Public Relations Situation - Assignment Example

?Situation analysis-Public Relations Situation analysis is the first step or part of any successful activity or project for example public relations (PR) and the development of a strategic market plan. By definition, public relations is management of communication between a firm or an organization and its key publics in an effort to manage, build and sustain a positive image. In PR, the plan or situation analysis involves an evaluation of the main communication issues facing the firm or organization, and assessing the results of formal and informal research. How awareness of cultural diversity can benefit the practice of public relations An effective PR plan for any organization is designed in such a manner that it enables the organization to communicate to its intended audience in such a way that the message benefits mutual interests and coincides with the goals of the organization. According to Ravazzani (2006), every public relations department should be able to deliver messages that are more effective in enhancing the understanding and relationship between an organization and its publics and increasing attraction and retention of employees. The messages passed should also cultivate and enhance dialogue, improve the corporate reputation of the organisation and expand its market in diverse sections of stakeholder publics. Grunig and Ehling (1992) state that the identification of the target audience is a fundamental technique that is highly utilised in public relations. This will allows public relations professionals or department to come up with organisational messages that are purposely tailored to appeal to this audience and market the organisation while improving its reputation. The audience can be local, nationwide or global. From the above discussion, it is clear that if the public relations professionals or the public relations department of an organisation does not have adequate cultural awareness, they will not be able to market the company and its products to certain groups of people as emphasized by Chia and Synnott (2009). They will not also be able to facilitate the company to tap precious human resources from these communities or improve its reputation among them. This is because the messages they create will either be inadequate in appealing to them or do not carry any important meaning to them. They could also sound offensive depending on choice of words used in relation to the culture of the target audience. It should be noted that cultural diversity encompasses differences in language, religion, beliefs, social aspects, race and ethnicity as noted by Chia and Synnott (2009). Some of these factors are easy to change and some are not. This means that the public relations professionals should be able to adjust to the cultural aspects of the various audiences of an organisation. Grunig and Toth (2006) explain that they should be able to demonstrate an awareness, understanding and sensitivity to their cultures and interactions between the various cultures. It should also be noted that the audience in public relations are more fluid and this requires adequate response to this. This can only be achieved if there is sufficient flexibility among public relations to adapt to a changing world. Effective public relations professionals or departments are those that have recognised and acknowledged the important fact that discrimination is unhealthy for business. They should also have recognised the importance of taking advantage of a multi-cultural communities and how fast this opportunity is growing. Hain (2008) points out that if public relations professionals or departments were to realise this, they would be able to enable their firms or clients to exploit the cultural diversity in their society or target region. As noted in the introduction, situation analysis is where an organisation evaluates the main communication issues it faces. An awareness in cultural diversity increases the competency of public relations practitioners to note these issues and advice organizations on how to respond effectively (Chia and Synnott 2009). Globally, public relations practitioners are continuously and increasingly facing more cultural diversity operating across various time zones, different socio-cultural, political and economic systems. Toth (2009) states that in their daily professional work, these practitioners always seek relationships with multinational communities that differ in religion, literacy, environment, language, national income and governance. This makes cultural diversity competencies a key competency for all public relations practitioners. They should all be able to develop competencies or expertise to build positive and relations with diverse groups. Examples of the competencies required by public relations practitioners are knowledge of a diverse world, skills to interact and communicate successfully with diverse groups and personal attributes to work in diverse societies. They should also be in a position to counsel organisation on the insights and resources required to build positive relationships with diverse publics as well as hiring and retaining workforce from a diverse community. According to Dozier et al (1995), sufficient cultural awareness impacts positively in the public relations practice because it enables public relations firms to be the first to cash in on immigrants by tailoring their messages to suit and attract them to the company. For example, messages meant to make the organisation more appealing to ethnic minorities in the society. Corporate social responsibility is very important for the success of an organisation and this includes both local and multinational social responsibilities. An awareness of cultural diversity is therefore very important in providing an organisation with the competencies it requires in order to carry out its global corporate social responsibility, building successful and high standards of corporate communication, and develop multicultural communication ethics. This means that multicultural awareness increases the professional relevance of public relations practitioners. It also markets them due to increasing demand by many companies to appeal to the local and global multicultural communities. Each organisation has its own expectations, values and beliefs that shape its public relations. Cultural awareness among public relations practitioners is therefore important in ensuring that the messages they give about the organisation responds to cultural diversity while maintaining consistency with the beliefs, values and expectations of the organisation. For example if organization believes in and values a diverse workforce, then the organisation’s public relations department will have more authority to include practitioners from varied backgrounds and standpoints (Grunig and Ehling 1992). Conclusion The main thing behind variations in culture is differences in perspectives leading to differences in preferences. This makes cultural awareness a critical competency among public relations practitioners and the public relations department personnel. The awareness of cultural diversity increases the professional relevance of public relations practitioners because of the increasing diversity both in the local and international communities. In order to gain a competitive advantage and increase their market shares, public relations firms takes advantage of the growing cultural diversity and targets or hires people of immigrant origin. References Chia, Joy, and Synnott, Gae. (2009). An Introduction To Public Relations: From Theory To Practice. Melbourne. Oxford University Press. Dozier David, Grunig Larissa and Grunig James. (1995). The manager’s guide to excellence in public relations and communication management. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Publishers. Mahwah, NJ. Grunig Larissa and Ehling, W. (1992). What is an effective organization? In J. E. Grunig (Ed.), Excellence in public relations and communication management. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Publishers. Hillsdale, NJ. Grunig Larissa and Toth Elizabeth. (2006). “The ethics of communicating with and about difference in a changing society.” In K. Fitzpatrick & C. Bronstein (Eds.) Ethics in public relations: Responsible Advocacy. Sage. Thousand Oaks, CA. Hain Randy. (2008). “Diversity of thought: The next frontier.” The Strategist. (1) pp 29-31. Ravazzani Sylvia. (2006). 2nd world public relations festival, “Communicating for diversity, with diversity, in diversity: Main implications and summary of the contents”. Institute for Public Relations. Gainesville, FL. Toth Elizabeth. (2009). Diversity and Public Relations Practice. http://www.instituteforpr.org/topics/diversity-and-pr-practice/ [Accessed 3 September, 2011] Read More