Chapter 4: Public relations and management Flashcards
• describe public relations as a strategic management activity taking the busi- ness strategy and systems perspectives as a basis for discussion; • explain the roles of public relations practitioners; • indicate the influences that determine the structure and priorities of public rela- tions within organisations; • describe the working linkages between public relations and other professional areas in organisations.
What are the most important factors for change in PR?
- Focus on corporate ‘character’.
- Role of communication technology
- Transparency on values. “Earn your mandate”.
- Quick response to issues
- Relation PR practitioners/officers and decision makers
What is a corporate ‘character’?
- Brand stewardship
- Corporate culture
- Societal value creation
What are the four levels of strategic contribution?
- Societal level
- Corporate level
- Value chain
- Functional level
What is the contribution of PR to society (general public)?
Legitimacy: values are tested in the society in which you operate.
What contributions does the four levels of strategic contribution show?
- Clarify input PR can make
- Show scope of input: broader context. Alignment with legitimacy goals
- Make sure PR covers the different levels within the organisation
- Show that PR contributes to the organisation
What is done with strategy-making?
A formulated, long term, vision/direction, mostly made by a leader or select group of managers
What is the role of PR by strategy-making?
- Provide management with critical information from different sources and
interpret it - Internal AND external
- Boundary spanning role
- Communicate management decisions to SHs
- PR should know the macro environment and the characteristics of the
SHs
What is boundary spending
Gathering information from a variety of sources and perspectives
What is environmental scanning?
Gaining information about the macro environment
What tool to use for environmental scanning?
- PEST
- EPISTLE
What is the PEST technique
- Political
- Economic
- Social
- Technological
What is EPISTLE?
The expanded version of PEST ->
- Environment
- Political
- Information
- Social
- Technological
- Legal context
- Economic
What is the point of environmental scanning?
To identify key issues that will affect the organization
What are the stakeholder groups in the ‘systematic approach of relations’ (De Wit, 2017)
Direct
- Suppliers
- Buyers
- Peer organizations
- Complementary services
Indirect
- Socio-cultural
- Economic
- Political/legal
- Technological
What is the importance of PR professionals during information interpretation during decision making?
- Anticipate on issues: Boundary-spanning role crucial
- Keep independent perspective
- Identify risk emerging form environment. Vital for management
