What is the significance of the term ‘stakeholder’ in a

public relations context? Define and discuss the

concept of stakeholders and stakeholder
engagement by analyzing a case study.

Done by:

Student Name/ ID No:

Myat Thu(32813747)

Unit Code and Name:

PRO204 Public Relations Strategy

Class: B

Unit Coordinator: Ali Biddiscombe

Local Lecturer: Anjna Vij Nihalani

Assignment Name/ Title:

Assessment 1/ Essay

BACHELOR OF COMMUNICATION

MURDOCH UNIVERSITY

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 Contents

Introduction------------------3

Concept of Stakeholder-----------------3

Conclusion--------------------6

References Lists----------------6

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Introduction

In today’s modernized world, more and more health relating issues and the
importance of stakeholders have already become one of the major concerning factor
among the societies due to the changes of the environment as well as also the timely
updating of information around the world to let the communities know and also to reach
to the target audiences on time. The thesis statement for this essay would be the term
‘stakeholders’ tries to shape the culture on public relations context in a way that aim
more on capital gain than distributing factual messages to the general public. The term,
‘stakeholders’ (Mahoney, 2013) refer to the process of the persons or the associations
who has vested significance in the circumstance or the subjects of the body of the work
in an organization. Moreover, according to (Johnson, Scholes, & Whittington, 2008), the
stakeholders is defined as the “society or the limitation of the association who depend
on the organization to achieve their own objectives as well as and on whom, vice versa,
the association depends.” Hence, stakeholders can be mentioned as the key society
participating in the activity. The importance of the term ‘stakeholder’ is that, all the
activities, in spite of its capacity, needs to have a clear cut concept and understanding
about: who will select the necessary of the activity, resources (Guth & Marsh, 2006),
models and in case of any adjustment in the activity, who will do the approval of the
changes and so on. The term, ‘Stakeholder Engagement’ refers to the system used by
an association to employ consistent stakeholders for a reason to obtain acknowledged
issues. Moreover, it mentioned that it acts as a system of representing a large, more
comprehensive and the extended system . The importance of the term ‘stakeholder
engagement’ is that, maintaining your stakeholders “committed” is not the only factor of
the concept of stakeholder engagement within the border of corporate social
responsibility (Vijayaraghavan, 2011) but also by having an accurate mind map of the
current circumstances and issues as well as noting all the essential communication
channels between a wide variety of stakeholders both challenging and what to do next.

The following paragraphs will be emphasizing, discussing and elaborating on the

relations between the stakeholders and the stakeholder engagement, the brief
description of the organization and the issue raised linking to the given case study, the

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term stakeholders and why they are affected by the organization as well as the
engagement by the organization, why and how it affects the stakeholders.

The chosen case study in relation to the concept of the stakeholders and
stakeholder engagement is the Healthy Eating Initiatives by Today Online Newspaper.
The brief description of the organization is that it will be trying to use the organization of
National Environmental Agency (NEA) Singapore which best suits to the target
audiences as well as the essay also. The description of the National Environmental
Agency (NEA) is that, it was a legal board which was established on 1 July 2002 under
the Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources based in Singapore. Also, it is an
outstanding communal association important for taking part in the development and
preserving a hygienic and fresh surroundings in Singapore. In addition, it progresses
and initiates the environmental actions and programmes through its cooperation with
the 3P’s mainly: People, Public and Private Sectors. Furthermore, it is also devoted to
make it inspiring for every communities to undertake the inconclusive partnership and
also to take responsibility as a manner of life. The National Environmental Agency
(NEA) also endeavours to provide a viable improvement and a nature living surrounding
for the current and forthcoming generations. The issue raised for this essay is that, it is
trying to promote healthier and clean lifestyles for the communities as well as the
consumption of oil by the societies should be safe enough not to have dangerous
impacts on health problems. Again, it is also trying to state that by having a wide variety
of selection on the consumption of foods and making it more affordable for the
communities (Lee, 2016), it can have many benefits on promoting healthier lifestyles.
With the relationship of the chosen case study and the organisation, it is trying to
mention that, the National Environmental Agency (NEA) aims to have the limitations on
the safety of food as well as also the hygienic of food so that the communities may be
able to possess a happy, healthier and longer lifestyle.

