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INTRODUCTION:-

Today we live in the age of Interdependence as we are reliant upon one

another for the satisfaction of our social, economic, political & religious need. We
do not come across individuals, groups, corporations, governments and nations
who are able to achieve or do any activity without the help of others.

Thus, the mutual dependence of individuals, groups, corporations etc. has

magnified the importance of human relationship in contemporary life. There is
employer-employee relationship society and business relationship, buyer and seller
relationship, investor and corporate relationship subordinate and superior
relationship and also the dynamics of small group relationship.

The opinions of individuals or that of group of the public cannot be ignored

for the success of any business. Human relationship and its interrelationship in
contemporary life is natural as well as essential.

The order of present century and the forthcoming century exits in total
interdependence or reliance on each other. This has created the need for a new
discipline and philosophy as a function of management which is termed as Public
Relations.

Public relation as a concept was critical evolved in business and industry and
it subsequently spread to other areas of human activity. This profession is
immensely applicable in government and public institutions like Corporations,
Municipalities, Universities, Hospitals, Professionals and social service
organizations. Public relations was in practice in people’s daily life even before the
emergence of industry, business and government. Public relations is the result of
the action inherent in an individual, an institution or an organization.
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MEANING OF PUBLIC RELATIONS:-
Public:

Public is group of similar individuals, an assortment of person having

similar interest, problems, goals and circumstances. It generally from such sources
that OPINIONS emerge. Public comes in many forms and sizes. They have a
multitude of desires and wants.

Public has its own likes and dislikes which sometimes can even be strong.
Employees are one form of public and employers another form. Other members of
the public are dealers, wholesalers, brokers and investors. Each of these groups
tries to attract a distinct audience with its varied tools and techniques.

Relations:

Relations are the outcome of mutual understanding which is derived from

the process of sharing of the common interest. The need of establish relation with
one another is created because of human wants. The respective wants of two
individuals will affect their relationship. To understand any relationship, one must
understand wants of those involved.

Public Relations:

By the integration of the above two human element viz. public and relations
we get public relations. It is a profession that is a part and parcel of management
function.
INTERNAL PUBLIC AND EXTERNAL PUBLIC

Public for public relations can be classified into categories:

(A) Internal Public.

(B) External Public.

(A) Internal public :

The internal staffs who work within the organization constitute the internal
public. An organization is complex consisting of group of individuals. There is
interaction between individuals & groups within an organization & relationship is
established. It is the responsibility of the public relation manager to provide
effective public relations.

The employees expect higher pay, company’s stability & opportunity for
advancement. The employers expect increase production & employees’ loyalty.

As far as internal relations are concerned the PR officer tries to establish

good relations with the employees 7 the management. Within the organization the
executives constitute a special public category who are also under obligation to
share some common interest with the other executives.

There are certain requirements for effective internal public relations:

a) Good internal relations must be recognized as it is a basic requirement to build a

team and to achieve the corporate objectives.

b) Internal public must be well informed of the board objectives and policies of the
top management and also about their mutual interest in the organization.
c) Free flow of upward and downward communication should be emphasized. The
department of public relations is responsible to create a climate conductive towards
the free flow approach to communicate freely.

d) The top management must establish a good internal climate of understanding

and relations.

e) Professional talent must be developed and Training Programmers must be

strategically chalked out to the benefit of the organization.

f) It is the responsibility of the management to recognize the importance of

freedom of speech of their subordinates.

(B) External Public

External public is the one who buys the products or the services of the company.
This category includes dealers, wholesalers, brokers, supplies, investors,
consumers, government, department, financial institutions, creditors, debenture
holders, subsidiary companies etc. Every organization is linked with their external
parties. Under all the circumstance a smooth two-way communication channel
external to the organization must be maintained for running the business
effectively.

An external relation is considered as life-blood of modern business and hence the

management should be aware of the importance of external communication and the
use of feedback.

The public relations department should adopt a multi-dimensional approach in

order to establish relations with the external public of vary groups. It is very
important to boil positive attitude, develop good rapport, create confidence, and
win goodwill and mutual understanding with the external public by keeping them
well informed.
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Objectives of Public Relations:

(1) Promote mutual understanding.

(2) Persuade individuals, groups, etc,
(3) Help in fund raising.
(4) Enhance the patronage from the various sections.
(5) Change the behavior and attitude of the public,
(6) Influence people.
(7) Win friends.
(8) Avoid the risk involved in misunderstanding.
(9) Prepare and supply the public with information about .the
organization like price, quality, export, employment and other special features.
(10) Provide information about the activities of the company, to the
press and writers.
(11) Liaise, counsel and advise,
(12) Improve internal staff relations.
(13) Help the public to love life and work for better or for worse
without conditions.
(14) Undertake a public relations education programme..
(15) Promote goodwill.
(16) Correct misconceptions and clarify on criticism of its policies
and practices.
(17) Establish relations with federal and state legislators, agencies.
(18) Undertake a campaign of public education about an
industry or profession and its contribution to the public.

FUNCTIONS OF PUBLICS RELATION DEPARTMENTS:

The functions of a public relation department differ from organization to
organization depending upon their nature and activities. However, there certain
standard functions which are common to most of the organization. They are as
follows:

(1) Policy: a policy is statement of guidelines to be followed in the company.

Public relation policy is required for organization. It has to be develop and
recommended corporate public relation policies and has contribute the public
relation viewpoint which helps in the formulation of decision. Its function is not
only to provide policy to the top management but also to the other section and
divisions.

(2) Publicity: in ordered to interact with the public it is necessary to have

corporate activities to the external communication media. It also has to handle
inquiries from the press. It is one of the important functions of department to
develop and place promotional publicity about the organization as a whole or any
of its units.

(3) Relation with government: it is necessary to maintain liaison with

appropriate government infrastructures regulates controls and supervises majority
of the activities. Hence the relations with the government cannot be overlooked.
The liaison covers the locals and the state level as well as the national level.
Besides this government relations include the following:

(a) Help in preparing and directing corporate appearances before investing

bodies of legislative hearings.
(b) Direct programmes design to promote the companies point of view in
legislative or regulatory matters.
(c) Report trends in government affecting the company.

