PART TWO: RELATED STUDIES

Rey L. Selibio Jr. BSIT 4-1

Project Issue Management Issues versus Risks Issues and risks are not quite the same thing. However, the exact nature of both is largely unknown before you begin. With risks, you usually have a general idea in advance that there's a cause for concern. An issue tends to be less predictable; it can arise with no warning. For example, being unable to find qualified staff is an identifiable risk. However, when one of your staff is in a car accident, and hospitalized for three weeks, that becomes an issue. Issues Log Issues otherwise known as problems, gaps, inconsistencies, or conflicts need to be recorded when they happen. When you create an issues log, you provide a tool for reporting and communicating what's happening with the project. This makes sure that issues are indeed raised, and then investigated and resolved quickly and effectively. Without a defined process, you risk ignoring issues, or not taking them seriously enough until it's too late to deal with them successfully. An issues log allows you to do the following: Have a safe and reliable method for the team to raise issues. Track and assign responsibility to specific people for each issue. Analyze and prioritize issues more easily. Record issue resolution for future reference and project learning. Monitor overall project health and status.

You can create an issues log by hand, build your own spreadsheet or database, or buy issue management software from a wide variety of vendors. Alternatively, you can use our free Issue Management Log. You can include following information in an issues log:

Issue type Define the categories of issues that you're likely to encounter. This helps you track issues and assign the right people to resolve them. You could have broad descriptions like these:

Technical Relating to a technological problem in the project. Business process Relating to the project's design. Change management Relating to business, customer, or environmental changes. Resource Relating to equipment, material, or people problems. Third party Relating to issues with vendors, suppliers, or another outside party. Identifier Record who discovered the issue. Timing Indicate when the issue was identified. Description Provide details about what happened, and the potential impact. If the issue remains unresolved, identify which parts of the project will be affected. Priority Assign a priority rating to the issue. Here's an example: High priority A critical issue that will have a high impact on project success, and has the potential to stop the project completely. Medium priority An issue that will have a noticeable impact, but won't stop the project from proceeding. Low priority An issue that doesn't affect activities on the critical path, and probably won't have much impact if it's resolved at some point. Assignment/owner Determine who is responsible for resolving the issue. This person may or may not actually implement a solution. However, he or she is responsible for tracking it, and ensuring that it's dealt with according to its priority.

Target resolution date Determine the deadline for resolving the issue. Status Track the progress of the resolution with a clear label identifying the issue's overall status. Here's an example:

Open The issue has been identified, but no action has yet been taken. Investigating The issue, and possible solutions, are being investigated. Implementing The issue resolution is in process. Escalated The issue has been raised to management or the projects sponsor/steering committee, and directions or approval of a solution is pending.

Resolved The resolution has been implemented, and the issue is closed.

Action/resolution description Describe the status of the issue and what has been done to find and implement a resolution. Include the dates of each action. Here's an example:

January 5 Assigned issue to Samantha. January 7 Testing started to identify origin of problem. January 8 Solution suggested, and sent to steering committee for approval. January 10 Approval received. Assigned implementation to Gregory. January 14 Solution successful. Issue resolved. Final resolution Include a brief description of what was done to address the issue.

Issues Management Framework Supplement your issues log with a framework, or process, for dealing with those issues. This framework helps the project team understand what to do with issues once they've been identified and logged. Developing the framework answers questions like these:

How will you assign responsibility for resolving the issue? For example, is there one person who handles all technical issues? Who would handle a vendor issue?

How will you know when to escalate an issue to management or the steering committee? You may want to create a matrix of potential business impact versus issue complexity to help you decide which issues should be taken to higher levels of management.

Which criteria will determine an issue's priority status? Who will set the target resolution date? How will issues be communicated within the team? Will you use regular meetings; log checks, status update emails, and so on?

How will you identify different issues if several occur during one project? It is helpful to number them so that you can identify issues easily when discussing them in progress meetings.

If change orders are needed, how will those be handled? When the resolution affects the budget or schedule, what will the update process be, and who will be responsible?

