Management scheduled departure, an airline supervisor came on board the plane and announced: Landscape Chapter 7: "We have United employees that need to fly to Louisville tonight . This flight's not Crisis Chapter 9: Taking leaving until four people get off" (Selk, 2017). The flight on which the United employees Chapter 5: The Chapter 10: Action Chapter 2: Chapter 3 had been scheduled was delayed due to mechanical problems, so they boarded flight Chapter 6: When a Ethics in Forming the Crisis Organiza- Crisis Strikes Organiza Crisis 3411 instead. Although passengers were offered vouchers to rebook their flights, The Crisis Sources of Manage nobody volunteered to leave the aircraft. United then selected four passengers to Manage- Organiza- Manage- i tional tional depart involuntarily, despite the fact the the fact they had already been seated. The tional ment Team Strategy Learning ment External Landscape Crises and Writing and Crises Dr. David Dao, a pulmonologist, was one of the passengers selected. He refused to the Plan Landscape give up his seat, stating that he had patients to see the next morning. Then, United personnel made a fateful decision that would launch the airline into the public spotlight, Chapter S: Chapter 11: Crisis Communications Emerging Trends in they called Chicago Aviation Police to have Dr. Dao forcibly removed from the plane. Crisis Management The incident was recorded on a cellphone and widely circulated on social media. United Airlines, which once had promoted the motto, "fly the friendly skies," seemed much less friendly. Learning Objectives Overbooking Flights as a Strategy According to United, the flight was not overbooked, but it appeared to have been from After reading this chapter, each student should be able to: the standpoint of the passengers. Nonetheless, overbooking in the airline industry is a valid form of revenue enhancement (Carey, 2017). The business logic is that not all 1. Discuss the importance of communicating with employees during a crisis. passengers who reserve a flight arrive on time. The no-show passengers create empty 2. Identify the traits required for the media spokesperson. seats, which represent lost revenue, also known within the industry as "spoilage" 3. Identify and discuss the guidelines for holding a formal news conference. (Klophaus & Polt, 2006). Airlines use mathematical models to calculate how much a 4. Discuss the importance of communicating with customers and other external specific flight should be overbooked to fill aircraft without denying boarding to ticketed customers (Gerchick, 2013; Siddappa, Rosenberger, & Chen, 2007). When overbooking stakeholders. 5. Explain the strategies of situational crisis communication theory (SCCT) and occurs, airlines offer financial incentives to passengers to take later flights. In most cases, enough volunteers are willing to accept the financial incentive and take a later when they should be employed. 6. Discuss why sensemaking is important given the presence of social media in the flight. The strategy of overbooking has been mostly successful, and the number of crisis management landscape. passengers affected by what the industry calls involuntary boarding denial has been 7. Describe how crises can emanate from social media outlets. 8. Discuss how organizations can incorporate social media into their crisis relatively small. In 2016, approximately 660 million passengers boarded flights in the United States, of which only 434,425, or .07%, were "bumped" and voluntarily took a communication plans. 9. Explain why communication effectiveness should be evaluated after a crisis ends. ater flight. In total, 40,629 passengers, or .006%, were removed involuntarily (Hopper, 10. Identify and discuss different types of media training238 In this first public comment, the spokesperson did not express regret 239 for the outbreak or compassion for the hundreds of victims. In effect, the message failed to characterize the company as caring aring or willing to stakeholders. Yet, Connective Power Delivery president Tom Shaw took the "high road" serve the public need, and thus lacked character. (p. 20) ( Brown , 2003 ) . and focused on restoring power instead of worrying about unwarranted criticism The organization should also arrange backup spokespersons if the designated one is The spokesperson should present information clearly and avoid jargon. Some listeners not available (Barton, 2001; Coombs, 2015). The organization must still speak with one misinterpret jargon as a means of avoidance or deliberate obfuscation (Reynolds & voice, even if more than one spokesperson is required. Alternate spokespersons may Earley, 2010). Hence, the spokesperson needs to explain the details of the crisis in a also be needed if the crisis lingers. Also, some experts advocate designating a team of nontechnical manner that can be understood by a broad audience (Coombs, 2015). spokespersons from the outset. This situation will occur if the organization's audience is Finally, the spokesperson must be able to handle difficult questions from the unusually diverse or if extensive expertise is needed to explain the crisis response in a audience. These can include one or more of the following five scenarios: more detailed manner (Gainey, 2010). Communicating with the Media Long and complicated questions. The spokesperson should ask for the question to be repeated or rephrased. Some managers mistakenly assume that members of the media inherently seek to discredit the organization when a crisis occurs (Parsons, 2016; Sherman, 1989). While Multiple questions. The spokesperson should reconstruct the question in smaller some in the press harbor a skeptical view of business organizations, the media can help parts, perhaps numbering each part so that the audience can follow the the company reach essential audiences (Weiner, 2006). Members of the media are explanation better. more likely to misrepresent a situation when they lack the facts. The result often Tricky or challenging questions. Difficult inquiries are often designed to make the depends on what the organization chooses to say early on. We recommend cooperating spokesperson look incompetent. Some questions may not have a clear answer, with the media as much as feasible, while understanding that journalists are trained to and the spokesperson will need to point this out. be inquisitive (Barton, 2001; Sherman, 1989; Wailes, 2003). Providing periodic updates Questions that are based on incorrect information. The spokesperson must to the media and directly through social media