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Today lets learn about public relations...
Today lets learn about public relations...
DEFINITIONS AND COMPONENTS OF
PUBLIC RELATIONS
AS A PHILOSOPHY OF MANAGEMENT
CONTENTS
1.0 Introduction
2.0 Objectives
3.0 Main content
3.1 Definition of Public Relations
3.2 Components of Public Relations
3.3 Public Relations as a function and philosophy of
management
3.4 Misconceptions of Public Relations
4.0 Conclusion
5.0 Summary
6.0 Tutor-Marked Assignment
7.0 References/Further Reading
1.0 INTRODUCTION
Many scholars and practitioners have presented
various definitions of public
relations, based on their knowledge, experience and
perspectives. These definitions
would assist you to appreciate and evaluate the role
and functions of public
relations. One thing common to these definitions is
that public relations is
undertaken to create and sustain goodwill and
harmony among the various entities
and institutions of society.
2.0 OBJECTIVES
At the end of this unit, you should be able to:
· Recall
accurately two or three definitions of public relations
· Explain
the basic ideas common to all these definitions
· Come
up with your own definition of public relations derived from the ones
stated below.
3.0 MAIN CONTENT
3.1 Definition of Public Relations
Cutlip, Centre and Broom, in their classical book,
Effective Public Relations, (1994)
defines public relations as “the management function
that establishes and maintains
mutually beneficial relationships between an
organization and the publics on whom
its success or failure depends”. This definition
clearly underlines the fact that public
relations is a two-way process between an
organization and its identified publics
that is meant to benefit both parties. In other
words, mutual understanding requires
by definition, two-way communication. We shall
explain the term publics in
another unit.
The British Institute of Public Relations (BIPR)
defines public relations as “the
deliberate, planned and sustained effort to
establish and maintain mutual
understanding between an organization and its
publics”. This definition suggests
that public relations is not a haphazard endeavour.
It is a process that is deliberately
planned to achieve a given goal or objective, which
is mutual understanding
between an organization and its publics and must be
planned. “Sustained effort”
means that a process does not end until it has
achieved its objectives. This means
that as a public relations officer, you must always
endeavour to carry our plans to a
logical end, despite any difficulties you may
encounter in the process.
Another definition of public relations is given by a
Frank Jefkins British author:
who says that “public relations consist of all forms
of planned communication both
inward and outward between an organization and its
publics for the purpose of
achieving objectives concerning mutual
understanding”. In this definition “inward
and outward communication” consists of a two-way
communication that involves
the organization and its internal and external
publics.
The Mexican statement defines public relations as
the art and social science of
analyzing trends, predicting their consequences
counselling organization’s leaders
as well as implementing a planned programme of
action which serves both the
organization and the public interest. This
definition was adopted at the First World
Congress of National Public Relations Associations
held in Mexico in 1978. This
definition is accepted to be broad, all-embracing
and multidisciplinary. It suggest
that public relations takes expertise and knowledge
from the social sciences and arts.
For instance, the survey method has become very
useful in public relations to find
out peoples’ opinions, attitudes and beliefs in
order predict human behaviour.
19
Public relations monitors and researchers issues in
the environment and tries to align
the policies and programmes of the organization in
such a way that it will favour
both the organization and the publics so that there
will be a mutual outcome.
Rex F. Harlow a renowned American public relations
expert provides us an
excellent and exhaustive definition of public
relations as “a distinctive management
function which helps establish and maintain mutual
lines of communication,
understanding, acceptance and cooperation between an
organization and its publics,
involves the management of problems or issues, helps
management to keep
informed on and responsive to public, defines and
emphasizes the responsibility of
management to serve the public interest, helps the
management keep abreast of and
effectively utilize change, serving as an early
warning system to help anticipate
trends, and uses research and sound and ethical
communication as its principal tools.
In acknowledgement of this definition, some authors
have referred to public
relations as “Corporate Meguard” in Nigerian
parlance.
Canfield in his book, “Public Relations: Principles,
Cases and Problems, sees public
relations as a social philosophy of management
expressed in policies and practices
which are communicated to the public to secure its
understanding and Goodwill.
Finally, the definition we offer you is given by
Public Relations News of New York,
the industry Newsletter. It defines public relations
as the management function
which evaluates public attitudes, identifies the
policies and procedures of an
individual or an organization with the public
interest, and plans and executes a
programme of action to earn public understanding and
acceptance. This definition
implies that both individuals and organization need
public relations in their
interactions with various segments of society.
A notable public relations practitioner referred to
in one of our earlier definitions
summarized most of the public relations definitions
as “Good Performance that is
publicly appreciated”. In other words, public
relations can be seen as doing good
and then getting credit for it. He observes that
public relations could succinctly be
expressed as;
P = Performance
R = Recognition
That is good performance that is publicly
appreciated: That is public relations
consists of all actions taken to promote a
favourable relationship with the publics of
an organization.
From these various definitions you should note some
key and important terms for
formulating a good public relations.
