Is Boeing really doing as bad as everyone thinks?

Margarita and also some other authors have previously written a blog about Boeings crisis communication attempts after the 737 MAX incidents. In order to get familiar with the scene I advise you to take a look at M‘spost.

Lessons learnt

The basic lessons that we have learnt are that Boeing should have been more active, faster, and less defensive in their response strategies. In todays world the internet and specifically social media make it possible for stakeholders to interact. The communication efforts on Twitter are therefore also rather poorly performed by Boeings PR team. The only responses that they gave on Twitter after the incidents occurred were the official press releases, while at the same time social media lit up with hashtags. The most popular hashtag is probably #737MAX8 in which people continuously engage with the topic. Another issue with the press releases was for some people that they were quite technical. This, however, makes me think about what did Boeing do that was useful for rebuilding their reputation? 

Efforts from management

In a WallstreetJournal the CEO of Boeing Dennis Muilenburg was quoted saying: “We’ll do everything possible to earn and re-earn that trust and confidence from our airline customers.” Afterall, this is what Boeing still needs to do. These incidents will not stop Boeing from making airplanes. Therefore, they simply have to recover from this crisis by for example changing some things such as attitudes and structures. There are several academic articles that tackle reputation management and some lessons can be drawn from these. 

Academia

For instance, Bachman et al. in their article “Repairing trust in organizations and institutions: Toward a conceptual framework.” argue that trust is fundamental in facilitating social exchange. Clearly, Boeing has some issues with trust nowadays as some customers are furious about their communication efforts. The literature suggests that trust can be restored with a process of sense-making. According to Weick sense-making is a collective learning process that “involves turning circumstances into a situation that is comprehended explicitly in words and that serves as a springboard into action” (Bachmann et al. 2015). Put differently, the process of sense-making serves as an explanation of what went wrong as well as a direction toward what has to be reformed and changed in the future. Another useful tip for restoring trust is through regulation and formal control. This idea is also borrowed from Bachman et al. where they suggest the imposition of regulation and control mechanisms on relevant actors. 

The real world and Boeings attempt to restore trust

Ever since the incident occurred the number one priority for Boeing was to fix the technical error that led to the crashes. This is a costly endeavour but for a company of that size high costs can be absorbed. Boeing continuously mentioned that the safety is the number one priority. The initial actions for sharpening the focus on safety are nicely illustrated on their website. The official statement was released roughly a week ago and in my opinion it definitely is a step into the right direction. The following graphic gives an idea of the main ideas.

The stock market

source: https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-d&q=stock+market+boeing

Interestingly, when looking at the stock market Boeing has not hit a major crisis at all due to the incidents in October 2018 and March 2019. As a matter of fact, the lowest point of the stock came on August 14, which had nothing to do with the MAX crisis. This day is in general seen as a bad day at the stock market with the Dow Jones also hitting an all time low. Afterwards, the Boeing stock continued to grow again. 

Federal Aviation Administration as the saviour?

The Federal Aviation Administration is a governmental body that powers and regulates all aspects of civil aviation including the launch or re-entry of commercial space vehicles. This means that when the grounding is lifted it will only occur if it is also safe. This is one of the main reasons why stakeholders should still be trusting Boeing and their efforts for safety requirements. As Dominic Gates, journalist from The Seattle Times, put it in an interview with 60minutes Australia: “I would still fly with Boeing when the grounding is lifted.” 

Concluding remarks

Considering all these aspects, I think it is safe to assume that Boeing will recover from their crisis. They were in the news a lot for their poor strategic communication efforts, but recently as shown in this blog they make the right efforts to move forward. 

Information about the author:

The author is a Corporate Communication student at the University of Amsterdam. After successfully finishing his Bachelor of Arts at the University of Leiden a keen interest in communication and specifically Public Relations has developed. In this blog several of his viewpoints on different PR topics will be displayed

Read more

Bachmann, R., Gillespie, N., Priem, R., Gillespie, N., Bachmann, R., & Priem, R. (2015). Repairing Trust in Organizations and Institutions: Toward a Conceptual Framework. Organization Studies, 36(9), 1123–1142.

Coombs, W. T. (2007). Protecting organization reputations during a crisis: The development and application of situational crisis communication theory. Corporate Reputation Review, 10(3), 163–176.

Weick, K. E. (1995). Sensemaking in organizations (Vol. 3). Sage.