Running head: Exxon and Public Relations 1

Transcription

1 Running head: Exxon and Public Relations 1 Exxon and Public Relations: A Map to Improved Stakeholder Relations Chelsea Robie Ithaca College Into to STCM 103 Section 01 Spring [2010]

2 EXXON AND PUBLIC RELATIONS 2 Exxon and Public Relations When the Exxon Valdez oil tanker crashed on March 24, 1989, it began spilling millions of gallons of crude oil into the Alaska Prince Williams Sounds (McGill & Seeger, 2000). The spill caused contamination to the environment that proved to be deadly to wildlife. This incident set off a series of internal communication failures and became a public relations nightmare for Exxon. Exxon s poor, unethical public relations response reflected badly on the entire company. Analysis In the case of Exxon s poor response to the oil spill, the company made mistakes from the very beginning. According to McGill and Seeger (2000), Exxon was unable to properly respond to the crisis at first because of incomplete information and their decentralized corporate structure (p. 177). These two issues caused Exxon to underestimate the seriousness of the situation and they in turn failed to supply response teams adequately. Another major mistake that Exxon made was to allow local mangers to handle the situation without assistance from Exxon s corporate public relations staff (McGill & Seeger, 2000, p.177). Without the top professional public relations personal on the job, Exxon s first press statement was inaccurate. After the disaster hit its full scale and Exxon s failures to contain the spill finally reached the public, the company made its biggest error. Rather than admitting their mistakes and taking responsibility for their actions, Exxon, The Coast Guard, and the state of Alaska engaged in a blame game that was devastating to Exxon s stakeholder relationships. Each party attempted to shift responsibility to the other by making fast, unsupported claims (McGill & Seeger, 2000, pp ). Exxon shifted blame first to The Coast Guard, then to the ship s own captain while The Coast Guard blamed Exxon for not have sufficient supplies. According to Waddock (2009), government and communities are critical secondary stakeholders for all companies (p.18).

3 EXXON AND PUBLIC RELATIONS 3 Exxon s failure to properly manage these important stakeholder associations caused a public relations nightmare for the company. Waddock (2009) explains how one goal for a public relations department is to sustain constructive connections between a company and its stakeholders. Murphy, Hildebrandt, and Thomas (2009) explain how, after a crisis, it becomes increasingly important to give public messages that emphasize organizational ethics (p.327). Solution To improve Exxon s public image and rebuild its stakeholder relationships the company needs to better its boundary-spanning functions (Waddock, 2009, p.3), use situational analysis to create a public relations crisis management team, and improve their public messages to include two-sided arguments by admitting their responsibility and therefore communicating good ethics. Boundary-spanning functions are defined by Waddock (2009) as functions related to developing, maintaining, and assuring the quality of the company s relationship with a particular stakeholder group (p.3). Having good boundary-spanning functions can lead to a successful company by allowing stakeholders to communicate effectively. An example of two companies that were successful in managing stakeholders in a crisis are Dell and Sony when, according to Dominick (2009), in 2006 Dell had to recall millions of computer batteries manufactured by Sony. The companies agreed to share the cost of replacements rather than blame each other and therefore were able to better their public relations in an ethical manner (p. 317). In order to prevent this from happing again, Exxon needs to create a team focused on ethical crisis management and prevention. Dominick (2009) claims that the ultimate test for a public relations department is dealing with a crisis (p.326). Exxon s team would be a combination of public relations and internal communications experts whose main goal would be to maintain proper boundary-spanning functions with internal and external stakeholders. As Smith and Mounter (2008) conclude, most companies believe that they have effective internal

4 EXXON AND PUBLIC RELATIONS 4 communication (p. 14). In Exxon s case, however, this was not true as their internal communication systems failed to provide satisfactory information. Keeping track of internal communication would be one the responsibilities of the new team. The public affairs branch of the team would function to maintain a positive relationship between Exxon and its stakeholders (Waddock, 2009, p.19). The team will need to put into place crisis management plans to ensure that if another disaster occurs, it will be handled in a professional, timely, ethical, and productive manner. To do this, the team should follow Bateman and Snell s (2009) planning process: situational analysis, alternative goals/plans, goal/plan evaluation, implementation, and monitoring/controlling (pp ) along with Murphy s et al. (2009) guidelines for ethical messages involving thought about message purpose, research methods, selection of material, development of ideas, use of language, ethical context, and self-analysis (p. 323). The last point the newly created team will need to focus on is their message content. The content of a message for a crisis management situation should be a two-sided argument that acknowledges any opposing arguments (Franzio, 2009, p.191). Franzio (2009) contends that two-sided arguments are better in situations where the audience will be exposed to opposing viewpoints (p. 191) such as the in oil spill. Implementing this type of argument would be most effective in communicating with important stakeholders because it will make Exxon seem more trustworthy and display the company s focus on ethics (Franzio, 2009, p.191). Conclusion Exxon s response to the Exxon Valdez oil spill was untimely, uninformed, unethical, and inappropriate for the situation. In order for the company to prevent future such incidences they need to form a crisis management team responsible for maintaining stakeholder relationships and providing effective public relations and internal communication. By doing this, Exxon will be able to rebuild itself in the public eye and maintain a positive company image for the future.

5 EXXON AND PUBLIC RELATIONS 5 References Bateman, T., & Snell, S. (2009). Planning and strategic management. In S. Hamula and K.Komaromi (Eds.). Introduction to strategic communication[custom text] (pp ).Hightstown, NJ: McGraw Hill Primis Online. Dominick, J. R. (2009). The dynamics of mass communication (10 th ed.). Boston: The McGraw- Hill Companies. Franzoi, S. (2009). Persuasion. In S. Hamula & K. Komaromi (Eds.). Introduction to strategic communication [custom text] (pp ). Hightstown, NJ: McGraw Hill Primis Online. McGill, A.D. & Seeger, M.W. (2000). Ethical issues in Exxon s response to the Valdez crisis. In G. L. Peterson (Ed.), Communicating in organizations: A casebook (2nd ed.). (pp ). Needham Heights, MA: Allyn & Bacon. Murphy, H.A., Hildebrandt, H.W., & Thomas, J.P. (2009). Business communication and the ethical context. In S.Hamula & K. Komaromi (Eds.). Introduction to strategic communication[custom text] (pp ). Hightstown, NJ: McGraw Hill Primis Online. Smith, L. & Mounter, P. (2008) Effective Internal Communication (2 nd Edition). Philadelphia, PA: Kogan Page Limited. Available from the Ithaca College Library Database. Waddock, S. (2009). Stakeholders: The relationship key. In S. Hamula and K. Komaromi (Eds.). Introduction to strategic communication [custom text] (pp. 1-39). Hightstown, NJ:McGraw Hill Primis Online.