Public Relations - Organizational and Societal Functions - Essay Example

Public Relations ~ Organizational and Societal Functions Abstract Public Relations, people tend to derive a host of, spoken or unspoken, meaning to this very critical department in an organization. Rarely seen otherwise but they come into focus in all the major events in the life of the organization. It is therefore looked on with envy or sympathy, depending largely on the kind of occasion or fire they are fighting. All said and done, it is an office that demands great balance, in the constant tight rope walk that they are required to do. They have too many different groups to attend to, the Management, the Employees, the Lenders and Investors, the Government Regulators, the Press and the Public. These, when clubbed are categorized as the Organizational and Societal arenas, where the PR man has to function. Public Relations 3 Public Relations is reaching out to the world to create an image of the company, its products and services so as to have a positive competitive impact, which in turn makes for a good long term bottom-line. Apart from the traditional public relations function of working with the media and exposing the good side of the organization, now the hectic pace of all the domestic and global industries demand the following functions too: Building awareness and a favorable image for a company or client within stories and articles found in relevant media outlets. Closely monitoring numerous media channels for public comment about a company and its products. Managing crises that threaten company or product image. Building goodwill among an organization’s target market through community, philanthropic and special programs and events. The last, becoming more and more urgent and forceful as the organizations are impacting globally, by their multi-country locations. These generate a plethora of economic, social, cultural and even religious issues, which have to be resolved. To know the full gamut of the Public Relations function, we need to know and understand these twelve Public Relations deliverables. 1. Communications management – This is a primary activity which focuses towards building up {a} Corporate Image, {b} Provide Product Awareness, Public Relations 4 {c} Creating Interest, {d} Disseminate Information, {e} Stimulate Demand, {f} Re-enforce the Brand. 2. Relationship management – This demands great tactical skill that adequately addresses the strategies formulated, to be played right across the board. It is all inclusive and in dire need nothing is excluded. Traditionally the directions required are {a} Internal ~ Within the organization and {b} External ~ Outside the organization. 3. Media Relations – The core area of public relations is media relations. Efforts are desired to properly publicize products or the company to the members of the mass media ~ TV and Radio, newspaper, magazine, newsletter and Internet. 4. Publicity - Products or events are to be successfully publicized when launched through various media and Brand Ambassadors or influencers. 5. Marketing communications – This focuses on the products or produce and/or services. Marketing communications {marcom} is primarily concerned with demand generation, product, produce and/or service positioning. 6. Employee relations – It begins with sharing of the corporate vision to enable every one in the organization, to work in tandem to successfully realize it. Build cordial relationship between the employer and the employee with the existence of mutual respect for each other. Derive immense benefits of team sprit to directly effect improved production, employee motivation, customer satisfaction and reputation of business. Public Relations 5 7. Investor relations – The larger the organization gets the more complex are the financial structuring. Therefore, most large companies, investor relations (IR) or financial public relations is a specialty in itself guided by specific disclosure regulations dictated by the laws of the countries where it originates. 8. Social responsibility – The buzz word is that organizations need to give back to the community to enhance their image. “To be socially responsible, corporations must also cooperate with other groups -such as competitors, nonprofits, and government agencies- to help solve social problems.” 1 9. Community relations - Companies have realized that to have international presence they need to be as close as possible to regional communities. Fostering good relations through integrated programmes that serves the local populace is good judgment. This is done through any means so as to develop a positive relationship with members of the community. This good relationship helps during times of crisis. 10. Consumer relations – “Maintaining a relationship with a satisfied consumer is far easier than trying to re-build a relationship that has been hurt by poor service, pricing disagreements, or product failure. Building and maintaining brand loyalty may be a central objective for the practice of consumer relations”. 2 11. Government affairs – An eagle eye on the Government’s political, fiscal, environmental, regulatory exercises, etc. are required at three levels {a} Local, Public Relations 6 {b} State and {c} the Central or Federal Government. Since changes in the Governments perspective can beneficially or adversely affect the enterprise. 