Recap Flashcards
(61 cards)
1
Q
Definition of an issue
A
“An issue can be defined as a topic of debate, a trend or a recurring theme that moves from the private sphere into the public sphere and on to the media agenda.” (L’Etang, 2008)
- Can be both traditional and social media
2
Q
3 Ideas surround Issues
A
- Issue as a contestable difference of opinion
- Issue as a gap between actions and what stakeholders expect
- Impact. Something (event, trend or condition) which creates or has the potential to create a significant impact on the organisation
3
Q
Legitimacy gap
A
Can result from differences of fact, value and policy. The width of the gap determines how strongly involved members of the public approve or disapprove of any organisation that is expected to be responsive to community interests
Org performance Community + Gov expectations
4
Q
Issue motivators
A
- Security
- Equality
- Environmental quality
- Fairness (estimate of the value received for what is given in exchange)
5
Q
Issues Management
A
Issues management is an anticipatory, strategic management process that helps organisations detect and respond appropriately to emerging trends or changes in the socio-political environment
6
Q
Goal
A
The overriding goal of an issues management function is to enhance the current and long-term performance and standing of the corporation [organisation] by anticipating change, promoting opportunities, and avoiding or mitigating threats. (Renfro, 1993)
7
Q
Issues Management Process
A
- Identification/monitoring
- Evaluation/prioritisation
- Response (assign responsibility, develop a position, develop a strategy)
- Monitoring and measuring progress
8
Q
Major errors in issues management
A
- Reactive mode
- Legal response syndrome
- Failure to create suitable management structures
- Failure to manage
9
Q
Communication’s role
A
Both operational and communication responses are needed
10
Q
Wicked Problems !
A
- Each attempt to create a solution changes the understanding of the problem
- Cannot be solved in a traditional linear fashion because the problem definition evolves as new possible solutions are considered and/or implemented
- Arise when an organisation must deal with something new, with change and when multiple stakeholders have different ideas about how the change should take place (Horst Rittel)
11
Q
Tame Problems !
A
- Opposite of wicked problems
- May-be complex but lend themselves to analysis and solution by known techniques
- Traditional linear processes adequate for a workable solution in an acceptable time frame
- Clear when a solution has been reached
12
Q
Examples of crises
A
School shootings Plane crashes, train derailments Sexual assault convictions Oil spills, fires, explosions, other environmental incidents Company fraud/collapses Floods, earthquakes, other natural disasters Workplace violence/discrimination Workplace accidents Labour disputes Consumer Boycotts Class actions Product tampering . . . Crises are everywhere!
13
Q
Definition of a problem
A
“A specific, unexpected, and non-routine event or series of events that create high levels of uncertainty and simultaneously present an organisation with both opportunities for and threats to its high-priority goals.” (Ulmer et al, 2012)
- triggers negative stakeholder reaction (Ulmer et al. 2012)
14
Q
Consequences of crisis
A
- Crises can produce an intense level of threat to the image/reputation of an organisation
- Crises can also be threatening enough to permanently destroy an organisation (Ulmer et al, 2012)
15
Q
Reputation
A
Reputation is dynamic i.e. not permanent – it can change constantly
The most important key to good reputation is how an organisation manages its relations with the society around it. Reputation management is therefore first and foremost taking care of stakeholder relations.
16
Q
It’s about perception
A
“Crises are largely perceptual. If stakeholders believe there is a crisis the organisation is in a crisis unless it can successfully persuade stakeholders it is not . . . How stakeholders view an event has ramifications for whether . . . that event becomes a crisis.” (Coombs, 2010)
17
Q
Reasons for anger
A
- have been hurt
- feel threatened by risks, not of their own making
- believe their fundamental beliefs are being challenged
- feel weak in the face of the more powerful
terrorism - feel they have not been treated fairly or with respect
- could be a strategic plan
- Anger may be rational/irrational
18
Q
Crisis stages (3 stages)
A
- Pre crisis
- Crisis
- Post crisis (Smith 1990)
- Trigger
- Occurrence
- Restoring (Richardson 1994)
19
Q
Crisis stages (5 stages)
A
- Signal detection
- Preparation/Prevention
- Containment/Damage limitation
- Recovery
- Learning
(Myers 1993)
(Fink 1996)
20
Q
Crisis stages (Jaques)
A
- Preparedness
- Prevention
- Incident management
- Post-crisis management
21
Q
Internal scanning
A
Identifying weaknesses that exist within the organisation e.g. safety, governance
22
Q
External scanning
A
Identifying potential threats that exist outside the organisation e.g. political, legal, social, technological changes; natural disasters . . .
