, Examination Reviewer – CPA2
PR
- concerns creating positive relationships between organisations and publics/ stakeholders
Key Concepts:
- Reputation, Public opinion, Issues
Governments - may use it to promote policy decisions and prompt
behavioral change among voters.
Businesses - to sell their goods and services or publicize their
socially responsible activity
NGOs - to prompt financial or other forms of support among their target audience.
General basis: PR is something organizations do, which has certain desired effects on the people with whom those
organizations wish to have a relationship.
• Creating positive relationships between organisations and publics
Agenda setting - The news media set the public agenda by telling us what to think about; explains the primacy of
media relations in public relations and corporate communication
Information subsidy - the way in which public relations provides packaged stories to the news media, enabling them
to save on the time and expense of investigative journalism
• This is either a gift to the media or an attempt to distort debate
Issue
may result to a crisis if left unmanaged/ not managed properly
Qualities of Issues
■ Ambiguous – No black and white answer or ‘right’ solution; often relies on opinion and perspective.
■ External – At least partly external to the organisation, involving outside people or entities.
■ Emotive – Emotions rather than facts and figures often prevail.
■ High risk – Risks of failure are substantial; high potential to become a crisis.
■ Policy – May involve public policy or regulation or litigation.
■ Ongoing – No obvious conclusion; may continue over a prolonged period of weeks, months or even years.
■ Media – Intense media attention or potential for high media interest.
■ Contentious – Involves committed, contending parties, often with uncompromising or confrontational
positions.
■ Controversial – May concern matters that are publicly controversial, often with a moral or ethical element
Life Cycle of an Issue
The model includes two parallel elements -->
1. the basic evolution of the issue itself from the origin or potential to resolution.
2. Political process - from expectations of the society through recognition as a political issue, legislation, and
enforcement
Fundamental truths
1. The majority of issues, if left unmanaged, tend to deteriorate and become worse.
, 2. As time passes issues get harder to deal with, the options available become fewer and the cost of dealing with
the issue increases
Developing an issue strategy
The essence of effective issue strategy planning is that the plan must be easy to understand and communicate, easy
to implement and focused on getting things done
5 step model:
1. Issue identification
2. Issue analysis
3. Issue change strategy options
4. Issue action programme
5. Evaluation of results
Or the 4 step ´Do-it plan´
1. Definition - what is the issue
2. Objective - set clear objective
3. Intended Outcomes - what we plan to make happen
4. Tactics
Evaluation - carried out against the intended outcomes and the plan itself
• Successful implementation of issue management is basically achieving an agreed overarching objective by
determining and carrying out practical and agreed actions designed to deliver that objective.
Evolution of issue management
Main important change:
• The migration from being a corporate activity to one that is now utilised by governments and government
agencies, activists, community groups, and NGOs
Other changes:
• The impact of technology especially for activists, community groups, and NGOs
Framing
- mental structures that shape the way we see the world
- about the chosen angel/perspective
Keywords: selection, salience (made noticeable or striking), spin (in another desirable perspective)
• Selection - Certain chosen elements
• Salience - making elements more noticeable, visible, or striking than others
• Spin - particular twist whereby you place an object in a desirable perspective
Positive vs. Negative frame
, o To select aspects of a perceived reality and make
them more salient in a communicating text in
order to promote a particular problem definition,
casual interpretation, moral evaluation, and/or
treatment recommendations for the item
described
• Not about lying - about angle
Public Affairs
tends to be seen as the organisational function that focuses particularly on managing organisational relationships
with government. Gov‘t bodies, and political stakeholders.
Public policy - a purposive and consistent course of action produced as a response to a perceived problem of a
constituency, formulated by a specific political process, and adopted, implemented and enforced by a public agency.
Two-way symmetrical model
• the government relations/lobbying perspective and a broader community relations/corporate
reputation/responsibility perspective
Pedler (2002) - Public affairs may be defined as the management skill that internalises the effects of the environment
in which an organisation operates and externalises actions to influence that environment.
Post (1982) - ‘the critical role of the public affairs unit is to serve as a window out of the corporation, enabling
management to act in the external environment, and a window in through which society influences corporate policy
and practice’.
