Chapter1

Chapter 1

PR Roles and Responsibilities

This is PR 11th Edition
Newsom, Turk and Kruckeberg

Objectives
• To understand the role and responsibilities of
public relations – in public and private companies,
nonprofit organizations, agencies and firms
• To recognize the difference between strategic
planning and execution that relies only on tactics
and techniques
• To appreciate the value of public relations in
solving problems and making policy
• To understand why individual as well as
institutional credibility is critical to public relations
practice
• To appreciate the international scope of public
relations practice This is PR 11th Edition

What is public relations?
• Responding to expectations of those who
can influence an organization’s operations
and development
• Harmonizing interests of an organization
with those on whom its growth depends
• Serving as intermediary between an
organization and all of that organization’s
publics

Responsibilities of a PR
Practitioner
• Distributing information to publics
• Researching all audiences
• Advising management
• Helping to set policy
• Evaluating PR program effectiveness


First World Assembly
Definition
• PR is an art and social science
• PR analyzes trends and predicts their
consequences
• PR implements planned programs of action
• PR serves both the organization and public
interest


PRSA Definition
• Management function
• Counseling at the highest level with regard
to policy, courses of action and
communication, taking into consideration
the organization’s social or citizenship
responsibilities
• Strategic planning for the organization


British Institute of PR
Definition
• Reputation management
• What an organization does and says, and
what others say about it


10 Basic Principles of PR
• PR deals with facts, not fiction
• PR’s primary consideration is doing what’s
in the public interest
• PR programs and policies must conform to
public interests
• PR must protect the integrity of the media
channels it uses for its messages


(cont.)
• PR involves effective communication back
and forth between an organization and its
publics
• PR depends on the use of scientific public
opinion research
• PR practitioners must use the social
sciences to understand what publics are
saying and to communicate effectively with
them

(cont.)
• PR requires multidisciplinary application of
theories and concepts
• PR has an obligation to explain problems to
publics before they become crises
• PR performance should be measured by
only one standard: ethical performance


Value of PR and
Communications Management
• Sustainability depends on balancing today’s
demands with ability to meet future needs
• Governance empowers leaders to be
directly responsible for deciding and
implementing stakeholder relationship
policies
• Management of an organization’s decisions
increasingly determined by their time of
implementation

Value of PR and Communications
Management (cont.)
• Internal communications enhance recruitment,
retention, development of common interests and
commitment to organizational goals
• External communications has to bring the
organization’s “voice” and interests into stakeholder
deliberations and decisions
• Coordination of internal and external
communications often a multi-faceted, multi-
stakeholder, inter-relational enterprise


Activities of PR
• Press agentry
• Promotion
• Publicity
• Public affairs
• Research
• Graphics
• Advertising
• Marketing
• Integrated marketing communications
• Merchandising This is PR 11th Edition

PR Practitioner’s Job
• More need for depth and diversity of
knowledge
• More expectation of accountability
• Less tolerance for hype
• Constants over time: “go-for” attitude,
strategic thinking, writing, speaking,
persuading, respecting deadlines, multi-
tasking

Main Roles of PR Practitioner
• Staff member in organization
– May be specialist in one area of PR if
organization is large
– Likely to be “Jack/Jill” of all trades in a
small organization
– May be technician at lower levels,
manager at higher levels


(cont.)
• Employees of PR agency or firm
– May be specialists or generalists
depending on size of firm
– May be involved in “sales”: generating
new business
– Often work as a member of team of
writers, designers, production staff who
together produce a PR message

(cont.)
• Independent practitioner or counselor
– May work on project basis or retainer
– May perform technical tasks for clients
– May serve as counselor to client
management


Areas of Specialization
• PR for nonprofit organizations (also called NGOs)
• PR for educational institutions
• Fundraising and/or donor relations
• Research and evaluation
• Trend analysis
• Issues management
• Public opinion evaluation
• PR for international, global organizations


Areas of Specialization (cont.)
• Financial PR (also called investor relations)
• PR for industrial companies
• PR for general business and retail
• PR for government (all levels)
• Political PR
• Lobbying
• PR for health care organizations
• PR for sports teams
• PR for leisure-time activities


PR: Career, Job (Field) or
Profession?
Profession requires:
• a body of knowledge
• a commitment to continuing education
• a standard educational curriculum to
prepare for entry into the profession
• control over who enters, exits the
profession
• a shared code of ethics that guides practice


Function of PR in Business and
Society
• Manipulative model: control publics, direct
what people think or do to satisfy an
organization's needs
• Service model: respond to publics, react to
their needs, desires
• Transactional model: achieve mutually
beneficial relationships with an institution
and its publics

Self-Described Roles of PR
• PR practitioner as communication technician (skills
oriented)
• PR practitioner as communication facilitator
(liaison)
• PR practitioner as problem-solving process
facilitator (confrontational)
• PR practitioner as acceptant legitimizer (yes-
person)
• PR practitioner as expert prescriber (authoritarian,
prescriptive)


Roles Boil Down to Two
• Technician
• Manager
• Enacting of role is a function of the
organization, culture of the country and
training of the practitioner


The Value of Public Relations
• PR can open and maintain a dialogue
between an organization and its publics
• PR can encourage mutual adjustment
between an organization and its society
• PR can focus on the greater good of
society, not just the narrow interests of an
organization


(cont.)
• PR has the opportunity to improve
cooperation between an organization and
its publics/stakeholders
• PR provides useful information
• PR can raise issues and concerns,
reminding management of ethical
responsibilities


(cont.)
• PR can help management formulate and
advocate sound objectives
• PR can be problem solver
• PR can uphold socially responsible
behavior


Obstacles to Ideal PR
• Economics: organizations and their
managers’ role to make money
• Human nature: natural temptation to play
up the good, ignore or deny the negative


PR as Problem Finder, Solver and
Preventer
• Problems of
– Production
– Growth
– Personnel
– Financing
– Advertising
– Business acceptance


PR as Interpreter and
Communication Link
• Bridges between an organization and its
publics
• Helps organization, publics adjust to
change
• Stimulates positive change
• Enables groups to accommodate each
other


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