is also helpful. When developing the identify erroneous assumptions early on media message, the organizational spokesperson should be trained to deliver the news Multiple-choice questions based on alternatives that are limited or unacceptable. consistently. In some instances, detractors-and perhaps competitors-will find The spokesperson must determine whether the response options are fair or not "experts" who can blame the company. Organizations should be prepared to confront (Coombs, 2015). these claims. Crisis communication preparedness includes utilizing third-party experts who can address the media to support the organization's position and endorse its Some "questions" are statements that express a viewpoint or a grievance. When this response to the crisis (Wailes, 2003) occurs, a good response might be something like, "This sounds more like a comment, News conferences should be arranged and managed by those with expertise in press not a question. Perhaps these are some items that can be discussed in a separate venue relations. The following guidelines are offered for the organization's spokesperson in outside of this session." Indeed, all crisis spokespersons must be aware of the bully preparing for a news conference ( Barton, 2001, 2008). questioners and respond to them respectfully, but directly. When handling difficult questions, a spokesperson must have the ability to remain calm under pressure. During a crisis, the organization may be criticized, often unfairly, 1. The spokesperson should continually practice and rehearse, based on by the media, elected officials, or customers. Such was the case for Connective Power potential questions asked by the media. Delivery, a distributor of electric power in the mid-Atlantic region, including parts of 2. The spokesperson should seek to develop rapport and be candid with New Jersey, Maryland, and Delaware. In September 2003, Hurricane Isabel swept members of the media. through the area and knocked out power to 400,000 customers. Although the company 3. The spokesperson should avoid canned speeches and instead strive for a worked hard to restore power quickly, some criticism was received from external presentation that is more conversational and spontaneous.23 Bowater's Southern Division, a newsprint manufacturer in Calhoun, Tennessee, 235 Initiating the Crisis Communication Process Activating the crisis management team (CMT) is the first step in managing a crisis. The CMT executes the crisis management plan (CMP), which includes a crisis communication experienced a horrific crisis on December 11, 1990. At 9:05 a.m., a massive 99-vehicle plan to clarify procedures for communicating with internal and external stakeholders as accident occurred on Interstate 75, about 2 miles from the plant. For years, complaints about industrial fog produced by the mill's aeration ponds had been directed at the the event unfolds. The primary goal of communications is to conver o convey what has happened and how it plans to address the crisis. Communications with stakeholders must be company (Mclaren, 1994). Ironically, the multivehicle accident started when a speeding carried out expediently to enhance the credibility of the organization and build trust. car collided with one of the company's tractor-trailers on the interstate. The resulting smoke and the already present fog created a whiteout condition that made visibility Messages should satisfy each audience's unique requirements and provide the tone, impossible for drivers near the accident scene. The accident became the worst in context, and consistency of all additional messages. Consistency is essential, while the Tennessee's history, with 12 motorists perishing in the resulting collisions and fires. detail and delivery methods may vary depending on the audience (Nelson, 2004). Surprisingly, the chairman of the board learned about the event on the evening news Crisis Communication with Internal Stakeholders (Maggart, 1994). Internal communications within the company, which consisted of various mills throughout the southeastern United States, was haphazard to nonexistent. When a crisis strikes, two communications functions must be addressed. First, managing Some of the other mills received telephone calls shortly after the wreck, unaware that the situation requires a command-and-control role that involves management, the the accident had even taken place. owners, and selected employees. Second, the employee population needs to be Communicating with Employees updated on the status of the crisis, how it has affected the organization, and how it will be resolved. Employees are critical to the success of any crisis management communication. They are continuously on the front line of the action and must also communicate with The Command-and-Control Function external stakeholders such as customers. In this role, they act as company ambassadors The location of the command center and its accompanying facilities is vital. The and should be up to date on how management is addressing the crisis (Weiner, 2006). It command center is the physical area where the company spokesperson and members of is also essential to communicate with employees who are not directly involved in the media can communicate. The location should also be equipped to disseminate managing the crisis or responding directly to outside stakeholders. Indeed, employees information to stakeholders who are not near the organization. Equipment such as must even respond to questions from friends, neighbors, and clients (Valentine, 2007). telephones (landline and cellular), computer connections, Internet access, appropriate Depending on the crisis, some employees may be apprehensive and fear job loss due to seating facilities, and other infrastructure items are required. Up-to-date, virtual the crisis. Keeping them focused on day-to-day operations can offer reassurance and meeting platforms are essential when the crisis involves coordination among multiple help maintain morale (Argenti, 2002; Reilly, 2008). locations, Setting up a discussion board on the company's intranet-which limits access to the It is common for a large company with a designated corporate headquarters to organization's members-can be therapeutic and can promote socialization, especially if experience a crisis in the field (i.e., at the unit level). Such would be the case if a employees are separated geographically (Premeaux & Breaux, 2007). During Hurricane restaurant or retail chain experienced a crisis at one of its stores. Under these katrina, McDonald's used toll-free numbers to