(4) Community Relations: community contacts should be well-planned and co-

ordinate. Activity such as environmental protection standards, equal employment
opportunity and co-operating in urban improvement progrmmes should be
undertaking.

(5) Shareholder Relations: in order to attract public money it is necessary and

important to maintain good relation with corporate shareholders. This can be done
in the form communication between the company and shareholders including me
investors. The company can be made more acceptable among the investors by
broadening the exposure of the companies’ policies and financial results in me
investment community. These includes preparation of annual reports, etc. it has
also to plan and stage the annual meetings of the shareholders.

(6) Product publicity: the public relation department has to develop and excute
the promotional product publicity campaign. Corporate publicity is different from
product publicity. In product publicity the focus is on the product and how to
popularize them it includes announcement of new product through the editorial
channels of communication media.

(7) Employees Publicity: the public relation department has to publish

newspapers, bulletins and employees magazines. In order to communicate the
various goals, achievements, performance and future planes of the company.

(8) Donations: the public relation departments has to prepare a corporate

donations policy for company contributions various aspects involved in this
function includes processing request for donation, administrating companies
foundation etc.

(9) Promotion Programs: PR promotion programme’s broadly covers

institutions promotional programs design to build corporate acceptance of key
policies, special events, public relation, literature and institutional advertising other
functions include:
(a) Public relation education programme’s

(b) Advisory functions.

(c) Co-coordinating activities.

(d) Conveying and interpretations.

Essential Qualities of A Good Public Relation Manager:

(1) Mental ability, foreside, orderliness of mind and judgment, willingness to

thing straight and promptness decision.

(2) Integrity in the sense of mental honesty.

(3) A restrained self confidence coupled with initiated and resourcefulness.

(4) Ability to see other person’s point of view and to be as critical of oneself of
other.

(5) A balance temperature particularly the absence of emotional instability and

forcefulness and self centered outlook.
(6) Persistence but not the point of obstinacy.

Edward L. Bernays listed eleven personal characteristics needed by PR

practitioner:

(1) Character and integrity.

(2) A sense of Jegament and Logic.

(3) A broad cultural background.

(4) Truthfulness and discretion.

(5) Objectivity

(6) Institution.

(7) A deep interest in the solution of problems.

(8) The ability to think creative and imaginative.

(9) Effective power of analyzing and synthesis.

(10) Intellectual curiosity.

(11) Terming in the social science and in the mechanics of public relations.

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Role Of Public Relation Manager:

(1) To help the management in preparing, interpreting adopting and evaluating

the public relation policies and programme.

(2) To design an effective performance appraisal system.

(3) To conduct education and training programmer for the staff of the PR
department.

(4) To develop a mechanism of personally meeting various public like buyers,

institutional investors, communities, consumer organizations, etc.

(5) To develop effective internal and external communication system for timely
interaction.

(6) To prepare different literature matter for different media.

(7) To convey and interpret to the management different information on public

attitudes and views about the company or industry it serves.

(8) To instruct the company’s financial advertising agents an all matters relating
to financial and annual reports, advertising, publicity etc.

ATTRIBUTES OF PUBLIC RELATION:

(1)Imagination.
(2)Verbalizing skills for writing, and speaking
(3)Extroversion, for contact with people.
(4)Sensitivity to people and events.
(5) Organizing and planning skills, including leadership and
administrative skills.
Setting Objectives:

Knowing how to set goals and objectives in the planning of your communication
activities makes you much more effective.

Setting communication goals and objectives creates several benefits. It lets people
know what is expected of them, it lets others know what is planned, it helps to
quantify the resources that are needed and when, it helps to improve
communication between the participants, and it creates measurable results.

A widely held myth for many years was that public relations performance could
not really be measured and therefore couldn’t be expected to undergo the
performance and budget scrutiny that other areas of the organization were obliged
to accept. These days you can prove the value of your PR work by setting and
achieving measurable objectives for your activities.

Goals are the means to express the end points towards which effort is directed.
They are broad, relatively abstract and may be difficult to quantify (“Our goal is to
increase our share of the marketplace for [our product].”)

Objectives are subsets of goals and should be expressed in concrete, measurable

terms. (“Our objective is to increase our share of the market in the largest city in
this State for [our product] by 15% by the end of the next financial year.”) An
objective is something that can be documented; it’s factual and observable.
A set of goals is achieved only by achieving a subset of interrelated objectives,
even if those objectives are not clearly stated or articulated. Therefore, an objective
is a strategic step along the way to achieving a desired goal.

There are generally three types of goals in public relations:

• Reputation management goals, which deal with the identity and perception
of the organization. Example: “We aim to improve stakeholder opinions of
our organization significantly within the next year.”
• Relationship management goals, which focus on how the organization
connects with its stakeholders. Example: “We aim to improve
communication with our shareholders during the coming year. ”
• Task management goals, which are concerned with achieving tasks.
Example: “Our goal is to increase attendance at our staff ‘town hall’
meetings.”

Many public relations practitioners are satisfied to express their intentions in the
broad terms of goals. This allows them to rationalize the outcomes, to ‘gild the
lily’ and take the credit for the results. However, in tough times, they can’t actually
prove their worth and therefore senior management may subjectively question their
contribution.

But if you can show that you have achieved specific, measurable targets, you are
able to prove your worth. Setting measurable objectives helps the planning of
future campaigns and offers you the political benefit of enabling you to justify
more resources for your subsequent activities. Specifying objectives is also the
best practical way to make senior managers understand the public relations role.

Measuring the overall impact of a PR program or strategy can be difficult unless

the individual elements or components of the program are clearly defined and
measured, e.g. publicity activities, a particular community relations program, a
special event, government affairs, speaker program, investor relations activity, etc.

It is often difficult to separate PR programs and activities (such as publicity,

distribution of information material, special events, etc) from other activities such
as marketing (advertising, point-of-purchase promotional activities, give-away
activities, etc).