One of the key challenges of issues management is to resolve the problem quickly and then move on, with as little impact to the project as possible. The framework provides a structure for making decisions when issues arise. Remember to consider your team's needs as you develop the framework.

Issue Management Background Project issues must be identified, managed and resolved throughout the project in order for the project to be successful. Issue management plays an important role in maintaining project stability and efficiency throughout the project lifecycle. It addresses obstacles that can hinder project success and/or block the project team from achieving its goals. These obstacles can include such factors as differences of opinion, situations to be investigated, emerging or unanticipated responsibilities. The purpose of issue management is to identify and document these issues and to resolve them by reviewing and carefully considering all relevant information. Overview Unresolved issues can be a source of conflict that delays or prevents the project team from attaining project goals, milestones, and deliverables. It is the responsibility of the project manager to effectively manage and monitor issues on a regular basis, follow up with issue owners to ensure progress is being made towards resolution, and to report on the status of issues. In addition to overcoming obstacles to success, effective issue management also contributes to having constructive working relationships among the project stakeholders, including the project team. Issues vs. Risks There is often confusion between Issue Management and Risk Management and how the activities of each interface and interact with each other. According to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK):

A risk is an uncertain event or condition that, if it occurs, has a positive or negative impact on a project's objectives.

An issue is a point or matter in question or in dispute, or a point or matter that is not settled and is under discussion or over which there are opposing views or disagreements. Often project issues are first identified as a risk and through the risk management planning process may already have a planned approach to managing the issue.

Project risk management includes the processes for conducting risk management planning, identification, analysis, responses, and monitoring and control of a project. The objectives of project risk management are to increase the probability and impact of positive events and decrease the probability and impact of events adverse to project objectives. Project issue management includes utilizing the outputs from the project risk management planning if the issue was identified as a risk during the risk planning processes. As issues arise during the course of managing a project and a project team, an issue log is commonly used to document these issues. This log includes a description of the issue, the assignment of each issue to one or more individuals for resolution, a target date by which the issue needs to be resolved, and other related information. The log helps the project team monitor and control issues until closure is reached. Requirements In general, all projects, regardless of type or size, should have an issue tracking system or log where issues are regularly managed and monitored on a regular basis by the project manager. As issues are identified and resolved, the issue log provides historical documentation of concerns that have been addressed throughout the project life cycle.

Best Practice

Escalation Process An issue escalation process should be determined as a part of the overall issue management planning activities and should be documented.

Documentation All issues, regardless of how minor they seem, should be centrally documented using some type of issue tracking system or log. An issue log template is provided at the end of this guide for use in the absence of something more sophisticated.

Minimum Requirements - Tools used to manage issues should contain (at a minimum) a unique identification number, priority, issue description, impact summary, action steps, current status, and issue owner.

Resolution Statement - Issues should be stated in such a way that it is clear how they can be resolved. Example: Instead of The project needs resources, use The project requires two mid-level Java developers before the first week of January to meet the project delivery date in April.

Prioritization - Issues should be prioritized, assigned specific owners, with next steps and due dates documented. Issue ownership should be communicated clearly to those responsible for action items.

80/20 Rule - Be mindful of the 80/20 rule, which says that 80% of the project impact will come from approximately 20% of the documented issues. Concentrate the majority of mitigation efforts on issues that pose the greatest potential threat to project success.

Regular Review - Regular review of issues and the issue log is a highly recommended practice. The review process should occur daily for complex projects and at least weekly for simple projects. Open issues should be reviewed at each project team status meeting and progress made on the issues should be recorded in the issue log.

Issue History - Closed issues should remain in the issue log as a historical record and to facilitate lessons learned activities.

Practice Activities

Review Issues - Regularly review (at least weekly for a simple project; perhaps daily for a complex project) existing project issues and identify new ones.

Issue Log - Establish and maintain an issue log. Instructions for using the issue log should be provided within the template.

Resolve Issues - Work towards issue resolution, maintaining close collaboration with stakeholders.

