How Essendon Supplements Crisis Could Have Been Managed Better Through Media Strategy

Overview of Essendon Supplements crisis

According to the initial press conference held by the CEO of Essendon Ian Robson, James Hird and David Evans, it was stated that Essendon will be investigated by the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority and AFL (Youtube.com 2013). According to the cyclical development model of crisis management, several phases have been identified as peak points of the crisis. The origin phase is considered as February 5, 2013 in which Essendon self-reported the potential crisis where AFL and ASADA announced investigation (Theage.com.au 2013). In this stage, Evans stated that the officials gathered information about the usage of illegal substances by the players and that they were looking into the matter.

Since the crisis was announced on February 5, 2013, the case has reached multiple developments without complete disclosure (Heraldsun.com.au 2015). When the three officials faced the media at IFL House, Evans, Hird and Robson revealed that they approached the league for the issue. They made a confirmation in the conference that the club shall undergo investigation regarding supplements. The Bombers did not provide details about the players or nature of supplements that were consumed (Abc.net.au 2016).

According to the information received by Evans, Essendon had received information about supplements that were given as a part of the fitness program. Essendon self-reported AFL and ASADA about the potential use of supplements among the players. Self-reporting is a strategy to portray cooperation in the investigation process. The self-reporting strategy reaped several benefits. When the officials sensed something was going wrong in the club, Essendon could initiate by taking corrective actions and extending cooperation. Corrective action is a process in which unacceptable behaviour can be improved using methods leading to effective performance. Further, the self-reporting method of crisis communication could have proven beneficial for the club as the political or government regulators were more likely to respond in favour when they charge with decisions (Youtube.com 2013).

However, self-reporting strategy has certain demerits. Evans has used ‘defeasibility’ or evading responsibility where he expresses lack of knowledge about the case. Evans approached the media while he had only partial information about the case. There is a chance that the self-reporting strategy is applied for not holding responsibility but avoiding the severe penalties when the other regulatory bodies find out the same. Therefore, application of self-reporting strategy before having adequate information hampered the reputation and caused negative publicity of the club. As stated by the officials that they moved quickly to seek a clean bill of health (Sellnow et al. 2014). Also, the crisis response could be the application of denial strategy in which the blame could have been shifted on the people who supported the use of supplements or provided the players with supplements. The officials could have gathered more information and held a meeting to avoid the unnecessary discussion with the media. The officials could have responded to the media in a better way where the people would know the exact causes or the direction of issue. With incomplete information, there was greater negativity against the club among the stakeholders regardless of their role in the case.

Initial crisis response

If Evans could get more information on the case before he approached the media, a lot of discussion could be avoided. They may have used bolstering and corrective action approach in which Evans could have suggested the ways or actions that could have been taken to fix the issue. Bolstering is an approach in which an individual strengthens or improves the reputation. The officials could have gained sympathy and confidence of the audience rather than generating negative publicity. Further, to make the self-reporting effective, the officials could gave sated the reporting tools as developed by them for controlling self-assessment process. The officials must have provided accurate data about the reasons and that led them to conduct a self-reporting in press conference (Youtube.com 2014).

Paul Little, Chairman of Bombers responded to the crisis situation in press conference. According to the findings of the Essendon press conference, Little stated that the club shall fight to protect the livelihood and reputation of the players. Little vowed to fight legal claims and argued that the allegations made were unlawful (Youtube.com 2014). Evidently, he used denial approach where he supported the players by making strong claims and words. Additionally, he attacked the accusers- AFL and ASADA while protecting the interest of the club. There were questions raised in the press conference about why it took so much time to raise this legal challenge. He answered that when the investigation started 16 months ago, he believed that ASADA would act in control (Coombs 2015). However, when the process of investigation was going on, the allegations were not forthcoming. Little further stated that none of the players of AFL would cut a deal with ASADA. The club was reluctant to the charges and was very aggressive in its approach accusing AFL and ASADA (Youtube.com 2014).