Also, the setting of challenging but realistic objectives can be a difficult exercise
requiring arbitrary selection of target figures that depend on a range of underlying
assumptions.

Life seldom consists of black and white issues; it largely consists of shades of grey.
Accordingly, objectives should never be ‘all or nothing’ – they should refer to the
extent of accomplishment along a continuum of performance. An ‘all or nothing’
approach to objectives will subvert the value of the process because people will
always go for ‘low hurdles’ to maximize the chances of attaining them. If someone
achieves 95% of an objective, how can they be considered a failure? To treat
anything less than 100% as a failure…will surely lead to game playing, ‘low-
balling’ and the massage and manipulation of data. To use objectives…in such a
simplistic way invites reactions inconsistent with execution success. ”1

Setting objectives and measuring results

It is helpful to think of objectives comprising four parts:

• an infinitive verb
• a single outcome stated as a receiver of a verb’s action
• the magnitude of the action expressed in quantifiable terms
• a target date or timeframe for achieving the outcome.

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 EMPLOYEE RELATION:
A vital role for communicators is to tell all stakeholders, especially staff, about the
decisions and the planned outcomes from the strategic planning process. Key
messages need to be passed on consistently and effectively throughout the
organisation in a tailored way, not as mass-communication, head-office gloss or
propaganda.

The messages should link the ‘big picture’ with the ‘little picture’ so that staff can
see how their individual efforts can make a difference to the end result. Research
shows that organisations are more effective when their employees know the
direction in which the organisation is heading and their own personal role in
helping the organisation achieve its goals and mission. This is also called ‘line of
sight.’

The time of most managers is largely spent in dealing with the local, short-term
issues. The focus of the managers is on their daily, weekly, monthly and quarterly
needs as they deal with employees, customers and other stakeholders. Short-term
thinking is fine as long as it directly supports long-term, strategic thinking. This
point may seem to be basic, but the translation of strategy into short-term
measurable objectives is often incomplete or faulty. Managers usually need
assistance in breaking down the key issues, elements and needs of the business
strategy into tactical, short-term operating objectives and action plans. This
translation process is an integral and vital part of the execution of strategy.
Ask the managers what they intend to say to the staff about strategic direction.
Ideally, the CEO would have already led the way with a summary presentation of
the corporate plan. The aim is to translate how the strategy becomes fulfilled
through completion of daily tasks.

Making the connection between the daily workplace and corporate strategy is
easier said than done, but with a little thought, the tasks of even a personal
assistant, coordinator or cost clerk can be linked to goals. By reviewing their job
description or getting them to list their activities, their manager can link their tasks
to measurable work objectives supporting the various goals at the departmental,
divisional and organisational level.

One way of checking if managers have communicated the short-term objectives

sufficiently is to ask their staff two questions:

“What activities and objectives do you routinely work to in your department [unit,
branch]?”

“What business strategy does these activities and objectives support?”

The answers will quickly show the extent to which the respective manager is
succeeding in their strategic role.

Senior managers tend to use acronyms and management jargon in the strategic
planning process as well as in their daily workplace. As they are surrounded by
other senior managers, they take for granted that everyone else is familiar with
their terminology. This is seldom the case, especially with frontline staff.
Therefore it is important to define terms when using them in communication or not
use them at all. Even common terms like ‘mission’, ‘values’, ‘culture’ and
‘strategy’ are widely misunderstood by lower-level employees.

To be effective, work back from the frontline level. The best way to check about
employee understanding of important terms is to ask them about the acronyms and
jargon words used in their workplace. Ask a sample of frontline staff individually
in each workplace what is meant by terms such as ‘mission,’ ‘goals’ and ‘KPIs.’
etc. Sit in on their team meetings and listen for jargon. Become a jargon detector!
Make a note of the acronyms and jargon words used in the discussion about
strategic direction and get the manager to explain the terms in subsequent team
meetings. Staff would probably be reluctant to admit in front of others that they
don’t know, especially if their boss uses the words every day. They wouldn’t want
to look dumb in front of their peers.

In addition to verbal clarification, if there is widespread misunderstanding about

certain terms, the communication team could explain them progressively in the
corporate newsletter or even in briefing material. This can be done quite subtly in
passing.

Operational managers should be responsible for communicating with their own

staff rather than PR practitioners trying to communicate on their behalf. Why
should PR staff do the communicating when these line managers are responsible
for all other matters at the local level?

The idea is for PR staff to be catalysts or enablers – to equip local managers and
supervisors with the right tools to enable them to communicate effectively with
their own staff.

Managing the performance of PR staff

If you are a PR manager, how can you get better performance from your staff? And
if you are a PR officer, what should you expect from your boss? If you know good
techniques for performance management, you can get better results.

Performance management is a poorly handled role everywhere. For instance, a

Watson Wyatt Worldwide national US survey in 2004 of 1200 employees found
that 90% of respondents participated in a performance management program, but
only 30% said their organization’s program actually led to improved performance.
1

Only 20% said their company helped poorly performing workers improve. And
only 39% could see the connection between their day-to-day work and corporate
goals. On a more positive note, around 40% said their system established clear
performance goals or generated honest feedback.
It is difficult for many PR managers to find out the most effective ways of
managing the performance of their staff because it is difficult to find satisfactory
KPIs to use. KPIs are repeated activities that can be measured from one period to
the next. Many PR activities have intangible or complex outcomes or are not
repeated actions that can be compared from one period to the next, which is the
fundamental requirement for KPIs. This makes it difficult to identify suitable KPIs
for PR practitioners.

In view of all this, most PR KPIs tend to relate to stakeholder opinions canvassed
from one period to the next.

Research shows that the best supervisors informally monitor the performance of
their staff during their daily duties and give 50% more feedback about their work
than poor supervisors do. The worst supervisors tend not to give feedback to the
individual until they are obliged to in an uncomfortable formal review. So the
moral is there – give frequent feedback!

