1105: 3P

profileslkdgha
StuAB.docx

Stu A:

Hi everyone, 

Zaremba (2010) presented that "Ethics affects proactive crisis communication behavior as well as postcrisis behavior"(p. 140). Speaking from the perspective of crisis communication, I think lying is not ever justified. Take Sanlu's Milk Scandal for example, when Sanlu's milk had been contaminated with melamine, the first thing Sanlu chose to do was to cover up. Sanlu even colluded with Baidu, a famous media in China, to cover the news and stay silence. The same problems were exposed during the 2003 Sars crisis when government officials tried to cover up the outbreaks, and ended up making matters worse (mysinchew, 2008). lying that there is no serious problem is a serious problem itself.

As for how to define lies, Zaremba (2010) presented that the following behaviors are lies:

· Making a statement that is not true (p. 141).

· Omitting something from a message that will or could mislead the receiver (p. 141). 

· Using ambiguous language to create an illusion (p. 141).

· Using statistics to confuse stakeholders (p. 141). 

From my point of view, none of them would help the organization weather the storm. It's common that an organization would consider its reputations, stock prices, face, and company image. When lying is implemented, it means the organization is trying to use unethical behaviors to maintain the "ethical image". 

Personally speaking, I think ethical considerations is more important. I know people advocate different moral standards. For instance, from the angle of organization, it's good to lie since the stock prices could be maintained and the company's face could be saved. Like the CEO of Enron, when there was a huge accounting fraud, still he encouraged his employees to buy the stock and he sold the stock he hold at the same time. So, I would say lying in crisis communication is a short-sighted behavior. 

Truth is the element of right speech. If an unethical behavior is always being chosen, it will be normalized by the organization (Zaremba, 2010, p. 143), which is a vicious cycle. So, always ethical considerations within an organization is crucial. Thus the organization could act ethically to the public during the crisis. 

Best,

Lina

References

Mysinchew. (2008, September 9). China's Milk Scandal. Retrieved from http://www.mysinchew.com/node/16794

Zaremba, A. (2010). Crisis Communication: Theory and Practice. New York, PA: Taylor & Francis Group.  

Stu B:

After reading this article, I believe that Zaremba put forward a good relationship between moral influence and crisis communication. In my opinion, if the company evades responsibility in the crisis public relations, cannot bravely face the mistakes, or distort the facts, avoid the problem Then the public will not give the enterprise a step. Simply evading the problem and not giving the public a clear attitude will only make the public more united and cruel to you, which invisibly brings great difficulties to the corporate crisis public relations. Therefore, the primary task of crisis public relations is to restore the truth and bravely face your own mistakes.

Therefore, when enterprises are in crisis public relations, they should not cover up the problem and refuse to admit mistakes because they dare not say it. The eyes of the masses are sharp. Whether you are deliberately covering up the mistakes cannot escape the sinister eyes of the masses. For example, former US President Bill Clinton had just refused to admit this error in the sensational "Zipper Gate Incident". It was concealed for a long time, but the public opinion and the US Attorney's Office died in this little voice. Then, under the pressure of public opinion, Clinton’s attitude came to a 180-degree turn, bravely confessing his fault in the media and apologizing to the American people. As a result, the public’s attitude immediately made a big turn. They expressed their sympathy for President Clinton’s experience. In fact, in many cases, the reason people attack you is not that you made a mistake, but after you put the mistake, you don’t bravely face the mistake and correct it. People value your attitude.

A good corporate crisis public relations order requires a strong corporate crisis public relations ethics as a guarantee, an ethical and positively motivated crisis public relations ethics will produce a standard, transparent and modern crisis public relations. Therefore, in order to effectively and ethically conduct crisis public relations, it is necessary to establish a corporate crisis public relations ethics.

 

Reference

Zaremba, A. (2010). Crisis Communication: Theory and Practice. New York, PA: Taylor & Francis Group.