Issue Management:A Case Study

Project by:Ravneet Kaur- BBS 1D(50532)Siddhant Gupta- BBS1D(50557)

We would like to thank our Public Relations Teacher, Dr. Nomita Sharma for giving us such an interesting topic to work on. It was only with the help of her guidance that we could complete this project.

Acknowledgement

Index• Issue Management: What is it?• What is an Issue?• Benchmark for Evaluation• Types of Issues• Who makes issues?• Life Cycle of a Public Issue• Dimensions of an Issue• Steps of Issue Management

• California’s Children Obesity Crisis: A Case Studyo SUMMARYo SITUATION ANALSYISo RESEARCHo PLANNING

GoalTarget AudiencesObjectivesStrategies

oEXECUTIONoEVALUATION

Issue Management

Issue management refers to the systematic examination of an organization (usually companies, public authorities, political parties, associations, etc.), with their environmental concerns. The aim is, in the public spot emerging, organization-related issues early on and respond accordingly. This may be through participation in the public opinion formation process happen or by adapting the organization policy. In addition, an organization also includes measures to bring issues to himself in the public debate, the issue management.

Issues management is a process that ensures the monitoring and information processing ability of an organization and thus to deal with uncertainty and risk contributing. With the early identification of critical issues and demands of stakeholders, could prejudice the action of an enterprise, which creates issues management, the requirement for an active engagement with these issues.

"The basic aim here is to avoid the one hand

unpleasant surprises or conflicts that would

otherwise be associated with these issues, and on the

other hand it can also bring rewards Issues with them to use is."

What is an Issue?

In the context of corporate issues management, issues are controversial inconsistencies caused by gaps between the expectations of corporations and those of their publics. These gaps lead to a contestable point of difference, the resolution of which can have important consequences for an organization.

-Heath, 1997; Wartick & Mahon, 1994

An issue is a trend or condition, either internal or external, which will, if continued, significantly affect a company’s operations over the period of its business plan.

Any issues may present either a threat to the corporation or an opportunity to shape the issue to an advantage. Evaluation of whether the issue promises to bee threat or opportunity determines the nature and timing of the response.

Today’s impossibilities are tomorrow’s miracles.

— Dr. Robert H Schuller

As mentioned earlier, issues may present to be an opportunity or a threat.

Benchmark for Evaluation

Opportunity Benchmark Threat Benchmark

Opportunity Benchmark:The point before which a corporation must take action to control the issue. Beyond that point, the cost of acting late can no longer be recovered through profit.

Threat Benchmark:The level of loss beyond which the survival of the firm, a division, or a product will be endangered(beyond which the firm will not be able to control the issue).

Types of Issues

Current Emerging Societal

Three broad categories of issues/trends must be identified and considered in issue management:

Current:Public questions currently being acted on, or deformulated by, government bodies. Such issues, having already been formulated, generally are subject only to reactive public affairs responses.

Emerging:Issues of public policy that are likely to be the subject of legislation in the two-to five-year period ahead, but that have not yet been fully formulated, nor the positions defined. It is in this evolving stage that issues can best be influenced or controlled.

Societal:These involve changing attitudes and human behaviour and are the most difficult to influence or reverse. They include demographic, social, resource-related, and technology-related trends, all of which may have political or economic effects. Early evaluation of the nature and direction of these trends, as they may affect the company, is critical in any issue management problem.

Who makes Issues?General Public

Pressure Groups

News Media

Government Bureaucracies

Elected officials

General Public:generally plays a very insignificant role in creating an issue. Even when there is a strong public concern the concerned authorities may decide not take any action, particularly when it is convinced that such action is impractical or that necessary tradeoffs, which the public doesn’t understand, are unacceptable. The greatest power that the public has is the PASSIVE VETO - the non acceptance of laws and regulations.

Pressure Groups: are the most important element in creation of issues. The size of the group does not matter, what matters more is its ability to capture media attention, the effectiveness of political operations, and the alliances it can make beyond its membership. Groups which focus on a single issue are more effective than groups focusing on various issues because their impact is diffused.

News Media:do not create or formulate any issues, they basically gather attention to the issue, informing people about it. The media can build pressure on one side or another or drop the issue if they feel the interest is minimal.

From the issue management point of view , careful evaluation of media activity is essential. Corporations tend to enter panic mode when they see media taking a hostile position towards them on a given issue. Sometimes, special issue groups will get together with media to promote specific issues. The media holds a strong position in shaping public opinion.

Government Bureaucracies:are conventionally supposed to regulate the laws passed by the government. In real life, as most businessmen can testify , the regulatory agencies own the issues, which they control by rules and regulations, after legislative bodies have laid down the general framework. The agencies, as specialists, also help draft the legislations. Issue often originate with, or are stirred up by, a triangle of bureaucrats, activists and congressional staff employees. The influence of each of these elements on the other tends to create an impression that public is concerned or excited about an issue, when it may actually be uninterested or bored with it.

Elected Officials:While an issue is developing and positions being taken, legislative bodies will generally lie low to see which way things will go. The response of an individual legislature will depend ona. The relevance of the issue to his constituencyb. The relevance to his committeesc. The pressure groups supporting himd. The horse trading that may be involvede. His deep routed personal convictions Often a congressman or local legislator will pick up an issue

just to get attention. If it is not really relevant to his district, he can generally be fought on that ground.