A key issue to understand is that performance reviews and pay reviews should be
mutually exclusive. Unfortunately, in most organisations the employee’s
performance review and pay review are conducted in the same meeting. This is
completely counter-productive because it creates an adversarial environment –
with the employee trying to convince the boss that he or she performs miracles and
deserves a maximum rise while the boss tries to find arguments, such as finding
fault with the employee’s performance, to minimise a pay increase.

Performance reviews should be conducted independently of pay reviews. They

should be held at quarterly intervals at the start and could extend to every six
months if both parties consider this to be appropriate later. Set the next review date
during the previous review and never change it. Performance reviews are
supremely important to employees. If the boss changes the date – invariably a
delay – it sends a dreadful signal to the employee. Employees will agonise in a
paranoid state over the many possible reasons for the delay of a review and will
usually fear the worst. Don’t let them down!

The boss is essentially the person’s performance coach. The broad thrust of the
performance review meeting should be along the lines of the boss asking, “How
can I help you to do your job more effectively?” as the two parties work through
their discussion agenda.

The discussion agenda at a performance review should:

1. Update the staff member’s personal details, eg home address and telephone
number (15-20% of people change address every year).
2. Review the staff member’s job title, and review their job description, line by
line, and jointly identify any changes in the role that need to be shown on an
amended job description.
3. Establish the key successes – review the job description line by line, identify
where the objectives have been met and clearly establish the extent to which
they have added value to the organisation.
4. Review the key performance indicators to:
o ensure they are still relevant,
o determine that the way of measuring them is still valid
o determine how the staff member performed in relation to the KPIs
o determine whether any skills training is required or whether more
resources could be applied to help that person improve their KPI
results.
5. Identify the key challenges – only after completing the previous step should
the areas of below-expected performance be addressed. Identify what factors
are contributing to those problems and develop a strategy for dealing with
them.
6. Complete the performance review record by entering the information from
the above steps, using the job description as a reference.
7. Sign off – once the performance review record has been updated and agreed
by both parties, the staff member signs the document, which is included in
their personnel file

The staff member should always be involved in the construction and regular
updating of their job description – it gives them a greater sense of ‘ownership’ of
their job.

The person’s review would also include several short-to-medium-term objectives

of activities that are significant but not repeated, eg ‘Complete the promotional
plan for the new plant by 10 June’ and ‘Learn how to operate Microsoft Access to
a competent level by 30 September’. Professional development activities would be
included here, eg ‘Attend PRSA issues management workshop’.

Dealing with poor performers

One thing that should be understood is that poor performers are not nearly as
prevalent as mythology may make out. Actual numbers of poor performers are well
below the levels perceived by other employees. When there is a poor performer,
they have a greater nuisance and irritant effect on other employees, which tends to
magnify perceptions of the extent of the problem.

How can performance management be effective? In a consistent and firm way.

Where there is a poor performer, managers need to show commitment to due
process that all their employees can perceive. Performance management should be
more an ongoing dialogue rather than merely a formal review. With such a
dialogue, it is likely that the problem will be addressed early rather than being
allowed to fester. All employees must be made aware of the processes in place to
address poor performance, not just poor performers themselves. The more that
employees understand these processes, the more confidence they will have in
management to deal with any problems. 2

Staff member KPIs

A key performance indicator is an outcome. It describes what would happen if the

staff member succeeded in fulfilling that particular role. A KPI is not merely a PR
activity. It is an outcome for the business that having you on staff is supposed to
deliver.

Each person should have up to five KPIs of repeated, measurable activities that
support the goals of their workplace. It is virtually impossible to accomplish more
than five well-constructed KPIs. If more than five can be found for an individual
then they are most likely to be subsets of larger KPIs. An individual’s KPIs could
stem from the PR branch’s KPIs as outlined in earlier in this chapter.

Key performance indicators can be best reached by asking questions like:

“Is the proposed KPI an outcome?”
“Are we doing the tasks to produce the outcome?”
“Whatever else happens, you must…”
“At the end of the day, the things that must happen in your job are…”

Individuals’ KPIs are measurable either by report or survey. A measure must

indicate how, how often and to what level an activity has been performed, eg

Six monthly stakeholder satisfaction survey shows at least 75% positive response.
Quarterly evaluation report on extent of positive media coverage.
Monthly report on PR stationery stocks showing stock levels at least 50%.
Quarterly running review and update of PR strategy plan completed.
Monthly report on corporate advertising committed against budget shows no
budget over-runs.
Monthly employee publication contains agreed proportions of content on
organisational strategy, human interest, local production achievements, safety
results and staff promotions.

Giving Recognition to employees:

Appreciation is a fundamental human need. Employees respond to appreciation

expressed through recognition of their good work because it confirms their work is
valued. When employees and their work are valued, their satisfaction and
productivity rises, and they are motivated to maintain or improve their good work.
What’s more, employee recognition is free or low cost!

Employee recognition is the timely, informal or formal acknowledgement of a

person’s or team’s behavior, effort or business result that supports the
organization’s goals and values, and which has clearly been beyond normal
expectations.

Recognition is also a powerful means of communication; it sends extremely

positive signals to the recipient and others who are aware of the recognition act.
Employee recognition is therefore a communication technique to be encouraged by
public relations practitioners, who can play a key role in influencing management
to use recognition as a performance enhancer in the workplace.
Despite the unquestioned benefits arising from employee recognition, one of the
mysteries of the workplace is that recognition invariably is done badly, if done at
all. Few organizations have well-established and accepted formal or informal
employee programs in place. Therefore, employee recognition remains an
undervalued management technique.

What’s the best way to recognize an employee for work well done? The best
formula for recognizing an individual for their efforts is:

• Thank the person by name.

• Specifically state what was done that is being recognized. Being specific is
vital because it identifies and reinforces the desired behavior.
• Explain how the behavior made you feel (assuming you felt some pride or
respect for their accomplishment).
• Point out the value added to your team or organization by the behavior.
• Wherever possible, also point out the way in which the behavior supports an
organisational goal or objective. This shows a direct connection between
their work and your organizational goals and objectives - a strategic
reinforcement.
• Thank the person again by name for their contribution.

