On August 9th, the Netherlands was shocked by the news that gymnast Yuri van Gelder was sent home in disgrace on his first Olympics, after ignoring team orders, drinking and going out. The Dutch sport federation NOS*NSF came with a very general press release. In the days after the media, Dutch supporters and athletes were speculating about the issue. Chef de mission Maurits Hendricks was held responsible. How did the NOS*NSF handle the situation? Coombs (2007) offers a framework for how crisis communication can be used to protect reputational assets during a crisis.
Frames
In my opinion the NOC*NSF made a critical mistake by keeping the press release vague, because it made room for speculation and critique. During a crisis early and clear communication is crucial because the way the media frames can have a big impact on understanding and solving the problem as well as shaping the public opinion (Knight, 1999). It looked like the NOC*NSF told the public what it wanted to hear and withholding certain facts. The frame the NOC*NSF used was that they had no option but to send van Gelder home. The statement said: ‘Our athletes have to set an example and this behavior did not’. The frame that the media and public used was that athletes are not given a contract stating that they may not drink, that it was his own choice and you can’t just send someone home. This is a good example of when the relationship between news frames and audience frames are based on a collective process (Vliegenhart & Zoonen,2015). Frames are affected by social and cultural contexts and are given meaning to in the process between individuals, groups and the media. Dutch supporters give meaning to the frame by blaming NOC*NSF for being hypocritical. The country where Heineken, is the main sponsor of the team and with a winners booth that is called ‘Holland Heineken House’.
In my opinion the NOC*NSF made a critical mistake by keeping the press release vague, because it made room for speculation and critique. During a crisis early and clear communication is crucial because the way the media frames can have a big impact on understanding and solving the problem as well as shaping the public opinion (Knight, 1999). It looked like the NOC*NSF told the public what it wanted to hear and withholding certain facts. The frame the NOC*NSF used was that they had no option but to send van Gelder home. The statement said: ‘Our athletes have to set an example and this behavior did not’. The frame that the media and public used was that athletes are not given a contract stating that they may not drink, that it was his own choice and you can’t just send someone home. This is a good example of when the relationship between news frames and audience frames are based on a collective process (Vliegenhart & Zoonen,2015). Frames are affected by social and cultural contexts and are given meaning to in the process between individuals, groups and the media. Dutch supporters give meaning to the frame by blaming NOC*NSF for being hypocritical. The country where Heineken, is the main sponsor of the team and with a winners booth that is called ‘Holland Heineken House’.
The crisis type or frame determines how much stakeholders attribute
responsibility for the crisis to the organization. By identifying the crisis
type, the crisis manager can anticipate how much crisis responsibility
stakeholders will attribute to the organization at the onset of the crisis
thereby establishing the initial crisis responsibility level (Coombs, 2007).
Hendricks could in advance expect that media and public would be critical about
sending van Gelder home. Responsibility was given to Hendricks and this
generated stronger feeling of anger and reduced feeling of sympathy for the
organization. According to Coombs (2007) these negative emotions can cause
stakeholders to lash out at an organization (engage in negative word of mouth).
This happened and social media exploded over the van Gelder issue.
Response strategy
Words and actions taken by management affect how people perceive the organization and the crisis. In turn, those perceptions shape evaluations of the organizational reputation as well as stakeholder’s emotional response towards and future interaction with the organization (Coombs, 2007). Firstly, NOC*NSF leaves the press release vague as hell. The response strategy they should have used is justification, by which the perceived damage caused by the crisis is minimized. But in the end, can you put a positive spin into sending an Olympic athlete home? When you express concern for the victims (adjusting information), in this case van Gelder, and reinforce this compassion through a full apology it serves to blunt feelings of anger (Coombs & Holladay, 2005). But they did not, thereby different frames occurred and people rejected the NOC*NSF frame and continued using a different frame. Strangely, a couple days after Hendricks applied a different strategy, saying in a interview that he should have managed the situation better. Excuse me? Never change your strategy under pressure from the public, cause then you will lose all your credibility Hendricks. But in end, like we see here, they are sport people who are not trained to do PR.
Words and actions taken by management affect how people perceive the organization and the crisis. In turn, those perceptions shape evaluations of the organizational reputation as well as stakeholder’s emotional response towards and future interaction with the organization (Coombs, 2007). Firstly, NOC*NSF leaves the press release vague as hell. The response strategy they should have used is justification, by which the perceived damage caused by the crisis is minimized. But in the end, can you put a positive spin into sending an Olympic athlete home? When you express concern for the victims (adjusting information), in this case van Gelder, and reinforce this compassion through a full apology it serves to blunt feelings of anger (Coombs & Holladay, 2005). But they did not, thereby different frames occurred and people rejected the NOC*NSF frame and continued using a different frame. Strangely, a couple days after Hendricks applied a different strategy, saying in a interview that he should have managed the situation better. Excuse me? Never change your strategy under pressure from the public, cause then you will lose all your credibility Hendricks. But in end, like we see here, they are sport people who are not trained to do PR.
About the author: Sophie Staartjes enjoys sports, going out, travelling, and good food. Being a BSc in Social Sciences. She is currently a Master student Corporate Communication at the University of Amsterdam.
No comments:
Post a Comment