· Deliberate
– a public relations event or action is intentional. It is designed to
influence or gain, understanding as well as
providing information so as to
gain feedback or reaction from the people or groups
affected by the activity.
The public needs information to be carried long in
what the organization is
doing, particularly as it concerns their interest.
For instance a major market
leader must create good image and reputation which
public relation
information provides.
· Planned
– Public relations activities are organized in a systematic sequence,which is
expected to culminate in solutions to identified problems. The
problem must be analyzed by systematic research. You
should note that
effective public relations is planned in advance it
is proactive and not
reactive.
· Process
– Public relations is a process. Effective public relations must be
viewed as continuing process of a series of
organized actions, activities,
changes or functions expected to bring about a
successful end result. On the
other hand, public relations is not a one-time
affair, engaged only
occasionally as a fire brigade method or remedial
action. You should note
that preventive public relations is a continuous
process of discovering
problems or opportunities, solving the problems when
they are small instead
of when they are full blown.
Effective public relations is not communicating
promises alone. It is based
on the practices, performances, good deeds and past
record of the
organization. No amount of good public relations
will generate acceptance
or patronage for an organization with bad image or
that is not responsive to
public interest. According to Chester Burger (1998)
“the best public
relations campaign in the world can’t build trust
while reality is destroying it.
In other words, reality limits what public relations
can accomplish.
· Mutual
interest – Public relations should be mutually beneficial to the
organization as well as the publics. The primary
reason for establishing any
public relations activity should be to serve the
public interest and not benefit
the organization. Good public relations aligns the
interests of the
organization with the desires and interests of the
public.
Self Assessment Exercise
From the various definitions of public relations you
have studied in this unit identity
three common terms that describes the similarities
and differences of public
relations.
3.2 Components of Public
Relations
21
Public relations is a very complex activity, with
different areas of specialization.
Daramola (2003) has identified such areas to
include:
Employees Relations: Building better relationships
between employees and
management, especially in complex organizations
where the lines of communication
between management and workers become stressful as
the workforce of a company
expands.
Industrial Relations: Providing advice to management
to improve mutually
beneficial relations between a company and other
businesses within the same
industry and related ones and in the areas of
suppliers, distributors, competitors and
labour unions.
Community Relations: Planned activity to create a relationship
of good
neighbourliness between an organization and other
companies as well as groups
within the community in which it is located.
Customer Relations: Involves developing better
relations with the massive
consuming public and sustaining the goodwill of
customers in particular and
consumes in general.
Financial Relations: This involves improving
understanding through better
communication with shareholders stockbrokers, stock
exchange market, fund
managers, investors, banks and insurance agencies.
Press Relations: This involves working with the
members of the press to maximize
the free publicity that can be obtained for a
newsworthy corporate event so as to
create public knowledge and understanding and
respond to press enquiries as it
relates to their organization.
Government Relations: Lobbying government agencies such
as the legislature and
regulatory agency on behalf of the organization.
Special Events: This is used to stimulate
interest in a product, person or
organization through activities designed to interact
with public through staged
events.
Counselling: Advising organizations about how
to understand and mobilize the
public as well as interprete themselves. This will
reduce criticisms and hostility
from the press and pressure groups in society.
22
Research: To determine attitudes and
behaviours of relevant publics through
research so as to plan public relations strategies.
Research can be used to generate
understanding as well as influence and persuade
publics.
Publicity: This involves the dissemination
of planned messages using selected
media to promote the organization’s interest.
Self Assessment Exercise
Why is public relations referred to as a very
complex activity?
Mention two areas of specialization in public
relations and the service they render.
3.3 Public Relations as a
Function and Philosophy of Management
The philosophy of public relations is the creation,
building and maintenance of
mutual understanding and respect based on truth and
effective two-way
communication process for the betterment of
corporate institutions and enhancement
of social and economic development. This philosophy
postulates that an
organization should do right, pursue the greatest
good of the largest majority and
support only those things that will improve the welfare
of humanity. In public
relations, it is believed that in the event of any
observable weakness or error of
judgement in any area, an organization should be
sufficiently courageous to admit it
and indicate preparedness to rectify it.
Ogunsanya (1991) is right in observing that public
relations is an inalienable
lubricant in the wheel of strategic management. It
demands from the Chief
Executive Officer (CEO) an open management system,
the installation of a
responsive information management system, preparedness
to share power without
abdicating responsibility and a decision-making
machinery that accommodates the
overall interest of the society and ensure
equity/justice in all ramifications.
To be effective, a public relations philosophy must
be expressed in action. Good
public relations involve acting in the public
interest. There can be no escape in
today’s world from the effects of public opinion and
public attitudes. The increased
power of public opinion (both domestic and
international) and recognition of that
power constitute one of the mainsprings propelling
the function of public relations.
As you can observe, we now live in an era of “The
public be pleased” “the customer
is always right”. It is clear that in today’s
business environment, no individual or
institution can prosper in the long term without
public support or at least public
approval.
