Communication to Internal Publicity - Essay Example

Communication to internal publi case study Communication with internal publi of any industry, organization, or chain of command must suit this undemanding yet sometimes complex truth: internal communication is extremely important to the success and development of any business. Tee Jackson gives a metaphoric meaning of internal communication: 'Like blood running through our veins, communication is vital. If the head wants a positive reaction from a part of the body it must get the message through the right channels to the correct area to get the desired result' (Jackson, 2005,par.1). Communication ought to be comprehensible and clear. If the message is not specific it may be misunderstood. For instance, "Some of the ladies have cast off clothing of every kind. They may be seen in the basement on Wednesday." According to a current Gallop Poll, 78 percent -a larger part - parents of children show their satisfaction with the quality of education their kids are getting, at the same time as only 18 percent are discontented. On the other hand, 61 percent of all Americanssay they are frustrated with level of school education in the United States nowadays. This illustrates a nine percentage-point increase in disappointment from 2004th. Furthermore, only 20 percent of the public has kids in secondary schools (the ones who are content with quality of education), whereas about 80 percent (the ones who are discontented) don't have any children in school. In 1994, the U.S. Census discovered that 360,000 children in this United States were receiving their education at home. In 1996, the U.S. Department of Education estimated that the quantity had almost doubled to 640,000. A research published this summer by the U.S. Government puts the number of American kids who are getting their education at home today at 850,000 (or 1.7 percent). "If public education is not broken, why have the number of children who are homeschooled almost tripled in less than a decade Fear that the educational sky may actually be falling was recently reinforced in October 19, 2005, edition of Business Week. The cover shouted "How To Fix America's Schools." (Jackson, 2005, par.4) Thus, there exists a great PR-problem if public education needs fixing. Is secondary education really not working Most scientists don't agree with that. They do recognize education is not ideal, and there are some aspects in it which are to be corrected immediately. It is also possible to find a number of things secondary education is doing correctly. The proof is overpowering that teaching and training are taking place all over the United States and that American children are more educated than those from other countries (Pawlas, 2004). Contrary to this statement Business week expresses the need of fixing public education and gives statistic evidence as a proof. Probably it is a problem of educators who should - at least at the outset - alter their idea of education. "During the first day in PR school they teach you that perception is reality. If four people witness a car accident at a downtown intersection, there will likely be four different versions of the event. Which one is telling the truth They all are. Their perceptions vary, but each perception is reality for those people involved" (Jackson, 2005,par.8). The combination of the homeschooling increase and the deterioration of the Gallop Poll paint harsh portrait people who work in the area of education should look at: the majority of Americans recognize that public education is not working in a right way. So how is it possible to correct it The easiest way is to change the way of thinking of those who have no children of school-age (but may have them in future) and are dissatisfied with the quality of education. According to the Gallop Poll, about 80 percent of American parents are content with public schools. An experienced PR-specialist has to use that as his most important weapon in this struggle. 'The second thing they teach you in PR school is to use the people who support you as advocates in the community. We must get our internal publics - students, parents, teachers, and support staff- working for us in the community' (Jackson, 2005, par.9). It is necessary to organize these human resources and concentrate them on solving one major problem: unfavorable stereotype, quite gloomy image of American public education. But in order to understand internal publics it is necessary to ask them. The best way is to apply sociological methods and make a survey. A survey, or several interrelated surveys can give the PR-specialist all needed information on the issue. The main aspects of surveying are following: It is important to get to know internal publics realize and agree with the purposes of the educational system. If they express disagreement, PR-specialist should change his purposes or get publics to alter their understanding of them and accept his goals as their own. It is vital to give them ownership in public schools. It is important to inform internal publicity about all improvements in their schools (for example, newly-built swimming-pools, school newspapers, new interesting subjects). It is necessary to inform internal publicity about each step undertaken to improve the current situation, since some of PR-specialist's actions may be misinterpreted. Campaign which is to be run in order to improve the attitude of external publics is slightly related to the internal publics (Lattimore, Baskin, Heinemann, Toth, 2004) , since in fact, these are two different campaigns. Communicating with internal publics, PR-specialist should remember that they can be an excellent informer for those who are still dissatisfied with the situation, i.e. they can help specialist in his 'external' campaign. Also it is extremely important to remember that internal publics create an image -either positive or negative - of the organization (school for the present case), so PR-specialist should think about an additional education for teachers and communication with students and parents. In his article 'Written communications' George Pawlas suggests: 'School agendas are an important communication link between the principal and the school's family members. In many cases, the items to be discussed at these important gatherings are solicited prior to the meetings' (Pawlas, 2003, par.10). For instance there are some similarities of the agendas from Friendly Lakes Elementary School and Sumter Middle School-each one mentions the date, place, and time of the meetings with parents. In addition, it is mentioned that food would be provided. The person who arranges such meetings is to be certainly a part of such internal communication, eg. teacher or someone in charge of the school (or several persons), since such presentation gives oneself a chance to feel directly involved into the process of improving image of public education. One more peace of advice to be given is one related to the contents of the main message. According to G.Pawlas, PR-specialist has to write as one talks, since too complicated phrases are difficult to remember, short sentences are most appropriate. Pawlas strongly recommends to 'use active verbs to keep the reader's interest' (Pawlas, 2003, par.13). Lattimore, Baskin, Heinemann and Toth (2004) emphasize that there must be proper design of printed handouts; all mechanical aspects such as fonts, margins and colors should make the message readable and easy to understand. Bibliography 1) Jackson, T. Improving internal communication, 2005. http://www.alsde.edu/other/email_c/sept%20pros.htm 2) Pawlas, G. Written communications, 2003. http://www.eyeoneducation.com/excerpts/1-59667-005-3.htm 3) Lattimore, D., Baskin, O., Heiman, S., & Toth, E, 2004. Public relations, New York: McGraw-Hill Read More