communicate with employees and to conditions, the crisis and communication response are typically directed from the home account for any employees who might have been missing (Marquez, 2005). office, The Chi-Chi's hepatitis A illness, Wendy's finger incident, and Luby's Cafeteria One analogy that applies to employee communication during a crisis is the classic murders (addressed in previous chapters) were directed from locations above the unit "mushroom " problem. Employees often complain that communication during a crisis is level. This approach is common because crisis management and PR expertise often infrequent or nonexistent , and they feel like a mushroom - "They keep us in the dark reside at the home office. Sometimes, however, the home office learns about a crisis and feed us garbage" (Reilly, 2008, p. 335). The remedy is to keep employees informed, well after it has commenced. This situation occurred with Bowater Incorporated during even if the news is not always positive. Without reliable information, employees tend to a weather event involving severe fog. speculate that the worst is happening. Most are generally concerned about their companies and want to be updated with frequent and candid updates (Barton, 2001).232 When four United crewmembers suddenly needed to travel to Louisville, the United flight was technically not overbooked but was full. Indeed, the airline had met its goal of The Internet has changed the face of crisis management (Berinato, 2010). Much of filling every seat, but the need to transport crew members as passengers was not What has been taught about crisis communications before the rise of the Internet 233 anticipated. United then offered $400 vouchers to incentivize four passengers to remains true. Still, it is more important now than ever to monitor the Web for deplane. When nobody accepted, United offered $800, but there still were no take comments about and developments that affect your organization. A rapid response is most likely because this was the last flight of the night to Louisville (Goldstein, 2017) expected. Before the Internet, it was acceptable to wait 24 hours before making a public United then resorted to its involuntary passenger removal policy and proceeded to statement to the media. Today, 24 hours is too long to wait. emove four passengers. A young couple was told to leave the aircraft, which they did. Communication strategies help organizations manage a crisis successfully. The crisis However, when Dr. Dao was asked to depart, he refused. management team (CMT) needs accurate information to communicate quickly to its stakeholders. Issues of fear, hostility, and anger can complicate an already complicated The Removal of Dr. David Dao situation, and communications can become distorted and inaccurate. These Before the United incident, forcibly removing a ticketed passenger from an aircraft had complexities often result in rumors and imprecise information over the Internet that can only occurred when a person was disruptive or posed a security threat (Hopper, 2017). make the situation worse. Hence, creating a communication structure that supports the However, this situation was different. Dr. David Dao had firmly maintained that he was flow of objective, truthful, and timely information is necessary to inform internal and external stakeholders about crisis manager not leaving his seat. He had purchased a ticket, was already seated on his flight, and management activities. When an organization needed to see patients the next day (Selk, 2017). communicates well, it is more likely to resolve a crisis. This chapter discusses crisis Moreover, this was the last flight of the night going to Louisville. A United manager management communication practices, how they affect the respective stakeholders, decided to call security personnel from the Chicago Department of Aviation, who and how the crisis communication function can be managed effectively. boarded the aircraft and asked Dr. Dao, once again, to leave the plane. Cellphone video Crisis management and crisis communication are intricately interlinked. As Scanlon shot of the incident, which later appeared on Inside Edition, shows Dr. Dao on his cell 1975) recognized long ago, "Every crisis is also a crisis of information.Failure to control he crisis of information can ultimately fail to control the crisis" (p. 431). The study of phone talking to someone at United saying: "I'm a physician. I have to work tomorrow at organizational crisis communication has resulted in a greater understanding of the role 8:00.. No, I am not going, I am not going." A few moments later, a security guard (not a communication plays in defining the origin of a crisis and launching the crisis recovery police officer) pulled Dr. Dao from his seat and dragged him down the aisle. The plan (Spillan, Rowles, & Mino, 2002/2003). resulting scream was heard "around the world," as cellphone video showed a bloody We begin this chapter by addressing the traditional fundamentals of crisis and dazed Dr. Dao being dragged away on his back. The video was soon posted on communication, focusing on legacy media-television, radio, and print media. We then social media. consider a more recent form of communication, social media. We discuss its influence Case Discussion Questions on the crisis communication function and suggest guidelines for employing it as part of the organization's crisis response. We evaluate the effectiveness of the crisis 1. What other options could United Airlines have taken to avoid this crisis? communication function and conclude with insights on the training needed for effective 2. Some have called for airlines to stop the practice of overbooking altogether. crisis communication. Initiate a class discussion/debate between those who favor the practice and those who oppose it. Fundamentals of Crisis Communications 3. What changes could United make to prevent this type of crisis from recurring? Communication strategies help explain the pre- and post-crisis plans to all afected Introduction stakeholders (Coombs, 2015; Seeger, Sellnow, & Ulmer, 1998). As the adage says, Crisis communications have changed dramatically in the past decade and is often driven " perception is reality ." Communication helps stakeholders understand what an by social media. Over 80% of Americans are online each day, and Facebook alone touted organization is encountering and make sense of a crisis event (Seeger et al, 1998). The following sections overview the components of the crisis communication process. almost 3 billion global users in 2020