Essay Undergraduate 654 words

Customer Service, Social Media, and Avoiding Double Crisis

~4 min read 4 sections Business · Customer Satisfaction

Abstract

This paper examines the relationship between organizational customer service culture and the risk of a "double crisis" in the age of social media. Drawing on Coombs (2015) and Lamb (2009), the paper argues that organizations too focused on profit rather than people create conditions for customer service failures that, when exposed via social media, can rapidly escalate beyond the organization's control. Using the United Airlines passenger removal incident as a case example, the paper contends that genuine goodwill, respect, and people-centered organizational culture are the most effective defenses against both initial crises and their social media amplification.

Key Takeaways

Introduction: People Before Profits: Goodwill and respect as foundation of customer relations
Social Media and the Spread of Customer Crises: Social media amplifies customer service failures instantly
The Double Crisis and Loss of Narrative Control: Cover-ups trigger uncontrollable public relations crises
Preventing Crisis Through Organizational Culture: People-centered culture prevents crises from escalating

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What makes this paper effective

The paper opens with a clear, value-driven thesis — that placing people before profits is the foundation of good customer relations — and sustains this argument consistently throughout.
It grounds abstract claims in a concrete, recognizable real-world example (the United Airlines overboooking incident), making the argument immediately accessible and credible.
The paper uses the concept of the "double crisis" precisely and traces a logical causal chain: dehumanized consumer relationships → customer service failure → social media escalation → organizational reputational damage.

Key academic technique demonstrated

The paper integrates two authoritative sources — Coombs (2015) on crisis communication and Lamb (2009) on marketing — to support distinct but complementary points. This shows how a short argumentative essay can use a small reference set efficiently by deploying each source at the most strategically relevant moment rather than front-loading all citations.

Structure breakdown

The paper moves in four logical steps: (1) establishing the foundational principle of people-centered customer relations; (2) illustrating how social media amplifies failures of that principle; (3) analyzing the specific mechanism of the double crisis; and (4) prescribing a preventive organizational culture solution. Each paragraph advances the argument one step further, giving the paper a tight, progressive structure despite its brevity.

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Essay 654 words

Introduction: People Before Profits

Organizations often fail to realize that putting people before profits is the true heart of developing good customer relations. When a consumer feels that he or she is more than just a source of revenue — that the organization genuinely values and appreciates them as a person — the customer is more likely to respond in kind with appreciation, gratitude, respect, and helpfulness. When this feeling of goodwill is absent, tension builds between organizations and their customers. A company may believe it is attending to customer needs while still failing to incorporate those basic human feelings of goodwill into its strategy, thereby neglecting a fundamental aspect of the buyer-seller relationship: respect and appreciation.

Corporate social responsibility programs exist in most organizations today to help establish that sense of goodwill, respect, and appreciation. However, in times of crisis, it can be difficult for organizations to get a handle on the narrative before it escalates into a double crisis via social media (Coombs, 2015).

Social Media and the Spread of Customer Crises

With social media, news of incidents can spread instantly around the globe, and organizations can feel the full weight of public anger before they even realize a customer service or satisfaction problem exists. The recent case of United Airlines forcibly removing a passenger from a plane — because it had overbooked and the customer refused to voluntarily give up his seat — is a perfect example of this phenomenon. The firm was within its legal rights to remove a passenger of its selection, but the manner in which this was carried out was offensive to the public, and social media ensured that United Airlines felt the consequences swiftly and severely. By understanding customer needs, treating consumers as people, and working with them to resolve problems, organizations can better serve and maintain their consumer base (Lamb, 2009).

2 Sections Hidden · 275 words

The Double Crisis and Loss of Narrative Control120 words

Factors that could create a double crisis are those that stem from a customer service issue, which the organization then attempts to cover up before the public at large gets wind of the problem and it turns into a full-blown public relations incident. Admittedly, this is much harder to do today, because nearly everyone…

Preventing Crisis Through Organizational Culture155 words

To address the issue of the double crisis, organizations must work to prevent the first crisis from happening in the first place. This means safeguarding themselves internally by adopting policies and procedures that…

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References

Coombs, T. (2015). Ongoing Crisis Communication (4th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.

Lamb, C. (2009). Essentials of Marketing. UK: Cengage.

Key Concepts in This Paper

Double Crisis Social Media Customer Relations Narrative Control Organizational Culture Corporate Social Responsibility Crisis Communication Consumer Goodwill Profit vs. People Public Relations