Handbook of Corporate Communication and Public ... - Blogs Unpad

(Nelson and Heath, 1986; Heath and
Cousino, 1990) but is now a strategic planning
technique used widely in and outside
business. Heath and Cousino argue that it
has developed from a ‘decide, announce,
defend’ mode to a ‘dialogue, decide and
deliver’ one. After this primary task of issue
analysis and policy response, the next underlying
element is a purely communication one:
the communication plan.
To develop further the example above of
more runways, the communication goal of the
CPRE could be (on an illustrative basis only):
to persuade government to use existing capacity
more intensely instead of building extra
runways. Communication tactics to achieve
that goal could include:
• a communication alliance with other
friendly groups against more runways,
e.g. Friends of the Earth, local residents’
protest groups, local councils;
• identification of supportive, hostile, and
neutral Members of Parliament in areas
likely to be affected;
• a lobbying campaign aimed at these MPs
above, and, more importantly, at senior
civil servants and ministers who will take
the final decision;
• the production of a brief for these politicians
and officials in written, website,
email, video, forms;
• a briefing of senior media editors and
journalists covering the proposal by way
of regional, local and specialist publications,
e.g. planning, environment, air
travel;
• liaison with academics, think tanks, industry
experts publishing views supportive of
the CPRE position;
• liaison with celebrities and local notables
who are supportive;
• an ongoing media relations campaign
which publicizes the above when it
favours the Council’s cause;
• an advocacy advertising campaign,
backed by direct mailings and tie-ins
where appropriate.
With an issues management policy and a communication
plan in place, the organization or
group is ready to talk to government. The
operational style, however, should be cautious
for elected governments backed by a popular
mandate and a stable parliamentary majority
are powerful. There are various points of prudence
to consider before speaking to
Whitehall and Westminster whether publicly
through the media and staged events, or privately
through lobbying.
The organization first has to consider
whether what it does and says is socially
responsible, namely that its policy serves the
national interest as well as its sectional interest.
Governments invariably talk about governing
in the national interest, and they say
that they weigh proposals in its light. There
was, for example, no point in trade unions
trying to argue with Thatcher governments in
the 1980s that the right to secondary picketing
should be enshrined in law. Organizations
must, therefore, avoid being denied access
and influence by government because they
are perceived only as promoting a self-interest.
An organization will know, indirectly, how
they are perceived if they have direct access
to government decision makers; if they are
asked for their views on consultative papers,
and are asked to sit on technical committees
and task-forces. If the answer is ‘yes’ to these
involvements, the organization is an ‘insider’
group as defined by Grant (1995, 2000). To
stay an insider group, organizations must align
their sectional interest with the government’s
© 2004 Sandra Oliver for editorial matter and selection;
individual chapters, the contributors