The stakeholders related according to this essay is the target audiences like
people who consume foods based on a healthy diet. Moreover, the organisation related
to this essay is the National Environmental Agency (NEA) because it is one of the
association that is trying its best to serve the people’s necessity and also to give caring

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on the societies. In addition, according to the essay on the stakeholder and stakeholder
engagement in relation with the case study as well as the organisation, the reason why
the stakeholders are being affected by the organisation is that, the association want to
progress and also support mutual relationships with the stakeholders so that they can
make connection with each other and discuss related issues (Seitel, 2011). Moreover,
the association wants to gain long-term connections (Cornelissen, 2011) with the
stakeholders in order that, the communities can voice out their own opinions and
thoughts as well as to let their voices be heard around the world. Furthermore, another
reason is that the organization may want to communicate with important feedback to the
communities so they can know the rules what the organization wants and do not want
them to do.

In addition, the societies are choosing and discussing about the essential points
that they feel which topics are likely more significant to them and because of this, some
communities have little levels of observations about an association as well as also little
levels of participation in its service (Hallahan, 2001). The association must also prioritise
the communities on whom they aim at (Austin & Pinkleton, 2006). The higher the priority
noticing the societies, it can gain its own objectives.

The engagement by the organization is that, it is trying to engage the target

audiences like the consumers who are consuming foods on a healthy diet in a more
lively way by giving out the essential and educational materials like brochures,
pamphlets, posters and other materials to the target audiences so that they can get a
better understanding and idea as well as also can visualize things easily. Moreover,
they should also conduct campaigns so that the societies will be able to learn something
from it and avoid unnecessary causes. By having these kinds of engagement materials,
the communities may likely feel that they are being more towards and closer to the
organization in which they can tune in with the current and latest news. The reason why
it affects stakeholders is that, they need to regularly establish important news (Arias,
2015) and support to provide large stakeholders with primary messages, its objectives
and benefits too. The reason how it affects the stakeholders is that, they did not

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regulate current news so the societies cannot be able to learn from the updated
information.

In this case study of Healthy Eating Initiatives by Today Online Newspaper, it

tries to build reputation and relationship with the society by constructing the active
systems among the 3P (people, public and private) sectors, and advances efficient
outreach programmes in cooperative with companions from the 3P sectors to upgrade
the pro-environmental attitude amongst the community and to raise community
ownership of environmental issues. The 3P’s are an important factor to the communities
because every day they are trying to keep updating and changing within the societies.

Conclusion

All in all, people do really have more mutual understanding and knowledge about
the relationships between the public relations and the implications and importance of
stakeholders and stakeholder engagement. Moreover, they also need to keep alert as
well as also keeping up to date in this changing world to know the recent situation. In
addition, they also need to stay and keep in touch with the current latest news so they
can always know what is happening in which part of the circumstances as well as also
preparing for the necessary issues. Also, more widespread implications and usage of
the stakeholders and stakeholder engagement can have big threats so it is good to
operate in normal conditions.

References Lists

Arias, Pablo. The importance of Stakeholder engagement. 2015. http://www.ima-

mt.com/the-importance-of-stakeholder-engagement/ (accessed August 20,
2015).

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Austin, E.W. and Pinkleton, B.E. (2006), Strategic Public Relations Management,
Informa, New York, NY.

Cornelissen, Joep. Stakeholder Management and Communication. 2011.

https://books.google.com.sg/books?
id=lEZdBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA39&source=gbs_toc_r&cad=4#v=onepage&q&f=false
(accessed March 17, 2011).

Guth, D.W. and Marsh, C. (2006), Public Relations: A Values- Driven Approach, 3rd edn,
Pearson, Boston, MA.

Hallahan, K. (2001), The Dynamics of Issues Activation and Response: An Issues

Process Model, Journal of Public Relations Research, 13(1), pp. 27-59.

Johnson, G., Scholes, K., & Whittington, R. (2008). Exploring corporate strategy: text
and cases. Pearson Education.

Lee, Regina Marie. Use of healthier cooking oil to be mandated in NTUC Foodfare
tenancy contracts. 2016. http://www.todayonline.com/singapore/ntuc-give-discounts-
healthier-food-options-supermarkets (accessed June 23, 2016).

Mahoney, J. (2013), Public Relations Writing, 2nd edn, Oxford University Press,
Melbourne.

Seitel, F.P. (2011), The Practice of Public Relations, 11th edn, Pearson, Upper Saddle
River, NJ

Vijayaraghavan, Akhila. The Importance of Stakeholder Engagement. 2011.

http://www.triplepundit.com/2011/06/importance-stakeholder-engagement/
(accessed June 21, 2011).

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