Lecture 9: Relations: Issues management and crisis communication in a digital age

Question 1

Issue (definition)

Answer 1

A public concern about the organization’s decision and operations which may or may not also involve a point of conflict in opinions and judgments regarding those decisions and operations

Howard Chase: an unsettled matter which is ready for a decision

Question 2

Crisis (defintion)

Answer 2

An issue which requires not just decisive but also immediate action from the organization

The media usually magnifies interest in the issue through enws coverage, which can make it more of a crisis and more “active”, which in time might develop into an intense issue, which increases the pressure on the organization to do something before it becomes a crisis

Question 3

Managing issues (four stages)

Answer 3

1. Environmental scanning: look at opportunities, threats, strengths, weaknesses –> SWOT or DESTEP/PESTEL analysis (DESTEP has more focus on demographic which in a PESTEL is included in social, but combines political and legal into one)
2. Issue identification and analysis: some of the issues from environmental scanning might become active, in which case they need to be analysed, e.g. position importance matrix
3. Issue-specific response strategies: three options, 1) a buffering strategy, 29 a bridging strategy or 3) an advocacy strategy

Evaluation: how the issue developed, how the stakeholder expectations and public opinion has changed - which stage the issue is in, whether there’s still opportunity to influence public debate

Question 4

Environmental Scanning (detecting issues) (four stages of managing an issue)

Answer 4

SWOT or DESTEP/PESTEL analysis (DESTEP has more focus on demographic which in a PESTEL is included in social, but combines political and legal into one)

Question 5

Issue identification and analysis (four stages of managing an issue)

Answer 5

some of the issues from environmental scanning might become active, in which case they need to be analysed

how likely is it to trigger government action or impact on public opinion, likelihood of the issue continuining, the ability of the organization to influence its revolution, the key stakeholder groups involved with the issue

Position-importance matrix: concerns the position of a stakeholder or public in relation to a specific issue

Life-cycle of an issue

Question 6

Position-importance matrix:

Answer 6

concerns the position of a stakeholder or public in relation to a specific issue

Vertical axis: whether the stakeholders support or oppose the issue: 0 to -5 is assigned to those who oppose the issue and 0 to +5 to those supporting it

Horizontal axis: the importance of stakeholders to the organization and towards an effective resolution of the issue, 0-10 (10 being most important)

Four categories:
Problematic stakeholders: likely to oppose or be hostile to the organization’s course of action, but are relatively unimportant to the organization
Antagonistic stakeholders: likely to oppose or be hostile to the organization’s course of action, and hold power or influence over the organization
Low priority stakeholders: likely to support the organization’s course of action, but hold little power or influence
Supporter stakeholders: likely to support the organization’s course of action, and hold power or influence over the organization

Question 7

Life-Cycle of an Issue (Healey) (four stages)

Answer 7

1. Emergence
2. Debate
3. Codification
4. Enforcement

important for organizations to detect issues when they first ‘emerge’ and to engage publicly in the ‘debate’ on the issue. In doing so, organizations may be able to influence opinions in a favourable direction before the issue becomes ‘codified’ or defined within the public domain and ‘enforced’ through government legislation, industrial action or consumer boycotts

Question 8

Issue-specific response strategies (four stages of managing an issue)

Answer 8

1. Buffering strategy: delay the development of the issue, by continuing with their current behavior and postponing decisions / remaining silent. Sometimes involves issuing (one or a few) defensive statements defending the policy/stance on the issue
2. Bridging strategy: organizations are open to change and recognizes the issue, so they seek to adapt to conform to external expectations of important stakeholders
3. Advocacy strategy: try to change stakeholder expectations and public opinions on an issue through campaigns and lobbying, in a way that conforms the opinions and expectations to the organization’s present practices

Question 9

Issue framing

Answer 9

The purposeful efforts communication practitioners take whilst communicating, to shape the frames of interpretations of stakeholders

