Based on the “Integrity in Times of Crisis” lecture on February 25, advances in technology have increased the need for companies to take a serious look at their crisis communications plans because any issue can be blown out of proportion in a matter of seconds on the internet. With the evolution of social media, everyone has become their own journalist and any story can go viral at any moment, and organizations need to know how to address these crises before they become public relations nightmares. It is also important in times of crises to act ethically and with integrity. It has been shown time and time again, that in times of crisis among organizations, that their true values come out in the public eye. In the case of Penn State child abuse scandal, the values of top leadership officials were displayed to the world in how they failed to keep their integrity and address an ethical issue correctly. Steve Manuel, senior lecturer in Public Relations at Penn State, discussed the main ethical issues in a crisis are remaining silent and worrying more about your organization than the victims it has affected.
Failure to acknowledge wrongdoing is almost as bad as repeating the wrongdoing in the first place. Steve Manuel said the major mistake that Penn State made in handling the child abuse crisis was cancelling Joe Paterno’s press conference and remaining silent. In a society of twenty-four hour media, this is disaster move for any organization. Also once Penn State’s Graham Spanier did speak, he failed to acknowledge the victims and focused only on the accused. This is a grave mishandling of a crisis because Penn State forgot about what remaining ethical and addressing its failures publically and giving their condolences to the victims of the abuse. Penn State failed to make an initial statement right away from leadership, which is one of the most important actions in crisis management (Alfonso, G., & Suzanne, S. 2008).
Integrity inside an organization starts with leadership, if the leaders of an organization do not act ethically than it is more likely that the rest of the company will follow their unethical actions. This is the main reason why when faced with a crisis a CEO or another employee in a leadership position is suggested to make a public statement so that the organization remains transparent to the public and retains its integrity even in a crisis. In the case of Texaco’s racial discrimination lawsuit, their CEO Peter Biljur made a public statement apologizing for the actions made by Texaco executives and expressing his embarrassment about the situation (Bhasin, 2005). This eased the publics outrage over the racial discrimination in a timely manner and gave credibility to Texaco because they acknowledged their mistakes and began to work through them. Unlike the Texaco case, by not addressing the public immediately the Penn State case escalated in the media because reporters began to speculate and find information from other sources outside the university. Remaining silent is the worst choice an organization can make when faced with a crisis because that shows you are not concerned about how your actions are affecting others outside of the organization.
Bad decisions are made every day and they will continue to happen, so crisis management needs to be practiced by all organizations at all times. Being prepared and proactive will help any organization to know what they will do in a time of crisis and prevent illogical behavior like we witnessed throughout the Penn State scandal. If Penn State began to prepare their actions and statements right after the grand jury was announced, then there would have been better public statements and reporters like Sara Ganim would not have made stories about the Penn State scandal before the school even acknowledge the situation (Solomon, 2011). Although no company wants a crisis to happen to them, they need to be prepared at all times anyway and Penn State was a great example. To get through a crisis successfully there needs to be fast public acknowledgement of the crisis, apologize to those affected, and a solid ethical plan of action going forward for the organization. Overall most of these situations can be avoided if organizations and individuals take a proactive approach to behaving with integrity and take a stand against those that behave unethically.
References
Alfonso, G., & Suzanne, S. (2008). Crisis Communications Management on the Web: How Internet-Based Technologies are Changing the Way Public Relations Professionals Handle Business Crises. Journal Of Contingencies & Crisis Management, 16(3), 143-153. doi:10.1111/j.1468-5973.2008.00543.x
Bhasin, K. (n.d.). 9 PR Fiascos That Were Handled Brilliantly By Management – Business Insider. Business Insider. Retrieved February 27, 2013, from http://www.businessinsider.com/pr-disasters-crisis-management-2011-5?op=1
Solomon, G. (2011). Slow to React. American Journalism Review, 33(3), 28-51.