Jessica Tamayo

SPCH 459

Dr. Ziwoya

February 17, 2023

Nike and their communication issues

For my case study analysis, I have decided to choose Nike. I chose to analyze Nike

because as a consumer of their products and being a woman, it affects the way I see them as a

company due to their discrimination issues and not having effective communication methods to

resolve this issue with their employees.

Nike is one of the world's biggest producers of sports equipment and one of the world’s

largest suppliers of athletic shoes and apparel. Nike’s headquarters are located near Beaverton,

Oregon. They employ more than 44 thousand people worldwide and their brand value in 2014

was $19 billion. They now have annual profit of $36 billion. Nike was founded by Bill

Bowerman and Phil Knight on January 25, 1964 known as Blue Ribbon Sport and later on

officially became Nike, Inc. on May 30, 1971. Nike sponsors many athletes and teams around

the world with the trademark “Just Do It” and their logo.

Nike serves everyone around the world. They have apparel, sports equipment, and shoes

for all ages. Their mission is to drive product innovation for athletes. They produce quality

products to enhance the feel. Many professional athletes represent Nike and their logo as well as

teams.
 The issue I will be analyzing is their internal communication issues. In 2018 females

spoke out about the male dominated culture that caused harassment and discrimination in the

workplace. It all started with a survey at their company’s headquarters in Beaverton, Oregon.

Some communication problems that went wrong were lack of trust in HR, the leader was

unaware of problems, communication skills were not effective. The outcome of this issue was

Nike firing C-Suite executives which included the head of diversity and inclusion.

Nike is the biggest sports apparel and footwear company in the world. Nike’s women

make up one fifth of the business and it the fastest growing segment in activewear market. Nike

also had a marketing campaign gone wrong when they approved an ad for women’s shoes and

the ad consisted of women twirling on stripper poles and male athletes wearing bras and the

shoes were barely seen. This ad cost Nike millions of dollars. This is another example of how

Nike has discriminated women.

There were more than 50 current and former employees interviewed and they talked

about how at Nike the male bosses discussed the merits of strip clubs in a van full of female

colleagues. The women reported sexual harassment and HR discussed the incident with them in a

public place. Female employees made up half the workplace but were passed up for promotions.

Only 38% of the positions at director level were taken by women and 29% of VP roles.

This issue started when women’s bodies and ideas were not being treated with respect.

The company has many failed communication issues that could have solved this problem sooner

if they were involved more with their employees and if there was trust between them. With a

company size this big this was a big issue for their company. Employees also felt as if they were

being excluded from the workplace.

 I would like to see all the communication methods that they used to communicate with

their employees. I would like to know which ones were effective for them and which ones did

not work out as well. I would also like to see how the public took this news and how it affected

their company. Depending on the results we will be able to see if they could have solved these

issues differently and would it have impacted the employees and company differently. I would

like to learn how they have changed their communication strategies with their employees,

especially women, and how they have made their workplace a safe environment for women.

Women are now being promoted to bigger roles such as chief diversity and inclusion

officer. Seeing this kind of change for Nike is going to lead them to continue to be successful

and keep their employees and customers satisfied as they are affected by any issues too. With

women feeling empowered to speak up and make a difference in the company it also shows how

women consumers lose out when companies don’t give women employees better opportunities.

The Nike CEO, Mark Parker, apologized to employees for their workplace culture and

for feeling excluded along with their inappropriate behavior. He apologized because the

employees felt that they didn’t have anyone to go to with their concerns. This was one of their

main communication issues that occurred at Nike. Due to these issues many executives left Nike.

Inappropriate behavior and poor workplace conduct caused many communication issues.

Mark Parker said it was a painful moment for him as someone told him they don’t fit the

Nike profile and he said “there is no Nike profile.” He outlined steps to how Nike will change its

culture including behavior. In an interview Parker said, “I apologize to the people on our team

who were excluded, and I apologize if some of those same people felt they had no one to turn

to,” he said in his apology speech. “I want everyone at Nike to know their voices do matter and

your bravery is making us better.” It is only a matter of taking action now to actually change the
issue. The hashtag MeToo isn’t only about women. Males have also joined the movement for

change. The CEO has assured us that actions were being taken and that with everyone’s

cooperation things would change.

Was the way Nike responded to this issue appropriate? Has their communication skills

improved and made a difference in their company? Are the women in the workplace being

treated better? There are many questions that I would like to research and learn more about. I

would like to know if Nike has a better relationship with their employees and how they will

move on looking forward.

By knowing Nike’s communication methods we will be able to see if their company has

improved and how communication has made an impact for them. Communication can solve

many issues. The problem is that not many companies know what communication methods work

best for them and their employees. Many companies and organizations have great

communication skills which lead them to be successful and have a healthy work environment

while others lack communication skills and that is what causes major issues within the company

and their employees.

This issue has left us with many takeaways. Due to the survey that these female

employees started they were able to communicate across their complaints. Although there were

many reports made to HR nothing was done until this survey was revealed to Parker. This

anonymous survey revealed the toxic culture that they were in and that caused them to not be

able to grow within the company.

These issues are not being tolerated by neither woman nor men anymore. Toxic cultures

can tear down a company’s reputation. When a company or organization has good
communication methods with their employees it will help create a healthy work environment for

everyone. Discrimination and inappropriate behavior is a big issue that a company should not

have to go through, if they had good communication methods implied in their workforce issues

like these would not be occurring.

Communication is the main key to a successful business or organization. Without

communication major issues may arise. It is important to have a healthy work environment and a

good relationship with all your coworkers and all the employees because that will bring good

communication and the chances of having issues will decrease. I hope to learn more about how

their communication methods have changed and how it has affected their work environment

whether it has improved or nothing has changed.

 References

About Us. NIKE COMPANY. (2015, June 2). Retrieved February 17, 2023, from

https://nikecompanyblog.wordpress.com/about-us/

Angelicalavito. (2018, May 9). Nike CEO apologizes to employees for workplace culture

after months of turmoil. CNBC. Retrieved February 17, 2023, from

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/05/04/nike-ceo-apologizes-to-employees-for-workplace-culture-

after-months-of-turmoil.html

How nike’s toxic workplace hurt its bottom line - fast company. (n.d.). Retrieved

February 18, 2023, from https://www.fastcompany.com/40565581/nikes-sexist-workplace-was-

bad-for-customers-too

Nike's internal crisis is your brand's warning-check your culture. Agility PR Solutions.

(2019, March 23). Retrieved February 17, 2023, from https://www.agilitypr.com/pr-news/public-

relations/nikes-internal-crisis-brands-warning-check-culture/

Officer, A. S. C. G. (2022, August 22). 5 business communication failure examples and

how to avoid them. Beekeeper. Retrieved February 17, 2023, from

https://www.beekeeper.io/blog/3-internal-communication-failures-that-turned-into-pr-disasters/