Contents
Learning
Guide
Rationale
Public
relations is a communications-driven practice, used to
develop and manage mutually beneficial relationships
between an organisation and its various constituencies.
Individual writing and case study assignments help to
prepare students for successful participation in a team
campaign project, serving their organistional customer
and stakeholder base.
The
purpose of this course is to give you practical experience
in strategically planning and managing the public relations
process, which essentially involves the effective management
of communication efforts. Today, public relations has
become an objectives-oriented management function accomplished
through information gathering and strategic planning.
In its role as a management function, public relations
practice involves much more than simple publicity and
creativity. In this module you will learn about the importance
of generating publicity and other communication tactics
based on research.
Learning
Outcomes
Knowledge
At
the end of the module, the successful student will be
able to:
- identify,
discuss and critically reflect upon leading theories,
pinciples, current issues, research and prctice of
public relations
- develop,
plan and implement a potentially successful, comprehensive
public relations programme, including the evaluation
of alternative responses
- provide
and identification of and potential solution for a
strategic public relations problem
- identify
and evaluate the role of public relations in its organisational
context
Skills
At
the end of the module, the successful student will be
able to:
- create
and manage a public relations event, including monitoring
and evaluation
- work
in teams or individually on a public relations programme
- author
an extensive and well-documented report using appropriate
support evidence.
Today's
Videos
Teaching
and Learning Resources
Click
on the titles below
What
is Public Relations? What is Advertising? Jobs in Public
Relations. A Brief History of Public Relations. Organisation
for Advertising.
- The
objectives of this session are to: explain the definition
of public relations; understand the different roles
public relations practioners play; describe the four-step
public relations process; appreciate the role of personal,
organizational, and societal values in the practice
of public relations.
- We
will discuss how public relations evolved before it
was formally recognized and given a name; identify
the forces that have shaped the profession's development
during the 20th century; recognize the major figures
and events that influenced the growth of public relations;
explain the issues and trends that are shaping the
future of public relations.
- You
will also be able to name the basic areas of employment
in public relations; discuss specific jobs and related
duties within public relations; explain the differences
between public relations managers and public relations
technicians; describe salaries and levels of job satisfaction
within public relations.
Lectures
and Tutorials
Readings
Public
Relations (or PR) is a field concerned with maintaining
public image for high-profile people, commercial businesses
and organizations, non-profit associations or programs.
Globally, the profession is represented by The Global
Alliance for Public Relations and Communication Management[3] which
is the umbrella organisation linking PR Professional Associations
worldwide. At its World Public Relations Forum in 2010,
the Alliance accepted the Stockholm Accords[4] These
accords present the practice of public relations in the
following terms:
The
Communicative Organisation The concept of the Communicative
organisation was conceived as a result of the five-year
research programme “Business Effective Communication” a
collaboration between the Swedish Public Relations Association,
Mälardalen University and the Stockholm School of
Economics. During the project a number of cases were studied
to define how information and communication can be used
in the leadership of organisations in order to achieve
a higher degree of external effectiveness.
The
value-creation networks The world is no longer a straight
line from company to consumer. The organization holds
a position in a network full of different stakeholders,
and the network decides if you are valuable enough to
keep your position. You can be replaced anytime. Your
organization needs to find the perfect position where
it is so valuable that the network can´t do without you. The key to
this is to develop the organisation´s communicative
skills. This is where the communicator comes in to save
the day.
The
contextual leadership The communicator needs to take
on leadership in the communicative organization. It is
his or her task to put the ideological leadership (i.e
the business idea or purpose) into the correct context.
However the saying goes, perhaps selling sand in Sahara
isn´t the best of ideas. The leadership can take
different forms; as system building, mediation, coaching
or influencing. The important thing is, communication is
an organizational quality, rather than a function.
Sven
Hamrefors, professor at the Department of Innovation,
Design and Product Development, Mälardalen University,
describes the Accords in a YouTube
interview here.
These
internationally held Accords offers a broader view of
the practice of PR compared to the previous view held
by The first World Assembly of Public Relations Associations,
held in Mexico City in August 1978. It defined the practice
of public relations as "the
art and social science of analyzing trends, predicting
their consequences, counseling organizational leaders,
and implementing planned programs of action, which will
serve both the organization and the public interest." [1].
