Communication and Public Relations in Business

CONTENT

Chapter 1. Public relations – general framework

1.1. Definition of public relations1.2. Terms of reference in public relations’ definition1.3. Public relations – principles and values1.4. Public relations in modern society

Chapter 2. Communication – objectives and models

2.1. Objectives of human communication2.2. Communication models2.3. Information sciences and commnunication sciences

Chapter 3. Departments and public relations firms

3.1. Public relations departments3.2. Public relations firms3.3. The specialist’s qualities in public relations

Chapter 4. Interpersonal communication and the communication inside groups

4.1. Interpersonal communication – theories and models4.2. The communication inside groups – organisation4.3. Mass-media. Information. Communication.

Chapter 5. Public relations campaigns

5.1. Definition, typology and characteristics5.2. The plan of a public relations campaign

Chapter 6. Crisis communication

6.1. Definition and typology6.2. Crisis management6.3. Crisis communication strategies6.4. The relation with press in the crisis system6.5. Examples of crisis management 6.5.1. Tylenol case 6.5.2. The plane crash from Balotesti 6.5.3. Ecologic accident from Baia Mare

1.2. Terms of reference in public relations’definition

1.2.1. Organizations

Is a generic term that includes different types of institutions:

- power structures ( govern, ministers, army, police etc)

- administrative institutions

- trade enterprises

- cultural and sport institutions etc.

The organizations are groups of people which organizes and coordinates their activity forrealizing their objectives.

The objectives are:

Main objectives

- example: an economic enterprise has as main objective the production of goods for a certain market and the realization of profit after trading.

Secondary objectives

- example: the same enterprise may have as secondary objective the maintenance of the community stability, providing jobs.

The enterprise is integrated in both, economic and social environments.

Public relations could be practiced in 5 different organization types.

1. Public relations Agency - independent firm which develops based on contract, an activity of public relations required by different organizations

2. Corporations - inside of big economic groups exists departments of public relations which take care of certain publics

3. Governmental structures - the departments of public relations are organized inside of ministers, agencies, local administrations, and they have the role of distributing information about the activity of these institutions.

4. Non-profit organizations - the specialists works in universities, hospitals, churches, foundations, ONG’s, and they have to keep the connection with press, donors, specific publics.

5. Independent consultants - these specialists are hired by institutions for accomplishing public relations activities.

1.2.2. The public

Any group of whose members have the same interest, in a certain situation or they share the same values (example: politic party, corporation managers, a band fans, etc. )

From PR’s perspective, the public is any group or individual who is involved in any way in an organization life.

Because an organization don’t have a general public, unique and homogenous, but many publics, the researchers considers that these are, after the level of involvement:

Passive public

- the public which is not affected by the different organization actions or which doesn’t have to do something because of an organization, so it’s not involved.

Active public

- is influenced by the organization activity, but it influences the organization too.

Depending on communicational behavior, we have 4 categories of public:

1. The public of all problems - it takes part at all discutions

2. The “sleepy” public - is very little active

3. The public of a single problem - is active regarding only a limited number of themes

4. The public of “hot” problems - becomes active only after the press transformed a problem into a current matter

It is considered that any public relations department must inventory publics related to the

organization and build a "map of the involved publics".

These audiences will be the main objective of communication programs designed by specialists in public relations.

Intern – same institutional identity ex: managers, shareholders, employees etc.

The audience

Extern – people from outside of institution ex: costumers, suppliers, governmental agencies etc.

The PR Specialist must answer to the following questions:

1. How big is the capacity of each category of audience?

2. Which is the interest of the audience about the organization?

3. Who are the opinion leaders and the factors which influence the audience decision?

4. Which is the socio-demographic profile of the audience?

5. Which is the public opinion about the organization?

6. Which is the public opinion about the specific problems referring to the organization, under discussion at a time.

1.3. Public relations – principles and values

Public relations may be defined as a process, meaning a series of actions which lead to the reach of an objective.

RACE Formula (Wilcox, D.L. 1992)

--- Research --- Action --- Communication --- Evaluation

1. Research

Discovery phase of the problems to be solved in the process of publicrelations. Is used quantitative and qualitative research methods for knowing better the organization and the challenges and opportunities which appears.

2. Action

Implementation phase of the programme for realizing the specific objectives for each category of audience.

3. Communication

The phase of execution of PR processes by sending messages for each target audience.

4. EvaluationThe phase that is examining how public relations activities have met the objectives set by the organization at the beginning of the process.

The process of public relations activities don't ever ends, it appears as a perpetual cycle of actions.

There are 2 phases:

First phase:

a) PR specialists obtain information about the problem from different sources

b) They analyze these data and they do different recommendations to the managers

c) The managers make the strategies and make the decisions regarding the needed actions

Second phase:

d) PR specialists applies the established program

e) They evaluates the efficiency of actions

According to the Public Relations Society of America, public relations must be leaded after the following principles:

a) PR is a way for the audience to transmit to the institutions, it’s desiresb) PR contribute to the mutual correlation of the institution with the audiencec) PR is a safety valve of democracyd) PR is an important element of the social communication systeme) PR is a universal feature of any activity s

Conclusion:

The common element that links PR, organizations and the public is the notion of Effectiveness.