Regular Updates - Regularly update (at least weekly for a simple project; perhaps daily for a complex project) the issue log with current information.

Communicate - Regularly communicate (at least weekly for a simple project; perhaps daily for a complex project) with stakeholders about the status of open issues.

Once an issue has been resolved, an official communication should be sent to stakeholders communicating how the issue was resolved.

Documentation - When an issue is resolved, record the resolution in the issue log. Instructions for recording issue resolution should be provided within the issue log template.

Escalation - If an issue remains unresolved for a lengthy period of time (we may want to specify a time range here), the issue should be escalated using the agreed upon escalation procedure.

Lessons Learned - The issue log should be reviewed at the end of the project in a timely fashion so that lessons learned, can be documented and included in the project's lessons learned analysis.

Event Studies in Management Research: Theoretical and Empirical Issues We examined the use of event studies in management research and found that there was inadequate attention paid to theoretical and research design issues. This lack

of attention may lead to false inferences regarding the significance of the events and the validity of the theories being tested. To illustrate the extent of this problem, we attempted to replicate three recent studies. To guide authors and reviewers, we out-line procedures for appropriate use of the event study method.

Manage project risks and issues Your project is humming along, and things are getting done. Then suddenly, an unanticipated product design issue comes up. As the project manager, you assess the issue as having no short-term scheduling effect, and you delegate resolution of the issue to a project team member. Unfortunately, the project team member thought that you were driving resolution of the issue. Before you know it, the project is late because your team didn't address the design issue in time. Management of project risks and issues is one of the most critical yet easily overlooked aspects of successful project management. Risks and issues can quickly derail plans and divert focus from important project activities. Unfortunately, there's no avoiding risks and issues, and so it pays to have a plan to minimize their effects. Managing risks Have you ever created a project plan and documented assumptions that need to be true in order for the project to be successful? Assumptions are relied-upon, specific outcomes for particular issues. Because you're relying on a specific outcome, the assumption presents a risk to the project if the outcome is different. For example, you assume that customers will be available for a minimum of 20 hours per week throughout the project. Because you've made this assumption, you're relying on the customers to be available, to avoid delays in the project schedule. Therefore, this assumption entails a project risk that needs to be managed. Project risks have the following attributes:

They're generally known at the beginning of the project. They can exist at a specific point in the project, or they can persist throughout the life of the project.

They can materially affect the outcome of the project if they become reality. There's a reasonable likelihood that they could become reality. Risks are extraordinary to what normally would be managed on a project.

A sound method of identifying project risks is to look at your assumptions. Assess risks based on three factors:

Materiality Likelihood Extraordinariness

When defining risks, try to limit you to the top six to eight things that:

Can seriously hurt the project if they were to occur. Have a likelihood of occurring. Are extraordinary to normal project management. As an example, if you're implementing a new technology as part of a project, you

would make the technology a project risk because there's likelihood that it could fail and seriously hurt the project. But you wouldn't define as a risk something like "activities must be completed on time" because, although this is material and likely, it's not extraordinary. Implement mitigation strategies for risks After you define the top project risks, your next step is to put mitigation strategies in place. To continue with the example of implementing a new technology, a mitigation strategy might include conducting stress and acceptance testing at the beginning of the project to ensure that the technology is able to perform under expected volumes.

By defining mitigation strategies for each risk, you outline how to head off risk and manage potential issues. Managing issues Similar to risks, issues are problems that occur during a project. If an issue isn't managed, it can materially affect the successful completion of a project. Where issues differ from risks, however, is that they generally don't persist throughout the project, and they may not be known at the outset of a project. Your issue list will not be persistent, as your risk list will be; issues will open and close as they're identified and resolved. What's important in identifying and managing issues is this: Issues must be material to successful project completion. For example, an issue exists if the project sponsor needs to make a policy decision as a precursor to a key design point that you're completing. There's materiality because the policy change directly affects the design and may have a widespread effect on the organization. In addition, you may have an issue on your hands if the owner of a work item is unable or unwilling to drive resolution of the item. In this situation, the project manager may escalate the issue to the project sponsor or a steering committee for resolution.

