Building on the case study “General Motors and The Chevy Cobalt Ignition Switch Crisis,”

what would be your recommendations to the CEO for an appropriate communication

response (crisis communication)?

For a successful crisis communication, the response must be immediate, transparent and

consistent, putting the victims first. For an instantaneous, appropriate and efficient response, the

CEO Mary Barra first of all, can take her time to thoroughly understand all the communication

being happened around. She can listen to her employees and customers to gather facts and take

guidance for a correct crisis communication. While speaking about the crisis and sharing the

information, she should be truthful and take the responsibility to make things right. Also she

should express a sense of urgency to let the audience know that she understands the severity of

this crisis and is taking keen interest to tackle it internally and externally. She should run an

advertisement immediately so that peoples may be informed for not using the Chevy Cobalt. The

production should be stopped with a nationwide withdrawal.

For an external communication response, she should order an independent investigation on this

matter by Congress and NHTSA (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration) and make it

public so that the audience may know about all the practices and actions being taken by General

Motors. For an internal communication response, she can ask her leadership team to take the

necessary actions to make essential changes in company’s culture, bureaucracy and structure

without waiting for the investigation’s results. Another main theme in CEO’s communication

should be regret. She CEO should apologize for the crisis and all the harm caused by ignition

switch crisis. She should mention in her communication that she and her team will take the

correct actions to resolve the crisis, victims will be compensated and the investigation report will

change the practices and culture of the company. In order to rebuild trust and reputation, the

customers should be prioritized in crisis communication making the company at second place.