United Airlines PR Crisis: Case Study on Theory and Practice

This case study examines the United Airlines PR crisis stemming from the incident where Dr. David Dao was forcibly removed from a flight. The report analyzes the PR errors made by the company's management, particularly focusing on the CEO's response and its impact on public perception. It applies two key PR theories: agenda setting theory, which could have helped manage media coverage and public opinion, and social exchange theory, to understand the rewards and punishments associated with the company's actions. The analysis includes a discussion of how these theories could have been used to prevent or mitigate the crisis, along with recommendations for improving PR practices within the company to navigate future challenges effectively. The case study highlights the importance of proactive communication, ethical decision-making, and understanding public sentiment in managing a company's reputation, particularly during a crisis.

PUBLIC RELATION THEORY AND PRACTICES
CASE STUDY OF UNITED AIRLINES
STUDENT NAME
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PUBLIC RELATION THEORY AND PRACTICES
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
One of the most extreme errors made by a company recently is the case of United Airlines in
which one of the passengers, Dr David Dao, was forcibly dragged down from the flight. The
incident was so immense that the entire nation’s public became furious and protested
against such behaviour made by the company. A well-known company such as United
Airlines is certainly not expected to make such decisions and people took this incident as
harsh ethical mistake made by organisation and demanded an apology for it. This report will
analyse the situation in detail while evaluating the PR errors made by the company’s
management. In this report, few PR theories will be applied in the case that might have
helped to avoid such situation in United Airlines. Recommendations made at the end will
provide assistance to the managers of the firm to incorporate PR theories in their operations
that can allow the company flow efficiently in growth path.
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Table of Contents
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY............................................................................................................. 1
INTRODUCTION........................................................................................................................3
MAIN REPORT.......................................................................................................................... 4
CONCLUSIONS.......................................................................................................................... 6
RECOMMENDATIONS...............................................................................................................9
REFERENCES........................................................................................................................... 11
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INTRODUCTION
Public relation theories are one of the most important elements taken into consideration
while managing firms. Company’s image in front of public is highly depended on their
performances and the way they represent themselves in front of others. Managing issues,
whether internal or external, is the major function of management and to maintain
balanced public relation is very significant (Cornelissen, 2000). In order to perform this job,
professional skill as well as sound communication quality is necessary that can create high-
quality atmosphere within organisation’s and with outside people. Customers, government,
suppliers and employees demands operations that inculcates sound public relations and for
that employers or managers needs to summarize their core objective from PR perspective.
Nowadays government of many countries are considering PR practices as major strength
while forming communications with associations and common public, whether the company
is dealing with abode nation or globally (Hazleton, 2006). An organisation, whether small or
big, has goals and objectives which can be fulfilled only by building strong relationship with
their customers. In order to form strategic and critical management system, PR practitioners
of the firms needs to gain knowledge about various PR theories that can be applied at the
time of dilemmas. Normally the issues that happen during the course of business are
different from each other and needs to be handled tactfully by applying appropriate
theories. Thus having knowledge about single theory is never sufficient and good
practitioners must have insight about many theories and models that can be applied to
enhance PR practise in organisation (Creative Commons, 2012). Efficient PR practitioners
will always make decisions that prove beneficial for the firm while developing healthy
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relationships with other important essentials of the business. Mass communication
techniques and studies are highly appreciated by today’s managers as it helps them to look
into problems with different perspectives and make decisions after evaluating the issue
from different angles (Cornelissen, 2000). Therefore it becomes essential to consider
different PR theories while analysing situations so as to make sound decision. In this report
PR error made by United Airlines will be discussed and appropriate solutions for it will be
made after applying two PR theories into the situation.
MAIN REPORT
The incident which occurred on 19th April 2017 will be recorded as worst PR error made by
any companies in history. The incident took place in one of the flights of United Airlines
where a doctor named DR David Dao was beaten by flight officials and dragged down the
aircraft aisle. The flight was scheduled to Louisville in Kentucky and was about to take off
from Chicago. (Chu, 2017) This incident became viral overnight and made entire public
outraged immediately. More than half a billion people watched the video that was covered
by other passengers present at the time of incident. In China and Vietnam the incident was
interpreted as an act of discrimination as the victim belonged to Vietnam city. The beating
and dragging of the victim was so intense that he had to be admitted to the hospital
whereas his wife and two children, who were also present there became traumatised. Dr
David had to repay the fault made by the company where United Airlines overbooked his
paid reservation to other passengers. The company claimed that it was a technical error for
which they apologised later. But the actual reason behind Dr Dao’s removal was that the
company’s four employees had to travel for flight maintenance purpose at Louisville and the
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flight had to make space for them (Lint, 2017). None of the employees got up from their
seats and even the officials did not give an ear to Dr Dao’s claim. For the past many years
airports have become a place of monopoly for militants and officials who force the travellers
to undergo humiliating searches and guidelines. In the name of national security, their role
has become violent which is clearly seen in United Airlines case (Netimperative, 2017).