Issue Management Metricstream Managing issues such as non-conformance, exceptions, loss-events, and process deviations is one of the central functions of an organization's quality, compliance, and risk management units. Relying on stand-alone point solutions or paper-based processes to manage issues is ineffective, as they fail to address systemic problems due to a lack of broad enterprise reach and visibility. To successfully handle issues, managers need powerful automation and collaboration tools that span departments. Issue & Tracking Management Software Solution MetricStream Issue Management Solution enables companies to establish and follow consistent procedures for issue capture, loss event tracking, task management, and status reporting. The solution supports the identification and evaluation of issues as well

as case investigation and tracking, and remediation or corrective action. Powerful analytics along with an issue tracking and reporting functionality give managers complete and real-time visibility into the quality and compliance system, and provide critical information for reducing the risk of non-compliance. The system also supports regulatory reporting and submission with decision trees that identify reportable events. Benefits of the Solution

Accelerates issue recording, review, and approval cycles as incidents automatically move from one stage to the next Reduces repeat occurrence with consistent and closed-loop investigation, remedial, and corrective action Improves communication and teamwork on exception cases across departments and functional areas Provides enterprise-wide visibility into the status of issues, incidents, and tracking metrics

Issue Management Dow Jones Business success hinges on issue management Competitiveness in business depends a great deal on issue management. An issue is the difference between the actions of a company and the expectations of its stakeholders. For example, a change in product quality may defy the expectations of customers. Failure to respond to market opportunities may not meet the expectations of shareholders; or changes to personnel policies may create problems with employee morale. Successful issue management depends on addressing concerns, such as credit risk management before they become full blown problems. Dow Jones provides tools to help enterprise management better deal with scenarios of this kind. Dow Jones's solutions make issue management cost-effective Management of significant business issues requires that enterprises constantly stay aware of developments and trends throughout the marketplace, as well as within the company. As a leading provider of essential business newsand information, Dow Jones's products and services can cost-effectively enable enterprises to collect, process and deliver the kind of business intelligence required for effective issue management. Dow Jones gives companies access to a vast collection of business and news information from more than 28,000 sources in 23 languages as well as blogs, message boards and more than 15.000 influential websites, and streamlines the delivery of intelligence and news to meet the needs of individuals, divisions and the company as a whole. But it's Dow Jones'smedia intelligence products that can really zero in on trends that may signal problems to address. Management of complicated issues made simple

The first step in effective issue management, of course, is identifying potential problems, and that's where Dow Jones Insight products can make a difference. Dow Jones Insight is a suite of products for developing media intelligence and managing corporate reputation. Combining advanced research methodologies with text miningcapabilities and accessing a deep archive of trusted content, Dow Jones Insight products help companies identify media trends, measure communications effectiveness and monitor perception of the company within a variety of audiences. Dow Jones Insight products make the management of potential issues easier by communicating findings through rich visualizations, making it possible to quickly identify hot spots. With Dow Jones Insight products, enterprises can more easily head off problems before they create damage. Issue Management Zoho Project

Issue Management, Bug Tracking Software Issues, bugs, defects and faults are an unavoidable part of any undertaking be it a high level software development project spanning several months or a short term collaborative effort for a group event spanning days; because to err is human. How these issues and bugs are tracked, followed and fixed makes all the difference between a great job and an ordinary job. And great jobs are the ones that are recognized and valued. The process of exclusively handling these issues or bugs in any project is called Issue management or Bug tracking in software development terms, with bugs and issues used alternatively these days. Issue Management Elizabeth Dougall, Ph.D. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Dr. Dougalls article contains definitions, concepts, tips and insights on what research teaches us about issues management. As the paper explores selected concepts from contemporary business and communication scholars, readers are encouraged to post comments and to click on the links to the authors original sources.

