Comprehension

Refer closely to Text 1 and answer the questions:

1. When was the idea of issues management introduced?

2. Why is issues management considered a part of public relations?

3. Who is the pioneer of issues management? What is his contribution to issues management?

4. What key steps do issues management practitioners take?

5. What are the goals of issues management?

6. How does issues management help organizations?

Vocabulary

1. Find in Text 1 English equivalents for the following Russian words and phrases:

в свою очередь; возможное влияние; избирать; землетрясение; подозрение; предпринимать шаги; оценивать; ослабить воздействие.

2. Give Russian equivalents for the following words and phrases:

public policy; formation process; proactive strategy; to take a dive; to enact legislation; to be on verge; business survival; to rename; to respond; to environmental changes.

3. Match up the words on the left with the definitions on the right:

chairman	subject or problem to be talked about, argued about, or decided.
forecasting	one of a number of courses of action that are possible and may be chosen.
issue	money lent to a company, on which interest is paid.
impact	an action done to avoid possible danger, discomfort etc.
option	the person who is head of a large organization or company.
precaution	an especially strong or powerful influence caused by an idea, invention, event etc.
priority	something that heeds attention, consideration, service etc, before others.
stock	saying with the help of some kind of knowedge what is going to happen at some future time.

Text Discussion

1. Discuss the importance of issues management for organizations, give examples.

2. Comment on the following:

“Manage the issues before the issues manage you”.

Over to you

Read some practical advice for issues management practitioners given in Text 1A. Then discuss it in small groups.

Text 1A

What Is Your Role?

What is required of successful and effective issues managers? How can you help your organization?

First, be prepared, and position yourself to recognize significant trends. You must listen, read and think. Read The Futurist, published by the World Future Society. Read trade and business journals. Listen to business leaders. Listen to economists and futurists. Think about how you can meet and address the challenges of tomorrow.

Be on a constant lookout for trends. Learn to differentiate long-term trends from short-term fads. Brainstorm with your colleagues. Look for both short- and long-term solutions to problems. Anticipate the future and prepare for eventualities.

Do a formal analysis of the situation. Prepare focus statements that describe your thoughts. Estimate the psychological, sociological and financial effects of the anticipated changes. Identify the people and organizations who will be affected by the issue, and set your priorities accordingly

Determine your organization’s position and make an action recommendation to management, based on your best information. Remember that the recommendation(s) must benefit (probably in this order) your organization, its stakeholders and the public good.

Study, identify and create a data base of specific publics and thought-leaders who will support you. Look long and hard for decision-makers and likely supporters. Determine which groups are most amenable to targeted communication. And don’t forget to identify and list likely detractors; you’ll want to know who they are, and where their "hot buttons" are.

All effective public relations is behavioral. You are trying to elicit a specific and measurable action from your target publics. It is therefore incumbent upon you not to forget to determine what do you want your audiences to do. What specific action do you want them to take? How can they express – through individual or group action – their support for you? This is key.

Opportunities are presented every hour of every day. The successful issues managers are those who have the ability to step outside of the accepted paradigms, who can forecast trends, who can determine what effect(s) the trends will have on their organization, and who can change the organization’s practices to take advantage of the impending changes.