Informasjon og Samfunnskontakt

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Informasjon og Samfunnskontakt

• Stakeholders
• Issues Management
• Environmental Scanning
• 21 February 2001

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EXTERNAL LINKAGES OF AN ORGANIZATION
Stockholders Government Regulators Boards of
Director Community Leaders
ENABLING
Employees Unions Suppliers
INPUT
Associations Political Groups Professional
Societies
NORMATIVE LINKAGES
Organization
FUNCTIONAL LINKAGES
Consumers Industrial Purchasers Users of
Service
OUTPUT
DIFFUSED
Environmentalists Community Residents Voters
Media Minorities Women Other Publics
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Four Key Linkages

• Enabling Linkages
• Functional Linkages
• Input linkages
• Output linkages
• Normative Linkages
• Diffused Linkages

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Enabling Linkage

• Organization could not exist without this linkage
• Authorities
• Shareholders
• Legal System

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Functional Linkage

• Linkage that give input and take output
• Input Linkage
• Employees
• Unions
• Suppliers
• Output Linkages
• Customers
• Other organizations
• Individual consumers

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Normative Linkage

• Organizations that have common problems or
  similar values
• Membership organizations
• Professional groups
• Associations

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Diffused Linkage

• Elements in society that are not clearly
  identified as a formal member of organization
• Environmentalists
• Community Residents
• Media
• Other Publics

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Identifying Organizations Linkages to
Stakeholders

• Who are organizations stakeholders?
• No general group, but identified by common
  problem
• Vary from case to case
• Dependent on what organization does and how other
  individuals and organizations react to
  organizations behavior
• Key What consequences of organizations
  activities will have on its stakeholders and how
  do these consequences affect each other?

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Job of PR

• Decide how activities link to others --
  individuals or organizations
• Find groups, define exact nature of
  opportunity/problem and select PR solution

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Degree of Involvement High Low Type
of Public Type of Public
Problem-facing behavior high understanding of
problem low constraint Constrained behavior
high understanding of problem high
constraint Routine behavior low problem
understanding constraint recognition Fatalistic
behavior low problem understanding high
constraint
Active Aware/Active
Aware/Active Latent/Active
Active None/Latent (Reinforcing)

Latent None
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Uncovering Key Publics

• Purpose
• To identify those individuals or organizations
  that will be affected by the decision or solution
  arrived at by the group and who have the power to
  prevent its implementation.
• Reference
• Stakeholders of the Organizational Mind, I.I.
  Mitroff

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Issues Management
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BUSINESS FIRM AS AN ECONOMIC INSTITUTION

• Little acknowledgement of external environment
• Produce goods
• Provide employment
• Pay dividends
• Success measured in economic terms

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BUSINESS AS SOCIO-POLITICAL INSTITUTION

• 1960s - economic growth producing detrimental
  side effects
• Emphasis on protecting human health, not
  environment per se

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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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Corporate Response to Public Issues

• Reactive - Fight Change
• Accommodative - Adapt to Change
• Proactive - Influence Change
• Interactive - Adjust to and Influence Change

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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

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Location of IM Programs

• Public/Government Affairs
• Corporate Planning
• Corporate Communications
• Issues Management

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Broad Categories of Issues

• Financial
• Operational
• Employee Relations/Conditions
• Communications/Customer Relations
• Community Relations

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Four Types of Issues
Type
Example

• 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.

• 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

P.N. Reeves, Issues management The other side
of strategic planning, Hospital Health
Services Administration 38(2), Summer 1993
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Issues Management ProcessThe Chase-Jones Model
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STRATEGIC ISSUES MANAGEMENT (SIM)

• Process Whereby a Corporation Enhances its
  Capacity to Adapt
• Varies According to Types of Issues and Scope of
  Activities
• Internal and External Issues
• Provides Executives With Powerful Planning and
  Control Capability

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The SIM Process

• Identify Issues/Environmental Scanning
• Analyze Issues
• Set Priorities
• Select Strategic Options
• Implement a Program of Action and Communication
• Evaluate Effectiveness

