Organizational and Managerial
Communication
Issues Management
and Environmental Scanning
Chapter 7
Peggy Simcic Brønn
1
BUSINESS AS AN ECONOMIC
INSTITUTION
Little acknowledgement of external
environment
Produce goods
Provide employment
Pay dividends
Success measured in economic terms
Peggy Simcic Brønn
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BUSINESS AS SOCIO-POLITICAL
INSTITUTION
1960’s - economic growth producing
detrimental side effects
Emphasis on protecting human health,
not environment per se
Peggy Simcic Brønn
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RISE OF PUBLIC ISSUES
Public demand collective action and there
is disagreement on solution
civil rights
feminist movement
consumer movement
ecology movement
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Four Types of Issues
Type
 Universal issues: have serious and imminent
effects on a large number of people.
Government action is expected since the issue
is beyond the scope of private organizations
 Advocacy issues: potential problems foremost of
the population that are identified by groups
claiming to represent the broad public interest.
Scope of problem suggests government
intervention.
 Selective issues: affect special interest group.
Costs of dealing with them is passed on to
general public.
 Technical issues: of little direct interest to the
population and are left to experts. Note that an
advocacy group may shift a technical issue to
another group be redefining it.
P.N. Reeves, “Issues management: The other side of strategic
planning”,
Hospital &Health Services Administration 38(2), Summer 1993
Example
 The energy crisis
 Health insurance reform
 Medicaid reimbursement
that results in cost shifting
 Hazardous waste disposal
that can be characterized
as creation of an
environmental threat
ISSUES MANAGEMENT
Coined in 1977
New Type of Corporate Communications
Response to Increasing Criticism of Big Business
Method of Monitoring the Environment
Managing New Challenges and Change
Mid-1970s, Issues Became ‘Strategic’ Issues
Organizations Became Proactive
Peggy Simcic Brønn
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Location of IM Programs
 Public/Government Affairs
 Corporate Planning
 Corporate Communications
 Issues Management
Peggy Simcic Brønn
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Source: McGrath,
G., Issues
Management, IABC
Issues Management Process
The Chase-Jones Model
Issues
Identification
Theory and
Research
Performance
Evaluation
Issues
Analysis
Judgement
and Priority
Setting
Results
Program
Design
Implementation
Policy
Options
Policy and
Strategy Selection
High
Low
Issue Priority
The Clarity - Priority Matrix
Assess impact of issue on
Closely monitor issue.
objectives, current strategies Actively seek additional
and operational plans for
information.
immediate action.
Evaluate impact of issue and Monitor issue.
identify nature of response, if Drop, if unimportant.
any.
“Fuzzy”
Clear
Issue Clarity
J.C. Camillus and D.K. Datta, “Managing strategic issues in a turbulent environment”,
Long Range Planning 24, April 1991
Structure of an issues
monitoring team
Four functions:
Sharpening planning for responsible adapting
the organization
Knowing and exceeding standards
Monitoring issues
Communicating to build beneficial
relationships
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Corporate Response to Issues
Reactive - Fight Change
Accommodative - Adapt to Change
Proactive - Influence Change
Interactive - Adjust to and Influence
Change
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Effectiveness of Integrated Planning
Increasing
The Public Issues Life Cycle
Education reform
Global warming
Day care
Shorter work week
Comparable worth
Road congestion
Social
Expectation
Groundwater
protection
Acid rain
Clean Air Act
Amendments
Energy taxes
Health care reform
Hazardous waste
treatment
Political
Environmental
Protection Agency
Motor Vehicle
Safety and Health
Admin.
Energy Policy and
Conservation Act
Safety belt use
laws
Legislative
Emission standards
Environmental permits
Gas guzzler taxes
Product recalls
Plant inspections/fines
Fuel economy standards
Social Control
T.G. Marx,”Strategic planning for public affairs”,
Long Range Planning, 23(1), 1990.
IM and Corporate Image
 IM now includes fostering and
maintaining corporate image
 Tied to behavior of organization and
communication management
 Integrity of the organizational identity
ORGANIZATIONS HAVE TWO
CHOICES
Reactive business strategy
pursue own financial goals
be forced by external agents to change
Proactive business strategy
actively seek operations that limit
consequences
open up dialogue with external agents
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Environmental Scanning
A methodology for collecting and
analyzing information about every
sector of the external environment that
can help management to plan for the
organization’s future.
Chun Wei Choo
. . . A radar-like vigilance used to spot
potential or actual issues at their
earliest point of development. (Heath)
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Added value of scanning
Promotes education and mindstretching experiences for management.
Assists in formulating of policy and
strategy.
Promotes the development of
operational programs and action plans.
Provides a frame of reference for
budgets.
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Organizational environment
Does the company accept new ideas,
concepts and processes?
Are there open communications channels?
Is the company capturing environmental
information that is readily available`?
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Organizational environment
Are the linkages of change to the
company’s operations properly assessed?
Is environmental intelligence integrated
into strategic planning?
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Environmental
Scanning
Dimensions
Operational
Governments
Economies
Control
Productivity
Capacity
Resources
Approaches to Scanning
Scientific -- social scientific measures of
stakeholders to determine ‘what’s going
on out there’
Tree Diagrams, Trend Impact Analysis
Flow Charting, Morphological Models
Informal -- individualistic, subjective
techniques, nonrepresentative samples of
publics, and key contacts
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Sources of Environmental
Information
PEOPLE SOURCES
EVENT, OBJECTS
External Media-related Sources
Business-related
Bankers
General
Customers
Business & Financial
Suppliers
Trade
Consultants
Technical/Academic
Unrelated
Regular associations
Other Sources
Friend
Purchased research reports
Professional peers
Technical conferences
Periodic encounters
Trade shows
Adjoining seat occupant
Educational seminars
Neighbor
Direct observation
Sources of Environmental Information
PEOPLE SOURCES
EVENT, OBJECTS
Internal
Line Relationships
Superiors
Subordinates
Staff Relationships
Peer Relationships
Counterpart Relationships
(cross-divisional)
Other (motivated by
personal relationships,
mutual interest)
Reports
Progress
Performance
Projection
Activity
Meetings
Scheduled
Issue-motivated
Ranking of Sources of
Environmental Information
Rank
1
2
3
4
5
6
Source
Pct. Ranking 1st/2nd
Daily Newspapers
91
Expert Organizations
59
Publications (Conferences
Board, etc..)
Business Periodicals
52
Futures Consultants
42
and Forecasters
Government Publications
42
Seminars and Conferences
30
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Best Practices
Planning and manage scanning as a
strategic activity
Implement scanning as a formal system
Partner with domain experts and IT
specialists in designing system
Manage information as the core of the
scanning function
Starting to think about the
future
Read utopian and science fiction.
Read magazines like The Futurist and
Futures. Borrow the authors’ predictions.
Monitor the writings of politicians and
social scientists.
Watch out for mention of areas of people
who adopt innovation early.
J. D. Stoffels
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Two cases
 Playtex Company and the Sippy Cup
 Intel