Development And Establishment Of Public Relations - Essay Example

Development And Establishment Of Public Relations With the advancement in science and technology, world has converted into a global village. New researches have generated findings unknown to the world previously, this led to further development and establishment of industries and factories, which were meant to serve various purposes, and proved beneficial for the society in general. However, on the other hand, this rapid development and mechanization has changed the look of the world both positively and negatively. Today, human life has become far easier than it has been in the past. Evolution of computer technology has drastically influenced human life and humans have begun to rely on the use of technology for matters of daily life. We depend so much on the modern age facilities that we cannot imagine a life without them. Besides, there are a lot of evils that have emerged in the modern age that complement the speech of those who favor the modern age industrialization. Human life today is much disturbed despite all the facilities. There are a number of factors which have made this happen. One among them is pollution, which has affected the society in a number of forms and ways. This has resulted from an unorganized approach toward industrialization. The knowledge in old generations was far less than what modern people are equipped with. People were less educated and were unaware of the pros and cons of the emerging technology. Emphasis was more on the development of industries rather than on the consideration of their positive and negative environmental, cultural, social and political aspects. There was an urge to invent more and more, and in the hustle and bustle, no body really cared how the new industries should be located to enhance cooperation among them and reduce side effects on the society. It is said that it is far easier to rectify a mistake in the start than otherwise. Unfortunately, very less importance was given to the planning and organization of technology and industries in the past which has resulted in the evolution of factors so evil, which have made human life difficult on the planet. This has happened for a variety of reasons. In the past, there used to be little or no transport at all. Making long journeys consumed a lot of energy of the people of that age. They were so busy in managing their own hectic routine that they gave very less consideration to whether the rapidly developing factories and other buildings around them would bring them virtue or have a bad impact on their lives. Industrialization is no doubt beneficial for the social and economic development of a country, but the way the industries are located, their construction is organized or what there after effects are certainly makes a lot of difference, whose effects can be judged by the level of satisfaction of the people of that area, who are associated directly or indirectly with them, or the ones generally referred to as the stakeholders. In the past, ground-distance from one point to another used to be lesser than what it is today between the same points generally. This is because of the presence of the newly developed buildings that have changed the maps. Occasionally, there may be cases, where people today, with all the facilities readily available to assist them take longer to travel from one point to another which their ancestors used to cover on foot in lesser time. However, the situation today is quite different. People have undergone psychological changes. Their daily life is more mechanized and organized. With greater exposure to technology accompanied with a rich upbringing in the dynamic environment of the modern world, people today are quite smarter than those belonging to old societies. In this challenging environment where there are a lot of hurdles in the way of development because of an environment of competition, it takes greater effort to prove something right. People do not appreciate usual things, though they may be very smart. The society only appreciates new concepts and innovative approach. Every individual and every organization is held responsible for his deeds and sayings. The check and balance system is quite well organized, aided by the latest technology. Therefore, everybody is accountable to the democratic society, and nobody can just think of making a change without having solid justification for the same. This is where the concept of public relations originates. According to www.yourDictionary.com, the definition of public relations is, “relations with the general public as through publicity; specif., those functions of a corporation, organization, etc. concerned with attempting to create favorable public opinion for itself.” (www.yourDictionary.com, n.d.). Basically, public relations and corporate social responsibility are two sides of the same coin. It would be more appropriate to state that public relations use corporate social responsibility as a tool to flourish. Organizations today are ethically bound to have a transparent objective meant to serve the nation in some way. Unless the organizations do not lay down an easily understandable work structure, the stakeholders would not let them survive specifically in a society where true democracy is prevalent. This has necessitated the need to develop good public relations for the organization owners, and uplift the general reputation of the organization among the stakeholders. “Reputation management, if it is to emerge as a significant business function, clearly rests on a foundation of what is traditionally termed “public relations,”…” (Hutton et al., 2001, p. 248). Appropriate reputation management is likely to earn good public relations, which in turn helps in managing the reputation good. Therefore, both factors are interrelated in that they influence and are influenced by each other. Achieving this is very essential to enhance the public relations. One way to accomplish that is by developing room and opportunities for increased communication with the stakeholders. “A strong corporate culture, of which good communication is a vital ingredient, is the bedrock of robust corporate reputation”. (Durig & Sriramesh, 2004, p.372) Sometimes, it so happens that the organizations tend to be inclined toward a functional organizational structure instead of a projectized organizational structure. Such a condition takes place when functional departments get more developed in an organization as compared to the technical departments working directly on the projects. Such an approach minimizes the project manager’s influence on the project team, thereby suppressing communication and creating communication voids in the system. When this happens, companies not only fail to manage their internal system, but also lack in providing people with the communication opportunities. Therefore, the right type of organizational structure that would assign the right limit of rights to the right departments is also essential in order to maintain good relations with the public. Communication offers opportunity to speak the mind out and helps clearing doubts. It destroys the barriers of ambiguities and takes the understanding of the society toward the mission of the organization to a higher level. Organizations need to work on devising ways to ensure frequent communication with the public in order to acquire their confidence. Therefore, organization runners need to allocate the required budget to enhance corporate communication activities. Besides, organization runners should focus on developing ways other than communication to earn value in society. In order to develop good public relations, organizations have to redesign their goals in a way that would incorporate public interests in them, and inculcate awareness in the public about the same. This can be achieved through spending more on factors that would advertise the public interests on behalf of the organization. Initially, investing in such areas may seem meaningless, but gradually the practice would start playing the magic. People need to be offered incentives in order to develop an interest in them regarding the organization’s motive. Incentives may not necessarily be financial, people may be convinced that the organization would fulfill religious, cultural or political purposes, and serve as a platform for them to safeguard their interests. Importance of ethics in retaining good public relations: The process of developing good public relations is more of psychological than analytical. In order to obtain good response from the public, an organization needs to take measures that would leave a good psychological impact on them. “To practice “strategic ethics”, the practitioner must first think strategically rather than tactically in considering ethical dilemmas.” (Kruckeberg, 2000, p.38). This necessitates the requirement of a sound understanding of business and professional ethics in the staff employed in the organization. Minor things that can be integrated to form the definition of ethics are powerful enough to make a difference. So the organization members should be conscious to take care of them. A number of studies have contributed toward generalizing what all falls under the domain of ethics, as there is no solid criterion of measuring how much ethically an organization is working. However, all humans are naturally equipped with a sense of judging what is right and what is not. This sense is generated by the fundamental human needs that are common to all human beings. Therefore the basic understanding of ethics is in born in all human beings. Though, this basic sense of ethics placed in human by nature is modified by the social and cultural norms prevalent in an area. Therefore, the different shades of definition may vary slightly from place to place. Today, one can take formal training and education in professional ethics. In order to establish good public relations, it is imperative that the behavior of the staff be supportive. This is a very sensitive issue. It takes years of hard work for a company to develop good relations with public that may be destroyed by the bad behavior of a worker who is merely employed in the company. The reason why a worker would misbehave is fairly understandable. In the modern age, younger people are more talented and technically educated as compared to old and experienced lot. The increased reliability of the system on technology favors the mood further. This has shifted powers and managerial decision making rights from old and experienced people in the hands of young, energetic and passionate workers who are technically educated but quite inexperienced. Their perceptions that they are technically sounder as compared to their seniors and an urge to rise to the top level in less time makes them overconfident and behave in a bossy manner. Being young and immature, they do not understand the gravity of words and use them carelessly. They tend to be quick decision makers, and therefore in this rush, fail to maintain an attitude that would speak of professionalism in them. When such people get to acquire the managerial positions, then public might be noticed unsatisfied. This is the ultimate