Lobbying - any action designed to influence the actions of the institutions of government
• Monitoring and analysing government thinking and strategies
• Representing and championing a particular company, industry, or organisation's views to government and
securing a favourable political outcome.
o A form of two way asymmetrical or persuasive communication activity
1. Persuasive argument - presentation of cohesive and compelling arguments to appropriate decision makers
2. Timing is nearly always crucial
3. Targeting is absolutely vital
Nolan committee principles for public office behaviours:
• Selflessness
• Integrity
• Objectivity
• Openness
• Honesty
• Leadership
, International perspectives on public affairs and lobbying
The pre-dominantly Western perspective of public affairs has been disseminated and embraced on an international
scale
Sriramesh and Vercic's analytical framework for examining international/global variations in public relations can
provide a useful starting point in analysing and predicting the likely variations in public affairs practice.
o The framework focuses on the importance of the environmental context in determining how public
relations is understood and practiced
Glocalisation - attempts to apply centrally determined core strategies while also enabling locally based practitioners
the freedom to adapt and tailor their public affairs approach to the local prevailing setting and priorities.
• Recognizes where compromise and a `softly-softly` approach may yield better long term results than an
unbending, standardised approach.
MACIE - management analysis, choice, implementation, evaluation
Gulick and Urwick (1937) seven core elements of management - planning, organising, staffing, directing,
coordinating, reporting and budgeting (POSDCORB)
4 stages of management process
• Analysing the situation
• Making choices for responds
• Implementing the actions
• Evaluating the outcomes
Communications managers - focus on which challenges
they should focus attention on, which stakeholders should be targeted, what strategies should be adopted, and what
specific tactics should be used.
Communications department level - decisions about how to allocate responsibilities amongst staff, how resources
should be utilised and what tasks should be prioritised
Public affairs function - to support and facilitate the achievement of the organisation's broader corporate goals and
strategies
Commonly used choice decision tools:
1. Ranking methods - alternative options are set against an agreed set of criteria (cost, investment, resources,
ethics)
2. Scenario building - possible future scenarios, second guessing future developments
3. Decision tree analysis - visual aid for introducing requirements of preferred conditions
4. Risk analysis - attempts to assess the degree of hazard or adverse consequences
Key to successful implementation of communications/public affairs policies and programmes lies in the effective
management of people and resources involved in their delivery.
PR
- concerns creating positive relationships between organisations and publics/ stakeholders
Key Concepts:
- Reputation, Public opinion, Issues
Governments - may use it to promote policy decisions and prompt
behavioral change among voters.
Businesses - to sell their goods and services or publicize their
socially responsible activity
NGOs - to prompt financial or other forms of support among their target audience.
General basis: PR is something organizations do, which has certain desired effects on the people with whom those
organizations wish to have a relationship.
• Creating positive relationships between organisations and publics
Agenda setting - The news media set the public agenda by telling us what to think about; explains the primacy of
media relations in public relations and corporate communication
Information subsidy - the way in which public relations provides packaged stories to the news media, enabling them
to save on the time and expense of investigative journalism
• This is either a gift to the media or an attempt to distort debate
Issue
may result to a crisis if left unmanaged/ not managed properly
Qualities of Issues
■ Ambiguous – No black and white answer or ‘right’ solution; often relies on opinion and perspective.
■ External – At least partly external to the organisation, involving outside people or entities.
■ Emotive – Emotions rather than facts and figures often prevail.
■ High risk – Risks of failure are substantial; high potential to become a crisis.
■ Policy – May involve public policy or regulation or litigation.
■ Ongoing – No obvious conclusion; may continue over a prolonged period of weeks, months or even years.
■ Media – Intense media attention or potential for high media interest.
■ Contentious – Involves committed, contending parties, often with uncompromising or confrontational
positions.
■ Controversial – May concern matters that are publicly controversial, often with a moral or ethical element
Life Cycle of an Issue
The model includes two parallel elements -->
1. the basic evolution of the issue itself from the origin or potential to resolution.
2. Political process - from expectations of the society through recognition as a political issue, legislation, and
enforcement
Fundamental truths
1. The majority of issues, if left unmanaged, tend to deteriorate and become worse.
, 2. As time passes issues get harder to deal with, the options available become fewer and the cost of dealing with
the issue increases
Developing an issue strategy
The essence of effective issue strategy planning is that the plan must be easy to understand and communicate, easy
to implement and focused on getting things done
5 step model:
1. Issue identification
2. Issue analysis
3. Issue change strategy options
4. Issue action programme
5. Evaluation of results
Or the 4 step ´Do-it plan´
1. Definition - what is the issue
2. Objective - set clear objective
3. Intended Outcomes - what we plan to make happen
4. Tactics
Evaluation - carried out against the intended outcomes and the plan itself
• Successful implementation of issue management is basically achieving an agreed overarching objective by
determining and carrying out practical and agreed actions designed to deliver that objective.
