Week 3- Internal Affairs

Week 3

Internal Affairs

Halo...Greetings twice again.....

The readings made me think about Public Relations in that it injects itself as ‘gel’ coagulating within organisational functions and performing varied managerial roles. The contents of Chapter 11 could easily be found in any Human Resource Management textbook.

Internal Public Relations

The realisation on the importance of maintaining employee relationship have seen organisation adopting a proactive approach. This explains the investment in efforts to build trust amongst its employee. This inevitably involves a two way communication channel to facilitate mutual understanding and promote a healthy relationship.

From the organisation perspective, it is common business sense to maintain a harmonious relationship among its workers and to contain the powerful trade unions. I would be inclined to view it as a necessary illusion for control and significant to the company’s bottom line.

Nevertheless, I am lighten by the notion of organisational activists put forth by Holtzhausen and Voto (2002), which suggests practitioner could indeed serve as conscience in the organisation by resisting dominant power structures. This in my opinion paves way for a balanced relationship and offers a more genuine attempt towards mutual benefits.

However for such approach to be realised, I believe that Public Relations executives undertaking such role should be bestowed upon them certain decision making authority and not merely performing advisory roles, subsidiary to management departments.

Internal tools of communication

Among the varied channel of communications mentioned, with some leveraging on technology such as video conferencing, I concur that interpersonal or face to face communication would function most effectively. This is especially so for conveying important information that has direct implications on the employee such as decisions to cut wages during an economic crisis. To explain such decisions and seek their understanding on such matter, a human face is needed to demonstrate a certain level of respect for the workers. Imagine if such news was simply conveyed through email. It certainly does not reflect well on the management attitudes towards their employee.

Community Relations

In a contemporary context where information could be obtained and disseminate on the instant, companies could no longer ignore their external environment from which they operate from. The ability to garner support from the masses on certain issues such as environmental concerns meant that organisations have to take the effort to engage the community to ensure the public of its intentions and in the long run protect its reputation.

It is no longer enough for a company’s operation stick within the parameters of the legal barricade. The perception of the public is important because they are also active consumers of their products. Any perception of wrong doings may result in a boycott and tarnish the image of the organisation.

By maintaining an open channel with its surroundings, organisations could prevent such occurrences. Goodwill could be forged by contributing back to society in the form of sponsorship and community building. I believe such measures are necessary especially in the age where corporations are being viewed negatively.

Having read the case study 11.1: Breakout and cultural transformation at ANZ, I could see that adopting such measures requires a cultural transformation within the organisation itself. It is certainly not an easy task to change the mindset of management which traditionally view the success or failure of an organisation based on its financial health. The case study however demonstrates the possibilities by realigning its company’s mission statement and values which its operation is based upon.

I think the key points to remember from this week's readings were the importance of internal communication which translates into tangible benefits for the firm. The move towards corporate governance could be mutually beneficial for both the public and the organisation. The manner in which organisation choose to carry out this relations may varied but ultimately requires a paradigm shift from employing financial data as a yardstick for success to deploying other measurements–one which accounts public sentiments and employee relations as important components for the organisation.

Week 2- Theories- Viewing with different sets of glasses at varying shades & angles.

Week 2

Theories- Viewing with different sets of glasses at varying shades & angles.

Halo...Greetings once again.....

Theories provides framework and stimulate intellectual rigour in the knowledge marketplace.

Whilst discussing different theories, I couldn’t resist but hijack some thoughts from Aristotle’s Dialectic inquiry pertaining to unravelling of theories.

A theory is:

(1) Tested by questions designed to refute it , and

(2) Defended by answering those questions as truthfully as possible.

If the dynamic of dialectic is effective, a theory may be refuted (or not) regardless of the initial convictions of the participants.

This may prove useful, especially for Public Relations theories which draw its inspiration from a diverse body of knowledge involving cross disciplinary studies of communication, sociology, culture and organisation.

In expressing my personal thoughts, I could sketch a mental parallel between Habermas’ s critical theory and the methodology from which Aristotle’ Dialectic inquiry functions with regards to the use of rationality- the use of reason rather than emotion(pp52).

Nevertheless, Habermas mentioned of the need for equal footing in terms of power relations for such favourable conditions to be met. With regards to Public Relations, Habermas provides a bleak assessment of Public Relations expressing “it is a concept for theorising how to manipulate democracies in ways that serve the people who hold financial power”. This in my humble opinion discounted PR activities arising from other contextual settings such as promotion of health and social issues.

Grunig’s four models approach

As mentioned in “Public Relations Research at the Crossroads” by Karla K. Gower, the four models stems from traditional view of the historical development of Public Relations. The evolutionary progression of the PR industry has indeed contributed towards a more accommodating nature as seen by the model of two-way asymmetric and symmetric approach. (the other two being the press agentry and public information model).

