University of Miami Communications Discussion

 write a discussion about any of the articles  

and make a response to this: This Forbes article is a “how-to” on apologizing during PR crisis. It teaches one what to do and how to do. I believe ties really well into this weeks readings because it is a how to as I stated, but this week’s readings also provide examples that can relate to the Forbes article. To begin, Forbes states to  understand how to public is feeling after the crisis and respond according to that, but don’t just respond dryly, be humble and empathetic. Basically, show that one understands the issue and be sincere about it. A good example of a sincere apology is from Benoit’s critical analysis. In the analysis, Sears apologized to a customer for an overcharge of an accidental auto-repair. Sears stated that they had no ill intentions and demonstrated their sympathy and the customer even agreed with Sears.

Another point that Forbes mentions is to address the situation in a swift manner. Do not wait till things are out of control, but when something happens, take responsibility and apologize sincerely and make sure things are being done to fix it. The reading’s from this week show that a company’s reputation is at stake when a crisis happens and how it is handled can either make or break the company further. Addressing the crisis swiftly, yet responsibly shows initiative being taken and further demonstrates how the company may show empathy with the public. For example, the Exxon oil spill was a complete tragedy and could have been responded to better. In my opinion, it was responded to in the opposite way of how Forbes thinks is the right way.

To conclude, I strongly believe this article is very accurate on its points because Forbes is a company that has to do with businesses and they see firsthand how certain companies and people react to certain crisis. They focus on all this and know what is the right and wrong thing to do. They understand that how a company apologized can either make the crisis better or worse or at least keep it under some control. Lastly, I don’t think its only about an apology, but how the company handles the whole situation and their timing on it. 

References:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbescommunicationsc…

Benoit, W. L. and A. Czerwinski. (September 1997) A critical analysis of USAir’s image repair discourse. Business Communication Quarterly; New York; 60(3) pp. 38-57