12. Public affairs and issues management – “While in theory, public relations, public affairs, and issues management overlap, the reality is that public relations/public affairs experts often are not meaningfully involved in corporate planning”. 3 Let us now look into a real-life PR issue by a controversy that has been raised up. This relates to Watson Pharmaceuticals 4 a leading specialty pharmaceutical company and Duramed Pharmaceuticals, Inc. {Barr Pharmaceuticals, Inc.} .5 ”Duramed has filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Watson Pharmaceuticals, part of its continuing battle with companies that want to market generic versions of its branded products.” As per the news in Business Courier of Cincinnati, Wednesday, March 5, 2008. An organization’s aggressiveness in surging ahead in the world marketplace may sometime lead to overlapping of an outcome arising out of the research and development departments in two different enterprises. But it gives rise to a host of legal issues that can engulf the companies to fight it out in the full gaze of the public. It does become very expensive and creates a fall-out that may not be easily cleaned. The very first attack, in this case of patent infringement, will be on the ethical ground of the organization by hitting directly at its credibility of fair play and lack of professional behavior. Such accusations tend to spot the existing products and the brand image that has been created. Though the initial effects, of such a charge, all Public Relations 7 seem to be very intangible but soon they begin to manifest very palpable consequences. Actually the whole business of infringement of patent in the pharmaceutical industry is very sensitive and it needs many dimensions to be taken care off. Precisely copying a patent is not the only way that a business can infringe on a patent. Knowingly or unknowingly incorporating a patented invention or practicing or incorporating an invention sufficiently similar to a patented invention can also constitute infringement. A patent owner can enjoin your business from practicing the patent, and can sue for damages. In some situations, an injunction can be equally or more costly than potential damages, since it may mean legal fees, retooling costs, and inventory loss. A hugely fought patent right may have the investors looking askew at their investments in the long run in infringing companies. Public Relations will have to step in to see that the confidence is maintained. The morale of the employees takes a beating and here the PR boys will have to step in and erase the feeling and provide a proper perspective to the issue. The market may become volatile and the distributors may want to sit awhile or else they may be landed with dead stocks. Public Relations will have to provide legitimate assurances to carry on the business or an alternative in case the issue tangles up and the marketers want to opt out. Bad publicity tends to shake up the locality and the community may become restless and want answers. The PR job here is to build on the strong foundation of Public Relations 8 mutual trust that’s already laid and persist in the relation maintaining and establishing exercises. Public Relations need to be prepared, at all times, to respond quickly to negative information about the organization. When a problem with a product or service arises, in fact or substantiated only by rumor, the organization’s investment in a product and brand can be in serious jeopardy. These days, with the wide prevalence of the Internet and wireless communications, negative data and information does spread rapidly. Through constant monitoring the PR man can track the issues and respond in a timely fashion. Most multi-national players, to manage response effectively, have crises management plans in place that outline steps to take and company spokespeople to speak on behalf of the company should an event occur. Such an audience could be very diverse. It could be within the organization and even the whole world. Conclusion: Public Relations require substantial structuring and restructuring of the organization’s internal and external functions. Staying close after a deal is a requirement for keeping consumers loyal. Ted Levitt, who used to be a Marketing Professor at Harvard and the editor of the Harvard Business Review, considers the run-up to a sale or deal a “courtship”. How good and how long the marriage will be, depends on how well the company manages the relationship. Stanley Gault, the Chairman of Rubbermaid, which at one time emerged a America’s second most admired company in Fortune’s survey had said, “There is no magic formula for staying close to your stake holder and customer. It is basic consideration, time, effort, commitment and follow-up.” Public Relations Reference 1 Bowie, N. – 1991- New Directions in Corporate Social. Responsibility, Business Horizons publications. p34(4) 2 Larry F. Lamb, Kathy Brittain McKee - 2005 - Applied Public Relations: Cases in stakeholder Management p.62 Routledge Publishers, member of the Taylor & Francis Group 3 James E. Grunig – 1992 - Excellence in Public Relations and Communication - p 147 4 Watson Pharmaceuticals a pharmaceutical company - http://www.watson.com/ - 5 Business Courier of Cincinnati, Wednesday, March 5, 2008 from the Internet http://cincinnati.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/stories/2008/03/03/daily40.html Read More