Presently the CEO of United Airlines is Munoz who has also won many awards for his
excellence and firm dedication towards the company. Although the CEO possessed such
good reputation worldwide, the decision made by him was more shocking and shows that
he lacked qualities of managing PR practice in his company. The incident became more
outrageous when he accused Dr Dao of being ‘belligerent and disruptive’ while praising his
own employees for following company’s manual (London, 2017). Immediately after the
incident, United Airlines lost $600 million worth shares and suffered long term consequence
for public disaster. Previously too United Airlines have been marked for overbooking in
name of legal considerations but media coverage’s was not given. In present case of Dr
David, the fellow passengers made quick attempt and recorded entire scenario through
their Smartphone’s. Immediately tweets and other social sites were filled up with the news
of Dr Dao’s case and harsh actions taken by United Airlines. The CEO failed to admit its fault
that made entire nation frenzy which again shows deficiency of PR management in Munoz
(Johnson, 2017). The incident requires implementing PR practise in United Airlines and its
management. If the company had included PR management, the incident would not have
taken place or rather it could have been solved tactfully without hampering organisation’s
reputation.
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CONCLUSIONS
The PR error made by United Airlines could not be rectified but can help the company gain
insight about various theories that could have prevented taking place of such incident. In
public relation management, single theories are never sufficient to make any managerial
decision as making sound decisions require managers to think from different PR
perspectives (Chi, 2017). In due respect, this report will evaluate the case the Dr David Dao
from two theoretical perspective of PR and make necessary recommendations for the
management of United Airlines.
Agenda setting theory is the first model that will be discussed in this report as it is one of the
most critical theories applied by PR practitioners of today’s firms. This theory enables the
managers to examine the outside people or pupils interests who are directly or indirectly
related to the firm (Spring, 2002). The increase of involvement of social media and press in
firms has become an important factor that needs to be dealt critically. To determine the
amount of information required to be shared with outside sources is very crucial as it may
elevate or damage the image of companies. Thus Maxwell McCombs and Donald Shaw
introduced Agenda Setting Theory in the year 1972 to enable the PR practitioners get model
to deal with mass communication techniques and public relation practice. There is a direct
relation between media and public agenda as news covered by Medias are greatly absorbed
by masses according to their interest in it (Baird, n.d.). The decision made by people are
significantly depended on social medias as they not only covey the reasons behind issues
but also put in characteristics into it that makes the subject more noteworthy. The viral
video coverage of Dr Dao raged common people which resulted in losses of United Airlines
shares along with shattering the company’s strong reputation. The agenda setting theory
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could have been a great help for the company according to the case as this theory could
have stopped the leakage of videos from spreading by making instant effort in rectifying the
issue, at least in front of general public.
The agenda setting theory can be implemented in PR practises following three stages of its
implementation. In the beginning stage of implementation, Policy agenda setting is made
under which the amount of affect through media coverage that could influence other
people is evaluated. Normally people are more affected by simple issues as those kinds of
problems may happen with them also and therefore such news are spread promptly and
with greater interest. Second level of agenda setting theory deals in media agenda setting
that decides upon kind of information’s that shall be shared by Social Medias and news
publications. In second stage, journalists, communicators, editors and public representatives
are contacted by PR managers of organisations to compose agenda settings. In this stage the
related mediators make decision upon the type of news they would like to share with the
public and hence they need to be handled critically. In the final stage of agenda setting
theory, public agenda setting is done in which the eventual reaction and behaviour of
community or masses is recognised which is then calculated in order to ascertain the effects
of information for the company (Communication Studies, 2017).
