The Public Relations Issues Faced By Ardent Leisure: An Analysis

Overview of Ardent Leisure

Ardent Leisure is one of the most prestigious leisure companies operating around 100 assets all over Australia. Simon Kelly is the chief executive officer of Ardent Leisure having more than 30 years of experience in strategic, financial and generic management. The primary objective of this very specific brand is to create the platform of entertainment and relaxation so that people belonging to different geographical boundaries can break the monotony (Dozier, Grunig and Grunig 2013). Dreamworld was one of the biggest theme parks of Australia owned by Ardent Leisure. This particular theme part is included more than 50 rides. Among numerous attractions Dreamworld is the tallest and fastest rides in Australia. Large number of people belonging to different cultural backgrounds and attitudes likes to assemble for spending their leisure (Grunig 2013). Dreamworld is always considered as one of the biggest platform for human recreation.  Giant Drop, The Claw, Tower of Terror II, The Wipeout, Pandamonium, The Hot Wheels SideWinder, Tail Spin and Mick Doohan’s Motocoaster are the nine biggest thrill rides due to which this specific theme part has achieved immense recognition (dreamworld.com.au 2017).

In 2016 Dreamworld had faced a disastrous consequence in losing their brand image and reputation due to the accident happened with Thunder River Rapids Ride. Total four people are killed in this accident. After making effective investigation by the police of Queensland four victims were identified. Kate Goodchild, 32, her brother Luke Dorsett, his partner Roozi Araghi and a 42-year-old woman are identified as the real victim who had to loss their life due to this disastrous accident (Utz, Schultz and Glocka 2013). However, after the incident the chief executive officer of Ardent Leisure had to face innumerable challenges in maintaining organizational image and reputation. The business experts of this very specific organization have received innumerable complaints. It is alleged that Ardent CEO at that time, Deborah Thomas did not take effective initiative in communicating with the victims’ family members due to the lack of contact. The business executives did not properly communicate with the media as well in order to expose the actual situation (Ruck and Welch 2012). As a result, CEO of Ardent Leisure had to face innumerable difficulties in overcoming the ride disaster faced in last year.  This very specific study has focused to make an in-depth overview on how the organizational managers had to face immense public relation issue that leaves a major impact on in maintaining the image and reputation of this brand.    

Dreamworld and its Attractions

In Thunder River Rapids Ride disaster the organization like Ardent Leisure had to face innumerable public relation issues. The mother of two victims killed in the disaster of Thunder River Rapids Ride had showed their intense grief in front of various media tools that Ardent Leisure did not take effective initiative for showing a sympathetic attitude to the victims’ family (Rice and Atkin 2012). It has also been alleged that the CEO Deborah Thomas at that very specific time did not try to communicate with the victims’ family due to the lack of contact. This specific statement has become a major issue for the general public. With the advancement of technology and emergence of new media business organizations expand their widespread wings in multinational boundaries. Therefore, Ardent CEO by using different platform of media could have communicated with the victims’ family effectively (Purce 2014). However, this very specific study has focused to make an effective analysis about the issues that the brand has faced after Thunder River Rapids Ride disaster. The major public relation and corporate communication issues that Ardent Leisure has faced after Drewmworld incident has been highlighted below. 

• Lack of customers’ reliability for hiding the truthful information
• Lack of proper communication with media about the crisis
• Financial constraints
• Poor Appreciation of the Profession Among Public and Private Organizations’ Leaders
• Lack of publicity stunt due to poor usage of social media

Hahn and Kühnen (2013) stated that initially Ardent CEO has not exposed truthful information about Thunder River Rapids Ride disaster in front of public. Deborah has denied the negligence of their service providers. An effective investigation has been conducted by the inspector of Queensland. It has been exposed that service providers of Dreamworld did not give effective support and co-operation for this Thunder River Rapids Ride disaster. As a chief executive officer Deborah should spread the hands for supporting the victims’ family. Instead of co-operating the victims Ardent Leisure intended to hide the drawback of service providers along with the technological devices. After investing the entire situation it has been observed that the target customers have showed their intense level of dissatisfaction due to the ambiguity created amidst the general public. This particular issue leaves a major negative impact on the overall performance level of the organization as well as revenue growth. As per the point of view of Grunig and Hung-Baesecke (2015), Ardent CEO should communicate with the public either through media channels or though arranging events in order to give a clear justification about the current situation.

It is undeniable that Ardent Leisure has lack of proper communication with media about the crisis. After the incident of Thunder River Rapids Ride disaster, the CEO of Ardent has stated that organization failed to communicate with the victims’ family due to the lack of communication. This specific issue has been widely highlighted in the numerous media challenges. With the advancement of technology and social media practices it is very much easier to keep a track of the victims. Social media already expands its wings in the international market (Eccles, Ioannou and Serafeim 2012). Therefore, the lack of communication can occur within the service providers and service users only when the business experts are not very much accustomed with the advancement of technology. Due to the lack of digital media communication the business managers of Ardent Leisure fail to communicate with the service providers effectively. On the other hand, the target audience as well did not get an effective feedback from the organization. The reason of crisis and their valid reasons should be exposed in the social media so that the victims’ family can get a sympathetic approach. On the other hand, it is also undeniable that people belonging to different geographical markets can get an in-depth overview about the brands as well as their products with the help of social media (Berens et al. 2013). Therefore, Ardent Leisure should play an active role in social media networks for being popular among the international customers. Especially, after the incident of Thunder River Rapids Ride disaster this very specific organization has achieved negative impression on the mind of people. Therefore, lack of communication due to inefficiency in social media practices is highly criticized at that specific time.

