Public Relations Thrive on Public Opinions - Research Paper Example

Public Relations thrive on Public Opinions. 25-09-11 Public Relations thrive on Public Opinions. History: Public Relations or PR is a broad subject and encompasses all the actions performed by individuals, corporations or governments in an attempt to promote goodwill between general public, customers and itself. Public opinions have a central role in influencing the implementation of political and administrative actions such as policy making and public programs undertaken by the government. In the United States, Public relations took shape during the initial years of the country’s development but modern PR techniques and practices developed much later. During the 1850s, Barnum and Bailey Circus used PR techniques to attract a large number of people for their shows. Soon after, a large number of companies and organizations started employing publicity tactics to attract large audiences. The Excellence Project Vercic, L.A. Grunig (1996) states that nine generic principles govern the basis of setting up global public relations. Edward Louise Barneys is considered an America pioneer in the development of techniques relating to public relations and propaganda. Edward Barneys is considered as the ‘father of public relations’. Edward Barneys developed many influential PR techniques including press release and third party advocacy. Barneys helped remove the taboos surrounding the idea of women smoking in public, thorough his famous campaign of 1920 known as the Women’s Smoking Campaign. Barneys educated the industries regarding the importance of news and stated that it was the most effective method of conveying message to the public. Edward Barneys summarized the importance of PR techniques in his famous quotation given below: “The engineering of consent is the very essence of the democratic process, the freedom to persuade and suggest.”( BERNAYS et al 1955). Public Relations, Propaganda and the Establishment of Democracy: “Public relations thrives on public opinion, and so is most developed in democratic systems” (Gregory 2008: 192) This quotation fully explains the importance of public relations and public opinions in setting up a democratic system. In modern world, setting up a democratic system encompasses various aspects. One of the major aspects in establishing democracy is public relations. The research following the development of Excellence theory shows that public relations serve as a pivotal condition for the establishment of a liberal democracy. During the 20th century, public relations gained the status of becoming a powerful and influential industry, not only in the United States of America but across the whole world. In modern society, public relation operations are not just limited to the in-house activity of public corporations and public institutions, but are also being increasingly established as independent consultation firms. Thus, public relation operations have become a prominent constituent in setting up a democratic system. Edward Barney’s book Propaganda was released in the year 1928, in this book Edward discussed the use of propaganda by governments to influence and manipulate public opinion. Furthermore, Edward outlined the importance of public opinion in democracy by stating: “The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society. Those who manipulate this unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power of our country. ...We are governed, our minds are molded, our tastes formed, our ideas suggested, largely by men we have never heard of. This is a logical result of the way in which our democratic society is organized.”(BERNAYS et al 2005). Excellence theory of Public Relations and the Influence of Public Opinion: According to the First World Assembly of Public Relations Associations held in 1978 in Mexico, PR was defined as the art and science which analyzes different trends and uses the outcomes to predict the consequences of the implementation of policies and decisions. The essence of PR effectiveness is guaranteed by efficiently using the predicted consequences to counsel the organizational leaders accordingly to implement such actions which will protect the interests of the organization and mould public opinion in the favor of the organization. The International Association of Business Communicators Research Foundation funded the 15 year study which resulted in the development of Excellence theory of Public relations. The theory states that effective public relations can be developed by the implementation of excellent communicational strategies. Excellence theory of public relations encompasses numerous middle range theories such as public relations and public theories. In addition, the theory is also based upon the principles of strategic management, diversity, power, and activism as well as the principles of Public Relations Evaluation and public opinion. The effectiveness of the excellence theory was tested in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom by 327 organizations. These organizations included corporations, nonprofit organizations, associates and government and private agencies. The excellence theory explains the importance of Public relations regarding managerial decisions and the characteristics of successful relationships with stakeholder public. Furthermore, the theory highlights the fact that for the establishment of