RR week 3
There have been many other instances of companies having mishaps and causing big errors. Each of these potentially could have cost the company. Many companies have been able to learn for other company’s mistakes and change potentially devastating events to turn into the time to shine. It seems like the smart idea to have a plan in mind when dealing with a crisis. It is important to act swiftly and show that they care. I have heard of situations where a company has had to deal with a crisis, and did a very good job, and got praised for the media for it. In the future people will remember how your company handled the problem and looked out for your wellbeing rather than their own.
I must admit that I had heard about the JetBlue crisis, but not know as much information as in the articles. I originally did not think this was a big deal, however once diving deeper it was hard for me to justify the fact that they did not solve their problem, and let it continue for more than just 1 day. It seemed to me as though JetBlue did not even have a plan. I find this very odd, because some articles mentioned similar things that happened to other airlines. I realize that JetBlue is a rather young company. However, if you want to be a big time competitor it is obvious to have a crisis plan.
I also found the 10 rules of effective language interesting. I thought these rules provided some valid points. For example using small words, often time you will hear someone using big words that only a few people understand. If you want to communicate effectively it is important that everyone understands. This was demonstrated with the example of the OJ Simpson trial.
It should be fun to use the lessons we’ve learned to create our own press releases for this situation. I am looking forward to seeing what people come up with.
Comments
Comment
I think it is an interesting point that you made about how many times companies have had a crisis and turned it around and actually helped their company. I believe that this is true in the JetBlue situation, but there were also examples in the readings of companies that were ruined because of a crisis and many times it had to do with the fact that they did not handle the situation very well. JetBlue obviously did not have a plan to handle this situation or at least a very good one and they learned from this situation and took the right actions to do so. I agree that the ten rules of effective language were very interesting. It had a lot of good points and it was interesting to see some examples, especially the one of the OJ Simpson trial.
Comment
There have been many times in the past where companies have done things the wrong way. Other companies learn from other company’s mistake and apply to it their own company. I agree that people will remember how a company handled a problem and that will affect the company’s business. JetBlue handled their situation with honestly and sympathy in order to try to correct the mistakes. Even though JetBlue did not have a plan before the crisis, they did what they could to correct the issue and try to satisfy the passengers. The best way would have been to have a plan set, but JetBlue did not and as a result the media has criticized their actions.
Reply
To have a plan set for every situation would be tough. I think that you should have a basis for what situations could bring up but every situation will be different. You cant plan for specific details or you could waste the time of people who could be working on more important things for the business. I think that you should have a strong leader that helps you communicate well with the media. Tylenol went through a huge crisis where their product killed people in the 80's. Their leader made an executive decision to pull their product and created tamper proof seals. There is no way he could have planned for this kind of crisis but Im pretty confident they would have a basis for a plan for something that could cause their company harm.
True, but...
I agree, it is hard to have a plan for every situation. No one can predict every problem that is going to come their way when running a company. And i see the specific example that you mentioned about Tylenol being true along this idea that you can't plan for everything. But this is an airline. Airlines face terrible weather all the time. When was the last time a storm went through part of the country? They happen all the time. I know there was a Huge snow storm in Denver around Christmas. The airlines all had a way to handle that terrible situation. I don't understand why jetBlue didn't think about this type of problem earlier. Although not every situation where grounding is necessary is the same, they should have a flexible plan that should work for many different situations. What I'm trying to say is that this should not have been as big of a problem as it ended up being.
REply
I couldn't agree with you more. My theory is that when it comes to big businesses it is all about money and getting the most for your dollar. It was obvious that JetBlue didn't have enough crew, pilots, and man power (receptionists,etc) in general to handle such a crisis. To make matters worse they didn't have a plan or a way to communicate to employees and customers. It just sounds like a bad situation all together!
reply
I think you have made a valid point in saying that it is difficult to have a plan for every situation. However in a industry like the one Jet Blue is in taking a strong proactive approach is almost inevidable. It was obvious to me too that they did not have a plan or simply the man power or experience to fix the problem quickly. I felt like the execs could have done more also and made more of an impact while the crisis was going on instead of coming in later to do "damage control" with the media. They needed to focus on their stakeholders, i.e. their customers before the media. For example, instead of posting a message on YouTube that message should have been put on their company website. I think it would have been helpful to have them communicate as soon as it was happening to everyone (all employees and customers). I think communication was lost and that's why the crisis got worse instead of better.
Sometimes Things Just Go Wrong
Sometimes things just go wrong. It seems to me like this was especially the case to JetBlue. The disastrous effects of the storm that shut down the airline for several days could not have been foreseen. I feel that the company reacted quickly and as best it could to get things moving again. For the most part they did a decent job. However, in this situation, decent was not good enough. I think that many customers became frustrated with the company and future sales may have been lost because of this. A situation where things go as bad as this one is always hard to avoid and the company salvaged as much as it could.
RE: Comment
I definitely agree that things of this nature have happened to different companies in the past, and many of them never recovered. I'm not so sure JetBlue will ever recover from this mishap completely. I definitely do not agree that JetBlue handled this situation with honesty and sympathy. They only responded to their customers (and poorly at that) because they realized how much negative media attention they were getting. They simply did exactly the bare minimum they had to to save their butts. The CEO did not even put out a very thoughtful statement, just the customary, "I'm Sorry" but it did not even sound very sincere. So as a whole I feel that JetBlue failed miserably in this arena, and I am curious to see how they do in future years.
reply
I agree that the strength of a company is judged by how well they handle a crisis. Even though Jet Blue was not successful, you could tell that they were trying to do whatever they could to comfort their passengers. Since they were not equipped with a plan they were not able to do as much as they should have. The CEO's video response was a great idea though, it thought I was very reassuring and comforting to know that they were sorry for what they did and they were trying to rectify the situation.
I think with everyone’s different opinion the different press releases that get generated are going to be very interesting.
Crisis Management
I am in agreement with you on the idea that the strength of a company is revealed during crisis situations. If I were to just examine Jet Blues crisis, I would say that they are a very weak company. After reading some more articles on Jet Blue, I would have to say that I have changed my mind. I believe with Jet Blue's renewed sense of customer service and their drive to a prominent airline company that they will rise from the bottom and be a leader among small airline companies in the future.
Having a plan
This thread reiterates some very vital points about how companies should plan in advance for an incident like this. It is clear from reading the articles and examining the situation that this was an institutional problem, not a situational problem. The structure of the company did not allow them to handle a situation of this magnitude, meaning something like this was bound to occur eventually. As many have noted, grounded planes are nothing new, so a better corporate communication model should have been in place, both between company members and company members and the public. I also like the point that JetBlue should have learned from other airlines. Now, however, they may have become the industry leaders. Many commentators suggested that a customer Bill of Rights may become standard across the airlines. Other companies may now be learning from JetBlue's crisis.