The Thunder River Rapids Ride Disaster

After the incident of Thunder River Rapids Ride disaster Ardent Leisure has to face immense economic crisis due to the decrease in the revenue process. The size of the loss about the cost of its aggressive expansion strategy in the US have slashed more than 20 percent of the company’s market capital in the very past two days, its share price falling from $2.16 before the announcement to $1.65. However, the company has faced around $50 million loss in the last year. The range of target market volume at the same time has also been decreased. In this kind of situation, Ardent Leisure had to take the decision of shutting down Dreamworld. It is undeniable that Dreamworld is one of the biggest theme parks existing in the soil of Australia. In addition large number of people even from multinational countries intends to visit this park due to its thrill rides (Schmeltz 2012). After facing thunder river rapids ride disaster the customers showed their reluctant attitude in using the services of Dreamworld. Lack of communication with the public is one of the most effective reasons due to which the customers decided to show their indifferent outlook. The service providers could have invited the media personalities for spreading the message of crisis indirectly.

Poor Appreciation of the Profession among Public and Private Organizations’ Leaders has also become a significant issue due to which Ardent Leisure failed to maintain their business glory. Customers are from different geographical backgrounds and attitudes having various psychological backgrounds (Macnamara and Zerfass 2012). After facing thunder river rapids ride disaster the organization could have stood beside the victims (Thorson and Moore 2013). At the same time, the personnel could have maintained a proper communication with public through media vehicle. It is alleged that the organization like Ardent Leisure did not take an effective initiative for convincing the customers’ about their crisis. The business experts did not even utilize the popularity of media so that public can be convinced. Automatically, the organization has received poor appreciation from target customers. After conducting the entire investigation it has been alleged that due to the lack of proper maintenance Ardent Leisure had to face thunder river rapids ride disaster. In addition, the service providers after the occurrence of this incident did not show their intense co-operation to the victims’ family (Hahn and Lülfs 2014). In addition, the personnel intended to maintain a casual approach with the media personalities. After the publication of this particular news “Dreamworld tragedy lives on for mother of Kate Good child and Luke Dorsett”, the organization has focused immense challenges in maintaining their image, reputation as well as sustainability (Austin, Fisher Liu and Jin 2012). Due to the lack of social media usage Ardent Leisure failed to make a publicity stunt regarding thunder river rapids ride disaster. As a result, public in general has got the opportunity to interpret the news as their own way. Consequently, the organization has faced innumerable negative feedback from the customers. Automatically, Simon the current CEO of Ardent Leisure has faced difficulties in maintaining business sustainability after shutting down Dreamworld. This very specific study has focused to make an in-depth overview about various issues happened after thunder river rapids ride disaster.

Communication Issues Faced by Ardent Leisure

Based on the identified issues faced by the business experts of Ardent Leisure some of the major recommendations can be provided for overcoming the public relation issues:

• Increasing the rate of social media usage

Ardent Leisure should increase the range of using social media platforms for communicating with the people of different geographical boundaries. After this thunder river rapids ride disaster the business experts should have given detailed explanation to the target group so that they can maintain business sustainability. In addition, social media is very much helpful in receiving direct feedback from the customers as well. In this kind of situation, the business experts can get the scope in evaluating the point of view of customers as well. The incident of thunder river rapids ride disaster was not restricted within a particular geographical boundary (Golob et al. 2013). This incident has left major negative impact throughout the world. As a result, social media is the only platform with the help of which Simon can regain the image of their organization as well as social recognition.

• Communicating with the public through various media vehicles

Confrontation of public is one of the most significant steps that the business experts should have taken after the incident of thunder river rapids ride disaster (Pérez and Del Bosque 2012). It has been observed that Ardent CEO denied confronting with the public in general for avoiding unnecessary chaotic situation. On the other hand, public in general has shown their major negative feedback in using the brands as well as their services due to the lack of proper communication (Christensen and Cornelissen 2013). Therefore, it can be suggested to communicate with the public through various media vehicles in order to reduce the communication gap. An effective interaction with people in general can reduce the rate of misinterpreting news.

• Enhancing the technological enhancement

Ardent Leisure should enhance their use of technological advancement at the time of communicating people. It has already been stated that social media is one of the most effective communication tool based on which both the service providers and the service users can make direct interaction (Van Noort and Willemsen 2012). On the other hand, advanced technology is effective in resolving any kind of crisis within proper time. However, this very specific study has focused to evaluate the impact of effective corporate communication and public relation for drawing the attention of customers belonging to different geographical and psychological backgrounds.

The entire study has focused to make in-depth evaluation about the importance of business communication and public relation for making an effective rapport with the target customers. Different issues based on the research area have already been highlighted in this specific study. The next part has focused to make detailed analysis about the highlighted issues. In addition, the study provides in-depth recommendation on how to overcome the public relation issues faced by the business of Ardent Leisure due to thunder river rapids ride disaster. This very specific part would like to make an effective action plan based on which future studies can be improved.     

Economic Consequences and Decision to Shut Down Dreamworld

Activities	Implementation of plan	Duration
Identifying the problem statement	After making an overview on the executive summary the study has focused to evaluate the background of the company along with public relation issues. However, in future after identifying the research issue the study would like to discuss in detail about the research problem or significance.	45 minutes
Increasing the number of scholars while dealing with research issue	Throughout the entire study the researcher has used limited number of research scholars for making an in-depth critical evaluation. The study could have focused on analyzing the issue by involving large number of research scholars.	45 minutes
Using proper methodological tools for collecting appropriate data	In order to gather appropriate data and information the researcher intends to use methodological tools such as appropriate research philosophy, design, approach data collection technique and so many. These tools would help the researcher to accomplish the entire study more systematically.	45 minutes
Using appropriate data collection technique	The study in order to make an authentic interpretation could have focused in using appropriate data collection technique.	45 minutes

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