Frames presuppose cultural familiar categories of understanding - ie. Cultural phenomena may function as the central organizing theme or logic of a frame
	Cultural archetypes (heroes, victims), myths or mythical figures (David and Goliath), ideologies or values (freedom of speech, environmental care)

Question 10

Evaluation (four stages of managing an issue)

Answer 10

Evaluate how the issue developed, how the stakeholder expectations and public opinion has changed

which stage the issue is in, whether there’s still opportunity to influence public debate

Question 11

How organizations can deal with crisis scenarios (anticipation and resilience)

Answer 11

Anticipation: capacity of organizations to predict and prevent potential crisis scenarios

Resilience: ability to cope with crisis once it occurs and confronts the organization, often enhanced by training employees for possible crises and having management and operational systems in place that allow for thinking and improvisation by employees

Question 12

Five levels of contingency plans (Mitroff and Pearson)

Answer 12

1. Minimal planning around a few contingency plans drawn up for an emergency response - e.g. set of plans of evacuating a building fire, giving first aid to employees
2. Extensive planning, but limited to natural disasters and potential human errors - measures for damage containment and business recovery
3. Involves extensive contingency plans which include crisis procedures for probably natural disasters and human errors and the training of personnel so that employees can implement these crisis procedures
4. Similar to stage 3, but involves an organizaiton-wide consultation of potential crises and their impact on stakeholders - including product defects, tampering, social issues regarding company’s supply chain, operations and contributions towards society
5. All the previous stages, but also incorporates environmental scanning and early warning systems to identify crises as early as possible

Question 13

Reputational capital

Answer 13

Organization’s “stock of perceptual and social assets - the quality of the relationship is has established with stakeholders and the regard in which the company and brand is held”

Can be used as a buffer for some crises, so the crisis is considered a “blip” or isolated occurance when judged against the company’s track record

Question 14

Organizational stigma

Answer 14

A collective stakeholder group-specific perception that an organization possesses a fundamental, deep-seated flaw or quality which is demonstrated in repeated crises or failures, which leads stakeholders to discredit the organization

A negative social evaluation and a situation where in effect all reputational capital in the eyes of the stakeholders, has been spent

Question 15

Four types of crises

Answer 15

Internal-external (actions of managers or someone outside the organization) and intentional-unintentional dimensions (controllability of the crisis)

Faux Pas: unintentional action by an external actor (e.g. an NGO), often begins as an issue between an organization and an external actor who challenges the appropriateness of the organization’s actions

Accidents: unintentional and happen during the course of normal organizational operations, e.g. product defects, employee injuries and natural disasters, often lead to minimal organizational responsibility

Transgressions: intentional acts by an organization, which place stakeholders / publics at risk or harm, e.g. knowingly selling defective or dangerous products, violating laws

Terrorism: intentional acts by external agents, intented to harm the organization (e.g. product tampering, sabotage, workplace violence

Question 16

Choose the right crisis strategy based on crisis type matrix

Answer 16

When the organization is not directly responsible, they attempt to distance themselves from the crisis or deny that it exists, or that it is as serious as external actors point out

When they are directly responsible, the organization will have to defend its position or apologize for the crisis and change its behavior

Natural accidents: unintentional and outwit the control of organizations, which means they can easily respond with a distancing strategy

Human-error accidents: harder to justify and will require an apology from the organization and admission that it will take action to prevent recurrence of the crisis in the future

Question 17

Non-existence strategy

Answer 17

Claim of denying the crisis

Question 18

Distance strategy

Answer 18

Claim of distancing the organization from direct responsibility of the crisis

Question 19

Association strategies

Answer 19

Claim of connecting the organization to things positively valued by stakeholders and publics

Question 20

Suffering strategy

Answer 20

Claim that the organization suffers from the crisis

Question 21

Acceptance strategy

Answer 21

Claim accepting responsibility or culpability for the crisis

Question 22

Accommodative strategy

Answer 22

Claim promising to prevent the crisis from recurring