Chapter objectives

Identify the key definitions of public relations

used in practice today
Recognize the debates around the nature of
public relations and what it means
understand the social and cultural dynamics
that led to the emergence of the profession
What can you become
Agency
Private organization (in house PR)
Public organization (in house PR)
Government organization
Non-government organization (charity
organization/ non-profit organization)
Consultancy
 You see a gorgeous girl at a party. You go up to her and
say: I am very rich. Marry me! Direct Marketing

gorgeous girl. One of your friends goes up to her and

Advertising

straighten your tie, you walk up to her and pour her a

drink, you open the door of the car for her, pick up her
bag after she drops it, offer her ride and then say: By the
Public
Relations
You see a gorgeous girl at a party. You go up to her and

restriction for entering new markets

Q: how many PR people does it take to change a
light bulb?
A: Four, one change a light bulb, three to write
the holding statement, key messages and the
news release
Dark side and bright side
- People said: “you control the media; you control the world”
- Dark (black) PR drives audiences to false statement
- Bright (white) PR communicate with audience for goods
 Definition academic point of view

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 help management to keep informed on
and responsive to public opinions; defines and emphasizes
the responsibility of management to serve the public interest;
help management keep abreast of and effectively utilize
change; serving as an early warning system to help anticipate
trends and uses research and ethical communication
techniques as its principle tools
Academic point of view
The management communication between
an organization and publics
Two ways communication
What about PR practitioners?
According to The UK Chartered Institute of
Public Relation (CIPR) «about reputation the
result of what you do, what you say and what
others say about you. Public relation is the
discipline which looks after reputation, with the
aim of earning understanding and support and
influencing opinion and behavior. It is the planned
and sustained effort to establish and maintain
goodwill and mutual understand between an
PR practitioners
Persuation and influence
Reputation
Why is PR important to an
organization?
Brand credibility
High chance of increase profits, sales and
leads

Boost traffic
Management and organization of PR

An organization does not stand alone in

business
Effected by different factors
Each factor will have an interlink with
another factors
 External environment
Political Economic
Employment legislation Interest rates
Trade legislation Levels of employment
Change of government Value of the currency
Political alliance between nations Energy costs

Social
Lifestyle changes
Social attitudes
Demographic changes
Purchasing habits
Technological
New technologies
Access to technology
Cost of R&D
Impact of new technologies on
work practices
Globalization
Understanding how the world work
Vedan case, Formosa case (Pollution)
Facebook (Privacy concern)
News media
 Provide input or
Allow consume output
organization
exist

Peer
organization
No formal
relationship, but
might interest
Internal environment
Sector
Size of an organization
Culture of an organization
Sector
Depend on a sector, PR needs to change fast
and quick or maintain the activity
Involve in dealing with certain stakeholder (ie.
Government bodies)
Size
Small businesses tend to outsource PR
department
Big businesses, the department will take place
in certain tasks
Culture
Most significant influences in determining
how the PR function within an organization
Norm, value, belief
Stage of organizational development
Different stages will execute different strategy
for the best information flow
4 stages: startup, growth, maturity and
decline
Startup stage
New launch company, entering new market
Communication techniques: connecting with
target consumer, strengthen internal
communication and loyalty employees
Branding company, internal communication
for driving the same objectives
Growth stage
Developing stage, consumer start to have
brand awareness
Communication techniques: communicating
with shareholder, stakeholders,

market through different segments.

Maturity
Company starts becoming stable, maintain a
certain number consumers.
Communication techniques: raising even more
awareness. Attract more investors (CSR).
Prevent violating laws, transparency related to
audit assurance and financial clarification.
Research future trends and new target
consumers
Decline stage
Recession period, crisis may happened during
this stage.
Communication techniques: holding, keeping
talent employees, strengthen communication
along the organization structure

perspectives.
 Traditional communication approach

Appraise
Research planning Communicate
(feedback)
communication model
 Diffusion theory
Social process -> new ideas spread among the
members of social system
Using different channel of communication
Five steps to acquiring new ideas
Awareness Research to understand the target demographic
Potential adopters need to know there is something
new
Interest Create interest among the adopters through define the
goods and services

Trial Let them try the product !!!

Evaluation Using feedback to get the ideas of consumers, it might

success or fail to change consumer behaviour

Adoption If the fourth step is successfully implemented,

Consumers (adopters) might share their positive
feedback
Diffusion theory

Individual

individual
Communication individual

individual
PR roles
Communication manager: plans and manages
Communication technician: the doers
PR tasks
Management communication
Marketing communication
Organizational communication
Function structure
Tasks structure
System theory
Describes and organizations as a set of subsystems
that affect each other and jointly interact with the
external environment
Production subsystem: product and services
Maintenance subsystems: work throughout the
organization, encouraging employees to work
together
Disposal subsystems: assist marketing and
distribution
Adaptive subsystem: adjust
Management subsystems: control the information
and conflict
Systems theory
A system is a set of interacting units that
endure overtime
Smaller parts of system can be called as
subsystems
Common subsystems in an
organization
Management: oversight, control, policy,
decision making
Production: manufacturing, service
Disposal: distribution, sales, service delivery
Maintenance: personnel, development
Adaptive: research, planning
System theory