Institutions are judged by what they do, not by what
they say. For as one of the
definitions of public relations explain that public
relations can be seen as good
performance that is publicly recognized.
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Public relations is the philosophy of doing things
people like and doing them the
way they like. In other words, the doing is more
important than the saying, but there
must be saying after the doing. This requires
publicity.
In the words of Daramola, “publicity should cloth
institutions with acceptable
personality”.
All the publicity in the world is of no value unless
the organization being publized
does good works and acts in a positive and
responsible manner.
Public Relations as Management
Function
Public relations is an instrument of management and
its consideration should be
taken into account when formulating policy. For this
reason, public relations should
be placed at top management level of an organization,
the public relations director
or manager should be responsible to the Chief
Executive and the Board of Directors.
As the head of the organization the chief executive
officer is the leading
spokesperson for the organization. According to
Daramola, the place, position or
role of the public relations function is defined and
re-determined by the CEO and a
set of top management officials or members of the
board of directors whose views
and statements must be based on the organization’s
changing needs, problems,
opportunities and values as well as standards”. He
explains further that a public
relations department will only be useful to
management as the administrators want it
to be, in other words, management sets the pace or
tune that public relations follow.
In any organization that values the place of public
relations, the public relations
officer should be in a position to advise and
participate in major policy decisions.
He should be in a position to represent the public
viewpoint on the organization’s
policies and problems. He should be at the same
level of authority as the heads of
other principal departments, to as to be able to
understand their problems and gain
their cooperation in carrying out public relations
programmes. To be effective,
public relations must be an important arm of top
management.
Seitel (2001) advises that for public relations to
work, its advice to management
must be unfiltered, uncensored and unexpurgated.
This he maintains can only be
achieved if the public relations department reports
to the CEO, since public relations
promotes the entire institutions, unlike marketing
for instance that promotes a
specific product.
Self-Assessnment Exercise
Give two reasons why public relations function
should be a management concern.
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3.4 Misconceptions of Public
Relations
In Nigeria as well as in other parts of the world,
the profession of public relations
has been subjected to wrong perception of what a
public relations person actually
does. To make matters worse, some of the
practitioners themselves do not have a
clear idea of what public relations actually is.
This situation has created credibility
problems for the profession in general and the
practitioners in particular.
Daramola (2003) and Nwosu (1997) have identified
some of these misconceptions
to include:
1. Courtesy: Some people view public
relations as consisting of good manners
or being polite or respectful to others. But good
manners alone does not
constitute public relations.
2. Protocol: Even institutional officials
erroneously believe that good public
relations is about protocol or the proper procedure
of conducting official
ceremonies.
3. Goodwill: Every individual or organization
needs the cooperation of others
to be able to achieve any mission or vision because
no one is an island by
himself.
4. Fine Appearance: A lot of persons and
companies assume that public
relations is equivalent to a fine appearance, an
attractive face or glamorous
front. For this reason, such people and institutions
maintain a strict dress
code or policy. While a good cover is essential a
good book cannot be
judged by its cover.
5. Free Gifts: Many company executives in
Nigeria in particular and around the
world in general, believe in projecting their
organizations as charitable and
benevolent through the giving of free annual gifts
such as Christians hampers
and Sallah rams. Effective public relations does not
begin and end with gifts.
6. Annual Parties: The yearly staging of
grand get-togethers such as Annual
Dealers Dinner, Staff Children, Christmas Fun Fair,
Employees New Year or
end of year party is another popular method of
generating goodwill and
friendship among both internal and external publics
of an organization.
7. Public relations is not about employing pretty
ladies to woo men into acting
against their wishes.
25
8. Public relations is not about lying and selling
falsehood about your
organization and product. Equally, it is not about
denying every statement
that does not favour your organization. Public
relations is about telling the
truth and not prevaricating or what an Israeli
government spokesman once
described as “Strategic Ambiguity” (neither denying,
nor admitting).
9. Public relations is not about being a yes-boy or
a bag carrier for year boss
madam or relations. Instead, it is a dignified and
noble profession that
attracts knowledgeable, self-confident, intelligent
and self-respecting women
and men.
The display of professionalism and ethical conduct
by public relations practitioners
in their relationship with their organization and
the public will go a long way to
correct some of these misconceptions.
PUBLIC RELATIONS NETWORK CONTENTS
CONTENT
1.0 Introduction
2.0 Objectives
3.0 Main content
3.1 Public relations Network
3.2 Qualities of a PR Practitioner
4.0 Conclusion
5.0 Summary
6.0 Tutor-marked Assignment
7.0 References/Further Readings
INTRODUCTION
The nature of public relations is very broad and
therefore includes a wide range of
activities referred to as the public relations
network. Some of these activities are
often confused as public relations instead of
elements of public relations. An
examination of these related concepts will enable
you understand the proper
relationship between them and public relations, and
the role and functions of the
practitioners of public relations.
2.0 OBJECTIVES
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