Encouraging the Employees:

Appreciation is a fundamental human need. Employees respond to appreciation

expressed through recognition of their good work because it confirms their work is
valued. When employees and their work are valued, their satisfaction and
productivity rises, and they are motivated to maintain or improve their good work.
Employee recognition is the timely, informal or formal acknowledgement of a
person’s or team’s behavior, effort or business result that supports the
organization’s goals and values, and which has clearly been beyond normal
expectations.

Despite the unquestioned benefits arising from employee recognition, one of the
mysteries of the workplace is that recognition invariably is done badly, if done at
all. Few organizations have well-established and accepted formal or informal
employee programs in place. Therefore, employee recognition remains an
undervalued management technique.

Communication is a vital part of recognition

Communication is important in the recognition of good achievements in the

workplace by peers, managers and supervisors. As a public relations practitioner,
you can encourage the awarding of recognition for work well done throughout the
organization when you become aware of suitable situations. Such opportunities
tend to arise while gathering information for employee publications and other
typical communication tasks.

You can communicate about good achievements and their long-term benefits:

• Offer employee recognition ideas to help to drive formal and informal

programs of employee recognition.
• Supply articles and photographs in employee publications, including the
intranet, and occasionally in external media about high-achieving
employees.
• Arrange informal recognition functions, such as during the morning coffee
break, in which the supervisor or manager thanks the person for their work.
• Directly encourage managers and supervisors to spontaneously recognize
employees for their efforts (giving employees a ‘pat on the back’).
• Arrange photographs and certificates of the employees and their awards or
similar, in common areas.
• Mention employee recognition activities in your workplace and elsewhere at
your regular team meetings.
 • Model the desired behavior by giving recognition to your staff and also to
your peers (especially if you aren’t a manager yourself).

In addition, you can communicate about the long-term benefits that come to high
achievers in the workplace:

• Conduct interviews with the staff who manage your organization’s career
advancement programs, with the aim of publicizing the opportunities for
advancement.
• Include high-achieving employees in special features in print or online
publications that outline ways to get ahead. (You will probably find
government departments are reluctant to single out individuals, but persist
because this is an important issue.)
• List employees who have been promoted, proving that career advancement
is possible from achieving good results in the workplace.
• Include a career management section on your organizational intranet, which
summarizes all information and resources about career advancement.
• Ensure that senior managers reinforce positive messages about high
achievers and career advancement opportunities when they speak to
employee groups.

You can play a valuable role by training or arranging training in presentation skills
to assist supervisors and managers to improve the way they recognize their staff for
work well done. Many managers have never had such training, and because good
communication skills are expected as a ‘given’ in a job, some are reluctant to admit
they need assistance in this area.

The concept of employee recognition is basically simple, but most managers are
poor at it. They need reinforcing and coaching. They need a program, principles
and procedures to help them apply recognition effectively within their area of
responsibility.
 Crisis Management:

Since 9/11, the world has become a more dangerous place. Every day we see in the
media the latest terrorism incident that has been thwarted or happened in countries
around the world. And, of course, there are all the types of corporate crises that
could happen, many related to the Internet and information technology.

According to a September 2006 poll conducted by Harris Interactive of senior

executives in large corporations, the top crisis situations that worry corporate
executives were:

61% compromise of corporate information systems

55% terrorism

40% corporate wrongdoing

32% environmental mishaps

30% negative claims about products, health or safety

29% Internet rumors and misinformation

24% industrial accidents

23% product contamination or tampering

21% product recalls

19% workplace violence

Whether you are in-house or a consultant, crises are relevant to you as a

communicator because crises are largely about the perceptions of stakeholders.
Operational managers can deal with operational emergencies, but crises happen
when emergency incidents impact on stakeholders, whose actions can affect the
ability of your organization to survive. That’s where you come in – to
communicate with key stakeholder groups such as employees, customers,
shareholders, government regulators and suppliers.

It’s not easy to get senior management to actively support crisis communication
plans. Most of them don’t want to know about crises. They know the chance of
being caught up in a crisis is tiny and they don’t want to take time away from their
daily work priorities to deal with something that just might happen one day, and
then again, it might not. And crisis preparation costs money in staff time, in
equipment and other resources.

What’s more, many executives perceive crises and emergencies only in terms of an
operational response (“put the fire out and return to full operations ASAP”). They
look at communication only as an afterthought to the real work. This is an
extremely frustrating attitude to encounter. Those executives will need to be
convinced of the impact on your organization’s operations and therefore
profitability before they take full notice of your communication plan. (In a
government agency the discussion would need to be about the impact on output
and the fallout from politicians to a public shambles.)

One fatal assumption many organizations make is to think their own IT and server
will be available during a crisis. You need to ensure you can communicate with
key stakeholders from your back up system for a significant time during a crisis.
Lack of thought in this area could come back to bite you. Save your crisis response
material on a separate server and regularly update it so that you can use it during a
crisis, even from other premises.
A great crisis communication plan is only as good as the extent to which it is
implemented. Here are some ideas to get senior management to respect your crisis
communication plan and support its implementation:

• Be an ambassador of communication. Every person in your organization

involved in emergency management should know your first name and face.
Meet the emergency-procedures planners informally and talk to them about
how better communication with key stakeholders would help them achieve
their crisis management goals.
• Inform senior managers of clear objectives for communication in a crisis.
When many emergency response planners think of ‘communication’ they
tend to think of two-way radios or other forms of telecommunication. It
might be better to use terms like ‘stakeholder information’ or ‘public
communication’ in a crisis.
• Tell senior managers how the overall response and recovery operation is
more effective by investing in crisis communication activities. In fact, poor
crisis communication could destroy the organization.
• Always ensure you have fully completed your allotted tasks in the
preparation of a crisis communication plan that you bring to discuss at
committee meetings. Other people can tell if you have rushed your
preparation or if you have neglected parts of it, so they will lose respect if
you have failed to honor your commitments.
• Since most executives are busy with their day-to-day activities, they tend to
put off the time needing to be spent on emergency and crisis response
activities. You can take the initiative and systematically arrange meetings
with key managers to discuss the importance and the broad content of their
communication role in a crisis
• There are many high-profile examples you can cite of good and bad
examples of crisis communication to back your case. Document each
example concisely and circulate the documents in a regularly spaced series,
ie a month or two apart, to management to drive your message home to
them.

