ELEMENTS OF PR

1. Human Relations:
• Relations refer to the outcome of mutual understanding that is
derived from the process of sharing “common interest”.
• Good human relations is people getting along well together with
the ‘internal’ as well as ‘external’ publics.
• When a collection of people with good relations come together as
a well-knit team, their capacity for production is astonishingly
increased.
• Elements of HR-
1. Social Philosophy- It means any policy or strategy made in
the organization should be in accordance to interest of its publics,
be it employees, society or its stakeholders.
2. Empathy-
 It involves showing concern for others, putting
yourself in place of others.
 It means encouraging publics to speak up their
problems or suggestions.
 When operating empathy, PR practitioners should give
his clients no impression of superiority, criticism, impatience,
etc in order to get frank and sincere answers.
 Empathy fosters greater understanding between the PR
practitioner and their clients.

2. Persuasion:
• It refers to convincing an individual or group to do something in a
specific manner.
• An individual or group can be convinced-
1. Forcibly, i.e., by using authority or power, or
2. Logically, i.e., by explaining the reason for the action
taken.
• Structure for persuasion-
 1. Show that a problem exists
2. Explain the essential elements of the problem
3. Tell the reasons for the failure of previous attempt
4. Give a solution
5. Picture your solution with the benefits and satisfaction it
will give to others
• Principles of Persuasion
1. To accomplish attitude change, suggestions for change
must first be received and accepted.
2. The suggestion is more likely to be accepted if it meets
exiting personality needs
3. The suggestion is more likely to be accepted if it is in
harmony with group norms.
4. The suggestion is more likely to be accepted if the source is
perceived as trustworthy.
5. Change in attitude is more likely to occur if suggestion is
accompanied by other factors underlying belief and attitude.
6. There can be more opinion change in the desired direction
if the conclusions are explicitly stated, rather than leaving them
onto the audience.
7. When the audience is friendly, or when immediate but
temporary opinion change is wanted, it is better to give only one
side of the argument.
8. When equally attractive opposing views are presented one
after the other, the one presented at last will be more effective.
9. Sometimes emotional appeals are more influential;
sometimes factual ones are. It depends on the kind of audience and
the message.
10. A strong threat is generally less effective than a mild one in
inducing desired opinion change.
11. There is a “sleeper effect” received from the sources which
the listener regards as having low credibility.

3. Dialogue:
Dialogue is conversation with a purpose.
• It is a conversation in which each presents facts and each considers the
other’s facts.
• It is a two-way exchange of ideas, bringing together a new body of
knowledge.
• Effective dialogue lies in impartially listening to the view points of all
the participants leading to the making of good judgments about what is
being discussed.
• Good dialogue requires common substance, a topic about which all the
participants are informed and to which all can make a contribution by
original thinking.
• It is based on the assumption that those who converse will speak
honestly.
• Best solution is reached after considering all the viewpoints of all the
participants.

4. Communication:
• The role of PR in communication is bridging the gap between what the
“sender” means and what the “receiver” thinks he means.
• There can be no “mutual understanding” without communication; and
“mutual understanding” is the core of ‘public relations’.
• Commandments of good communication-
1. Clarify the idea before communicating it to the publics.
2. Understand the purpose of the communication i.e. what is
its objective, how much is needed to be conveyed, which media
should be used.
3. Consider the entire physical (in private or in a social
gathering) and human (considering attitudes and beliefs of the
publics) environment in which communication is to be made.
4. Consult others where appropriate in planning the
communication, e.g. - consulting the finance department before
disclosing the financial reports of the organization, etc.
5. Be careful of the content, language and expression.
 6. Take the opportunity, when it arises, to convey something
of help or value to the receiver.
7. Follow up your communication.
8. Communicate for tomorrow as well as today, i.e. by
keeping future in mind.
9. Be sure your actions support your communication.
10. Seek not only to be understood but also to understand, i.e.
be a good listener.
• Effectiveness of communication depends upon-
1. skills and experience of the communicator
2. needs and interest of the target group
3. the speaker must use words which the listener understands
4. pre-disposition of the recipient of communication
5. the environment within which communication takes place
must be convenient to both the listener and speaker
 PUBLIC RELATIONS PROCESS

IT IS CALLED AS PROCESS APPROACH TO PR

• Designing the problem: (WHAT”S OUR PROBLEM?)

 Here PR is considered as a management function because it helps in
solving problems of the organization.
 It relates to monitoring and determining the opinions, attitude and behavior
of relevant publics by the way of research and fact- finding.
 Research can be done by–
 Informal method- advisory committees, media reports, mail-analysis,

field reports, etc.

 Formal method- surveys, in-depth interviews, questionnaires, etc.

