Preparation
To prepare for this assessment, refer to the airline you selected in Assessment 1 (of which you became president in the scenario described in Assessment 2). Consider the following scenario:
You have just been informed that the captain of one of your aircraft became unconscious as the airplane was about to land; the copilot took over and landed the craft safely. Upon landing, the aircraft was met by an ambulance, and the unconscious captain was taken to the hospital. Within an hour you learn that the captain suffered a heart attack and is in critical condition.
The passengers did not know of the captain’s collapse or that anything was amiss at the time. Fortunately, everyone is safe. The station manager who reported the situation to you believes that the passengers all left the airport terminal without talking to the press, but he is not certain that is the case. He is now asking how to handle the situation, suspecting that passengers may talk to the press soon.
You know that a report must be made to the FAA within 24 hours and that this information will become public, even if it is not already. The concern is how this situation will impact public opinion toward your airline. You wonder: Will people be afraid that you have an aging workforce and that they are not safe? Will potential customers think that this problem could reflect on your airline in other ways, putting maintenance and overall safety into question? In short, will this situation have a negative effect on sales and thus profitability?
You, the president, must decide how to handle this situation. Consider and research the possible reactions based on public communication. This incident is likely to receive commentary in the public press, and with that, passengers or others may choose to comment. While it is not known at the current time if the public is aware of the situation, it will be necessary to proactively determine an approach.
You might choose, for example, not to comment at all, and hope that the situation is never revealed. Or, you might prepare a fast press release for immediate release, stating that the captain was taken to the hospital but that the plane landed safely, offering no other details. On the other hand, you might prepare a full press release with all details of the incident. Or, you might send the CEO on a quick business trip so that you can claim that no comment is available until the CEO returns, in hopes that the situation will calm down on its own. You might even try to put a positive spin on all of this and create a press release that focuses on the heroic efforts of the first officer who landed the plane.
Think carefully about the impact of any selected action on the company, the industry, and of course, the individuals involved. Also, think about any repercussions that may or may not result from the disclosure or communication approach that is selected.
Directions
After preparing for this assessment, do the following:
- Write a 3–5 page paper:
- Summarize the public relations situation described in this assessment.
- You are free to embellish details, but keep it realistic.
- Describe and analyze the implications that using different approaches to address the situation may have on business decision making.
- Consider which elements need to be considered as you look at this situation.
- Provide your course of action and detail why you chose that action, what you hope it will gain for your airline, and what might go wrong if you made the wrong choice.
- Analyze the results of your decisions on the business.
- Write a press release that supports your decided action.
Additional Requirements
- Written communication: Written communication is free of errors that detract from the overall message.
- APA formatting:Resources and citations are formatted according to APA (6th ed.) style and formatting.
- Number of resources:Include a minimum of three resources.
- Length of paper: 3–5 typed, double-spaced pages.
- Font and font size: Times New Roman,
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