Evolution of issue management
Main important change:
• The migration from being a corporate activity to one that is now utilised by governments and government
agencies, activists, community groups, and NGOs
Other changes:
• The impact of technology especially for activists, community groups, and NGOs
Framing
- mental structures that shape the way we see the world
- about the chosen angel/perspective
Keywords: selection, salience (made noticeable or striking), spin (in another desirable perspective)
• Selection - Certain chosen elements
• Salience - making elements more noticeable, visible, or striking than others
• Spin - particular twist whereby you place an object in a desirable perspective
Positive vs. Negative frame
, o To select aspects of a perceived reality and make
them more salient in a communicating text in
order to promote a particular problem definition,
casual interpretation, moral evaluation, and/or
treatment recommendations for the item
described
• Not about lying - about angle
Public Affairs
tends to be seen as the organisational function that focuses particularly on managing organisational relationships
with government. Gov‘t bodies, and political stakeholders.
Public policy - a purposive and consistent course of action produced as a response to a perceived problem of a
constituency, formulated by a specific political process, and adopted, implemented and enforced by a public agency.
Two-way symmetrical model
• the government relations/lobbying perspective and a broader community relations/corporate
reputation/responsibility perspective
Pedler (2002) - Public affairs may be defined as the management skill that internalises the effects of the environment
in which an organisation operates and externalises actions to influence that environment.
Post (1982) - ‘the critical role of the public affairs unit is to serve as a window out of the corporation, enabling
management to act in the external environment, and a window in through which society influences corporate policy
and practice’.
Lobbying - any action designed to influence the actions of the institutions of government
• Monitoring and analysing government thinking and strategies
• Representing and championing a particular company, industry, or organisation's views to government and
securing a favourable political outcome.
o A form of two way asymmetrical or persuasive communication activity
1. Persuasive argument - presentation of cohesive and compelling arguments to appropriate decision makers
2. Timing is nearly always crucial
3. Targeting is absolutely vital
Nolan committee principles for public office behaviours:
• Selflessness
• Integrity
• Objectivity
• Openness
• Honesty
• Leadership
, International perspectives on public affairs and lobbying
The pre-dominantly Western perspective of public affairs has been disseminated and embraced on an international
scale
Sriramesh and Vercic's analytical framework for examining international/global variations in public relations can
provide a useful starting point in analysing and predicting the likely variations in public affairs practice.
o The framework focuses on the importance of the environmental context in determining how public
relations is understood and practiced
Glocalisation - attempts to apply centrally determined core strategies while also enabling locally based practitioners
the freedom to adapt and tailor their public affairs approach to the local prevailing setting and priorities.
• Recognizes where compromise and a `softly-softly` approach may yield better long term results than an
unbending, standardised approach.
MACIE - management analysis, choice, implementation, evaluation
Gulick and Urwick (1937) seven core elements of management - planning, organising, staffing, directing,
coordinating, reporting and budgeting (POSDCORB)
4 stages of management process
• Analysing the situation
• Making choices for responds
• Implementing the actions
• Evaluating the outcomes
Communications managers - focus on which challenges
they should focus attention on, which stakeholders should be targeted, what strategies should be adopted, and what
specific tactics should be used.
Communications department level - decisions about how to allocate responsibilities amongst staff, how resources
should be utilised and what tasks should be prioritised
Public affairs function - to support and facilitate the achievement of the organisation's broader corporate goals and
strategies
Commonly used choice decision tools:
1. Ranking methods - alternative options are set against an agreed set of criteria (cost, investment, resources,
ethics)
2. Scenario building - possible future scenarios, second guessing future developments
3. Decision tree analysis - visual aid for introducing requirements of preferred conditions
4. Risk analysis - attempts to assess the degree of hazard or adverse consequences
Key to successful implementation of communications/public affairs policies and programmes lies in the effective
management of people and resources involved in their delivery.