Issues management is a seductive concept. For those who are talented and tenacious enough to make their careers in public relations, the idea of managing contentious issuestaming them, bringing them to heel and making them do our biddingis illusory, but utterly compelling. For those who have battled for the legitimacy of public relations as a management function, the credibility and senior management access issues management can deliver is something that communication professionals may find only in the midst of crises. A 2007 survey of CEOs revealed their expectation that communications chiefs be equipped to see around corners and anticipate how different audiences will react to different events, messages and channels (The Authentic Enterprise, 2007, p. 44).

Issues management is all about facilitating communication leadership in organizations. In fact, the USC Annenberg 2007 GAP V survey of senior public relations practitioners revealed that those with direct budgetary responsibility for issues management (42 percent) were more likely to report higher levels of C-suite support, effective working relationships with other departments, larger budgets, and more access to resources for research, evaluation and strategic implementation. So emphatic was the relationship between issues management and key indicators of effective practice, the authors added establishing an issues management strategy to the list of 13 best practices for public relations.

This journey begins in Module 1 with important definitions, concepts, tips and insights for those looking for an overview of discipline. Module 2 provides a brief overview of the origins of the discipline and Module 3 explores selected concepts from contemporary scholars of business and communication strategy. Dr. Dougalls article contains definitions, concepts, tips and insights on what research teaches us about issues management. As the paper explores selected concepts from

contemporary business and communication scholars, readers are encouraged to post comments and to click on the links to the authors original sources.

Issues management is a seductive concept. For those who are talented and tenacious enough to make their careers in public relations, the idea of managing contentious issuestaming them, bringing them to heel and making them do our biddingis illusory, but utterly compelling. For those who have battled for the legitimacy of public relations as a management function, the credibility and senior management access issues management can deliver is something that communication professionals may find only in the midst of crises. A 2007 survey of CEOs revealed their expectation that communications chiefs be equipped to see around corners and anticipate how different audiences will react to different events, messages and channels (The Authentic Enterprise, 2007, p. 44).

Issues management is all about facilitating communication leadership in organizations. In fact, the USC Annenberg 2007 GAP V survey of senior public relations practitioners revealed that those with direct budgetary responsibility for issues management (42 percent) were more likely to report higher levels of C-suite support, effective working relationships with other departments, larger budgets, and more access to resources for research, evaluation and strategic implementation. So emphatic was the relationship between issues management and key indicators of effective practice, the authors added establishing an issues management strategy to the list of 13 best practices for public relations.

This journey begins in Module 1 with important definitions, concepts, tips and insights for those looking for an overview of discipline. Module 2 provides a brief overview of the

origins of the discipline and Module 3 explores selected concepts from contemporary scholars of business and communication strategy.

Module 1The Practice of Issues Management Issues management defined Issues management is an anticipatory, strategic management process that helps organizations detect and respond appropriately to emerging trends or changes in the socio-political environment. These trends or changes may then crystallize into an issue, which is a situation that evokes the attention and concern of influential organizational publics and stakeholders. At its best, issues management is stewardship for building, maintaining and repairing relationships with stakeholders and stakeseekers (Heath, 2002).

Organizations engage in issues management if decision-makers are actively looking for, anticipating, and responding to shifting stakeholder expectations and perceptions likely to have important consequences for the organization. Such responses may be operational and immediately visible, such as McDonalds anticipatory move from plastic to paper packaging in 1990. Other common strategic responses are direct, behind-thescenes negotiations with lawmakers and bureaucrats, and proactive campaigns using paid and earned media to influence how issues are framed. Pro-life (e.g. National Right to Life) and pro-choice organizations (e.g. Planned Parenthood) are well-established institutions that have long contended the same issue using many similar strategies and tactics, but with opposing and openly antagonistic positions.

Issues should precipitate action when a collective, informed assessment demonstrates that the organization is likely to be affected. For example, in 2007, changes to local laws

made the retrofitting of car sunroofs illegal in Beijing and left a national manufacturer of sunroofs scrambling to negotiate with other local and regional governments to protect their profitable business. Introduced in advance of the 2008 Olympics, the laws were the outcome of lobbying by various stakeholders, including health and safety agencies, and car manufacturers. The emerging trend was increased attention being paid to health and safety concerns in that cityincluding air quality, motor vehicle safety and traffic reduction. The sunroof manufacturer was caught in the crossfire of stakeholder interests, unable to respond effectively. The outcome was substantive and negative.

