Public Relations Errors in United Airline Samples †MyAssignmenthelp.c

Question: Discuss about the Public Relations Errors in United Airline. Answer: Introduction Public relation is a superior tool towards convincing individuals and portraying the right image to persons in a given situation to increase or protect the reputation of a company or a product. The practice is used by managers, individuals, and talk experts in driving a positive image whenever engaged in a crisis or discussions with clients as it seeks to create a good rapport with people. Public relation works by getting the attention of individuals to a given issue, stimulating their interest towards a given matter thus creating the desire and intention for them to act and take part in a decision process. As such, it remains a voluntary action which targets a specific objective where the participants are not forced into an action but rather persuaded into one. Failure to observe proper public relation practices can result in failures and a possible distortion of reputation which leads to the creation of a negative impact on an organization. The case looks at the PR failures registered in the event where the United Airline forcefully removed a passenger, Dr. Dao from a flight awaiting departure due to overbooking. Report The Case Passengers awaiting departure from Chicago to Louisville were treated to a shocking event when the flight manager and a few guards arrived and asked individuals to volunteer four seats so that their staff could board to avoid delays on the other end. The case occurred due to overbooking, which saw people take their reserved seats and only the team missing the seats, which apparently had not been reserved for them previously (Seldin Johnson, 2017). Some of the passengers chose to voluntarily leave and have them catch the next flight at the expense of the airliner as the crew continued to persuade others into the act. However, the type of public relations used in the event was not sufficient, as one Mr. Dao was forced to leave the flight despite his reluctance to doing so. In his defence reason on declining the volunteer noted that he was a doctor who had patients to attend to the following day. However, the officers could hear none of his sentiments and forcefully dragged him on the floor out of the plane as e screamed all the way out of the flight. Later, he was seen coming back with blood oozing out of his mouth due to the damages suffered in the process. A few passengers recorded the scene using their cell phones and had the same leak to the media which went viral thus causing severe damages to the Airline Company (Seldin Johnson, 2017). A lot of PR errors arose from the exercise that would have otherwise been handled soberly to avoid the poor reputation registered and dignity for its passengers. Communication Errors Communication is an important aspect in public relation where information flow has to remain at its best and serve the core purpose of a process. In this respect, the sender has to make a message clear and package the message in a special way that would persuade the recipient to respond positively. At the same time, the medium used must remain clear and appropriate to serve the intended purpose. On the other end, the recipient must receive and decode the message and render a feedback to a given situation to deliver the same to the sender. The process has to go until satisfactory agreement is reached in public relations. However, the case of the flight failed to observe the same. It is normal for airlines to at times overbook, and seek passengers to volunteer and have their travel rescheduled Ravich, 2002). In spite of that the staff must persuade individuals into doing so through proper communication. The team sought for a volunteer who failed to reach the maximum number of four which led to the selection of individuals for the pullout. As a result, it led to a disastrous process that tainted the image of the airline. Instead, there was a need to communicate the necessity of doing so to the passengers and convince them towards volunteering to have later traveled to save the situation. Security and convenience reasons should have been used which could have seen more riders sacrifice their travel for the sake of the airlines concern. Response to the Outrage The firm made several errors in public relation creation with their response to the case after the outrage in the media. The communication team ought to have worked with the CEO in coming up with the most probable reason and an apology to the client that would sound compensative to the damages done (Smudde, 2005). Instead of defending the clients interest which remained at stake, the firm chose, in the first case to support its workers on the basis that the client was going to be re-accommodated in the next flight. The type of PR used in the case was inappropriate based on the information the public wanted to hear after the substantial damage was done to the client (Bowen, 2007). In the view of creating a good image, the management would have carefully crafted a response that would promote the public on relevant actions to be taken by the persons responsible for the act. Further, it should have apologized and offered a direct compensation in a bid to remove the wrong impression registered. In so doing, the management would be promising its client of excellent service by dissociating itself from the act of the security personnel and the manager who called in to have the passenger dragged (Berger, 2015). Self-defence in a time where the need for concern for the passenger is necessary distorts the public image of firms, and, thus acts negatively in such a situation. Persuasion versus Manipulation Persuasion refers to the attempt to influence an individuals action through the act of an appeal meant to lure individuals into a specific act or response. On the other hand, manipulation theory refers to the act of coercion aimed at tricking or forcefully driving an audience into an act which can end up in loss of credibility. The theory is relevant towards the situation of the passenger being pulled out of the airline after failing to volunteer the seat for the staff that was catching the flight to avoid delays on the other end of work. Instead of persuading and respecting the reasons and decision of the passenger, Mr. Dao, the security officer, called in by the manager decided to use forceful means which amount to the theory of manipulation after failing to sacrifice the seat for the staff (Grunig, 2013). The case resulted from the absolute error of overbooking, which, in any way was not the mistake of the passengers. In such a case, there was a need to communicate the issue with the passengers and seek their consent, through an appeal to have the situation rectified. Therefore, the theory of manipulation occurred rather than the persuasion which would have prevented