A lot of people view public relations as a never ending cycle of cleaning up messes. In reality, a lot of good PR is about the art of predicting instead of reacting. Reacting efficiently to a crisis is still essential, but the act of predicting is essential too. This is where issues management comes into play. Issues management identifies emerging trends and potential issues that can possibly affect an organization in the future. Being able to identify these factors and create organizational responses in advance is hugely successful for a lot of companies (Gaunt, Ollenburger, 1995, p. 201). Strategy is more important than panic. Some of the best PR is the PR that happens behind the scenes.
What is Issues Management, Because it is Not Crisis Management!
Issues management is synonymous with crisis management. There is an important distinction between the two. Issues management is the work that goes into preventing the crisis in the first place and identifying what may present itself as a problem, and crisis management is the work that goes into the actual management of the crisis. Crisis management is post-crisis and issues management is pre-crisis (Gaunt, Ollenburger, 1995, p. 202). The term “issues management” itself was created by Howard Chase and Barrie Jones in 1977. It was created after businesses were facing constant backlash from the public because they weren’t becoming aware of problems until it was much too late.
They stated that their crisis model combined “ a management philosophy with an ongoing systems process to help executives identify, analyze and manage public policy issues in a populist society experiencing discontinuous change” (Ramsey, 1993, p. 262).
Chase created an Issue Management Process Model to identify, protect and have a better control on external factors to maintain performance of the corporate system (Aronczyk, 2018, p. 837). Once again, the purpose of the model was to prevent a crisis before it even started. Today’s media cycle is fast and constant which requires PR professionals and teams to stay on top of policy changes, public opinion and trends.
Contingency Theory + Issues Management = The Cheat Code for Successful PR Professionals
Even though a lot of the research and models developed for this concept came over 20 years ago, this is still an extremely relevant topic of conversation. Issues management is extra important in today’s climate because of the use of social media and how quick news can spread in the blink of an eye. Issues management plays with contingency theory pretty closely in terms of how PR professionals look at a crisis. Contingency theory is the practice of choosing what is best for the company while also making sure to follow strategies that rely on what the specific situation is (Shin, Heath, 2020, p. 83). Companies that use contingency theory and issues management correctly enable themselves to formulate the best preventative plans for multiple different versions of crises.
Don’t Wait Until it’s Too Late
Issues management is an essential, strategic tool that is practiced to save organizations from potential crises. PR professionals need to know that they can’t wait for the crisis to come to them, they have to always take the lead and have the upper hand on a potential crisis. PR is a lot deeper than just messaging. Issues management is not something that is optional for a company. It is absolutely essential so that crises can turn into opportunities.
Keywords:
Issues management, crisis management, contingency theory, public relations professionals
References
Aronczyk, M. (2018). Public Relations, Issue Management, and the Transformation of American Environmentalism, 1948–1992. Enterprise & Society, 19(4), 836–863. https://doi.org/10.1017/eso.2017.69
Gaunt, P., & Ollenburger, J. (1995). Issues management revisited: A tool that deserves another look. Public Relations Review, 21(3), 199–210. https://doi.org/10.1016/0363-8111(95)90021-7
Ramsey, S. A. (1993). Issues management and the use of technologies in public relations. Public Relations Review, 19(3), 261–275. https://doi.org/10.1016/0363-8111(93)90046-f
Shin, J-H., Heath & R.L. (2020, December 22). Public Relations Theory: Capabilities and Competencies.