From a crisis communications perspective, Toyota must admit it failed in one of the areas they are known for having pioneered in manufacturing, which is supply chain management and quality management. To do this, Toyota must first admits they are entirely at fault, this shows they are taking accountability very seriously for the massive quality management breakdown that led to the accelerator pedals not working properly. This is a foundational element of successful crisis communications is to take complete accountability for errors and seek to avert them in the future by relying on new, higher levels of transparency with customers and stakeholders as a result (Dolphin, 295, 296).
Third, Toyota had failed to show empathy for the families who lost loved ones due to this massive breakdown in their quality management system. Widely discussed and debated in the media at the time of the recalls and today, Toyota's failures in quality management and engineering led to people dying, and yet in their first letter they do nothing to acknowledge that. In the second letter, in keeping with the concepts of service recovery as an essential part of an ethical foundation of trust with customers (Gross, 919) and showing strong empathy for their memory, a $1M scholarship is immediately created. The Toyota For Life Foundation is specifically designed to honor the memories of the customers and their lived ones killed due to the company's negligence. To further show empathy, all surviving children of parents killed as a result of the accelerator pedal problem also get scholarships to their colleges or universities of their choice. This shows that Toyota understands how pivotal a role parents play in children's educational development. By showing this level of commitment to the victims of the accidents caused by the accelerator pedal, Toyota takes the focus away from the unempathetic, cold first letter and shows they entirely understand the depth of loss incurred is beyond any monetary figure. Taking the step of providing free educations for the...
A reactive one (Garcia, 43).
Stakeholder Analysis
From a stakeholder analysis perspective, Toyota must also seek to take this foundational ethical and crisis communication values, and infuse them into every relationship they have within and outside the company as well. Often when crises occur, the trust in a company will suffer significant, often the worst internally where morale will often fall and the best employees leave (Smith, 17, 18). The most critical stakeholders for Toyota include their customers, employees, global society and local communities, shareholders and business partners. Each of these stakeholders has the potential to influence a positive outcome from the accelerator pedal problem. For Toyota senior management the focus needs to be on defining a very clear, unified message of regaining and keeping customer trust by continually engaging in open, transparent communications with them (Garcia, 44). Toyota's senior management team must concentrate on each of these stakeholder groups and create unique strategies for each. The full recovery from this crisis can only be attained if each of the stakeholder strategies are also unified to a common foundation of accountability, transparency and high levels of ethicacy as well. In conclusion, Toyota must take these events and redefine who they are to keep earning customer trust back (Gross, 919).
Works Cited
Dolphin, Richard R. "Crisis Communications Today's Strategic Imperative." International Journal of Management Practice 1.3 (2005): 294-308.
Garcia, Helio Fred. "Leadership Communications: Planning for the Desired Reaction." Strategy & Leadership 40.6 (2012): 42-5.
Gross, Larry. "Fastening our Seatbelts: Turning Crisis into Opportunity." Journal of Communication 62.6 (2012): 919.
Smith, R.S. "How to Plan for Crisis Communications." The Public relations journal 35.3 (1979):…