the public relation error from happening. Management Address to the Issue In response, the CEO of the airline Oscar Munoz shared their sentiments and apologized for the event noting that no one deserves the type of treatment registered. At the same time, he promised to take full responsibility for the matter and approach all relevant channels towards rectifying and preventing similar occurrences in the future. He pledged to review the crew movement and the policies in place towards incentivizing volunteer passengers in such a situation. The CEO was quoted acknowledging the situation as unfortunate and apologized for having to re-accommodate the customers and further reaching the client to address the issue. The type of response in the first place seemed appropriate given the apologetic tone it took in addressing the issue. However, it failed by not holding its employees responsible publicly for assisting the firm to disassociate itself from the act about its policies on passenger handling (Holtzhausen, 2013). It was inappropriate for a passenger to be pulled out of the flight as it displayed a negative image of the flight which led to the subsequent decline in bookings in the next few weeks after the event. A lot more had to be done to save the flight from the said event that was fast spreading on the social and mainstream media. Forceful Eviction The airline reserves the right to ask for volunteers in such a situation but contravenes the same in forcefully evicting individuals who booked and took their seats according to the schedule and time. The action of forcing passengers out of a plane plays contrary to public relation policies of transparency and handling of clients (Seldin Johnson, 2017). Besides, the reasons registered by the doctor were authentic enough to have him retained in the flight as he was on a sole purpose to save lives, having booked an appointment with patients whose delays would be catastrophic. Moreover, the handling within the plane was a poor PR process which saw all the passengers witness the case and possibly having their sentiments released to the public and their immediate families. It is unprofessional and out of PR ethics to conducts acts that may distort individuals from implying a particular service in business due to fear of forceful eviction that would damage the service delivery of clients (Parsons, 2016). Each client in the plane must have been worried because the same could potentially occur to them at one time given the random selection and lack of particular reason for selecting persons for eviction. At the same time, the client, who was a Chinese-American, was heard shouting that he was being evicted because he was of a Chinese descent sounds negative in the PR perception given the wake of racial profiling (Parsons, 2016). The crew team should have considered the same before engaging in the act as it raises serious questions on racial issues that have hit the continent in the recent times. The crew was aware that the action would turn negative given the fact that clients had cameras onboard and that the same event would leak thus leading to serious damage to their business. Conclusions Public relation remains essential in attracting and retaining clients to businesses owing to the creation of positive messages. In this respect, it is important for people to employ the policies and procedures leading to a decisive action that favors public image on a given business. The airline committed several PR errors in the event and the addressing of the same afterward in a bid to protect and distance itself from the blame. Necessary measures according to the PR approaches had to be considered which could lead to the avoidance of the adverse events. Besides, it is necessary to select the clients for eviction while considering their race to avoid raising eyebrows on the depression of the minority who might pick offense and associate an isolated event to racial profiling. Public relation calls for adequate communication which is essential in making sure people are persuaded rather than coerced into action. Thus, it remains evident that the PR errors committed by the firm were responsible for the widespread outrage due to the videos doing rounds in the social media which had serious repercussions on the companys image and profitability. Recommendations Public relation consideration remains essential in handling crisis in businesses. In this respect, there are several considerations on the steps that should have been taken by the firm. First, within the flight, it was necessary to the manager and the crew to communicate the need of having volunteers. Substantial reasons had to be given to the clients to have them weigh the same against their urgency for travel to come up with a decision on whether to comply or decline the request. At the same time, upon failure to reach the numbers, the crew staff should have selected carefully the person to evict based on reasoning and judgment based on racial and ethnic considerations. Selecting from the majority category would save the perception of racism in the case which raised more uproar among the population. Thirdly, it would have been prudent for the firm to select a response which would distance itself from the forceful action by the employees. The exercise would assist in restoring confidence to the airline given the assurance that the persons involved would be taken to the task thus safeguarding passengers from future similar events. Lastly, it was necessary for the firm to reach the victim in person and apologize, compensate, and re-accommodate the passenger. More incentives can be offered such as free family travel for a vacation to appeal to the individuals after the incident. After that, the firm managers can take videos and photos demonstrating their apologies and possible good relation with the client who can give address the media on the issue and register agreement with the steps and compensation accorded. References Berger, A. A. (2015).Media and communication research methods: An introduction to qualitative and quantitative approaches. Sage Publications. Bowen, S. A. (2007).Ethics and public relations. Gainesville, FL: Institute for Public Relations. Grunig, J. E. (Ed.). (2013).Excellence in public relations and communication management. Routledge. Holtzhausen, D. R. (2013).Public relations as activism: postmodern approaches to theory practice. Routledge. Parsons, P. J. (2016).Ethics in public relations: A guide to best practice. Kogan Page Publishers. Ravich, T. M. (2002). Re-regulation and airline passengers' rights.J. Air L. Com.,67, 935. Seldin, M., Johnson, L. (2017). How United Airlines Analytics and Algorithms Can Help to Save American Democracy.World Journal of Social Science,4(2), 52. Smudde, P. M. (2005). Blogging, ethics and public relations: A proactive and dialogic approach.Public Relations Quarterly,50(3), 34.