Issues Management and Crisis Communication

Chapter 10 on issues management interested me on several levels. One, on page 185, Cornelissen offers a position importance matrix. I’m bothered that positions can be ceremoniously positioned on a matrix as if problems are currently in one quadrant or another. Most problems are messier than that; they often occupy all quadrants or at least two at a time. I think that thinking about positions in this way enables corporations to ignore certain problems. For example, insurance companies that look for ways to not cover some medical expenses. The problem of nonpayment would fit more on the “problematic” quadrant for the client and more on the “low priority” for corporations. Problems do not fit nicely into quadrants; they only do for corporations that force them to fit.

Two, the case study about the Framing of the Bonus Payments bothered me as well. I did like that Cornellissen asked a discussion question that focuses on how the reader would frame the issue, but the reader has very little agency in how that issue is represented. A better question, I think, would be how can the banks better frame the issue in ways that the public would better sympathize? To suggest that they’d lose talent if they didn’t pay outrageous bonuses is ridiculous. There are way too many talented people in industry for them to worry about that. Plus, some of the CEOs have performed horribly as CEOs yet they still receive a huge bonus.

Three, I was bothered by the use of language concerning PACs. Calling them political action committees uses positive connotations (action) to describe their purpose, which is to sway political parties to vote or create legislation that benefits them. But the language used to describe any group that doesn’t agree with them has negative connotations (anti-corporate activism or radical activism). This phenomenon is, of course, reflected throughout society, but is especially prominent now given the current presidential race, which is on my mind a lot these days.

The chapter on crisis communication reminded me of a public relations class I took in college. We watched a film about crisis communication and it showed a clip of a hospital administrator being asked about layoffs. A reporter asked a question about whether the hospital was operating at a loss and that’s why they’re laying off people. The administrator mistakenly said no, we’re operating at a profit. When she realized what she said, she just turned around and walked back into the hospital. This is why companies have to plan for a crisis, especially what communication to use.