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The Clarity - Priority Matrix
High
Issue Priority
Low
Clear
Fuzzy
Issue Clarity
J.C. Camillus and D.K. Datta, Managing strategic
issues in a turbulent environment, Long Range
Planning 24, April 1991
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The Public Issues Life Cycle
Education reform Global warming Day care Shorter
work week Comparable worth Road congestion
Groundwater protection Acid rain Clean Air
Act Amendments Energy taxes Health care
reform Hazardous waste treatment
Effectiveness of Integrated Planning
Emission standards Environmental permits Gas
guzzler taxes Product recalls Plant
inspections/fines Fuel economy standards
Environmental Protection Agency Motor Vehicle
Safety and Health Admin. Energy Policy and
Conservation Act Safety belt use laws
Social Expectation
Political
Legislative
Social Control
T.G. Marx,Strategic planning for public
affairs, Long Range Planning, 23(1), 1990.
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Evolutionary Phases...

• Integrated Planning Systems
• Communications
• Monitoring
• Incentives

Thorough environmental analysis Strategic
relations with external constituencies Propose
solutions Social Expectations stage

• Well defined strategic framework
• Coherent reinforcing management practices
• Negotiations of objectives
• Progress review
• Incentives
• Supportive value system and climate

Thorough situation analysis and competitive
assessments Evaluation of strategic alternatives
Environmental scanning Manage solutions Political
stage
Effectiveness of Decision Making
Increasing
Maintain status quo Legislative/Social
Control stage
Multiyear Budgets Gap Analysis
Business Planning
Annual Budgets
Business Planning
Financial Planning
Forecast-based Planning
Externally Oriented Planning
Strategic Business Management
P A Mgmt
Strategic Public Affairs Management
Reactive
Pro-Active
Inter-Active
T.G. Marx,Strategic planning for public
affairs, Long Range Planning, 23(1), 1990.
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IM Payoffs ...

• Competitive Advantages
• Changes in Corporate Behavior
• Avoidance of Serious Mistakes
• Ability to Detect Issues and Develop Corporate
  Responses While in Emerging State
• Enhancement of Firms Credibility
• Reduced Vulnerability to the Slings and Arrows
  of Outrageous Fortune

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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 coping with external
  competitive, social, economic and technical
  issues that may be difficult to observe or
  diagnose but that cannot be ignored and will not
  go away.

J. D. Stoffels
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Added value of scanning

• Promotes education and mind-stretching
  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 companys
  operations properly assessed?
• Is environmental intelligence integrated into
  strategic planning Operation?

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Four Reasons for Scanning

• Industrial Evolution
• Speed of Change and Increasing Complexity
• Evolution in Planning Methodology
• Asymmetry of Environmental Impacts

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Environmental Scanning Dimensions
Operational
Governments Economies Control Productivity Capacit
y Resources
Governments Economies Capital Markets Money
Markets
Competitive
Governments Economies Industries Markets Products
Financial
Applied Developed Emerging In Process Conceptualiz
ed Boundaries of Knowledge Governments
Society Shareholders Customers Suppliers Community
Employees Governments
Stakeholders
Technological
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Approaches to Scanning

• Scientific -- social scientific measures of
  stakeholders to determine whats 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
Business-related Bankers Customers
Suppliers Consultants Unrelated Regular
associations Friend Professional
peers Periodic encounters Adjoining seat
occupant Neighbor
Media-related Sources General Business
Financial Trade Technical/Academic Other
Sources Purchased research reports Technical
conferences Trade shows Educational seminars
Direct observation
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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
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Ranking of Sources of Environmental Information

• Rank Source Pct. Ranking 1st/2nd
• 1 Daily Newspapers 91
• 2 Expert Organizations 59
• Publications (Conferences
• Board, etc..)
• 3 Business Periodicals 52
• 4 Futures Consultants 42
• and Forecasters
• 5 Government Publications 42
• 6 Seminars and Conferences 30

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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.