Any concerns about management not understanding the importance of crisis

communication must be addressed in the pre-crisis planning phase. You need to be
proactive and meet with the emergency response planners now. Show them your
competence and expertise. Be energetic. Set your own time aside for thinking
through and documenting for your reference any action points. Act promptly on
those action points

Communicating during a crisis

Organizations can withstand crises better if they have established sound, long-term
relationships with stakeholders, the people and organizations who are at risk from
the decisions and actions of the organization. No organization has enough
resources to engage in the ideal two-way symmetric dialogue with every
stakeholder, so management needs to allocate resources in priority order.
Stakeholder relationship management should be a priority task of management.
Stakeholders can be assessed and prioritized according to their impact on the
organization.

One important fact to remember is that public companies – those listed on the
Stock Exchange – are obliged to follow the rules of their home exchange in
releasing information into the public arena. All information that relates to the
financial performance of the company has to be announced simultaneously to
shareholders through the exchange, analysts, the media and other stakeholders. By
definition, a crisis will have a bearing on the future financial performance of a
company, so crisis communication plans should make full allowance for releasing
information to interested parties simultaneously.
 SPONSORSHIP:

Attract better sponsorship proposals

Corporate sponsorship has a commercial purpose. It requires a measurable return

on investment in marketing or relationship terms. (Sponsorship isn’t a donation to
a worthy cause. By definition, donations are given with no expectation of anything
in return and therefore have no commercial purpose.) Organizations have to justify
their sponsorship decisions according to the benefits they will receive in dollars or
in better outcomes from their relationships with key stakeholders. Therefore,
sponsorship proposals need to address the specific needs of the sponsor in order to
maximize effectiveness.

The best way to improve the quality of proposals and reduce the number of
unwelcome approaches is to communicate – tell people what you want! Spell out
to potential applicants what you are looking for in their proposals. Your corporate
website is the best avenue to outline your sponsorship policy and guidelines. More
advice on this in a forthcoming e-book on giving corporate sponsorship.

Sponsorship guidelines

Prepare a concise paper that outlines your sponsorship policy and guidelines, and
make it widely available. Consider where sponsorship seekers contact your
organization about sponsorship. Typical approaches are made to your:
Head office
Regional offices
Website
Sponsorship department
Public relations department
Marketing department
Community relations department
Advertising agency
Chairman or CEO’s office
Managers in discussion with others on operational issues
Other staff who may be personally known to the sponsorship seeker

Ensure your sponsorship document is circulated widely to every department within

your organization – to managers and especially to frontline staff who receive
contacts from the public – staff such as receptionists, personal assistants,
telephonists, secretaries and call centre staff. Enquirers can simply be referred to
the sponsorship area of your corporate website or they can be emailed or posted a
copy of the guidelines. The job of your frontline staff is made easier by having this
material at hand.

Also, your employees will better understand your sponsorship strategy if you
circulate the document internally to them. They will be able to provide useful
advice to people who may raise the possibility of sponsoring groups they are
associated with. Sometimes employees themselves suggest sponsorship activities
to you and therefore the guidelines can assist them to understand what is required.

If you receive proposals from people who have obviously not read your
sponsorship guidelines, return their application with a copy of your guidelines and
a form letter requesting them to revise their application to fit your selection
criteria. They may not be pleased about being obliged to do more work, but they
will start to realize that tailored approaches are essential if they have any chance of
getting to first base.
Negotiation with potential major sponsors tends to be a one-sided process. The
sponsor invariably holds the upper hand because they know there are dozens of
other sponsorship opportunities being offered in the marketplace at any given time.
Therefore some sponsor negotiators ruthlessly use their bargaining power to force
a stronger position. You can follow these guidelines to help overcome a weak
negotiating position:

1. Don’t reveal the full extent of your weak position. It is a common, costly
mistake to let slip the fact that you are desperate to complete the deal. Don’t
give them the impression you are desperate because you have called them
three times to check if they have received the proposal! Try not to let the
potential sponsor know the full truth of your situation. A weak position is
not so dire if the other party doesn’t know your real position. Don’t let them
know you are under pressure to sign the deal or that the deal is vital to you.
Don’t get drawn into any discussion that allows the potential sponsor to infer
that you are desperate. Instead, continue highlighting your strengths, even if
they are few, or turning the focus to the advantages they will gain from a
deal with you.
2. Don’t let them intimidate you by trying to beat you down on price or
conditions. If you have done your homework and know your proposal offers
good value for money that stands up with other deals in the marketplace,
point to the other similar deals and stand firm. If they want a lower price, tell
them you can oblige, but only for a correspondingly lower combination of
sponsor benefits.
3. Increase the other side’s dependence on you. When in a weak position, too
many negotiators focus exclusively on themselves and fail to consider the
other party’s position. Most negotiators have something valuable to offer the
other side. The important thing is to identify the unique value you bring to
the negotiating table. Try to understand all the potential sponsor’s needs,
interests and priorities by communicating with them at multiple stages and
through multiple people during the lead-in process. If your negotiations are
proceeding to a crucial point, you are well advised to meet with or at least to
telephone people from different business units within the sponsor company
to get access to their point of view. Their comments may help you gain
crucial insights that you didn’t have before and allow you to offer new
 benefits rather than being caught on the back foot and feeling obliged to
lower your asking fee due to the other party’s tough line. This is especially
helpful if you are seeking to renew an existing sponsorship deal. However,
be politically savvy about this. Some sponsors may feel you have gone
behind their back, so be careful about how you discuss the sources of such
information.
4. Don’t promise a major sponsor everything up front. Keep some benefits in
reserve to ‘sweeten the pot’ if the potential sponsor is pressing for a better
deal. This is far better than reducing the amount of money you are asking.
You could keep these extra benefits in hand as an unexpected bonus for the
sponsor after the deal is signed. Also, some reserve benefits could be spread
to other sponsors if the benefits haven’t been used in the deal with the major
sponsor.
5. Collaborate with other sponsors to put a proposal together to a potential
major sponsor. If you already have smaller, happy sponsors in place, you
could increase your negotiating power by teaming up with them to offer a
greater number of joint benefits to the main sponsor. The new benefits
could, for instance, provide access to a bigger target audience in a wider area
or in a juicy niche market that otherwise would be difficult to access.
6. Use psychology. You can use two psychological principles to help your
cause. Firstly, get the sponsor to like you. Two things reliably increase
liking – similarity and praise. People are more willing to buy from those
who are similar to them in various ways such as age, sport, politics and who
have other areas of personal common ground such as interest in a hobby,
sport or television program. Create the bond early because it paves the way
for goodwill and trust in every later encounter.