Others define it as the practice of managing communication
between an organization and
its publics.[2] Public
relations provides an organization or individual exposure to
their audiences using topics of public interest
and news items
that provide a third-party endorsement[3] and
do not direct payment.[4]Answers.com
Marketing Dictionary: Public Relations. Retrieved August
7, 2008. Once common activities include speaking at conferences,
working with the media, crisis communications and social
media engagement[5],
and employee communication. The European view of PR as
practice notes that besides a relational form of interactivity
there is also a reflective paradigm that is concerned with
publics and the public sphere; not only with relational
(which can in principle be private), but also with public
consequences of organizational behaviour [6][5].
A much broader view of neo-ubiquitous interactive communication
using the [internet] as outlined by Phillips and Young
in 'Online Public Relations' Second Edition (2009) which
describes form and the nature of internet mediated
public relations. It encompasses social
media and other channels for communication and many
platforms for communication such as personal
computer (PC's), Laptop mobile
phone and other mobile devices and online
games machines.
PR is used to build rapport with employees, customers, investors, voters,
or the general public.[7] Almost
any organization that has a stake in how it is portrayed
in the public arena employs some level of public relations.
There are a number of PR disciplines falling under the
banner of Corporate
Communications, such as Analyst
Relations, Media
Relations, Investor
Relations, Internal
Communications and Labor
Relations.
Other PR disciplines include:
- Financial public relations - providing information
mainly to business reporters.
- Consumer/Lifestyle public relations - gaining publicity
for a particular product or service (rather than using
advertising).
- Crisis public relations - responding to negative accusations
or information.
- Industry relations - providing information to trade
bodies.
- Government relations - engaging government departments
to influence policy making
The
Publics in Public Relations. Public
Relations in Organisational Context
This
session defines the term public as it is used in public
relations; names and describes the different kinds of
publics; lists the kinds of information that practitioners
should gather about each public; identifies and describes
the traditional publics in public relations.
Lectures
and Tutorials
Readings
Communication
Theory and Public Opinion. Ethics in Public Relations.
Ethical and Legal Issues in Advertising and Promotion.
- We'll
learn to understand the process of communication and
some of the theories of how people react to what they
encounter in the mass media; identify the forces that
motivate people; describe the power of public opinion
and the process under which it develops; recognize
the differenced between the use of persuasion and manipulation
in public relations.
- We'll
define what is meant by the word ethics; identify the
sources of various ethics codes;
- Understand
the most common ethical challenges; describe the ethics
codes of important philosophers from Aristotle to John
Rawls; use the Potter Box to analyze ethical dilemmas.
Tutorials
Readings
 |
Ethics
in Public Relations
A Guide to Best Practice
Author: Patricia J Parsons
ISBN: 074944276X
Binding: Paperback
Dimensions: 234x154mm
Pages: 187
Publication Date: July 2004
Check
the availability and buy your books from our Bookshop.
|
Research
and Evaluation
This
is about describing the value of research and evaluation
in the public relations process; recognizing the differences
between formal and informal research; developing a strategy
for conducting research; explaining the basics of conducting
the five most common forms of public relations research.
Lectures
and Tutorials
Readings
Dictionary
of Public Relations Measurement and Research
By Don W. Stacks
Research
Papers
Measurement
& Evaluation
Marketing
Public Relations and Sponsorship Marketing. The Strategies
of Public Relations. Advertising Account Planning and
Management.
We
will describe the different kinds of public relations
plans; discuss why public relations practitioners create
plans; explain the process of creating a public relations
plan; summarize the qualities of a good plan; explain
where and how values enter into the planning process.
Lectures
and Tutorials
Readings
Communication:
The Tactics of Public Relations. New Communications Technology.
Crisis Communications.
- Now
we'll understand what makes a tactic effective; discuss
the traditional tactics in public relations; select
tactics that seem particularly appropriate fro specific
publics; describe how to carry out tactics efficiently
and effectively.
- describe
the changes--as well as the implications of those changes--that
are occurring in mass communication technology;
- understand
what crises are and how they develop; recognize that
crisis situations often create opportunities; appreciate
the importance of anticipating crises and planning
for them before they happen; explain the elements of
an effective crisis communications plan.