An unidentified problem is here

The issue is identified and given

a name

Ideas begin to crystallize

Solutions emergeLegislation is

introduced and enacted

Adjustments are made, via judicial

review

Formerly non –existent or unnoticed problems

Life Cycle of a Public Issue

The path that a developing issue takes is important in issue management. Because the extent of control can be exercised depends on the stage of its evolution. Different issues will follow different courses, but a prototype life cycle will be similar to this:

1. An Undefined Problem :There is a general sense of unease and frustration, and recognition that a problem exists, but the issue cannot be defined.

2. The Issue Is Identified And Given A Name: A company that can first identify and name an emerging issue that affects it has a major opportunity at this stage.

3. Issues Begin To Crystallize: on the nature and causes of the problem, and public attitudes begin to form with attention from the media. Again, leadership in evaluating the issue can help a company shape the solution.

4. Solutions Emerge: On an issue of some importance, hundreds of solutions may be proposed, eventually reduced to a few. If the issue is relevant to the company, the issue management plan must provide for action to influence the ultimate solution.

5. Legislation Is Introduced And Enacted: At this age the company can only react. Some influence on the legislation may be effected but control is no longer possible.

6. Adjustments Are Made, Via Regulations Or Judicial Review: Here also the company’s position is one to simply of reacting, although it may affect the interpretation of regulations. Court action is often an effective issue management technique.

7. Formerly Non-Existant Or Unnoticed Problems: often arise after an issue has completed its life cycle, perpetuating the cycle in a new context.

Dimensions of the Issue

Broad Impact Issues

Broad Impact, but Relatively Abstract

Issues

Narrow Impact Issues

Technical Issues

Issues vary by two dimensions:(1) How broad is the impact ( how many people are being

affected)(2) How central it is to the lives of those being affectedThese dimensions are significant in determining the plan of action.

• Broad Impact Issues: directly affecting a large segment of people like inflation, rise in prices of kerosene. Generally such issues are highlighted by media and activists. The political leadership may lag because it recognized the issue as a part of a wider range of problems. But when public support level reaches 40% or more for a particular solution, political pressures can be convinced that the tradeoffs involved are unacceptable.

• Broad Impact, But Relatively Abstract Issues: are felt by a few people directly, although many may be aware that they may be potentially affected. Identification and crystallization of this type of issue depend generally on the leadership group, because solutions are usually very complex. The public does not exert much pressure and is likely to accept whatever solution the leaders decide.

• Narrow Impact Issues: generally impact an identifiable minority or a geographical area. The majority of the public have no experience with the issue and no vulnerability. These issues are generally identified by pressure groups, who operate by influencing the political leadership.

• Technical Issues: are identified and crystallized by the leadership. They are complex, distant from life of individuals and usually involve a distribution of political and economic power.

A formal process for managing issues will ensure that the problems are identified and resolved as quickly and effectively as possible. Consider the following process as a way to formally manage these project issues.

Solicit potential issues from any project stakeholder, including the project team, clients, sponsors, etc. The issue can be surfaced through verbal or written means, but it must be formally documented using an Issues Form.

(This may seem a burden, but an issue must be formally defined before it can be communicated and resolved effectively. If an issue cannot be documented, there is no way it can be resolved.)

The manager determines whether the problem can be resolved without outside help or whether it should be classified as a formal issue.

Enter the issue into the Issues Log. The Issues Log contains one entry per issue and is used for tracking purposes.

STEPS OF ISSUE MANAGEMENT

Assign the issue to a team member for investigation. (The manager could assign it to himself/herself.) The project manager should also determine who needs to be involved in the decision making process.

The team member will investigate options that are available to resolve the issue. For each option, she should also estimate the impact to the project in terms of budget, schedule and scope.

The various alternatives and impacts on schedule and budget are documented on the Issues Form. The project manager should take the issue, alternatives and project impact to the people that need to be involved in the issue resolution (from step 4).

If resolving the issue will involve changing the scope of the project, close the issue now and use the scope change management procedures instead to manage the resolution.

Document the resolution or course of action on the Issues Form.

Document the issue resolution briefly on the Issues Log.

Add the appropriate corrective activities to the work plan to ensure the issue is resolved.

If the resolution of an issue causes the budget or duration of the project to change, the current Project Definition should be updated.

Communicate issue status and resolutions to project team members and other appropriate stakeholders through the project Status Report, status meetings and other appropriate communication means.

Having this type of issues resolution process defined ahead of time will allow you to calmly and effectively work through a problem resolution process whenever issues arise.

California’s Childhood Obesity Crisis: Case Study

• Public Relations: Moore & Kalupa• Public Relations Cases: Jerry Hendrix. Darrell

Hayes• http://

www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newPPM_69.htm

• http://issuemanagement.org/• http://

www.method123.com/issue-management.php

• http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~rja14/Papers/SE-22.pdf

• http://www.management-issues.com/• http://

publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/asehelp/v8r0m0/index.jsp

• http://books.google.co.in/books?id=1TkC8r1I3asC&pg=PA199&lpg=PA199&dq=california's+childhood+obesity+crisis+legislators

Bibliography