Alice Wo's Blog

Public relations conferencing for Sauder conflict resolution

Milton Friedman’s free enterprise concept of social obligation versus entrepreneurial self interest to address Sauder’s response to the rape chant allegations: Friedman spoke of a concept that businesses should only act within their own interests of gaining profit. Working in favor of social responsibility defeats the purpose of free enterprise. Climate change and poverty shouldn’t be for firms to solve. But is there a way to satisfy both external and internal goals? Looking at the Sauder situation from the eyes of a free enterprise, responding to the media and people accomplished a combination of both. After all, the business school represents a lot of stakeholders who have leverage on our funding and reputation. Having already been plunged into this compromising situation, Sauder was left with two choices — to deny or confirm the allegations. I’d say the goal here was to try to exit the conflict unscathed but the public wanted consequences for our actions. Confirming the accusations seemingly worked against our own interests,  but the other option would’ve only put us under more fire. The latter choice provided the public with closure and a sense of Sauder taking control. It showed our ability to take responsibility and released public leverage on our school’s decisions.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GFCo5HkCAo4

Sources:
http://site.ebrary.com/lib/ubc/docDetail.action?docID=10187339&page=171
http://ubyssey.ca/news/sauder-chant-325/