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Issues management: its past, present and future

Issues management: its past, present and future Robert L. Heath Received: 31st July, 2002 Professor of Communication, University of Houston, Houston, Texas, USA; e-mail: Rheath@uh.edu INTRODUCTION Issues management, according to conventional wisdom, was created in the 1970s as a response strategy and early warning tool for dealing with the emergent and robust protest against business in the USA. What occurred in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s alerted management level personnel from a variety of disciplines to the fact that their operating options could be substantially challenged and constrained by the value preferences and growing publicity and political clout of activists. Activists were honing skills and following incentives that sought to constrain and control boardroom activities from outside of the organisation. Business activities and public policy initiatives were colliding. Activists were seeking new laws and regulations to force new standards of corporate responsibility on industry after industry. What was needed was a new attitude on the part of management toward critics of the private sector and a response strategy. Some managements ignored critics. Others engaged in confrontation. Neither of these options seemed to work very well because the activists were determined to change corporate America and they were resilient and resourceful in creating pressures to exert http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Journal of Public Affairs Wiley

Issues management: its past, present and future

Journal of Public Affairs , Volume 2 (4) – Nov 1, 2002

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References (2)

Publisher
Wiley
Copyright
Copyright © 2002 Henry Stewart Publications
ISSN
1472-3891
eISSN
1479-1854
DOI
10.1002/pa.114
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

Robert L. Heath Received: 31st July, 2002 Professor of Communication, University of Houston, Houston, Texas, USA; e-mail: Rheath@uh.edu INTRODUCTION Issues management, according to conventional wisdom, was created in the 1970s as a response strategy and early warning tool for dealing with the emergent and robust protest against business in the USA. What occurred in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s alerted management level personnel from a variety of disciplines to the fact that their operating options could be substantially challenged and constrained by the value preferences and growing publicity and political clout of activists. Activists were honing skills and following incentives that sought to constrain and control boardroom activities from outside of the organisation. Business activities and public policy initiatives were colliding. Activists were seeking new laws and regulations to force new standards of corporate responsibility on industry after industry. What was needed was a new attitude on the part of management toward critics of the private sector and a response strategy. Some managements ignored critics. Others engaged in confrontation. Neither of these options seemed to work very well because the activists were determined to change corporate America and they were resilient and resourceful in creating pressures to exert

Journal

Journal of Public AffairsWiley

Published: Nov 1, 2002

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