The good organization speaking well: a paradigm case for religious institutional crisis management

Courtright, Jeffrey L.; Hearit, Keith Michael

doi:10.1016/s0363-8111(02)00166-2

Cited by 19 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 21 publications

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“…It does not limit the offer of help or reparation but instead leaves it open-ended. This echoes the notion of proportional humiliation described by Courtright and Hearit (2002) wherein a rhetor "is forced to 'suffer' in a similar way ... a repayment of debt" to "deal with the consequences of its guilt" often through offer of compensation (p. 355). Though the organization's suffering is not the same in kind, and this is acknowledged directly by saying there is "nothing we can say to alleviate all of the pain," the endlessness of their offer of support can be seen as proportional to the endlessness of the pain felt by the victims' families.…”

Section: Charity: Acts Of Reconciliationmentioning

confidence: 64%

Methodist Hospital’s Rhetoric of Atonement: Examining an Organization’s Response to NICU Overdoses

Jones-Bodie

2020

Communication Studies

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On a Saturday evening in September, 2006, six infants in the Newborn Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at an Indiana hospital were given incorrect doses of medication that ultimately ended with the death of three of the infants. How can an organization respond in this type of extreme situation, when the wrongful act unintentionally results in the worst outcome? This study examines the hospital's response in addition to public discussion in the days immediately following the incident. Methodist Hospital's response can best be understood through the framework of the rhetoric of atonement, one seeking forgiveness for the wrongful act and a repair of the relationship, and its tenets as a grounding theoretical lens: repentance, prayer, charity, authenticity, and public forum. The findings support the use of atonement even in an extreme situation and provide evidence of the mirroring of atonement in media narratives.

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Section: Charity: Acts Of Reconciliationmentioning

confidence: 64%

Methodist Hospital’s Rhetoric of Atonement: Examining an Organization’s Response to NICU Overdoses

Jones-Bodie

2020

Communication Studies

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“…According to Hearit (2006: 166), institutional apologiae ‘emanate from governments, religious groups, or educational organizations’. Furthermore, ‘an institutional apologia is a secular remediation ritual that places the institution’s name and reputation on the public record as acknowledgement and accounting of the wrongdoing’ (Courtright and Hearit, 2002: 356). Apologetic discourse of institutions in the data was found in three cases in which institutions in Jordan accused of wrongdoing have attempted to repair their damaged images.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Responses to accusations are rhetorically known as apologia , which is defined as a speech act in which a social actor defends their character in response to a specific charge or accusation (Downey, 1993; Ware and Linkugel, 1973). It is a discourse of defense that has as a motive the clearing of one’s name and the purification of an image or reputation (Courtright and Hearit, 2002). In order to be considered as apologia , this basic accusation/response format should be in place (Ryan, 1982).…”

Section: Accusatory Discourse and Apologiamentioning

confidence: 99%

Discourses of defense: Self and other positioning in public responses to accusations of corruption in Jordan

Badarneh

2020

Discourse Studies

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Public accusations of corruption leveled against public figures and institutions in Jordan have recently become a prominent feature of public discourse in the country. Informed by positioning theory as an analytical framework, this study focuses on public responses to such accusations through a discourse analysis of two major apologetic statements, or apologiae, issued in Jordan in 2018 and 2019: one by a controversial former royal court chief and minister of planning in response to public accusations of corruption and appropriation of public funds, and the other by the Office of Queen Rania of Jordan in response to accusations of wardrobe extravagance and overspending. The analysis shows that these two apologiae employed discourses that not only positioned the accused as blameless, but also as victims of defamation. Reference to one’s history, such as public service to the nation and one’s accomplishments, was exploited. In contrast, the accusers were explicitly or implicitly positioned as unjust, biased, vindictive, or motivated by hidden agenda. A variety of discursive strategies were deployed, particularly invoking cultural moral orders, resorting to banal nationalism, expressing pride in one’s public service and allegiance to the monarchy, and invoking a constellation of religious, professional and national identities. In the case of the royal apologia, it was implicitly positioned in western discourses, such as invoking feminine ‘corporeal modernity’, to respond to the wardrobe overspending accusations.

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“…It has been found that organizations in crisis typically rely on different archetypal strategies ranging from the aggressive to the accommodative (Coombs, 2007(Coombs, , 2009. The rhetorical genre of apologia-a speech of self-defense-has been explored at length (e.g., Courtright & Hearit, 2002;Hearit, 1994Hearit, , 1995Hearit, , 2001Hearit, , 2006, inspired by the writings of Perelman andOlbrechts-Tyteca (1969/1971) and the notion of disassociation-the separation of, for instance, the individual from the group.…”

Section: Rhetoric and Public Relationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

On Barnyard Scrambles: Toward a Rhetoric of Public Relations

Ihlen

2011

Management Communication Quarterly

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How can we gain a better understanding of public relations rhetoric? This essay takes stock of the analytical building blocks that can be found in the public relations research and addresses the question raised in the introduction to this special issue: Can external organizational rhetoric help make society a good place to live? It is argued that whereas the literature on crisis communication and the concept of apologia—speech of self-defense—is fairly extensive, analysis of other subfields and types of public relations discourse is needed. Following the modification of its original epistemological basis, the concept of the rhetorical situation helps guide this endeavor. Such analysis can form a basis for a critical discussion of whether organizational rhetoric helps improve society.

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The good organization speaking well: a paradigm case for religious institutional crisis management

Cited by 19 publications

References 21 publications

Methodist Hospital’s Rhetoric of Atonement: Examining an Organization’s Response to NICU Overdoses

Methodist Hospital’s Rhetoric of Atonement: Examining an Organization’s Response to NICU Overdoses

Discourses of defense: Self and other positioning in public responses to accusations of corruption in Jordan

On Barnyard Scrambles: Toward a Rhetoric of Public Relations

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