Secondly, we mostly prefer to say yes to the requests of someone we know

and like. Praise charms and disarms. Positive remarks about another
person’s attitude or achievements reliably increase liking in return, as well
as greater compliance with your wishes. This works even when flattery is
used. Strangers such as sales people get us to comply with their requests as
well by applying this rule – they first get us to like them. Apply these simple
applications of psychology in your discussions with sponsors – without
being too obvious about it.
 7. Obtain testimonials from past or present genuinely satisfied sponsors to
support your case. Make the testimonials specific – get the person to talk
about what they thought of you before and after the sponsorship relationship
with them. And get them to quantify if possible, any benefits – expected and
unexpected – they received from the relationship. Put all this in your
sponsorship proposal. Ensure you include the photo and contact details of
the person giving the testimonial – either phone or email. This gives a
quantum leap to your credibility, and most of the time the potential sponsor
won’t interrupt the other party by contacting them.

Social Responsibility:
Every PR manager working in a corporate entity has certain social obligations
towards it. It means it involves observing certain norms of behavior which have
social acceptance. Looking from this angle the PR manager who have code of
conduct also do have an obligation in terms of social objectives and upholding the
values of the society.

Corporate public relation officers are also part of a society, so their functioning is
governed and influenced by the obligations towards the society.

The role of PR in assuming social responsibility of business is not a new concept.

Majority of the domestic as well as multinational corporation have reaffirmed their
belief in this concept. It largely affects their professional personality and also their
functioning.

A PR manager is a professional with a code of conduct and the ethical obligation

and hence directly responsible to the society.

Social Responsibility:

a. PR’s responsibilities towards shareholders:

Shareholders are the owners of the company but the management of the
company lies in the elected representatives known as the Board of Directors. It
is the responsibility of the PR managers to maintain good relations with the
 shareholders. Regular and accurate financial information about the company
should be given to them. By creating a better understanding between the
company and the shareholders, the PR managers raise the goodwill and prestige
of the organization.

b. PR’s responsibilities towards customers:

It is not possible for corporate form of business organization to succeed, unless

it creates a customer and maintains a good relation with him. A business is
considered to be successful if it can maintain a large group of loyal customers.
By promoting good services and building corporate image in a big way is the
ultimate job of PR.

Further PR managers responsibilities include intimating existing as well as

potential customers as to the quality, variety, utility and continuous supply of
product. Some of the other areas of obligations towards the customer are:

1. Adulteration of products.

2. Profiteering.

3. Poor quality

4. Lack of services and courtesy to customer, and

5. Misleading advertisements.

c. PR’s responsibilities towards the government:

The government has enacted a number of legislations which govern the business. It
is the duty of PR managers to manage its affairs according to the laws affecting it.
The PR policies should be formulated taking into consideration the provisions
made in the various legislations and the policy guidelines issued by the
government from time to time. The public relation manager has to be well versed
with the various legislations and acts governing the business.

d. PR’s responsibilities towards the employees:

Employees are the internal public and they should be treated as human beings and
not as commodity and their co operation is necessary in order to achieve the
corporate objectives. It is the responsibility of the PR manager to keep them
satisfied and content.

The progress of the business is mainly dependent upon the positive attitude and
cordial relations of the employee. Therefore, it is imperative that PR must sincerely
promote their interest.

The interest of the employee are fair wages, good working conditions, adequate
service benefits, job security opportunities for career development and so on. In
addition to this every employee spends a major part of his time, in the
organization.

Hence, the PR should endeavor to build good employer- employee relations, high
morale and above all generate mutual understanding at all levels.

d. PR’s responsibilities towards community:

A community is a group of people living in a compact environment share the same

government resources, manpower and have a common culture and heritage. People
of the community supply human resources, capital and social support. It is for this
reason that PR department must accept its responsibility towards community in it
operates.

They have to take an active part in the community life social and cultural activities,
encourage education promote health and provide facilities for recreation and
entertainment.

In order to get the support of the community and secure their acceptance there is a
need for a community relation programme policy.

e. PR’s responsibilities towards the suppliers:

Every company has to depend on suppliers for a wide variety of materials to

produce goods. The duty of promoting supplier relations is assigned to the public
relation manager. The manager has to formulate a sound supplier policy and
practices for good public relations.
Fair and impartial considerations and proper settlements are the important areas of
the PR.

f. PR’s responsibilities towards distribution and dealers:

A company markets its products or services through a distribution network

consisting of dealers, wholesalers and retailers. The importance of distributor-
dealer relationship has been greatly emphasized.

No business can succeed without the network of distributors. It is the responsibility

of PR department to promote understanding, co-operation and harmonious
relationship among the dealers and distributors and dealers. It has to prepare
dealer-distributors relation policies and revise them from time to time in order to
strengthen their relations.

Social Responsibility in India:

1. Neglected area of business management: Due to the domination of

traditional management thought the concept of social responsibility was
rather a neglected area of business in India. However the concept of social
responsibility has now been well understood.

