Effective Communication Analysis, Case Study Example

The whole concept of management of the communication between an organization and its publics is summarized by Wikipedia (2009) as public relations.  The main aim of public relation is to develop a platform for an organization’s exposure to the intended recipients or audience. It has an upper hand compared to advertising in matters concerning legality because it aims at creating a rapport between the organization and its publics. Johnson & Johnson had a trying time in the eighties when it was confronted with a public relations problem. The most amazing thing is that even after the management worked hard to protect the good name of the company, a few years down the line the same problem arose and the management had to face it head-on. It gained more respect because of how the management approached the whole situation.

The different publics that Johnson and Johnson is involved with are its customers, the management team, the government, current employees, prospective employees, suppliers, competitors, experts, shareholders and other stakeholders. These publics can further be divided into two in terms of internal and external publics. The internal publics consists of the parties that are directly connected to the business or those that need to know the inside dealings of the organization. Examples of these are; the current employees who are concerned on how the business is running because that is where they get their daily bread, the management team because they are involved totally in the normal running of the business and shareholders since they own the business. Experts are also part of the internal publics since they provide the organization with the expertise they may require especially in new market opportunities.

The external publics are those that see the company from a distance and are not directly related. Examples of these are; prospective employees who are eyeing a job position in the company, current employees’ families, the government which requires taxes and  sets polices and laws that are meant to regulate the running of the business, members of the local community, the competitors who are also in the same industry and are looking for ways to outdo Johnson and Johnson so that they can have a competitive advantage, trade associations and professional bodies, the suppliers since they provide raw materials for Johnson & Johnson, chambers of commerce, financial institutions, customers and prospective customers. The media publics are not exactly an external public as stated by First Prize Audiences (2008) because that they are viewed as a connection between the organization and the public. The organization uses them to convey messages to the intended publics.

When Johnson & Johnson decided to open its doors to the media so that it could communicate to the public about the Tylenol capsules saga, one of the things it did was to go ahead and announce the earlier information to have been false which embarrassed the company. The company then posted a reward for the killer(s) and did other things like recalling the extra-strength Tylenol capsules to reduce the negative picture already portrayed to the public. The survey was also a good way to assess the far the problem had gone and from the results, they could tell that they required new ideas to recover the image they had lost because even though most customers knew that the deaths were not the capsules’ fault, they still feared using the product. The management however decided to re launch in different packaging that really impressed the public. The same happened after four years and the management reacted boldly and was honest with the public such that they recovered from the problem faster than the previous time.

The overall effect on the public after the company’s communication was good because they put the safety of the customer first before profits of the company and this seemed to have developed a bit of confidence in the organization. The most important thing that the management of Johnson & Johnson did was to fully involve the media into the crisis and the cooperation they gave them.

There are different public relation tools and techniques that aid in communication. Johnson & Johnson used the media, paper surveys, phone surveys, and letters to the trade. The media is actually the main tool that was used to inform, influence and motivate the public. It was used in its different forms namely; broadcast, print and electronic. An illustration of this would be where the manager appeared on television shows and newspaper interviews in the process of re launching the extra strength Tylenol in a new triple-safety-sealed, tamper-resistant package. They later used video news in other areas that were meant to continue publicizing about the extra-strength Tylenol in the other areas where the information had not reached.

Other tools like statements to the media and letters came in handy when Johnson & Johnson wanted inform the public about the new strategy of exchanging capsules for tablets hoping to make things go back to normal. There was also paper/phone surveys were later used in the research about the effect Tylenol poisoning to individual customers. This report however showed that a good percentage of the users of the drug had no accusation against Johnson & Johnson. However, a certain percentage was reported to have said that their chances of buying the product again were minimal.

There are several benefits and risks that are linked to the communication tools and techniques stated above. The advantages of using media as a communication tool is because the public gets the message from the horse’s mouth especially if the form used is broadcast. This way, the information will not be distorted by the time it gets to the intended recipient. A disadvantage would arise while using print media. This would happen where the information written in the newspapers or magazines is false. Printed media is bound to be more long-lasting than just broadcast because the reader can always have a term of reference. This therefore means that a false bad name is bound to stick more in people’s minds that just a broadcast. Surveys are very effective in public relations because they are personal opinions of the public and they can be the most accurate sometimes. The only problem would be that they are sometimes tedious for the customer to fill in.

Apart from the communication tools and techniques listed above, there are others that the company would consider in future and they include; societal relations that are concerned with activities that help in better interactions with the community for example volunteer programs by employees and community participation, audience from the community that brings about civic groups and other groups that are defined demographically and application of tools that carefully consider community expectations.

If the crisis occurred today after the dynamic advances in technology, the major effect would be the ability to communicate to the public promptly about this issue. Johnson & Johnson would develop a website so that they can always update information relating to the organization. This would even create a forum in the website where the users can exchange views and enquire on different issues. Internet would therefore make issues to be clearer for the publics and help in greater innovations.

With the current globalization of markets, the outcome of this case would be different if it occurred today because it would take longer Johnson & Johnson’s business to go back to normal and still have most of its customers. This would be difficult because there has been an increase in businesses over time and customers can easily change from a company to another. It would therefore be more complicated if the crisis occurred today.

References

First Prize Audiences (April 25, 2008). Continuing to Develop a Public Relations Plan. Retrieved on October 22, 2009 from http://nku.edu/../first_pr3.htm

Wikipedia (2009). Public Relations. Retrieved on October 22, 2009 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_relations