What is the ultimate goal or outcome of public relations for an organization?
Have all stakeholders believe their organization has an impeccable REPUTATION
How do reputational consequences develop?
not managing issues
not communicating about risks
not preparing for and managing crises
What do Issues, Risks and Crises have in common?
all have different historical roots
People tend to group them together but that simplifies their differences
No agreed definitions of these terms
are commonly called
“practice areas” or “specialties”, but some practitioners would
disagree
There are many different processes to manage them
Definition of Issues Management
Issues management focuses on “anticipating, planning
and proactively managing issues to minimize negative
commercial (organizational) impacts and create
competitive (or other) opportunities.
By doing issues management, you don’t actually
manage the issue, but rather you manage your
organization’s responses to the issue in an effort to have
the issue resolved to the satisfaction of your
organization
Example: Has the Alberta government done enough to prevent
future river flooding in southern Alberta?
Definition of Risk Communication
Risk communication[s], narrowly defined, can be
understood as a purposeful, iterative exchange of
information among individuals, groups, and
institutions related to the assessment,
characterization, and management of risk
[Risk communications] allows consumers to make choices about
their health and safety and the protection of the environment
FIX
Definition of Crisis Communication
You can’t transform the personality of your institution or its
corporate culture just because a major news story is about
to break. But you can be pragmatic in developing a
strategy for disclosing what has happened and for
providing background information and visuals, updating
the media, and protecting the privacy of the participants
from the reporters and television crews who will be at your
door within minutes.
IRCCRI
A communication Preparation TImeline (6 steps)
- Issue Identified (IMP created)
- Risk COmmunication (to avoid a crisis)
- Crisis Communication (A crisis event)
- CMP or IMP
- Risk Comm. Tactics
- Issue Resolved
What is an Issue?
- A contestable difference of opinion
- a gap between the action of an organization and the expectations of its shareholders
- An issue as an event, trend or condition which creates, or has the potential to create, a significant impact affecting the organization
What is a RISK?
A risk is a measure of the adverse affect of an issue.
Characteristics of risk communications:
- lengthy preparation time
- using understanding to drive behaviour
- focusing on consequence
- Lower audience involvement or belief
Risk is a possibility that…
- a significant negative development will occur
- organizational legitimacy will be tested
- will be mitigated through public cooperation
- interpreted on an individual level
What is Risk Analysis and what are some examples
A risk analysis assesses both external and internal dangers. The intention is to understand, monitor, minimize, and control potential dangers to resources and the campaign in order to maximize the opportunities
- negative media coverage
- lawsuits
- loss of sponsors
- decrease in sales
- loss of goodwill
- store closures/layoffs
- reduced research and development opportunities
- slashed budgets
- Salary and wage cuts
- downsizing
- high staff turnover
- Bankruptcy
What is a crisis?
a situation where an organization’s normal control
measures have passed beyond a responsible point of
stability because of a catalyst that puts it past the tipping
point for effective management, altering the way an
organization does business
An event that…
1. is unexpected (but NOT unanticipated)
2. decreases sense of control
3. increases public scrutiny/judgement
4. Incites stakeholder uncertainty/panic
5. Has high potential to adversely affect reputation
Characteristics of Crisis Communications
- decreased reaction time
- focus on communicating the situation and control elements
- satisfying expectations of accountability
MWORTTNC
8 Different types of crisis
- Natural (disaster)
- Technological (a computer glitch)
- Confrontation (activism, boycotts, protests, riots, or sit-ins)
- Malevolence (a violent act, kidnapping, terrorist act)
- Organizational Misdeed (skewed management values, deception, management misconduct)
- Workplace violence
- Rumors
- Terrorist attacks or disasters caused by human error
RAT PITI
What is Values-Driven PR?
Reputation
Accountability
Transparency
Performance through Actions
Influence
Trust
Integration
Compare Values Driven PR to other theories
In document
Ch. 1
What is the most effective way to develop a comprehensive crisis management plan (CCMP)?
base your choices on practices and policies that have proven to be effective not just speculation as to what MIGHT work
Ch. 1
When creating a comprehensive crisis mangement plan (CCMP) what types of groups/knowledge is needed?
small group decision making, media relations, environmental scanning, risk assessment, crisis communication, crisis plan development, evaluation methods, disaster sociology and reputation management
Ch.1
Definition of crisis
some breakdown in a system that creates shared stress
Ch.1
Disasters defined
large in scale
require response from multiple governmental units
Ch. 1
Public Health Crisis Defined
threat to public health that exist across multiple geographical areas and have the potential to overwhelm the routine community capacity to manage it
Ch.1
Organizational Crisis Defined
perceived violation of salient stakeholder expectations that can create negative outcomes for stakeholders and/or the organization.
Ch. 1
Key points about crisis management
Crisis are considered dangerous to organizational reputations
it is designed to ward off or reduce threats by providing guidance for properly handling crises
A crisis is unpredictable but not unexpected
was originally developed in part to limit disruptions to operation because an organization loses money when not operating at full capacity