2. Profit main motive: the sole objective of traditional management was profit
maximization. The responsibilities towards different social groups were
rather neglected.

3. Widespread exploitation: India is well known for widespread exploitation of

consumers prior to independence mahatma Gandhi suggested the concept of
trusteeship. According to gandhiji the businessmen should recognize that he
is the trustee for all the wealth which he has collected. He has to bring
balance between profit and social good.

4. Gradual acceptance: after 1960, the concept of social responsibility has

gained widespread acceptance at the business level. In general the Indian
businessmen have now accepted certain social responsibilities towards
certain social groups and have started to make contribution in this regard.

5. Factors responsible for change in attitude: the growth of trade unions,

consumerism, and awareness, among the masses regarding ecological
 imbalance, pollution, consumer protection legislations and business
malpractices has brought in a change in the attitude of businessmen. In the
modern times the CGST & CFBP are playing a constructive rle in making
Indian business community conscious regarding social obligations and social
responsibilities. Leading Indian businessmen like J.R.D.Tata, G.D.Birla and
Jamnalal Bajaj have accepted the concept of social responsibility since long.

6. Recognition of social responsibility: Today a number of leading companies

in India have been showing recognition of the concept of social
responsibility. Business opinion is moving towards a gradual acceptance of
social responsibility in India.

Role of PR in Technology:
Disruptive technologies are positively impacting the world in which we live,
creating new wealth and reshaping economic and social policy.

Having clear messages and public relations programs in place that enable
technologists, scientists and other experts to distinctly articulate their vision can
not only help them become industry leaders and advance their technologies, but
provides organizations with a voice in the marketplace of ideas, facts, and
viewpoints to aid informed public debate.

Public relations - it is the art and science of building relationships between an

organization and its key publics. Its practices have the ability to take technology
from obscurity to prominence - creating important visibility and generating deal
flow.

Most all of today's technologies rely on public awareness and support. If people
misunderstand the value of technologies, entities will struggle for support. Jobs
will be eliminated, budgets cut, and support will be directed elsewhere.
Public relations campaigns have the potential to turn possibilities into favorable
actions. And executives are well advised to put their words in someone else's
mouth.

When a prominent scientist wants to pronounce her technological breakthrough,

she may do so openly and in her own name. But it is far more effective to have a
group of citizens or experts, a coalition, or the media which can publicly promote
the outcomes desired by the scientist while claiming to represent the public
interest.

When such relationships do not exist, one can be created by a well-networked

public relations firm. Advocacy frequently involves building constituencies -
groups of people and / or organizations who support a particular viewpoint. Since
advocacy usually occurs in the public domain, executives must be prepared to
consider the views of many people, and understand how decisions are made within
a particular context. The more known about the advocacy issue, the community,
and how political institutions function, the more effective the advocate.

The use of front groups can enable scientists, technologists and corporations to
take part in public debates and government hearings behind a cover of community
concern. These front groups often times lobby governments to legislate in the
corporate interest, to oppose environmental regulations, or to introduce policies
that enhance corporate profitability.

There may be times when a position being advocated, no matter how well framed
and supported, will not be accepted by the public simply because of the messenger.
Any institution with a vested commercial interest in the outcome of an issue has a
natural credibility barrier to overcome with the public, and often times with the
media.

Media advocacy is the process of working with the media to influence healthy
public policies through shaping debate about a specific topic. Successful media
advocacy ensures that issues include a public perspective, emphasize the social,
cultural, economic and political dimensions of an issue, and stress the importance
of participation and empowerment in promotion of the issue.

Media advocacy provides the all important third party credibility, and has means
for more quickly and furthering a crucial messages.

The old saying, "Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity" has
never been so accurate as with media advocacy. It encompasses the right
combination of preparation and opportunism in the strategic use of mass media to
advance an initiative. Having systems and planning in place before campaign
commencement is at least as important as the media work itself.

It is essential to:

Know the territory. Good media advocacy requires some surveying of the terrain
and a system for tracking coverage and media outlets. Maintain an updated media
list with names and track coverage regularly.

Define the issue. The issue is the overarching concern that drives the initiative.
Whether it's a problem or vision statement, the issue defines the boundaries from
which the initiative is shaped. Issues should reflect the mission, core values and
concerns of the organization or coalition -- and should incorporate an institutional
angle.

Issues should be presented by turning facts, scientific knowledge, and analysis into
symbols, pictures, sounds, and labels. As an example, as a public health advocate,
it's understood that cigarette smoking is linked to asthma in children who live
around second-hand smoke. Instead of writing a story that gives only the statistics -
e.g. how many new cases of childhood asthma are reported - one might present the
media with the idea (or picture) of an adult trying to hand a baby a lit cigarette to
illustrate the dangers of secondhand smoke.

Public opinions on technology issues are also greatly influenced by strong symbols
and labels that capture a widely held, and supposedly correct, attitude. News
sources often use positive images and labels to highlight viewpoints they support
and negative images and labels to derogate view points they oppose.
At the center of any public debate or media outreach is a mass of information,
statistics, and / or numbers. Making that information easy to understand entails
making the content real and vivid. Media advocates often use "creative
epidemiology" to make scientific, technological or academic information more
understandable for the media and general public.

Three types of creative epidemiology:

1. Localization
Localization is presenting overwhelming statistics and numbers in such a way that
the media and public in a particular community can easily relate to them.
Localization illustrates a story's numbers in terms of how many people in a certain
neighborhood or community are affected by a problem; it makes statistics human
and local.

2. Relativity
Relativity compares the effects of one problem with those of another, usually more
dramatic, problem.

3. Public policy effects

Public policy effects illustrate the potential effects of public policies in debate.

Whatever technique is used, the goal is to make statistics and numbers more
understandable and meaningful so the audience comprehends the message and
supports the initiatives.

Regardless of the technology or the issue, success in working with the media is
most likely to occur when it is a strategically planned effort. It's the game plan for
developing the influence and public awareness that will help achieve the
organization's strategic goals, and furthering its technology.
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reports, notes.