Chi-Chi's Hepatitis A Crisis

Apologia is an imperative element to restore an organization s image in the event of a social legitimacy crisis. An organization facing such a crisis is not only affected by the crisis itself, but also by any external restrictions surrounding the organization. This work focuses on the Chi-Chi s Hepatitis A crisis and how its external restrictions of creditors and vendors impacted the apologia strategies used in image restoration attempts. The image restoration typology developed by Benoit (1995) was applied to this case. Results indicate that organizations facing such crises must (1) respond promptly; (2) not assume full responsibility if other parties are also responsible for the crisis; and (3) focus their apologia not only on image restoration, but also on maintaining their financial stability.

Autorentext

Lisa M. Sjoberg, MA, MLIS, CA, studied speech communication at North Dakota State University and archives and records management at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee. She is the College Archivist and a Librarian at Concordia College in Moorhead, Minnesota where she also serves as an adjunct instructor in the Communication Studies department.

Klappentext

Apologia is an imperative element to restore an organization's image in the event of a social legitimacy crisis. An organization facing such a crisis is not only affected by the crisis itself, but also by any external restrictions surrounding the organization. This work focuses on the Chi-Chi's Hepatitis A crisis and how its external restrictions of creditors and vendors impacted the apologia strategies used in image restoration attempts. The image restoration typology developed by Benoit (1995) was applied to this case. Results indicate that organizations facing such crises must (1) respond promptly; (2) not assume full responsibility if other parties are also responsible for the crisis; and (3) focus their apologia not only on image restoration, but also on maintaining their financial stability.