In contrast, the America West Arena in Phoenix, Arizona, provided an example of effective issues management in action when it worked with disabilities advocacy groups to ensure a new arena would not merely comply with the specifications of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), but rather, would meet a higher standard set collaboratively (Matera & Artique, 2000). Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE or mad cow disease) had been on the issues management radar of the National Cattlemens Beef Association (NCBA) for years when, in 2003, the first case of BSE on American soil was identified in Washington State. By anticipating the event and mapping out a goal-driven response in advance, the NCBA was able to respond rapidly. Helped by the fact that only one infected animal imported from Canada had been identified, the following strategic response effectively contained consumer concerns about American beef. The response was multi-layered, including direct consultation with regulators, consumer advocacy groups and other key stakeholders, as well as intensive national and international news media outreach. Evaluation measures, such as media coverage achieved, were positive. More significantly, beef demand rose by almost 8 percent in 2004 and consumer confidence in American beef increased from 88 percent just prior to the BSE event in 2003 to 93 percent in 2005; consumer spending on beef also increased an estimated $8 billion between 2003 and 2004 (National Cattlemens Beef Association, 2005).

So, who should practice issues management? Chase (1984) argued that issues management is a natural fit for public relations and its various disciplines including public affairs, communications and government relations. Heath and Cousino (1990) argued that public relations practitioners understand and can play important roles in increasingly complex environments, including promoting the bottom line interests of the organization and building relationships. Issue communication is an important strategic component of issues management, but good decisions about communication strategies and tactics are more likely to be made by practitioners who understand the full scope of issues management, have an extensive knowledge of the organization and its environment, and are skilled collaborators equipped to negotiate within and across organizational boundaries.

A 2002 survey by the Foundation for Public Affairs revealed that 44 percent of all companies with an internally recognized public affairs function have staff members working on issues management full-time. The same survey showed that within companies regularly using non-dedicated members to manage issues, 71 percent obtain these individuals from other corporate staff functions like human resources or finance (Mahon, Heugens & Lamertz, 2004). Furthermore, Regester and Larkin (2005) contend that public relations practitioners are well placed to help manage issues effectively, but often lack the necessary access to strategic planning functions or an appropriate networking environment which encourages informal as well as formal contact and reporting, (p. 44). Clearly, issues management is a process that demands cross-functional teams and effective collaboration.

Issues In the context of corporate issues management, issues are controversial inconsistencies caused by gaps between the expectations of corporations and those of their publics. These gaps lead to a contestable point of difference, the resolution of which can have

important consequences for an organization (Heath, 1997; Wartick & Mahon, 1994). While organizations, stakeholders and other constituencies may be concerned about the same issue, their perspectives are rarely the same. The role of the issues management process is to divine and determine the existence and likely impacts of these contestable points of difference. See the Issue Management Councils clarificati on for more information on the subject.

Issues development Issues are commonly described as having a lifecycle comprising five stagesearly, emerging, current, crisis and dormant. In simple terms, as the issue moves through the first four stages, it attracts more attention and becomes less manageable from the organizations point of view. In other words, if the organizations issues management process detects an issue in the earliest stage, more response choicessuch as product modification, the introduction of new conduct codes or anticipatory collaboration with key interest groupsare available to decision-makers. As the issue matures, the number of engaged stakeholders, publics and other influencers expands, positions on the issue become more entrenched and the strategic choices available to the organization shrink. If and when the issue becomes a crisis for the organization, the only available responses are reactive and are sometimes imposed by external parties, such as government agencies. Not all issues reach the crisis stage and many crises are not the result of an underlying issue.

