ABSTRACT
Unlike individuals, when organizations and institutions are caught in a crisis they face a difficult legal dilemma. As noted earlier, the legal terrain that organizational officers must negotiate is difficult and complex, and one misstep is likely to result in considerable liability costs. Yet, although legal judgments are indeed costly, the damage an organization may face to its carefully constructed image is no less expensive should the organization choose not to “do the right thing” in the eyes of media and consumers. Indeed, it appears as if companies that engage in wrongdoing and do not “come clean” often face a decade’s worth of anger from key publics, anger that is likely to be abated only when another organization commits a more egregious error that supplants the previous transgression in the public’s consciousness. Whereas chapter 3 attempted to address what an organization caught in a crisis legally might say while navigating the problem of liability, attention here is now turned to what an organization should say, taking into account the ethical responsibility of individual and corporate apologists. At root, this chapter suggests that when speaking ethically, as in the chapter-opening example, the emphasis should be on reconciliation.
