organisational culture consist of the following elements: ceremonies, rituals, heroes, narrators, preachers, informers, gossipers, spies, myths and legends.

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Course: PublicRelationsinEducation
Professor:
Reporter: MR. SAMUEL R. CABAÑAS
BASIC ASPECTS OF ORGANIZATIONS AND INSTITUTIONS OF
PUBLIC RELATIONS
Megginson, Mosley and Pietri Jr. (1989; 377) believe that the organisational
culture consist of the following elements: ceremonies, rituals, heroes, narrators,
preachers, informers, gossipers, spies, myths and legends.
Ceremonies are a part of organisational culture which are usually planned in
advance to express various aspects of cultural impact and contribution to creation of
a specific stimulating climate and motivation in the organisation. Success of an
individual contributes to the organisation itself and requires recognition.
Rituals, as an element of organisational culture, are detailed procedures and
methods. They are performed consistently, on a periodical or regular basis. They
include a very broad scope of activities: work, play, recognition or manager meeting.
Rituals represent the way of conducting a specific ceremony.
Heroes are persons whose success brings the mythical and the human
together. Their existence is essential for the organisational culture, because
improvement of certain standards can be achieved only by them, but still with
presence of a much needed boost.
From the viewpoint of organisational culture narrators may have a very positive
but also a negative role. Their narrations may have effects on creation of sound
company culture.
In distinction from narrators, who more or less spontaneously and
systematically deal with an event within the organisation, preachers calculatedly
express their premeditated views on events in the organisation. Their role is to
understand fully the views of the organisation and to accept them as their own for a
longer time period.
Informers are persons who inform of the fulfilled level of certain assignments
performed by some employees in the organisation. In this way it is possible to exercise
control over the employees' work.
Gossipers are persons which spread superficial, unverified and slanderous
information about persons and events in the organisation. They can be very
detrimental to the internal homogenisation of the organisation.
Spies are person who may work in or against the interest of the organisation.
Some spies have dual and/or multiple role. They are useful for the organisation if
they collect for it important economy-related and other information.
Myths and legends are significant elements of the organisational culture. They
express social awareness through stories about the past and present events in the
organisation, about its heroes and achieved success. They provide the basis for
creation of legends, i.e. stories with real base which lost their objective accuracy by
narrating (Zvonarević, 1985; 310-311).
In addition to the indicated classification of elements of organisational culture,
there is also a classification according to: values, standards, attitudes and beliefs,

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habits and rituals, language and communications, and symbols (Bahtijarević-Šiber
et al., red. Kapustić, 1991; 204).
Values represent strategy operationalization, and are related to the priorities
which are significant for existence and development of the organisation.
Standards may or may not be written, they are related to the procedure by
which something should be achieved. They show what kind of behaviour is expected
and appreciated, and what kind of behaviour requires punishment in the
organisation.
The most elusive part of the organisation culture are attitudes and beliefs.
This element represents basic ideals and principles of organisation behaviour.
For customs and rituals, as elements of organisational culture, one might say
that these are operational and established forms of behaviour. They are used to
stimulate and intensify the identification of employees with their organisation, and to
create the way of behaviour and interrelations.
A specific form of organisational culture are language and communication.
Language is a sign of a certain social status of employees in an organisation. It is a
close friend and reflects everything what is going on in the organisation. Language is
used to persuade, to order and express emotional relief. A person or an organisation
expresses its identity by communication. By its verbal or non-verbal communication,
an organisation or an individual may show its or his/her level of culture.
Symbols, as a constituent part of any organisational culture, convey basic
ideas about priority values of the organisation. They represent external visual signs
of the organisation. The floor where a manager office is located, the way the office is
decorated, is his/her office furnished with paintings or not, which car does he/she
drive, the sign on the door, the place where he/she has launch, tea or coffee, place
where he/she parks a car, etc., represent very important status symbols, symbols of
social differentiation, and of culture as a whole.
GROWTH OF THE DISCIPLINE and ITS DIFINITION
The idea of public relations has been around as long as people have sought to
persuade other people to get them to do something, not do something, or keep on
doing something. But public relations became a formal profession in America roughly
between late 1800s and early 1900s.
The term Public Relations was first coined by the US President Thomas
Jefferson. He used the term during his address to Congress in 1807. Precursors to
public relations are found in publicists who specialized in promoting circuses,
theatrical performances, and other public spectacles. In the United States, where
public relations has its origins, many early PR practices were developed in support of
the expansive power of the railroads. In fact, many scholars believe that the first
appearance of the term "public relations" appeared in the 1897 Year Book of Railway
Literature.
Edward Bernays is generally regarded today as the profession's founder. In
describing the origin of the term Public Relations, Bernays commented, "When I came
back to the United States, I decided that if you could use propaganda for war, you
could certainly use it for peace. And propaganda got to be a bad word because of the
Germans using it.
One of the earliest definitions of PR was coined by Edward Bernays. According
to him, "Public Relations is a management function which tabulates public attitudes,
defines the policies, procedures and interest of an organization followed by executing