This begs the question. Whether this shift reflects a natural progression towards professionalism or caved out of necessity in response to contemporary realities?

I suspect it’s a bit of both but leans towards the expanded role of Public Relations in the modern context. As mentioned in the abovementioned article, “one of the apparent goals of the early theorists was to professionalize public relations and to promote the field as a management function”.

The readings made me think about theories in that it would not be prudent to flatly categorised PR efforts conveniently into certain prescribed model or theory. The influence of agenda setting theory, relationship management approach and the use of semiotics should also be taken into consideration.

Secondly, I was made to realise that theories may not measure up when mounted against the realities and practicalities of the world.

For example two-way symmetrical approach, which considered by some to be an ideal model, has been criticised of ignoring the power disparities between the public and the organisation (Curtin & Gaither, 2005).

Regardless, in the readings on the SARS crisis by Mark Chong, it was mentioned that “public participation in risk management is akin to the two-way symmetrical approach”. The fact that Singapore’s handling of the crisis was widely praised by the international community was discussed in the tutorial lesson.

A student had pointed that Singapore’s relatively small geography, contributed to its success and added it would not be as effective if it was applied in a bigger country with larger population size.

I would not disagree with the point made but would tend to view it from an organisational perspective. In addition to political willingness, efforts by various governmental departments in a coordinated fashion contributed to a swift response to the situation. I believe, given the same resources, a bigger country might be able to replicate this at provincial, state and national level. Of course, the role of health spokesman could not be discounted as described in the article where physicians took on the role of media spokesman hence, developing a high level of trust amongst the community.

I think the key points to remember from this week's readings were the comprehension on the development of theories with regards to Public Relations. Appreciation of its origins and its development could shed light on the expanding role of Public Relations field. It is also worthy to note that Public Relations research being at this “crossroads”, offers excellent opportunities for academia to shape its future direction.

(706 words)

WK 1- Spin Doctors or Maybe Not

Week 1

Spin Doctors or Maybe Not

Halo...Greetings Public Relations students..(and potential spin doctors)

If a lawyer revealed that in his line of work, he tell lies all the time... How do you know he is telling you the Truth when he said that?

Short of starting a philosophical discourse... I am hypothetically expressing my initial impression of a Public Relations practitioner..

Prior to this module, I had harboured a generally negative notion about the role of Public Relations. Just like corporate lawyers dressed in sharp suits, dangling sharper tongues... ( I meant sharper bow tie), I had viewed a Public Relations person working for gigantic Corporations as men/ women in black deploying their trade with the sole purpose of serving the interest of a few.

Like many, I am unsure of this source of prejudice... (Maybe too much Noam Chomsky and Michael Parenti or Boston Legal)

Having read Chapter 1 and 2 of Public Relations Theory and Practice, and Except from “Public Relations”, certainly there are attorneys who could be defending the rich and powerful and sometimes guilty, but there are also Civil Rights lawyers striving for justice. Similarly, in Public Relations one could be serving dictators or Human Rights organisations. There are lobbyists and there are fundraisers. The wide spectrum of possibilities in the PR industry unravelled with each turning page. The readings highlighted the multi faceted nature of Public Relations.

Except from “Public Relations”, seemed more about conveying to students about what they could expect if they had been contemplating about being a PR practitioner, revealing the less glamorous side of the industry. More than that, it gives an overarching picture of the industry and provides an interesting introduction to the course. (Honestly, I skip the part where they illustrate the mathematical graphs and statistics). But overall a good first “Hello”.

Moving on to the Chapter 2 of Public Relations Theory and Practice, a historical story- telling of the development of PR industry in Australia was served on the plate. Digesting the facts, I realised the close association of Public Relations had with the press and advertisement. Interestingly, it was in one of the Journalism tutorial that ignited my thoughts on the overlapping bonds of the press and public relation. The lecturer highlighted that a trained journalist could in fact cross over as a Public Relations spokesman by advising their clients about potential questions that might be posed by journalists and providing them with what is deemed as an appropriate response.

The readings made me think about PR practice as a historical process with the evolution of newspaper in Australia- what is termed as “Depoliticisation” of newspaper. This cumulated in the increasing partnership with advertising elements for the purpose of hawking products. This profound shift resulted in the emergence of promotion and publicity- considered to be the earliest form of public relations (pp 25).As such, I suspect this created the misconception that public relations is essentially marketing.

Closing of my first Public Relations blog, I believe the key points to remember from this week’s readings relates to understanding the diversity of Public Relations and its important function as a communication channel. Through a brief historical account of Public Relations and the identification of key terms, one could relate to the inter- connectivity and cross function of Public Relations being a component of mass communication.