Journal Review V by Meryana Deasy Karina Sudarsono 135120207121004

Journal Review

“Apologies and Public Relations Crises at Chrysler, Toshiba, and Volvo”, 1994,

by Keith Michael Hearit

and

“Attribution Theory as a Guide for Post-Crisis Communication Research”, 2007,

by W. Timothy Coombs

Meryana Deasy Karina Sudarsono

135120207121004

Department of Communication Science

Faculty of Social and Political Sciences

University of Brawijaya, Malang

This writing is based on my review of two journals which entitled “Apologies and Public Relations Crises at Chrysler, Toshiba, and Volvo”, 1994, by Keith Michael Hearit and “Attribution Theory as a Guide for Post-Crisis Communication Research”, 2007, by W. Timothy Coombs.

            The first journal is about “Apologie and Public Relations Crises at Chrysler, Toshiba, and Volvo”, 1994, by Keith Michael Hearit. The purpose of the journal is to know the issue, crisis, and image management in the corporate.This journal is explained that this study analyzes the corporate apologetic discourses of three paradigmatic case.-at Chrysler, Toshiba, and Volvo-and examines the use of persuasive descriptions and strategic dissociations preferred by these corporate apologists. Here the author divided into two parts, there are apologetic crises; and communicative strategies, like persuasive accounts, statement of regret, dissociatiuon, opinion/knowledge, individual/group, and act/essence.

            Now in daily life, so many corporate which have issue, crisis in management. So, the reputation of the corporate decrease and make a corporate being bankrupt. Basically, it is caused due to miscommunication between superiors and subordinates, internal problems, as well as external problems. Burke (1984) cited in Hearit's book, "Crisis Management by Apology Corporate Response to Allegations of Wrongdoing" noted as much when he wrote: 
Insofar as all complex social order will necessarily be grounded in some kind of property structure [i.e., capitalism], and insofar as all such order in its divisive aspects makes for the kind of social malaise which theologians would explain in terms of “original sin,” is it possible that rituals of victimage are the “natural” means for affirming the principle of social cohesion above the principle of social division? (p. 286) 
Thus, individuals, organizations, and institutions utilize apologiae as a natural way to restore their social legitimacy and acquiescence to the private property system known as capitalism.

            In general, Hearit’s writing can provide new knowledge about the corporate apologetic discourses of three paradigmatic. Crisis management is a form of issue management, in which crisis managers attempt to control the terms used to describe corporate actions. While ultimate determination of guilt or innocence occurs in a courtroom, organizational communicators realize that the court of public opinion adjudicates a verdict that they can ill afford to lose. With increasing frequency, corporations publicly respond to charges of wrongdoing with justifications of their actions. To be more able to provide more in-depth description, I recommend to give evidence and use language which use language that is simple and clear.

            The second journal is about “Attribution Theory as a Guide for Post-Crisis Communication Research”, 2007, by W. Timothy Coombs. Here the author explained that stakeholders will make attributions about the cause of a crisis; they will assess crisis responsibility. If the organization is deemed responsible, the reputation will suffer. In turn, stakeholders may exit the relationship and/or create negativeword-of-mouth. Management has a vested interest in preventing either of these two negative outcomes. Attribution theory as a guide for post-crisis communication research. Crisis is often experienced by a company. The incident is one of the trials of a company. Attribution Theory posits that people look for the causes of events, especially unexpected and negative events. Most experts agree that a crisis is negative and unexpected. When using Attribution Theory, the threat of a crisis is largely a function of crisis responsibility.

            According to Coombs & Holladay (2002), cited in Coombs’ (2007) journal, “Attribution Theory as a Guide for Post-Crisis Communication Research”, SCCT research has identified three crisis clusters based upon attributions of crisis responsibility by crisis type: (1) victim cluster has very weak attributions of crisis responsibility (natural disasters, workplace violence, product tampering, and rumor) and the organization is viewed as a victim of the event; (2) accidental cluster has minimal attributions of crisis responsibility (technical-error accident, technical-error product harm, and challenge) and the event was considered unintentional or uncontrollable by the organization; and (3) intentional cluster has very strong attributions of crisis responsibility (human-error accident, human-error product harm, and organizational misdeed) and the event was considered to be purposeful.

            In general, Coombs’ writing can provide new knowledge about Attribution Theory and Situational Crisis Communication Theory. Those theories are about theory of crisis, issue, and image management in a corporate. The language that is used in this journal is easy to understand and I can get more informations about those theories. To be more able to provide more in-depth description, I recommend to give more spesific example about the theories, so I can more understand about the theories. Overall both journals is good and can provide new knowledge about theory of issue, crisis, and image management.

References:

Coombs, W.T. (2007). Attribution Theory as a Guide for Post-Crisis Communication Research. Public Relations Review, 33, 135-139

Hearit, K.M. (1994). Apologies and Public Relations Crises at Chrysler, Toshiba, and Volvo. Public Relations Review, 20(2), 113-125
Hearit, K.M. (2006). Crisis Management by Apology Corporate Response to Allegations of Wrongdoing. Mahwah, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc