ABSTRACT
The chapter explores key roles of strategic communication, beginning with an explanation of issues and issues management, outlining some of the processes used by organisations and communication practitioners to manage complex relationships that are involved. In doing so, it addresses the closely related strategic communication role of risk management and describes how issues can develop into crises. The chapter then discusses one of the major organisational responses in dealing with issues; that is, through acknowledging corporate social responsibilities to society. Issues management was traditionally viewed as largely reactive, with businesses responding to issues in order to address some form of threat to their organisations. Risk management concerns the assessment of potential risks and the management of strategies to reduce that risk. The survival of organisation can depend on how well a crisis is managed. For a not-for-profit organisation, loss of reputation in a crisis can also have a financial impact on fundraising, with donors losing trust and withdrawing their support.
