United Airlines

United Airlines

United Airlines have faced ethical and moral issues in the recent past. A passenger was forcefully dragged out by security officers on an overbooked flight. It is perfectly normal for a flight to be overbooked; however,consumers were irritated on how the company handled the situation despite the consumer had refused to surrender the seat honorably.

The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) issued an apology and statement about the issue. However, according to customers’ perception, the statement was not convincing enough and seemed to provide support to the security officers. The CEO statement indicated he had no regrets for the situations that happened.  The customers expected that the corporate practice; consumers should be the first priority.

The outcome of the scandal was many of the customers canceled their flight, reduction of Airline Loyalty Cards, and others preferred to book another airline. Currently, consumers still complain about the business ethics of the firm, and they avoid United Airlines.

Based on the knowledge of Public Relations and previous discussions, the CEO mishandled the situation, and it had a damaging effect on the reputation of the company. The incident was trending in the social media about the scandal. The CEO could have made an immediate apology to the public and not lean towards supporting his employees that they had done an excellent job. However, the CEO issued a second statement that was more convincing to the public; however, the damage had already been done. The PR team is still struggling to build good public relations with its customers.

Question 3

Culture can be defined as shared beliefs, experiences, values, and history for a given society. Culture is passed from one generation to another.  The internet provides knowledge of something of interest. A person searches over the internet to obtain the desired results. The PR practitioner can use the internet as an educational tool to be more culturally literate in several ways.  The PR practitioner can learn about a particular culture over the internet. He/she will use the results to develop a better idea of advocating the organization’s public relations. Failure to understand the likes or dislikes of a given may impact positively or adversely, respectively, concerning the public relations of the organizations.  The PR practitioner, once he/she has fully understood the culture of a specific society, will be in a better position to communicate effectively about the organization.

Question 1

Culture can affect the opinion of gender, public, race, religion, and ethnicity in several ways.  People of the same gender will have similar opinions; for example, the male will support a polygamous family while a female will be against it.  The opinion of the public depends on the culture they belong to; for example, public opinion may be against corruption by its government because it is morally wrong. People from the world belong to different races, such as blacks and whites. The race will influence culture and opinion. For instance, in the US, blacks were considered lesser human beings by whites shortly after it gained its independence. The leader of religions influences the opinions of their followers; for instance, the Catholic stand is against male marriages, and all the followers believe it is ungodly. Ethnicity indicates different nationalities and backgrounds for a group of people.  Individuals have opinions which are usually influenced by their nationalities.  For example, most people of the US view Islamic countries as a source of a terrorist attack.

Question 3

Qualitative research provides detailed information usually based on personal opinions, while quantitative data is based on analyzing numerical information. The results of qualitative data can be analyzed statistically, whereas quantitative data can be analyzed statistically. Both methods have advantages and weaknesses. Integrating quantitative and qualitative research provides an overall view of the data. Combining both types of research enables the researcher to compare and contrast results and obtain a more in-depth knowledge of the data. Therefore, a researcher must use both qualitative and quantitative research in their data analysis.