23
Q
Classifying crises (Coombs 2006)
A
- Attacks on organisations e.g. product tampering
- When things go bad e.g. defective products
- When the organisation misbehaves e.g. misrepresents a financial product
24
Q
Sudden crises
A
A disruption to the organisation’s business, which occurs without warning and is likely to generate news coverage e.g. fire, explosion, natural disaster, workplace violence
25
Smouldering
Any serious business problem, not generally known within or outside of the company, which may generate negative news coverage if/when it goes “public”; could result in fines, penalties, legal damage awards, unbudgeted expenses, other costs e.g. sting operation or investigation by a news organisation or government agency; customer allegations of overcharging or other improper conduct; action by a disgruntled employee (such as serious threats or whistleblowing)
- Known about within the organisation
- But employees haven't felt confident about speaking up
- Establish a form of blame-free reporting
2012 – 39% sudden; 61% smouldering (2012 Annual ICM Crisis Report)
26
Origins of crises
Almost half of all crises begin at the management, leadership, and decision-maker level (CEO sexual harassment of/affair with an employee, false qualifications claim; payment of bribes)
27
Communication vs management
Crisis communication is not crisis management
Crisis management is a broad management initiative of which crisis communication is an important part
Crisis communication is a skill expected of public relations/communication professionals
Crisis management is a skill/commitment required of all senior managers
28
Activists and activism
Activism – Activists are “collections of individuals organised to exert pressure on an organisation on behalf of a cause” (Grunig)
Activists, also known as pressure groups, advocacy groups, activist groups, interest groups and citizen groups are formed when two or more people organise on behalf of a cause to exert pressure on an organisation to change the way it functions (Deegan)
Networks are forms of organisation characterised by voluntary, reciprocal, and horizontal patterns of communication and exchange - international activist networks e.g. human rights, environmental
29
Role of the internet/digital media
Key difference between traditional and digital media - proliferation of number of channels of communication and ability of most people to become information sources or providers
Traditional, centralised corporate media favour information subsidies from professional public relations practitioners and the corporations and other organisations they represent
Digital media in general, and social media in particular, favour activists
30
Traditional approaches to managing anger
Stonewalling (obstructing, delaying)
Whitewashing (minimising the effects of their actions, downplaying the public’s worries)
Creating smokescreens (casting doubt, verbiage designed to conceal the truth)
Blocking and blaming
False fronts (astroturfing)
War (threatening prosecution etc)
31
A better approach to PR
Mutual gains:
Acknowledge there are legitimate differences/concerns of the other side
Seek to understand them by entering into a dialogue in a neutral setting
Encourage joint fact-finding
Offer contingent commitments to minimise impacts if they do occur and promise to compensate knowable but unintended impacts
Accept responsibility, admit mistakes, share power
32
Why develop a crisis plan?
The crisis planning process is helpful in identifying strengths and vulnerabilities and building scenarios
Can help create a responsive mindset; helps reduce response time; helps create an efficient and organised response
Plans need to be reviewed regularly – getting this done may mean advocating it inside your organisation or with your client
33
Basic components of a crisis plan
Contact details for the CMT (Crisis Management Team)
Member responsibilities INCLUDING who is authorised to make public statements
Command room location/s
Response plans for specific crisis situations
Should not be overly long or cumbersome – bigger not always better, needs to be usable
Should include template media statements and organisational background information
34
Three key messages - first 48 hours
“We have a plan to deal with . . . ” You really need to have a plan.
“Our hearts go out to those . . . " You need to show compassion for those that have been killed, hurt or simply inconvenienced.
“We immediately began our own investigation to make sure that we . . . ” You need to commit to finding out what went wrong and taking the necessary steps to ensure that it doesn’t happen again.