 Steps:
 Problem definition-define :-
→ What is the problem?
→ What is the source of the problem?
→ Since when is the problem?
→ Where is the problem?
→ Who is involved and how?
→ Why is a concern for the organization?
 Situation analysis- Doing SWOT analysis of the situation (internal and
external factors)
→ Internal factors that are affected (shareholders, supply chains, logistics,
quality control, customers)
→ External factors (loss of trust and confidence of the publics, panic regarding
the products, negative publicity)
• Planning and Programming: (HERE’S WHAT WE CAN DO)
 This involves bringing the attitudes, opinions and behavior to bear on the
policies and programmes of the organization.
 It refers to decision being made about the planning of strategies to be used
in the problem solving process.
 Steps:
 Specifying the programme goals (what should be the immediate

action?)
 Significant publics in order of priority (who has been hit worst, should

be first)
 Programme objective of each public (what should be the action for each

public, in order of priority again)

• Taking Action and Communication: ( HERE’S WHAT WE DID AND

WHY)
 It involves actual implementation of the plan or strategy developed in the
last step.
 It also involves communicating to the relevant publics about the action
plan chosen and explaining them the reason for the same.
 Steps:
 Action programme strategy

 Communication programmes- choosing the appropriate tools and

techniques for communicating the message (message and media

strategy)
→ Internal communication
 Employees: can be reached by person-to-person contact over intercom, by
house journals, newsletters, bulletin boards, special letters, circulars, etc.
→ External communication
 Shareholders: welcome letters to new shareholders, annual reports
 Government: special memorandum through Chambers of Commerce or
Trade Associations
 Press: inviting press people for conference or get together, sending them
audio or video tapes for announcing or commenting on the situation
  Customer: news channels, customer complaints, external house journals
that cover all business activities.
→ Introduction of a new product: making an event of it, sponsored programmes
on radio or TV
→ Community relations: participating in the activities of the local community

• Evaluation: (HOW DID WE DO?)

 This involves evaluating the results of the programme and the
effectiveness of techniques used.
 Steps:
 Establish agreement on use and purpose of research

 Secure organization toward commitment

 Specify programme objectives in observable and measurable terms.

 Select apt criteria

 Decide on research tools

 Use evaluation finding and make required adjustment

 Report result to add to professional knowledge

(Evaluation cannot be done in the case study since the actions suggested
are not implemented)
 DEVELOPMENT OF PR ON INDIA

As in many other countries, PR in India has passed through a number of phases

as the profession has developed to meet changing needs. We can trace the
development of PR in India in the following four phases:

1. Philanthropic Phase-
1.1. This was the phase when PR was not practiced in a deliberate manner
but from a policy of philanthropy or out of sheer necessity to provide
information.
1.2. The two notable examples in this regard are:
1.2.1. The Tata Iron and Steel Company (TISCO) went into production
in 1912. From the very beginning they started practicing
community relations by building Jamshedpur as a model
township. They paid attention to its social, cultural and economic
development and provided facilities such as water, electricity,
schools, etc.
1.2.2. Indian Railways came into existence in1920’s as a private
enterprise; it was felt necessary to attract people to travel by trains. So,
the publicity of railways was started by showing films, advertising in
newspapers and journals, etc

2. Phase of Subsequent Activity-

2.1. In this phase, PR in India entered the stage of conscious activity.
2.2. It was a stage of emergence of vocal public opinion.
2.3. Example:
2.3.1. A Department Of Information And Broadcasting was created to
provide information in systematic manner.
2.3.2. Also, House of Tata formed a separate Public Division at their
head office.
 2.4. This was the phase where commercial organizations that were earlier
practicing PR in an unorganized manner started doing it in an organized
manner.

3. Post- Independence Phase-

3.1. In this phase, i.e. after independence, emergence of new political,
social, economic and cultural institutions and media helped develop PR
activities.
3.2. The two important factors that lead to PR activation were-
3.2.1. Emergence of Parliament and State Legislatures: the government
felt the need to inform the masses abut its policies in all spheres of
national development, as a result The Ministry of Information and
Broadcasting as setup.
3.2.2. Industrial Resolution and Industrial (Regulation) Act: In 1958,
PRSI (PR Society of India) was established to promote PR as a
profession and to formulate Code of Ethics of PR, This Act made it
necessary for companies to follow the PR ethics.

4. Emergence of Professionalism in India-

4.1. This phase saw the formation of professional organizations of public
relation practitioners in various part of the country.
4.2. Conferences and seminars were held all over India discussing necessity
of doing business ethically, Corporate Social Responsibility, protecting
environment, etc.
4.3. A separate 3-year degree course in public relations was inaugurated by
the University of Madras.
4.4. Organizations also started communicating and disclosing important
organization information to its publics.