Reading Response - 3
All of the JetBlue readings were very insightful and made a great point about the situation. At first, I thought JetBlue went about the situation in the right manner, but as I read more and more articles, I thought otherwise. Especially in the article, Managing Communications in a Crisis, it made a valid point on how companies need to plan in advance for situations that may arise in the future. The examples provided in the text really stressed how important it is to plan ahead and what disasters can develop if a company does not plan ahead. The weather is out of anyone’s control, but airplane companies need to be ready for any kind of disaster and prepare a way to make all the customers satisfied even in the times of a crisis.
Another article that I found to be very interesting is the Luntz article, The Ten Rules of Effective Language. One of the ten rules reiterated how important planning ahead is for a company, especially the JetBlue crisis. The seventh rule, speak inspirationally, stresses how a company needs to encourage a message that the customer wants to hear and then deliver it. This would be if JetBlue would have set a way to resolve such problems and follow through with it. It would present JetBlue as a reliable company that will follow through with their promises in the time of a crisis to satisfy their customers.
I plan on responding to this situation in my own documents next week by using the readings this week to make a strong press release. The readings provided me with the knowledge to prepare a well written document. One thing that has been stressed throughout the readings is to be truthful and honest with the customers. The customers do not want to be falsely led into believing one thing and having another thing happen in a crisis. I feel confident that with all the preparations given to us this week, I can create a document that will be sympathetic, honest, and truthful.
Comments
Reply
I was just the opposite of you; initially I thought JetBlue did the wrong thing but now I think that they did the right thing for the most part. They did make mistakes during the actual crisis; they could have communicated better and helped out stranded passengers. As I read about the remedies, I changed my mind. JetBlue’s CEO was honest and admitted the company’s failures. He took full blame, something that is not very prevalent in today’s world. You bring up a good point and I agree that planning ahead is very important. Sometimes, however, planning ahead can only do so much. Things happen that aren’t planned. You have to learn from your mistakes sometimes so that if it happens again you can act in the moment and know what to do.
Reply
As I read through the articles, I thought JetBlue did what they could with what they were given. I liked how the CEO came to face the music in the end and admit that the company could have handled the situation better. I just dont see how they could plan for a crisis such as having too many planes and not enough gates. Although, with a major storm being called for in the region you could have thought that they would have known that major snow was coming and that they should be safer than sorry. It would have made sense to get as many people off the ground as possible but you would have to make a cutoff somewhere. I guess you would need good management in order to make that call, something JetBlue could use more of.
RR 3 reply
I agree with you. I at first thought that JetBlue did the right thing. They were just trying to maintain their business and can not control the weather. But the public is not going to care of no one can control weather. JetBlue should have played it safe rather then trying to “maintain a cashflow” Although the CEO did come clean, and the company eventually did the right thing I think that the major issue they missed was to be timely. Once I’ve waited around for 10 hours, it is nice to have the CEO apologies and take the blame, however, it just took him longer than it should have.
coment
I think that the Jet handled the crisis pretty well. I mean the whole situation was unforeseeable. I still remember that even Purdue had given only half a day holiday but then had to extend it to a day. So in my way these sort of situations are totally unavoidable. Now that they have experienced one such situation they are totally prepared for it.