Paper: What is Issue Management Why It Is Important To Your Business

Issue management is a process everyone engages in everyday. You may not think of it as issue management but consider it problem solving or crisis management. Issue management, as discussed in this paper, is the process used to identify, analyze, evaluate, and act on regulations, legislation, public concerns, actions by others, and decisions that affect all aspects of your business. The process may be accomplished as "part of the job" or it may be a specific, deliberate action. Issue management is not limited to oil and gas operators. It is important for all oil and gas entities including service companies, independent contractors and processing facilities. Issue management is extremely important to business because internal and external actions affect the manner in which business conducts its activities, from day-to-day operations to long-range planning. Specific choices must also be made by each company as to whether it will take a proactive or reactive role in dealing with outside influences and challenges. Issue management, or the lack thereof, is an economic decision. It affects daily operations and profitability. How you choose to be involved in the issue management process will impact the effectiveness of your participation. Are you proactive or reactive? In general, most companies and their managers and employees react to arising issues that could affect how they operate. With respect to the oil and gas industry, proactive issue management has historically been left to major oil and gas companies with staffs dedicated to the process or independents that have chosen to be more involved. Many companies who are not directly involved in managing important issues affecting their business rely upon those in industry who are dedicated to preserving reasonable business practices and on the trade associations to represent them and their interests. Those who are uninformed or choose to not be part of the process react to the changes, often not realizing that they could have influenced the outcome.