An organization is always made up of people, so therefore it stands to reason that the morale of those people, the employees, plays an important role in ensuring the well-being of the organization. By using PR on the company’s internal, we can achieve the effect of presenting goodwill to the employees. And armed with the positive experiences that you have given them, the employees will in turn spread the message to their families and friends.
This is useful in helping your company to present a good image. Public Relations is all about forming relationships with the stakeholders, and in this context, means the employees. Some of the ways that can be used to communicate with the internal stakeholders are by newsletters, memos, events, intranets or awards.
All these are tools that when used effectively, can help to maintain the good relationships between the company and the employees. For examples, the newsletters and memos can help in disseminate information and messages to the employees. This
can help to allay any fears or rumors that can be so common in the workplace.
And let also look at using PR in community relations. The importance of community relations lies in the fact that organizations are also part of the society and the community. Decisions that the organization makes might also affected the community. When such decisions that concerned the communities are made, there will be a need to reassure those who are affected and communicate with them about your decisions. This is where having a good relation with the community will be useful.
Friday, February 27, 2009
Ethics. Do you have it?
Ethics is useless. You do not need to be ethical to do a good job. Or do you?
Wrong. Ethics is an important part of everything that you do, be it as a PR practitioner or in your day to day life. Take a look at philosophy, in particular what the German philosopher Immanuel Kant said. He put forward a three-step ethical
process which I personally fund to be rather interesting. Kant three-step process:
1. When in doubt about the morality of an act, ask the question:”What if everyone did this deed?”
2. Always treat all people as ends in themselves and never exploit humans.
3. Always respect the dignity of humans.
Compare this to philosopher Jeremy Bentham, who talked about utilitarianism in ethics. Bentham believes that judgment should be made on the basis of the greatest good for the greatest number.
Looking at these two views, we can see that they are very different. Where Kant focus is on the individual, Bentham view is that people should choose actions that produce the greatest good for the greatest numbers. Not that I got anything against Bentham, but does it means that it is alright for the minority to suffer as long as
the majority benefits? Now, that is something to think about.
As this is a blog about Public Relations, let take a look at ethics in PR.
Sein and Fitzpatrick identifies the five duties of PR professionals as being-
1. To oneself
2. To the client
3. To the employer
4. To the profession
5. To the society
What this list means that, when faced with an ethical dilemma, the first thing you should do is look inside yourself, at your own values. Next is to think of the client and how it will affect them. You should also think about how the decision will affect your company and the profession. And lastly, you must also be aware that you have a duty to the society.
In our course text, we are introduced to the different roles of the PR professional. They can be a counselor, advocate and act as a corporate conscience.
Corporate conscience is where the PR professional serve as the moral keeper for both the company communications and actions. He needs to look at the decisions and policies of the company and see whether they are ethical. With this, the PR professional are in a unique position, as he can look at things from an external perspective.
So now, we can see the importance of ethics in PR, especially in the current climate where public trust of corporations is getting lower. Being transparent and honest can help to build the trust which is very much needed.
Wrong. Ethics is an important part of everything that you do, be it as a PR practitioner or in your day to day life. Take a look at philosophy, in particular what the German philosopher Immanuel Kant said. He put forward a three-step ethical
process which I personally fund to be rather interesting. Kant three-step process:
1. When in doubt about the morality of an act, ask the question:”What if everyone did this deed?”
2. Always treat all people as ends in themselves and never exploit humans.
3. Always respect the dignity of humans.
Compare this to philosopher Jeremy Bentham, who talked about utilitarianism in ethics. Bentham believes that judgment should be made on the basis of the greatest good for the greatest number.
Looking at these two views, we can see that they are very different. Where Kant focus is on the individual, Bentham view is that people should choose actions that produce the greatest good for the greatest numbers. Not that I got anything against Bentham, but does it means that it is alright for the minority to suffer as long as
the majority benefits? Now, that is something to think about.
As this is a blog about Public Relations, let take a look at ethics in PR.
Sein and Fitzpatrick identifies the five duties of PR professionals as being-
1. To oneself
2. To the client
3. To the employer
4. To the profession
5. To the society
What this list means that, when faced with an ethical dilemma, the first thing you should do is look inside yourself, at your own values. Next is to think of the client and how it will affect them. You should also think about how the decision will affect your company and the profession. And lastly, you must also be aware that you have a duty to the society.
In our course text, we are introduced to the different roles of the PR professional. They can be a counselor, advocate and act as a corporate conscience.
Corporate conscience is where the PR professional serve as the moral keeper for both the company communications and actions. He needs to look at the decisions and policies of the company and see whether they are ethical. With this, the PR professional are in a unique position, as he can look at things from an external perspective.
So now, we can see the importance of ethics in PR, especially in the current climate where public trust of corporations is getting lower. Being transparent and honest can help to build the trust which is very much needed.
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Media Relations
Media Relations, I think, formed a rather significant part in any PR plan. One of the most direct ways of measuring the effectiveness of a PR campaign is by looking at the number of times that you are mentioned and featured in the media. Simple as it sound, using media relations to your advantage is not a straight forward affair.
Media relations, used as a PR tactic, is uncontrolled. This means that, more often than not, you will have no control over what the journalist writes in the media. There is then a risk that the journalist will misinterpret your intended message. Yet, the result of a favorable article is most definitely worth the risk.
As mentioned above, I said that the job of dealing with the media is not an easy one. The PR practitioner must possess both good organisational skills and a flair for writing. That is part of the technical aspect of the media relations. Understanding how the media industry work is also another important knowledge that the PR practitioner need in his line of work. Other than that, having good interpersonal skills also one of the attribute that the PR practitioner need to have. After all, he will be forming and maintaining cordial relationships with the journalist and people who made up the media.
Machines and computer has not taken over their role. At least for now.
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