For example, an ice storm in November 2002 caused extensive, multi-day power outages in North and South Carolina. In spite of steps taken by the health authorities and major power utilities to issue standard warnings about the indoor use of generators, gas grills and charcoal grills for temporary heating and cooking, hundreds of carbon monoxide poisoning cases were recorded across the state during the power outages that followed. Disproportionately represented among the affected were non-English

speaking Latino immigrants. The warnings, issued only in English, had failed to reach the rapidly expanding migrant, Spanish-speaking labor force moving into North Carolina. The utilities and many other corporate and government organizations in the state had neglected to recognize the many implications of a growing population of nonEnglish speakers. Although not culpable for the deaths, the utilities recognized the need to transform their capacities to communicate effectively across language barriers in emergencies. The issue was not the ice storm or the power failure, but the fact that experienced and well-resourced utilities with sophisticated communications departments and carefully crafted public profiles failed to anticipate the changing state demographics and to incorporate known variables, such as the increasing number of energy consumers without English literacy. There was a gap between the performance stakeholdersregulators, special interest groups and citizensexpected of these companies and their actual performance.

Essential steps in issues management Heath (1997) argues that issues management is the proactive application of four strategic options: (1) strategic business planning, (2) getting the house in order corporate responsibility, (3) scouting the terrainscanning, identification, monitoring, analysis and priority setting, and (4) strong defense and smart offence issues communication. Developed by and for practitioners, Palese and Crane (2002) propose a four-stage model comprising issue identification, analysis, strategy and measurement (see Figure 1). Regester and Larkin (2005) recommend a seven-step process including monitoring, identification, prioritization, analysis, strategy decision, implementation and evaluation (see Figure 2).

While there are many models of the issues management, most contend that the process comprises between five and 10 steps that fall into three major categories: (1) issue identification and analysis, (2) strategic decision-making and action, and (3) evaluation.

Practitioners and scholars alike have tended to focus most on the first two categories of steps (See Anticipatory Management Process).

Steps in issue identification and analysis include scanning and monitoring. At the strategic decision-making stage, an appointed issue action team analyzes the issues and priorities in more detail. This team should include people who are closest to the issue and best equipped to direct and implement the organizations response. At this stage, the team allocates resources to an emerging or current issue and initiates the investigation of various strategic optionsincluding issue communication. Finally, the decisions enacted are evaluated. The process requires ongoing collaboration of key internal stakeholders, facilitated by frequent interaction. In other words, issues management demands cross-organizational collaboration, regular teleconferences and email communication, and face-to-face meetings. Issues managers dont just plug into a database and relinquish all responsibility to information science.

Issue Identification ScanningThe first step in effective issues management is the application of informal and formal research methods to explore the organizations environment. The assumption is that mindful scanning of the environment is a kind of insurance against surprise threats or missed opportunities (Bridges & Nelson, 2000, p. 112). While the labels applied may vary, organizational environments are typically divided into sectors, including the social (i.e. public opinion/reputation), economic, political/regulatory and competitive.

Given our information-rich time, the challenge is not sourcing information, but in mining that information for organization-relevant, intelligible and credible insight. In general

terms, environmental scanning is the systematic, multi-method collection and review of potentially relevant data from industry, government and academic sources. Long laundry lists itemizing where to scan for early and emerging issues are provided in essential texts such as Robert Heaths Strategic Issues Management. These lists change over time as information and communication technologies expand and improve.

MonitoringWhile often paired with scanning and used interchangeably, monitoring is conceptually and practically a step separate from scanning. When scanning systems reveal a situation or problem with the earmarks of an emerging organizational issue, the decision to monitor should be taken. Heath (1997) argued that monitoring should occur only after the issue meets three criteria: The issue (1) is listed in standard indexes, which suggests growing legitimacy as signaled by journalists and other opinion leaders, (2) offers a quantifiable threat or opportunity in terms of the organizations markets or operations, (3) is championed by a group or institution with actual or potential influence.

