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Public Relations: A Management Function
What Is Public Relations? - Inform more about the very important matter beyond social spheres.
Public
relations is the
management function that establishes and maintains mutually beneficial
relationships between an organization and the publics on whom its success or
failure depends.
(Broom, 2009,
Effective Public Relations, page 7.)
Functions
of Public Relations
The typical 12
functions of public relations can be categorized by competencies, the four-step
process, and others.
Competency
Functions
· Trusted
counsel – Advise and anticipate.
·
Internal
communication – Engage employees.
·
Media
relations – Develop public trust.
·
Community
relations – Establish public support.
·
External
communication – Build public support and trust.
Four-Step
Process Functions
·
- Research
·
- Strategize
and plan
·
- Implement,
execute and communicate
·
- Evaluate
Other
Functions
·
- Publicity
and special events
·
- Issues
management
·
- Crisis
communication
PR is
vital to outreach programs.
·
PR
is all about building relationships to advance, promote, and benefit the
reputation of you yourself, your department and institution
·
PR
is about communicating your message to gain allies, advocates, supporters, etc.
in the community and the institution
·
It
aids in marketing the department for recruitment purposes and can lead to
improved quality of student applicants
·
It
demonstrates to funding agencies that you are making a difference and actually
have results
·
It
can improve the reputation of an individual department
·
It
can also serve the greater physics community by convincing the public that
“quarks, quantum dots, and nanostructures are cool”
·
It
can lead to strong community and industrial partnerships, and even financial
support
Public Relations Through Time
Early History
Public relations (PR) is not a recent invention. The importance of
communication with the public and maintenance of positive public image was
known as early as in the antiquity but the beginnings of modern PR are
traditionally dated in the 18th century London. One of the first PRs was
Georgiana Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire who heavily campaigned for Charles
James Fox and his Whig party. PR in the real meaning of the word, however,
dates only to the early 20th century. The first real PR specialist was
according to some Ivy Lee (1877-1934), while the others see Edward Bernays
(1891-1995) as “the father of public relations”.
Ivy Lee or Edward Bernays?
Whether the founder of modern PR is Ivy Lee or Edward Bernays remains a
matter of debate. Both historians who consider the first PR specialist Ivy Lee
and those who see Bernays as the founder of modern PR have strong arguments to
support their views. We will not get into the debate who of the two men had a
greater influence on the future development of PR. Instead, we will take a
closer look at the work and contribution of Lee and Bernays to the modern PR.
Ivy Lee is best known for his services to Standard Oil and its founder
John D. Rockefeller. But those who are familiar with PR history know him better
for introducing the term “public relations” and for pioneering the modern press
release although he mainly used it as a one-way propaganda for his clients.
Edward Bernays refined Lee’s press release as a PR tool but he also
contributed a lot to the development of the theory of PR. He is said to be
influenced greatly by his uncle and professor Siegmund Freud in his concepts of
PR. Bernays has written several books on PR, of which are best known
“Crystallizing Public Opinion”, “Propaganda” and “The Engineering of Consent”.
In his works, Bernays argued that PR is an applied social science which manages
and manipulates the public opinion by the use of sociology, mass psychology and
similar disciplines.
PR and Propaganda
Although Lee, Bernays and other PR pioneers such as Carl Byoir and John
W. Hill played an important role in modern PR, they were also responsible for
the profession’s close association with propaganda by the public. As a result,
their successors did not have an easy job in changing the profession’s “bad”
reputation and even today, PR is sometimes equated with propaganda.
PR After the Advent of the Internet
The Internet has changed communication dramatically. The public is
increasingly turning to the world wide web for information and as a result, PR
must keep up with the changes in transmission of information if it wants to
retain its role as a communicator between the public and organisations. Modern
PR thus besides the traditional tools also implements online tools and tactics,
including social media such as blogs, content publishing, search engine optimisation (SEO), podcasts, etc..
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