AGENDA SETTING THEORY 47 McCombs, M. (2004). Setting the agenda: The mass media and public opinion. Cambridge: Polity Press. McCombs, M., & Shaw, D. (1972, Summer). The agenda-setting function of mass media. Public Opinion Quarterly, 36, 176-187. Weick, K. E. (1992, September). Agenda setting in organizational behavior. Journal of Management Inquiry, 1, 171-182. Implications of the Theory for Managers Agenda setting theory examines how mass media and other policy- makers (1) help set people's own individual agendas about important issues and (2) help shape people's perceptions and thoughts about those issues. Successful organizations more often proactively work to shape the public's and their own employees' perceptions of important issues compared with less successful organizations. For example, an organization can focus public attention on itself to help ensure that people are even thinking about the organization and its efforts. It can then work to help shape those public thoughts about the organization. For instance, policymak- ers can help frame issues by defining the problem in a way that is beneficial for the organization, diagnosing the causes of the problem, helping people make moral and ethical judgments about the problem, and suggesting remedies for the problem. Your task as a successful manager is to help set the right agenda for the vision, mission, and goals of your organization. Specifically work with members of your organization to: (1) define in ways that help support organizational efforts, such as viewing problems in ways that benefit your organization, (2) frame issues situations positively about important issues, such as setting a high urgency level for some issues and setting a low urgency level for others. or negatively, and (3) shape perceptions