This document provides an overview of issue management, crisis management, and reputation repair. It discusses identifying issues through environmental scanning, managing issues through their life cycle of potential, emerging, crisis, and dormant stages. Crisis management involves dealing with unexpected events that threaten an organization. When a crisis hits, options for reputation repair include denial, reducing blame, apologizing, and taking corrective action. The document uses the example of Mobil Oil's editorial advocacy campaign as a case study of effective issue management.

1. DAMAGE CONTROL
How to monitor issues, manage crises and
rebuild your company‘s reputation.
By Zach Burton and Rodger D. Johnson
Department of Communication Studies
IUPUI

2. Issue Management
Overview
• Issue Identification
• Environmental scanning.
• Identify issues and trends as potential roadblock to an
organization‘s business plan and goals.
• Conduct a vulnerability analysis.
• Planning.
• Communicating.
• Issue Life Cycle
• Potential
• Emerging
• Crisis
• Dormant

3. Definitions
• Issue Management
• The systematic management of trends that may affect
your organization.
• Crisis Management
• The systematic management of metastasized issues
that will fundamentally change your organization.
• Emergency Management
• The systematic management of an issue that will not
affect a fundamental change in your organization‘s
operations.

4. Issue Management
Case Study: Mobil Oil‘s Editorial-Advocacy Campaign

5. Issue Management
• What‘s an issue?
• Any environmental thing that could impact your
organization.
• Issues that affect organizations can represent a gap
between practice and stakeholder expectations.

6. Issue‘s ―Life Cycle‖
• Potential
• Organization attaches significance to perceived
problem.
• Political/Regulatory.
• Economic.
• Social trend.
• Emerging
• Lines drawn in the sand.
• Organizations use proactive media strategy to manage
issue in the marketplace of ideas.

7. Issue ―Life Cycle‖
• Crisis
• Positions solidify; groups seek resolution.
• Pushed into public policy arena.
• Clear and present public scrutiny and media attention
intensifies.
• Resolutions
• Clear ―winners‖ and ―losers.‖
• Organization accepts the ―current‖ status of issue
resolved.
• Issue goes ―dormant‖ until the next trigger and flash
point ignites it again.

8. Issue Management
Case Study: Mobil Oil‘s Editorial-Advocacy Campaign

9. Editorial-Advocacy
Campaign
• Classic issue management.
• Focused almost exclusively on efforts to influence political and social
outcomes.
• Many, but not all, editorials focused on petroleum and other energy
matters.
• Ad Forum called Mobil ―the leading practitioner in ‗issue‘ or ‗advocacy‘
advertising.‖
• Fortune magazine called Mobil ―the champ of advocacy advertising.‖
• Mobile engaged public conversation
• Responded to criticisms of its motives.
• Called voters to turn Carter out of the White House.
• Promoted energy crisis could have been elevated with ―strong and wise
political leadership.‖
• Referred to Ronald Reagan
• Neo—conservative leadership

10. Editorial-Advocacy
Campaign
• Promote interests that went far beyond its immediate business
objectives.
• Robert Heath called it the ―feistiest‖ advocacy campaign to date.
• There is a season and time for every purpose.
• Siege economy in America.
• Deep recession
• Energy shortage
• Rising fuel prices
• Double-digit inflation
• Crumbling industries
• Mobil used The New York Times Op-Ed pages, weighed in on the
issues.
• Classic issue management.

11. Action Plans
Planning suggestions for issue management and engaging the
marketplace of ideas.

12. Action Plan
• Research
• Environmental scanning.
• Gather intelligence and analyze.
• Draft background briefing material.
• Identify groups and opinion leaders who can advance your position.
• Identify desired behaviors and outcomes.
• How do you want the stakeholders and public to think about and react to
the key issues?
• Plan
• Create issue database.
• Conduct vulnerability analysis.
• Draft background briefing material.
• Media relationship management.

13. Action Plan
• Execute
• Deploy resources to engage issue.
• Disseminate messages to create desired effect.
• Explain and defend the organization publicly.
• Establish contacts with key stakeholders.
• Build rapport with key groups.
• Government
• Regulatory.
• Media
• Strategic publics.
• Assure excellent inward and outward information flow.
• (Everyone should be on the same page.)
• Evaluate

14. Crisis Management
Damage Control

15. Crisis Management
• What to expect in a crisis.
• Surprise.
• Insufficient information.
• Escalating flow of events.
• Loss of control.
• Increasing scrutiny.
• Public
• Governmental
• Media
• Threatens the organization‘s reputation and how it does
business.
• Challenges human, physical and financial resources.

16. Crisis Management
• Four elements.
• Trigger – unexpected event.
• Treat – human lives, property, natural
environment, etc.
• Uncontrolled situation – beyond the control of
organization‘s ―normal‖ management team.
• Urgent
• ―You can‘t wait until next week to deal with this.‖
• Fred Bagg, St. Francis Hospital.

17. Image Repair
Where do we go from here?

18. Image Repair
• Denial
• Did not do it.
• Events caused by someone (thing) other than
organization.
• Evasion of Responsibility
• Provocation – responded to an act of another.
• Defeasibility – lack of information or ability.
• Accident – act was a mishap.
• Good intentions – meant well, but.

19. Image Repair
• Reducing effectiveness of event.
• Bolstering – stress positive attributes.
• Minimization – act not serious.
• Differentiation – act less offensive.
• Transcendence – more important considerations.
• Attack accuser – reduces credibility of accuser.
• Compensation – reimburse victim.
• Corrective action – plan to solve and prevent
problem in the future.
• Mortification – apologize.

20. Your PR Guy
For more information:
Your PR Guy
Rodger D. Johnson, MA
(317) 908-5850
www.yourprguy.com