Summary, analysis and solution of United Breaks Guitars Case Study.

1. social media
#FAIL

2. Be Fast or
Get Lynched
A hashtag, and a few words
or photos can bring the
stalwarts down
2

3. United Breaks
Guitars
WHO
In March 2008, Dave Carroll, a
musician from Halifax was travelling
with his band to Nebraska via O’Hare
in Chicago
WHAT
Carroll’s guitar was handled
unprofessionally by baggage
handlers, resulting into severe
damage
NEXT
Carroll was denied any
compensation. In response he posted
3 songs, one after the other on
youtube, describing his ordeal
3
…And It Goes Viral

4. 17,06,988
Views on YouTube by the end of July 10
$180 mn
Losses due to share price crash
339 Mainstream News
Portals ran the story between July 08th and
10th
4

5. Communication
ASYMMETRIC
● Mr. Carroll’s Composition of song
and posting it on YouTube
● Rerouting of Mr. Carroll to different
places and persons by Customer
Service for claim process.
SYMMETRIC
● United Airlines’ Communication on
Social media to the followers.
● Mr. Carroll’s meeting with Senior
officials of the Airlines.
5
MEDIA RICHNESS THEORY
HIGH CHANNEL RICHNESS
● Face to Face Conversation
● Telephone Conversation
● Online Group Discussion
● Video
● Electronic Mail
● Formal Reports
● LOW CHANNEL RICHNESS

6. In The Light of
Adaptive Structuration
Theory
• Use of Twitter ,
YouTube , Blogs
• Prime utilization of
social media.
Homophily Theory
• People had sympathy for
Dave Carroll , as they
had similar grievances
and connected with him.
Mental Models Theory
• Change in United’s
attitude
Discourse Theory
• Aspect Change
6

7. 7
Conflict Handling
• Process
Conflicts
• Perceived
Conflicts

8. United Airlines
• Crisis handling instead of
crisis resolution
• Not owning responsibility
• Lack of Proactiveness
• Absolute lack of plan and
procedure
Crisis
Management
Dave Carroll
• Structured approach
• Communication of damages
• Claim of compensation
• Intimation of actions
• Social Media Revenge
8

9. 9
The Lens of
Benoit’s Typology
▫ Simple Denial
▫ Shifting the blame
▫ Minimization
▫ Transcendence & Compensation
▫ Mortification

10. Barriers in
Communication
10
Silence
Selective
PerceptionFiltering

11. Alternate Course
of Action
11
1.
Empowered
Employees
(Kanter’s
Mgmt. Theory)
2.
Quick
Apology
3.
Openness
to Alternate
solutions

12. “Saying you’re sorry is sometimes
the least expensive solution to a
potentially very expensive
problem
- Dave Carroll
12

13. 13
THANKS!
TEAM 02
F17001 Abinaya T.
F17007 Ann Prince
F17021 Gautam R.
F17025 Jacob Kuriachan
F17047 Rajesh Sinha
F17061 Abinaya S.
F17067 Anvin Varghese
F17073 Deepak Raj G.
F17087 Kaushik Rao R.
F170105 Ritika Sahay