The role of PR professionals here becomes important as they represent on behalf of their
company and social Medias are highly influenced by public relations maintained by
organisations. Press conferences and interviews made on social sites are normally carried by
PR practitioners in order to share significant information’s with mass public and they put on
messages that provide benefits for the firm (Communication Theory, 2017). Contradictory
situation occurred in United Airlines that hampered the company adversely. The way
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officials treated Dr Dao in flight was so miserable that the fellow passengers got chance to
cover the entire situation and showed their fury towards the company by spreading the act
globally. The managers of the company instead of making corrections of their action did
more damages by not accepting their fault. The CEO apologised only for their technical fault
and not regarding injuries made by company’s officials. The agenda setting theory shall be
implemented in the PR practices of United Airlines so that company could save itself from
getting adverse affects from media coverage in future.
Second most important PR theory utilised by today’s mangers of organisations is
Social exchange theory in which actions and reactions made by people are evaluated in
terms of rewards and punishments. This means if any action performed is liked by others,
rewards are credited. On the other hand if any action is not accepted or disliked,
punishments in form of gesture or penalty is made. George Homans founded social
exchange theory which was further developed by Peter Blau and Richard Emerson
(Redmond, 2015). According to this theory people are likely to perform those tasks
repeatedly which are appreciated by others instead of one’s disliked by them. The
segregation of actions through appreciated ones and disliked ones helps managers to decide
upon what decisions shall be taken so that organisation is benefitted by it. The past
experiences of rewarding and failures makes mangers job easy while making decisions
(Reader, 2017). The assessment that gets continuous rewards or appreciations are
inculcated in the decisions made by managers relating public relation, whereas the disliked
ones or failed choices are avoided in future course. In organisations, normally the reward or
punishments are represented in the form of increased or decreased profits, public empathy,
publicity and brand awareness. The bad publicity or decrement in profits are normally
assumed as punishments which often creates discontentment among consumers and even
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government may disapprove company’s operation. If PR practice is not efficient, the affect
of it is rigorous and is shown through decrement in manifestation of company’s profits and
shares along with hampering relation with stakeholders.
Social exchange theory is based on the principle in which organisations tries to gain
more from the decisions made and thus they relate past experiences or similar cases so that
their decision is not attested as erroneous. In this theory, the interaction between people or
organisations involved demands results that could be substantial or elusive (Humphrey,
2017). Whatever the result may be, motivational affect is highly depended on it. For
example if a firm develops sound relation with customers, it will automatically get reflected
in company’s shares and thus crates a reason for motivation among employees. With
developed social exchange practices in firms the chance to develop public relation increases
while getting control over social media. Many researchers have also discussed pitfalls in this
theory as this theory emphasises more on social configuration rather than persons. The
assumptions made while deciding upon issues are merely made through past experiences
and while people perspectives are changeable, this theory demands additional theories
along with it so that sound decision is made (Mitchell, 2012). Social exchange theory can be
applied on United Airlines as it may enable the management to look into issues from
customer’s perspective and enable decision making after estimating consequences of it. The
managers of the company should have evaluated the implication of harsh treatment made
upon its customers and that it could affect the image of the company in front of general
public.
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RECOMMENDATIONS
The case study of removal of Dr David Dao from United Airline is certainly one of the most
disastrous PR error made by any company which also sets an example for the companies
who neglects PR practises in their organisations (Bannister, 2017). Public relation theory
applied in different situations shall be considered crucially by PR practitioners so that the
relation between company and public is not damaged. In the above report two major
theories, agenda setting theory and social exchange theory have been discussed that can be
applied in the situation of United Airlines. From the case study it can be seen that any issue
related to general public is taken as an interesting topic by people and they react to it
promptly. The spreading of news worldwide within few hours proves that United Airlines
requires inculcating agenda setting theory into its practices. Although the CEO apologised
for technical problems but only if he could make further apologies for injuries made could
have saved the company from getting discontentment among people (Phelps, 2017). The
immediate press conferencing and interviewing with the news channel in which the CEO
himself shows apology could have rectified the mistakes made by staff. Since the company’s
staff lacked moral ethics as they dragged Dr Dao brutally from aircraft aisle, the company
must make arrangements for PR training programmes for them in which all the employees
are taught about various PR models and theories so that such mistake is not made further.
The social exchange theory can also provide immense help to the managers and the CEO of
United Airlines. Under this theory the managers can take decisions after considering past
experiences (O'Rourke, 2017). While public relations are considered, it becomes duty of the
PR practitioners to maintain sound relations with people. PR theories as discussed in this
report could provide assistance to the mangers of the firm by enabling sound PR practices in
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United Airlines (Cornelissen, 2000). On concluding note it can be said that public relation
managers and CEO of companies shall always look into issues from different PR perspectives
and make decisions only after evaluating probable result of it so that the relation between
them and public is maintained in healthy manner.
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