Attribution THeory & Apologia Review Darwis

PUBLIC RELATIONS THEORIES

Journal Review

By: Darwis, NIM-135120207121026

Department of Communication Science, Faculty of Social and Political Sciences

University Of Brawijaya Malang

Introduction

First of all, I would like to say that this writing consists of my journal review towards two journals, (1) “"Apologies and Public Relations Crises at Chrysler, Toshiba, and Volvo" written by Keith Michal Hearit and (2) “Attribution Theory as A Guide for Post-Crisis Communication Research" written by W. Timothy Coombs. The purpose of this writing is to discuss crisis management generally. Each company that has public relations department will face crisis in particular situation. For example, Tylenol case in handling the crisis that happens to that company. We can learn that handling crisis well is the first thing we have to do when company faces crisis management. As Johnson & Johnson does, it immediately acts and analyzes the problem by taking back all products in drugstores or other places and also does press conference by talking to the media that the case is not done by the company, but other parties that buy Tylenol product in big scale then put cyanide into product and sell them again, by doing such handling well, it indicates that Johnson & Johnson is responsibility that public will automatically consider the company is responsible and Johnson & Johnson will not lose trust from its public and its customers because of good handling (Regester & Larkin, 2008, p. 158-159). In this writing is going to review two journals that discuss crisis management.

First Journal

As discussed in the first journal, the study did analysis the corporate apologetic discourse of three paradigmatic cases, Chrysler, Toshiba, and Volvo. The study also examined the use of persuasive descriptions and strategic dissociations preferred by these corporate apologists. The analysis will assert that most crisis management research tends to neglect the communication component of crisis situations. Therefore, as a corrective, the study will give suggestion as terminological approach in which the approach will be useful in studying public relations crises, particularly those in which the organization is guilty of wrongdoing and will deliver an apology. By giving terminological nature of crises, crisis management is a form of issue management, in which crisis mangers attempt to control the terms used to describe corporate actions. Corporations publicly respond to charges of wrongdoing with justifications of their actions. Therefore, corporations like Chrysler, Toshiba, and Volvo will take their case directly to the public find that they may still face legal sanctions for their wrongdoing. A federal judge eventually found Chrysler guilty of 15 counts of email fraud and ordered the company to pay $7.6 million in criminal fines. Toshiba faced penalties on two fronts. The Japanese government banned the Toshiba Machine Company from exporting to Eastern block countries for one year, a penalty that resulted in a loss to Toshiba Machine of $1.3 million. While Volvo in a settlement with Texas Attorney General Mattox, issued the advertisements analysed here and reimbursed the State $316,250 in "investigative costs". It indicates that apologetic advertisement is that they are public statement of contrition that complete the ritualistic cycle of transgression and absolution. The presentation of an apologia is indeed a difficult communication maneuver. This analysis illumines how corporations attempt to use this discourse of defense, known as apologia, to manage public relations crises for which they bear primary responsibility. Yet, they label their wrongdoing in a way that displays sorrow but limit culpability, and use dissociations to distance themselves from the wrongdoing.

In my opinion, referring to apologetic crises, this issue of crisis management is not good because an apologia is not an apology, it functions to situate alleged organizational wrongdoing in a more favorable context that the initial charges suggest (Hearit, 1994). Public relations should not make public as tool in doing public relations activities. Therefore, public relations should construct public with issues that are ethical-based.

Second Journal

In this journal, the discussion basically focuses on how Attribution Theory plays role in crisis issue of public relations. Crisis managers need recommendations that must be based on scientifically tested evidence rather than speculation. At present, the time to move beyond the limits of the case study methods that shape the field's development and shift to empirical methods because the field of crisis communication needs to be poised to take the next in its evolution. The role Attribution Theory can play its role to continue in building scientifically tested evidence for crisis managers as well as providing an integrative mechanism for the diverse crisis research that spans a variety of disciplines. Post-crisis communication research should continue along its newer, empirical track. Attribution Theory as a historical and still viable theory for integrating crisis communication research will bring us to move away from decisions based on unsystematic data toward evidence-based decisions. Furthermore, a common theoretical link allows for the integration of research from various researchers in diverse fields. Then, there will be a broad research agenda to pursue based upon Attribution Theory. A partial list would include application of fundamental attribution error to crisis and implications for crisis communication, the ability of crisis response strategies to shape perceptions of the crisis frames, how crisis response strategies can trigger the discounting principle, and relationship of crisis frames to counter-factual thinking. With Attribution Theory as a connecting point, diverse streams of research can converge into to a river of post-crisis communication knowledge that provides a mechanism for evidence-based crisis communication.

Public relations is not random activity, it precisely needs sustainable planning. To implement public relation also needs clear process because public relations activities do not consider final result, yet the way implemented to reach the final result. In crisis management, specifically, in understanding and handling crisis, public relations practitioners have to have steps that are based on scientific ways in order organizational goals can be reached. The role Attribution Theory can be used as a guide for post-crisis communication research in handling crisis because two key traits of crises are that they are unexpected and negative (Coombs, 2007) and these are also the key characteristics that Attribution Theory expert Bernard Weiner identified as driving people's need to search for causes of event (Weiner, 1985, 1986, cited in Coombs, 2007). The rationalization is that stakeholders will make attributions about the cause of crises, they will assess crisis responsibility (Coombs, 2007).

References

Coombs, W. T. (2007) Attribution theory as a guide for post-crisis communication research. Public Relations Review, 33 (2007), 135-139.

Hearit, K. M. (1994). Apologies and public relations crises at Chrysler, Toshiba, and Volvo. Public Relation Review, 20 (2), 113-125.

Regester, M. & Larkin, J. (2008). Risk issues and crisis management in public relations (4th e.d.). London and Philadelphia: Kogan Page.