an effective organization, it is necessary to employ problem solving ways as well as ways which will satisfy the goals of management and the stakeholders. However, if certain goals are not fully satisfied then the stakeholders have the right to oppose and pressure the organizations to change its policies and decisions. The theory states that organizations should behave in a socially acceptable and efficient ways and also make efforts to scan the surroundings in an attempt to identify the ways in which public is affective by policies and decisions taken by potential organizations. In addition, the theory also highlights the importance of recognizing the portion of public which wants the organizations to draw policies and take decisions to solve their problems. This will not only increase goodwill between the organization and general public but will also influence the public opinions accordingly. The excellence theory also points out the importance of taking organizational and public interests into account and subsequently maintaining a symmetrical communication with public. Establishment of symmetrical communication is essential for the cultivation of long term and good quality relationships which is a catalyst for the promotion of goodwill between the organization and public. High quality relationships are of immense value to an organization because they lead to a reduction in litigation costs, regulation and legislation. In addition, establishment of good relationships is an efficient way to reduce the incidence of negative publicity generated as a result of poor relations. On the other hand, development of high quality public relations is of great importance for the effectiveness of an organization because it significantly lowers the risk of drafting policies and taking decisions, which would negatively affect multiple stakeholders. (THEAKER, A. (2001). The excellence theory not only outlines the value of public relations but also provides principles to be followed by organizations to maximize the effectiveness of public relations in molding public opinion. Moreover, it reveals that the characteristics of strategic management involvement are of great value in the establishment of highly effective public relations which are capable of manipulating general public. Public relations are also strengthened by having access to dominant coalition. However, sublimation of public relations to marketing and management functions causes a reduction in the effectives of its role in strategic management. The reason behind reduction in effectiveness is due to the fact that sublimation to marketing results in the development of asymmetric communication which lowers the influence on public opinion. On the other hand, effective public relations do not require the support of management functions in developing high quality relationships with stakeholders. The excellence theory study revealed that increased employee satisfaction can only be ensured by establishing symmetrical internal communication system. However, it is true that internal symmetrical communication system can only be developed and maintained if organizations avoid practicing authoritative culture and should rather indulge in participative methods. Furthermore, it is necessary that organizations should have a less stratified or organic decentralized structure rather than centralized and stratified mechanical system. The excellence study also examined the effect of increasing involvement of women in public relations and also highlighted the evidence that women faced problems in handling managerial roles in an organization. (GRUNIG et al 2002).The research emphasized that only those organizations can establish and maintains excellent public relations that do not indulge in both benevolent or hostile sexism and practice gender equality in strategic roles and development of programs. The last part of the excellence theory was based on diversity of race and ethnicity. The inclusion of gender issues resulted in the expansion of the theory and thus ensured that it can be used outside the United States, across various cultures and economies. A pivotal concern in normative democratic theory is the responsiveness of government policies and decisions to public opinions. Some interest group theorists believe that general public will is obstructed due to pressure exerted by biased group politics that support government as well as other professional institutions. Public opinion leads to both congruent and non congruent changes in government policies and decisions. However, the incidence of congruent changes in policies and decisions was considerably higher than non congruent changes. In certain cases, lack of congruency signifies no change in policy and thus shows that Public preferences change considerably but do not result in policy alteration. Different researches reveal that Public opinions can only be manipulated through the establishment of balanced and excellent public relations. (The Public relations journal.1945). Current Issues in Public Relations Practice: Today PR industry is one the most powerful and influential industries across the world. The world’s largest PR firm is “Burson Marsteller” and it is one of the most notorious public relations firm because of its involvement with the tobacco industry in launching of ‘National Smoker’s Alliance’ and also because it defended Argentinean military dictatorship. The