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a program of action to earn public understanding and acceptance. ”According to two
American PR professionals Scott M. Cutlips and Allen H. Center, "PR is a planned
effort to influence opinion through good character and responsible performance based
upon mutual satisfactory two-way communication".
Public relations is the art and science of managing communication between an
organization and its key constituents to build, manage, and sustain its positive image.
Public relations is the process of aligning the perceptions of targeted audiences (or
publics) with the current realities and reasonable prospects of another entity. Public
relations is about building public relationships.
In the beginning of the profession in the early 20th century, public relations
was narrowly focused on media relations/publicity. Consequently, most practitioners
were former journalists who understood news and how to craft an effective media
story. Although modern public relations are a 20th century phenomenon, its roots
are ancient.
Today, however, public relations is much broader. In addition to media
relations, public relations practitioners work in the following areas: employee
relations, investor relations, community relations, public affairs, lobbying, and social
media, among other areas. As the scope of the profession has expanded, so has the
skill set practitioners need to be successful.
NATURE, SCOPE, AND IMPORTANCE OF PUBLIC RELATIONS
NATURE
It is said that PR is 90% doing good and 10% talking about it. PR as a
management philosophy has been hyped as a publicity activity. Though, publicity is
one of the many functions PR undertakes to project one's organisation, it is not the
only one.
No one can provide a magic formula for figuring out what form and nature of
PR and organization will need. The approaches are many but the time constrains and
budget limitation will prevent the organization or the PR person from pursuing all the
avenues at one and the same time. It would be sensible to decide about specific jobs
which are relevant to particular PR programmes for an organization.
In any kind of human activity may it be in industry, commerce, education,
health, local government or social service, they need to understand and use public
relations and communication. Public relations involve two-way communication
between an organization and its public.
It requires listening to the constituencies on which an organization depends as
well as analyzing and understanding the attitudes and behaviors of those audiences.
Only then can an organization undertake an effective public relations campaign.
SCOPE
The scope of public relation is wide and also include political filed.
Entrepreneurs, teachers, political leaders, social workers, religions, leaders are all
involved in public relations day in and day out. In business public relation is tool of
management like marketing, production and finance. It is investing and creating asset
for an organization which is finally reflected in improved performance profitability,
and growth of the organization. Successful public relation can be measured by its
ability to convert negative situations into positive ones.
Public relations can do the following: (a) Help win friends, influence people,
persuade individuals, groups and in difficult situation bring about goodwill where
needed and maintain goodwill where it is existing. (b) Create and build up image and
reputation of individual, organization and nation. (c) Public relations can bring out
reward of mutual understanding and risks involved in misunderstanding between
individuals, groups, government and nation. (d) Help the public to love life and work
for better or for worse without condition. (e) Forestall attacks by opponents or

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competitors. (f) Counsel employees to recognize that as human beings they are more
of a complete structure. (g) The possible areas where public relation plays its role.
Promotional opportunity, new image, competitive challenge, rumour, crisis, conflict
of interest, ineffective communication.
IMPORTANCE
Public relations can truly mean the difference between life and death for an
organization, or the difference between profitability and failure. The following case
illustrates the importance of public relations as a means to maintain ongoing,
beneficial relationships, to systematically listen to and understand the concerns of
publics—in this case, internal publics and a labor union and the external public of
news media. Ongoing public relations initiatives, such as strategic issues
management, could have prevented the problems encountered by the organization in
the following case. The case also demonstrates that an organization can recover its
footing and repair its reputation and relationships, once it acknowledges its mistakes
and commits to changing course. The following series of events highlight the
importance of ongoing, strategic public relations as the very lifeblood of an
organization.
REFERENCES:
 http://www.sjsu.edu/ajeep/docs/IntroToPR.pdf
 http://www.saylor.org/site/textbooks/Mastering%20Public%20Relations.pdf
 http://www.ddegjust.ac.in/studymaterial/pgdapr/pgdapr-104.pdf
 http://www.managementparadise.com/forums/public-relations-management/17006-nature-scope-
google-page-ranking.html
 http://www.elcsd.org/cms/lib07/NY01000534/Centricity/Domain/84/Chapter_17_Section_17.3.ppt
 IMPACT OFINFORMATION TECHNOLOGIESON ELEMENTS OF ORGANISATIONALCULTUREJusuf
Šehanović,Faculty of economics and tourism«Dr. Mijo Mirković» Pula 52100Pula,Preradovićeva 1/1,e-mail:
Jusuf.Sehanovic@ptpo.hr
ADD INS:
PUBLIC RELATION ANDTHE TEACHER
Pursuant to the provisions of paragraph (e), Article 11, of R.A. No. 7836, otherwise known as the
Philippine Teachers Professionalization Act of 1994 and paragraph (a), section 6, P.D. No. 223, as amended, the
Board for Professional Teachers hereby adopt the Code of Ethics for Professional Teachers.
Article II: The Teacher and the State
Section 1. The schools are the nurseries of the future citizens of the state; each teacher is a trustee of
the cultural and educational heritage of the nation and is under obligation to transmit to learners such heritage
as well as to elevate national morality, promote national pride, cultivate love of country, instil allegiance to the
constitution and for all duly constituted authorities, and promote obedience to the laws of the state.
Article III: The Teacher and the Community
Section 3. Every teacher shall merit reasonable social recognition for which purpose he shall behave with
honor and dignity at all times and refrain from such activities as gambling, smoking, drunkenness, and other
excesses, much less illicit relations.
Section 7. Every teacher shall maintain harmonious and pleasant personal and official relations with other
professionals, with government officials, and with the people, individually or collectively.
Article IX: The Teachers and Parents
Section 1. Every teacher shall establish and maintain cordial relations with parents, and shall conduct
himself to merit their confidence and respect.