Description
Consider these Scenarios:
1 – An athlete is accused of taking performance-enhancing drugs. He and his team address the public with a strong message that the drugs, while prescribed by a qualified physician, could have affected the athlete’s performance. The athlete vows to stop taking the drugs and is given disciplinary action in the form of suspension for the rest of the season. Souvenir stands temporarily remove merchandise depicting the athlete, and fans discuss the action on social media, expressing their disappointment.
2 – A high-level representative of a college team is charged by the national league with continuously providing athletes with unauthorized benefits such as extravagant gifts, scholarships, and even parties with illegal or questionable activities such as underage drinking and prostitution. The individual fails to heed warnings and the college’s reputation is damaged, even to the point of discouraging non-athlete high school students from applying to the college for fear of being associated with it.
Both of these examples are incidents when an organization suffered damage to its reputation. Whether an incident stays an incident or emergency or turns into a crisis is somewhat dependent on the way the organization and the leaders within it handle the situation. Coombs (2007) outlines these typologies (i.e., types of repair strategies) that often are employed in these types of situations.
They include:
– attack the accuser
– denial
– scapegoat
– excuse
– justification
– reminder
– ingratiation
– compensation
– apology
These are only some of the types of typologies. Other experts have described the typologies of diminishment, rebuilding, and bolstering. These typologies may be used individually or together and to different degrees using different avenues of communication. They are not equally effective, and their success often depends on factors including audience, audience perceptions of the situation, and audience engagement with and reactions to the messages and typology.
Consider the examples of the PED-using athlete and the college representative accused of providing inappropriate benefits. What typologies might have been used effectively and ineffectively in these situations?
Post a description of a crisis situation in sport. Explain the characteristics of this situation that differentiate it from an incident. Then, explain which of Coomb’s (Brown & Billings, 2012) response typologies were used by the organization handling this crisis. (Hint: There might be more than one.) What happened as a result of these actions to address the crisis? What do you think would have happened if the public’s verdict had turned the other way, pro or con?
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