Strategic Decision-making

PrioritizationDetermining which issues demand organizational response and, therefore, the allocation of resources demands detailed analysis. Although there are many ways to analyze issues using open access and proprietary models, the two most critical dimensions of issues are probability of occurrence and organizational impact. In other words, (1) How likely is the issue to affect the organization? and (2) How much impact will the issue have? No two issues are equal and should not be treated as such. Issues can be moved up on the agenda for action, or back to continued monitoring, depending on prioritization. Managers assigned by organizations to monitor issues should define and prioritize their publics based on the opinions people hold and their degree of involvement with the issues (Berkowitz & Turnmire, 1994; Vasquez, 1994). Issues that

spread rapidly through the Internetissue contagionspresent a relatively new and volatile challenge that is particularly important at the prioritization stage (Coombs, 2002). In other words, assessing the likelihood of an issue gaining momentum via the Internet must be considered.

Strategic OptionsLike any other management discipline, robust issues management strategy emerges from sound data, diverse viewpoints and ingenuity. Assembling the right people, sometimes called an issue action team,arming them with credible information, and identifying realistic and measurable objectives provides the foundation for effective anticipatory and responsive strategy development. Anticipatory management specialists William Ashley and James Morrison contend that scenarios are a highly effective way to stimulate strategic thinking by helping provide maps of the alternate pathways along which issues may develop. Ashley and Morrison suggest a six-step approach to creating multiple scenarios, specifically:

Frame an issue (For example, how is the organization contributing to environmental degradation of the area and what can be done to reduce the negative impact?); Specify decisions factors (What questions must be addressed?); Identify environmental forces by scanning and monitoring; select a logic or story line (Explain why and how these forces might take different paths. For example, energy utilities faced with environmental concerns are making choices between retro -fitting or updating existing facilities vs. rebuilding and repowering new facilities ); Develop alternate scenarios (For example, short-term, low-cost and higher risk of failure, or medium-term, higher cost and more permanent); Decide implications and recommend actions.

Action TakingAccording to issues manager practitioner-expert Tony Jacques, the greatest barriers to effective issues management are the lack of clear objectives, and unwillingness or inability to act (Jacques, 2000). As Jacques points out, issues management is a process with achieved results. The scanning, monitoring, prioritization and strategic decision-making steps have no value unless action is taken toward achieving specific and measurable objectives. Jacques also makes the point that issues management no longer belongs to corporations; in fact, community organizations, NGOs, and other activist and advocacy groups have enacted some of the most innovative, aggressive and successful issue management initiatives of the modern era. See, for example, Greenpeaces role in drafting the Kyoto protocol in 1997, an international treaty to curb greenhouse gases. The agreement was subsequently ratified by almost all countries other than the United States. One essential ingredient for success of initiatives like this is that they are guided by singularly clear objectives set and driven by committed actors who are willing and able to take action.

Evaluation/Measuring Outcomes

The steps involved in evaluating the success of issues management initiatives will vary as much as the issues themselves. The first and most crucial step in evaluation is setting clear and measurable objectives. Mark Twains maxim If you dont know where youre going, any road will get you there, is as applicable to issues management as it is to any other endeavor.

Practitioners today have access to more measurement tools than ever before; the challenge is to find the tools that best fit the set objectives. For example, measuring the extent and tone of media coverage is meaningful only if one of the pursued objectives is to secure specific media attention in terms of volume, channels, tone and so on. Other

objectives, such as influencing the drafting of legislation, positioning the organization effectively in relation to an industry-wide problem, or correcting allegations about a product or service all require different metrics. While the drafting of legislation can be tracked relatively easily, repositioning or correcting allegations present more complex measurement challenges and require insights into the identity, perceptions and behaviors of target stakeholders before and after the issues strategies are enacted. Tools such as surveys and interviews, as well as behavioral measures such as purchasing decisions, may all be necessary to evaluate such a layered objective. More resources than ever before are available to guide practitioners through their measurement and evaluation challenges, which are comparable across disciplines rather than specific to any one process. See, for example, Using Public Relations Research to Drive Business Results by Katharine Delahaye Paine, Pauline Draper and Angela Jeffrey.