dilemma many organizations get into these days. “Professional experience with ethics has to be earned over time, and younger practitioners are at a disadvantage when faced with a dilemma, often having little prior experience with such situations.” (Bowen, 2007). This keeps the organization from fulfilling the requirements of the corporate social responsibility, which demands it to be very careful in maintaining its integrity through fulfilling the needs and meet the expectations of the public in general and the stakeholders in particular, because it is the public, which helps an organization to meet higher levels of corporate social responsibility. Because of this, public plays a big role in developing the society. To conduct its system ethically is not only required of the organization, but also the public or the stakeholders should follows the codes of ethics in interacting with the organizations. “The concept of social responsibility has already made its mark on business priorities and communications, and is set to carry on doing so.” (Lewis, 2003, p.356). To come up with something useful, it is very important to learn what are the needs and preferences of people living in a certain area. Companies should indulge in frequent communication and enhanced interaction with the people in order to develop the product the way they want it. This would earn them the encouragement and appreciation necessary to fulfill the requirements of the corporate social responsibility and excel in the market as a leading company or multinational corporation. Conclusion: To meet the requirements of the rapidly advancing mechanized world, companies are expected to perform ethically and work to enhance links among the people. “There is increasing pressure from society at large and investors in particular for companies to adopt considerate and genuine CSR policies.” (Smith, 2003, p.257) Therefore, organization owners owe the public the responsibility of providing them with an environment which would influence their life style in a positive way. Unfortunately, today many “so called” welfare organizations are apparently running corporate social responsibility programmes, and actually working for their personal interests. Such companies make big claims in the name of corporate social responsibility, and when granted, use the money to expand their business. Very often, such organizations would keep collecting the money and do nothing, unless pressurized on all levels to do a certain task in a certain way. They tend to be more vocal than practical. They tend to adopt a reactive rather than proactive approach toward a problem, and react when the problem is identified by the public. This is a very wrong practice, a blow on the corporate social responsibility in whose name such organizations are running and certainly contradicts the laws of ethics. Organizations need to be morally justified and responsible for all their actions, and carry on the corporate social responsibility activities in conformance to the expectations of the public relations professionals. Parsons noted on p.160 of his book that corporate social responsibility brings certain other advantages along with good reputation for a company. “Some of these benefits include reduced operating costs, increased sales and consumer loyalty, increased productivity, and an enhanced image and reputation”. (Parsons, 2004, p.160). Also, the organizations should work on improving their reputation among the public through opening ways to facilitate rapid communication to learn people’s perspective, but be conscious that they do not unintentionally or intentionally indulge in managing their reputation in order to progress as an individual organization. Rather, their approach should be as per the standards of the corporate social responsibility. References: Alan Smith. 2003. Community relations: how an entire industry can change its image through proactive local communications. Journal of Communication Management 7, no. 3, (2003): 254-264. http://edocs.library.curtin.edu.au/eres_display.cgi?url=DC65014932.pdf. (accessed March 20, 2010). Dean Kruckeberg.  2000. The public relations practitioner's role in practicing strategic ethics. Public Relations Quarterly 45, no. 3, (October 1): 35-38.  http://www.proquest.com.dbgw.lis.curtin.edu.au/ (accessed March 20, 2010). Define Public Relations. (n.d.). Retrieved March 19th, 2010, from http://www.yourdictionary.com/dictionary-articles/Define-Public-Relations.html. James G. Hutton, Michael B. Goodman, Jill B. Alexander and Christina M. Genest. 2001. Reputation management: the new face of corporate public relations? Public relations review 27, no. 3, (2001 Fall): 247-261. Patricia J. Parsons. 2004. Ethics in public relations: a guide to best practice. http://books.google.com.pk/books?id=XW_zLJjPuvwC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q=&f=false. (accessed March 20, 2010). Shannon A. Bowen. 2007. Ethics and Public Relations. Institute for Public Relations. (October 30). http://www.instituteforpr.org/essential_knowledge/detail/ethics_and_public_relations (accessed March 20, 2010). Stewart Lewis. 2003. Reputation and corporate responsibility. Journal of Communication Management 7, no. 4, (2003): 356-364. http://edocs.library.curtin.edu.au/eres_display.cgi?url=DC65014838.pdf. (accessed March 20, 2010). Uta-Micaela Durig, and Krishnamurthy Sriramesh. 2004. Public relations and change management: The case of a multinational company. Journal of Communication Management 8, no. 4, (January 1): 372-383.  http://www.proquest.com.dbgw.lis.curtin.edu.au/ (accessed March 20, 2010). Read More