35
Halos and shields
Value of pre-crisis reputation / reputational ‘capital’ – halo (benefit of the doubt), shield (from negative speculation)
36
Dealing with the media in a crisis
Choosing a media spokesperson may be the most important act in dealing with a crisis
- may or may not be CEO
- person sets tone for how crisis is handled
- must be perceived as knowledgeable and up to date on developments
- sole responsibility and authority
- may have one spokesperson for internal audiences and another for external publics
37
Media tips
Reply quickly to queries
If you don’t know the answer, say so and attempt to get it
Eliminate obstacles that reporters might encounter
Never ask to see a reporter's story
Use your name when providing information and allow yourself to be quoted by name
Never argue with a reporter about the value of a story
Any information that goes to one source should go to all
Never flatly refuse to provide information
Pass information along to reporters as soon as you get it
Be sure to point out positive aspects of the organisation even as it deals with crisis
38
Online and social media in disasters
People use social and online mediums to get information as it happens
Social media users try to do their part by forwarding information as it is happening
Incorrect information can spread like wildfire
Social media can help monitor and address issues in
disaster situations and recovery
Online information and social media conversations needs to be a part of a multiple mix of tools for recovery
39
Post-crisis concerns
Crises must still be monitored after they are resolved e.g. co-operating in continuing investigation or supplying necessary updated information to stakeholders
Crisis managers should evaluate their efforts (foundation of learning/improvement)
Need to review both the crisis management plan (CMP) and its execution and a review of the actual damage created by the crisis
40
Opportunity of a crisis
Crisis can be an opportunity for learning and change in the organisation
Companies that experience mostly failure outcomes in the crisis management process have not learned from past events
An optimum time to learn from a crisis is shortly after it has occurred – if you wait too long to extract lessons from a crisis, the sense of urgency to learn could wane
41
Image restoration (5 categories)
1. Deny - the the act occurred, that the firm performed the act, or that the act was harmful to anyone; shift the blame
2. Evade responsibility - claim a merely reasonable response to another's offensive act/provocation; allege a lack of information about or control over important elements of the situation; claim the offensive action occurred by accident; suggest the offensive behaviour was performed with good intentions
3. Reduce offensiveness - describe positive characteristics an organisation has or positive acts it has done in the past; try to minimise the negative feelings associated with the wrongful act/downplay the extent of the damage; distinguish the act from other similar but more offensive actions; attempt to place an act in a more favourable context; attack your accusers; compensation
4. Correcting action - company promises to correct the problem - restoring previous state of affairs and/or promises to prevent the recurrence of the offensive act
5. Mortification – confess and beg forgiveness
“An apology is marked by an organisation (or individual) accepting responsibility for the crisis and asking for forgiveness.” (Coombs and Holladay, 2008)
42
Case studies
Tylenol (best practice)
Exxon Valdez (dumb asses)
43
Risk
The chance of something happening that may have an impact on objectives
A traditional definition: Probability x magnitude
How likely is it to happen/ How bad if it happens?
44
Risk definition
A chance of something happening that could affect objectives (probability + impact) e.g. probability of toxic gas escaping and severity of the impact on people or the environment if it does
45
Hazard definition
A thing or condition with the potential to cause injury, damage or loss e.g. health, integrity of the physical environment (the cylinder of toxic gas)
46
Outrage definition
Public concern about a risk
47
Risk management
Risk management–systematic, ongoing process by which an organisation identifies and catalogues risks, assesses/prioritises; develops/implements programs to avoid risk or reduce negative impact; monitors for new/emerging risks
48
Risk communication
Interactive process of exchanging information and opinion among individuals, groups and institutions, involving multiple messages (what it is and is not!)
49
Framing
Governments, scientists and the general public select certain types of problems to label as risk problems (framing)
Social Amplification of Risk framework (SARF)
Media Amplification of Risk – mechanism by which forces in society tell us what is risky; what to worry about
50
Risk theories
Risk perception (belief about vs actual nature of risk)
Mental noise (stress makes it difficult to process information)
Negative dominance (stress causes people to think negatively)
Trust (important in determining how people perceive risk)
51
Why aren't all risks accepted equally?
People tend to view a risk as greater and are less accepting if, for example, the risk is:
- Industrial, “unnatural”, involuntary, imposed, and unfamiliar and new; consequences are catastrophic or irreversible
- If the perpetrators have a bad track record and are not trusted
- If it is considered morally wrong
- If there are no benefits (or benefits do not outweigh the risks) and it is deemed to be unfair
52
Experts and publics...
define risk differently
53
Seven cardinal rules (Covello & Allen)
- Accept and involve the public as a legitimate partner
- Plan carefully and evaluate efforts
- Listen to public’s specific concerns
- Be frank and honest
- Coordinate and collaborate with other credible sources
- Meet the needs of the media
- Speak clearly and with compassion
54
Outrage (Sandman)
Risk = hazard + outrage
where hazard = environmental, food
safety and other “technical” issues
and outrage = public concern
High outrage = high risk
Mitigation strategies e.g. staking out the middle ground, sharing control, acknowledging/apologising for prior misbehaviour/errors in judgement
55
Goals of risk communication
Build trust and credibility
Produce an informed audience
Produce a citizenry that has knowledge/power to assess its own risk rationally
Help stakeholders understand rationale for a risk-based decision
Not an attempt to persuade
56
Strategies
Finding a common denominator (even if debate is technical, underlying conflict is about trust)
Ensuring program has senior management support
Considering different needs of different audiences
Encouraging/listening to feedback
Simplifying messages; not assuming technical knowledge
57
Complexity
Complexity – difficulty in identifying and quantifying causal links
58
Uncertainty
Uncertainty – reduces the strength of confidence in the estimated cause and effect chain
59
Ambiguity
Ambiguity – variability of legitimate interpretations based on identical observations or data assessments
60
Awareness tools
- Data visualisation
- Videos
- Citizen recognition
- Community profile
- Mailing list
- Spokesperson
- Telephone
- Message map
61
Knowledge tools
- Workshops
- Technical assistance
- Exhibits
- Informal activities
- Internet
- Public notices