Lectures
and Tutorials
Readings
Integrated
Marketing Communications. Cross-Cultural Communication.
- We'll
define integrated marketing communications; explain
the differences between public relations, advertising,
and marketing; describe the role of public relations
within integrated marketing communications;
- describe
broad areas that historically have distinguished one
culture from another; explain the differences between
a culture and a public; discuss traditional obstacles
to successful cross-cultural communication; describe
a nine-step process organizations and individuals can
use to achieve effective cross-cultural communication.
Lectures
and Tutorials
Readings
 |
When
Cultures Collide: Leading Across Cultures 3rd
Edition. ISBN: 1-904838-02-2
Author: Richard D. Lewis
ISBN: 1-904838-02-2
Pages/Year: 624 pp, paper, 7 x 9 1/4, October 2005
Publisher: Nicholas Brealey, International
Check
the availability and buy your books from our Bookshop
|
Writing
and Presentation Skills
Describe
and follow the different stages of the writing process;
identify and use techniques that increase the effectiveness
of spoken language; describe and follow the process of
making a successful presentation.
Lecturs
and Tutorials
Readings
A news
conference or press conference is a media
event in which newsmakers invite journalists to hear
them speak and, most often, ask questions. A joint press
conference instead is held between two or more talking
sides.
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"...
people try to make sense of the world they encounter.
But how? In effect, they do this by looking for
some consistency among their own experiences and
memories, and turning to other people for comparison
and confirmation. If all checks out, then all is
well and good. But what if there is some inconsistency?
The Asch study (Solomon showed what happened when
there is a serious inconsistency between one’s
own experiences (and the beliefs based on them)
and those reported by others. But suppose the inconsistency
is among the person’s own experiences, beliefs
or actions? Many social psychologists believe that
this will trigger some general trend to restore
cognitive consistency -- to reinterpret the situation
so as to minimize whatever inconsistency may be
there--or to tune out the message entirely. According
to Leon Festinger, this is because any perceived
inconsistency among various aspects of knowledge,
feelings and behavior sets up an unpleasant internal
state -- cognitive dissonance -- which people try
to reduce whenever possible (Festinger, 1957).
--"Basic
Psychology"
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| Successful
organizations today are, what Peter Senge refers
to as, "learning organizations." These
organizations employ "systems thinking." Public
Relations professionals in particular today are
taking on an important role in the implementation
of systems thinking organizational structure and
philosophy and in the planning for and implementation
of total quality management (TQM) programs.
With
systems thinking can come new mental models
and a shared vision to take organizations into
this new century. PR professionals can assume
a key role in providing leadership in this
direction, ensure their increasing value within
the organization and enhance their responsibilities
and resultant remuneration.
Peter
M. Senge
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Public
Relations and the Law. Your Future in Public Relations.
- We
must understand the differences between and the regulation
of political and commercial speech; appreciate how
privacy and copyright laws affect the practice of public
relations; identify the higher burden of proof public
officials and public figures have in libel cases; recognize
the increasing role public relations has in the judicial
system.
- To
pinpoint steps you can take today to secure a successful
future in public relations you will find it useful
to understand better the forces that are shaping the
future of society; recognize the trends that are changing
the practice of public relations; recognize the leadership
role women and minority practitioners are playing and
will play in public relations.
Lectures
and Tutorials
Readings
Recommended
Texts
 |
Public
Relations: A Values-Driven Approach,
3/E
David
Guth, University of Kansas
Charles Marsh, University of Kansas
ISBN:
0-205-45953-6
Publisher: Allyn & Bacon
Copyright: 2006
Format: Paper; 624 pp
Check
the availability and buy your books from our Bookshop. |
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The
Law of Public Communication
2006 Edition
View Larger Image Kent R. Middleton, University of
Georgia
William E. Lee, University of Georgia
Check
the availability and buy your books from our Bookshop. |
Resources
Diplomats'
Graduate Project
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Wal-Mart,
Starbucks and the iPod Opportunity
Prepare
a SWOT Analysis and report on the organisations
featured by this issue Newsweek -Wal-Mart,
Starbucks and the iPod - and comment on their
Strategic Public Relations successes and failures.
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