Public relations industry in the United States encompasses various firms such as Edelman Public Relations, Gallup Organization and Fleishman- Hillard. Edelman Public Relations is one of the world’s powerful and largest PR firm and their crisis management work includes numerous famous achievements. Merck Pharmaceuticals and Odwalla Juice Company are the most famous clients. Recently, the firm handled a crisis issue for Odwalla Juice Company, involving the contamination of their juice products with lethal E. coli bacteria. The Public Relations Society of America and International Public Relations Association were founded to handle the increasing growth of PR professionals and these organizations form a major part of PR industry in the United States of America. Public Relations Students Society of America (PRSSA) was founded in the year 1968 and is entrusted with the responsibility of producing highly qualified PR professionals. (MAY et al 2007). Three of the major challenges faced by United States PR industry are listed below: 1. Work place diversity: It has been observed that PR professionals promote the elimination of issues pertaining to gender, ethnicity and opinion but still the industry lacks diversity. 2. Influence of Social Media: The influence of bad publicity can be increased by many folds due to sensationalizing habit of social and mass media and hence, it not only renders the effectiveness of public relations but also drastically influences public opinions. 3. IMC: The positive contributions of public relations to IMC need to be realized by PR professionals. (Public relations: the international journal of the Institute of Public Relations.1982). In modern world, crisis management involves immediate response by PR industry. Therefore their response not only has to be speedy but honest as well. Wakefield observed that larger European multinationals enjoy more efficient PR programs than American citizens. In addition, Wakefield also pointed out that most PR industries are based on central public relations strategies and thus provide assistance to local units. While international unites are relegated by less than 50% of PR professionals. Therefore, there is a conflict between central and local units. This conflict is a major obstacle that hinders global success of public relations. Thus, a balance needs to be maintained between central and local units in order to increase the chances of national and international PR success. (PAGE, B. I., & SHAPIRO, R. Y. (1981) .Over the recent years, several PR scandals have surfaced. One of the most notable PR scandals was the Wal-Marts public relations problem. Wal-Mart stores Inc. hired Andrew young to deal with issues pertaining to public relations but it did not work out quite well. Therefore, the stores started to drift away from the civil rights icon. Originally, Young was considered as an asset when Wal-Mart opened its stores in urban areas. Naturally, it was essential for them to establish excellent public relations in order to ensure the success of their stores in minority and urban areas. Therefore, young was expect to deflect the criticism Wal-Mart stores were receiving in urban and minority areas. Most of the minorities claimed that Wal-Mart stores were trying to close their shops and businesses. Young issued a racist statement to the Los Angeles Sentinel which was widely reported all across America. However, later Young apologized and resigned from his post but considerable damage to the reputation of Wal-Mart stores had already been done. Therefore, PR professionals should be responsible enough to realize the fact that their comments have a huge impact on public opinions. Modern day, national and international crisis management issues require PR professionals to exhibit strong negotiation characteristics as well as the ability to make prompt good judgments. Today, the need for PR industry to be more responsible is greater than it was ever before because public relations now not only affect national opinion but all has a major impact on international opinion. Therefore, PR professionals need to develop efficient communication skills and the ability to effectively work under stress conditions. In addition, the powerful PR industry needs to realize that with great power comes great responsibility. (MAY et al 2007). References: BERNAYS, E. L., & MILLER, M. C. (2005). Propaganda. Brooklyn, N.Y., Ig Pub GRUNIG, L. A., GRUNIG, J. E., & DOZIER, D. M. (2002). Excellent public relations and effective organizations: A study of communication management in three countries. Mahwah, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc. THEAKER, A. (2001). The public relations handbook. London, Routledge. BERNAYS, E. L., & CUTLER, H. W. (1955). The engineering of consent. Norman, University of Oklahoma Press. PAGE, B. I., & SHAPIRO, R. Y. (1981). Effects of public opinion on policy. S.l, s.n. AMERICAN COUNCIL ON PUBLIC RELATIONS, & PUBLIC RELATIONS SOCIETY OF AMERICA. (1945). The Public relations journal. New York [etc.], Public Relations Society of America [etc.]. INSTITUTE OF PUBLIC RELATIONS (GREAT BRITAIN). (1982). Public relations: the international journal of the Institute of Public Relations. Harlow, Essex, Longman Group Ltd., in association with the Institute of Public Relations. MAY, S., CHENEY, G., & ROPER, J. (2007). The debate over corporate social responsibility. New York, Oxford University Press. Read More