The approach adopted by Little has benefits as well as drawbacks. While communicating with media in the press conference, the strong statements such as fighting legal battles in favour of the players depicts high confidence level. Also, the statements made in the press conference such as increasing chorus of people such as recognized legal experts make it more believable that it was wrong to accuse the players of having supplements (Youtube.com 2014). This crisis communication strategy portrays that it was not right on the part of the officials to accuse the players of consuming supplements as it causes high reputational damage (Heraldsun.com.au 2013).

The strategy adopted by Little had certain drawbacks. Paul stated that unlawful investigative procedures were adopted. He protested in a strong way stating that the club was not ready to be bullied. This can be classified as a ‘diminish response’ strategy, where the organisation attempts to lessen the damage effects of the crisis (Houston et al. 2014). In the diminish response strategy, the crisis is not as bad as it seems or that the organization had nothing to do with the situation. The organisation has provided an excuse by denying intent to do harm to their players, and attempt to justify it by issuing a statement that includes reasons as to how the organisation acted to ensure player welfare (van der Meer and Verhoeven 2014). It is further recommended that Little could have used the mortification and corrective approach in which the language and tone of his speech could have helped repair the reputation of the club. The damaged reputation could be repaired using the mortification approach that had been lost after the press conference held on February 5, 2013. As seen in Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks case, the claims made were similar. However, with appropriate management and good choice of words in speech, the reputation was not affected severely. Also, assertive statements could be made by Little where it rapidly responded to media outlets rather than bashing out a 16-months old ongoing investigation at once (Coombs 2015). It is further recommended that Little should have spoken more cautiously as aggressive tone and argument leads to worsening of image. An assertive and calm tone is better while being transparent in communication skills (Heraldsun.com.au 2013).

References

Abc.net.au, 2016. Essendon doping investigation: timeline. [online] Abc.net.au. Available at: <https://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-03-08/essendon-doping-saga:-timeline/4708474> [Accessed 27 Mar. 2017].

Coombs, W., 2015. Ongoing crisis communication. 1st ed. Los Angeles: Sage.

Coombs, W., 2015. The value of communication during a crisis: Insights from strategic communication research. Business Horizons, 58(2), pp.141-148.

Heraldsun.com.au, 2013. Little’s statement on Hird fallout. [online] Heraldsun.com.au. Available at: <https://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/essendon-chairman-paul-littles-statement-following-his-press-conference-on-james-hird/news-story/e8787bc8605d5ef5b29de3255299a23a> [Accessed 27 Mar. 2017].

Heraldsun.com.au, 2015. Essendon saga: Two years of drama. [online] Heraldsun.com.au. Available at: <https://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/timeline-of-events-in-the-essendon-supplements-saga/news-story/9a30bf8c45b8747e35598cdd820c9c44> [Accessed 27 Mar. 2017].

Houston, J., Hawthorne, J., Perreault, M., Park, E., Goldstein Hode, M., Halliwell, M., Turner McGowen, S., Davis, R., Vaid, S., McElderry, J. and Griffith, S., 2014. Social media and disasters: a functional framework for social media use in disaster planning, response, and research. Disasters, 39(1), pp.1-22.

Sellnow, D., Lane, D., Littlefield, R., Sellnow, T., Wilson, B., Beauchamp, K. and Venette, S., 2014. A Receiver-Based Approach to Effective Instructional Crisis Communication. Journal of Contingencies and Crisis Management, 23(3), pp.149-158.

Theage.com.au, 2013. Bombers to be investigated over supplements. [online] The Age. Available at: <https://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/bombers-to-be-investigated-over-supplements-20130205-2dvya.html> [Accessed 27 Mar. 2017].

van der Meer, T. and Verhoeven, J., 2014. Emotional crisis communication. Public Relations Review, 40(3), pp.526-536.

Youtube.com, 2013. Bombers announce ASADA and AFL investigation. [online] YouTube. Available at: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yeaSVC7R5s8&t=28s> [Accessed 27 Mar. 2017].

Youtube.com, 2014. BTV: Paul Little media conference – June 13, 2014. [online] YouTube. Available at: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01ON1GR4YnM> [Accessed 27 Mar. 2017].