Module 2

Corporate Communication and Public Relations

2.1.          Fundamentals of Public Relations

Introduction and Meaning

Public image makes up 63% of the worth of most companies today. When there’s an unfortunate event or when the company’s reputation breaks down, it affects the company’s entire corporate existence. It takes around 4 to 7 years to compensate for a negative reputation. Hence, it's become important for a corporation to invest in good public relations strategies to take care of a beneficial relationship with the general public.

Public relations can be described as a strategic communication process companies, individuals, and organizations use to create and maintain interdependent relationships with the general public.

A PR specialist drafts a specialized communication plan and uses media and other direct and indirect mediums to formulate and maintain a positive brand image and a robust relationship with the target audience.

In simple terms, public relations may be a strategized process of managing the discharge and spread of organization-related information to the general public to maintain a favorable reputation of the organization and its brands. This process focuses on:

• What information should be released,
• How it should be drafted,
• How it should be released,
• What media should be employed to release the data (usually earned or free media is used for the same)

Essentials of Public Relations

Below are the essentials of public relations:

1. Tell the truth. Let the general public know what's happening and elucidate an accurate picture of the company’s character, ideals and practices.

2. Prove it with action. Public perception of an organisation is set 90 per cent by what it does and 10 per cent by what it says.

3. Listen to the customer. To serve the corporate well, understand what the general public wants and desires. Keep top decision makers and other employees informed about public reaction.

4. Manage for tomorrow. Anticipate public reaction and eliminate practices that prove to be difficult. Generate goodwill.

5. Conduct PR as if the entire company depends on it. Corporate relations is a management function. No corporate strategy should be implemented without considering its impact on the general public. The public relations professional is a policymaker capable of handling a vast range of corporate communications activities.

6. Realise that a company’s true character is expressed by its people. The strongest opinions good or bad relating to company are shaped by the words and deeds of its employees. As a result, every employee active or retired is attached to PR. It is the responsibility of a PR representative to support each employee’s capability and desire to be an honest, knowledgeable ambassador to customers, friends, shareowners and public officials.

7. Remain calm, patient and good-humoured. Lay the groundwork for public relations with consistent attention to information and contacts. This may prove to be difficult with today’s 24-hour news cycles and endless number of organizations. But when a crisis occurs, cool heads communicate best.

Objectives of Public Relations

Like other aspects of marketing promotion, public relations is employed to handle several broad objectives including:

1. Building Product Awareness. When introducing a brand-new product or relaunching an existing product, marketers can use a PR element that generates consumer attention and awareness through media placements and special events.

2.     Creating Interest. Whether a PR placement be a short product article or is included with other products in “round up” article, stories within the media can help entice a targeted audience to try the product. For example, encompassing the holiday season, a special holiday food could be promoted with PR through promotional releases sent to the food media or through special events that sample the product.

3.     Providing Information. PR are often employed to provide customers with more comprehensive information about products and services. Through articles, collateral materials, newsletters and websites, PR delivers information to customers which will help them gain understanding of the merchandise.

4.     Stimulating Demand. A positive article headlined in a newspaper, on a TV broadcast or mentioned on the web, often leads to a discernible increase in product sales.

5.     Reinforcing the Brand. In many companies’ public relations function is additionally committed to brand reinforcement by maintaining positive relationships with key audiences, and thereby aiding in building a powerful image. Today it's ever more important for companies and brands to build an honest image. A strong image helps the corporate build its business and it can help the company in times of crises likewise.

6.     Maintaining Relations: The PR personnel are expected to maintainliaisons with Government units at local, national and internationallevels. They are expected to uphold good relations with the communityas ‘good neighbours. This includes compliance with environmentprotection standards, giving employment opportunities to locals, andcooperating and participating in locality development programmes.

Scope of Public Relations

The scope of PR is wide and it is more than managing only public relations in a corporate environment. It manages management communication, organizational communications, and marketing communication through its planned and sustained efforts. The scope of public relations includes:

• Evaluation of public attitudes and opinions.
• Formulation and implementation of procedures and policies of an organization regarding communication with its public.
• Coordination of communications programs.
• Developing good-will and public rapport through a two-way communication process.
• Developing and maintaining a positive relationship between an organization and its public constituents.

Major Areas of PR Activity

1. Press Relations: PR persons need to maintain cordial relations with the press at any and all levels, from editor to reporter. Press and PR are both mutually dependent on one another for their bread and butter. Providing well written and well-timed press releases, helping the correspondent to jot down their articles, easy accessibility, forbearance of press criticism, avoiding biases and undue favours to some papers are some of the features of press relations.

The PR representative should project the culture of the organisation while disseminating information about the product or service. Journalists need news to stay in the business, and PR needs publicity. Thus, there is a give and take between the two. This interdependence of PR and press should be understood.

2. Advertising: A product does not sell on its own merit, it needs to be advertised. The purpose of advertising could also be to disseminate information, persuade or influence people to consume the merchandise.

There are many media for advertising like newspaper, radio, TV so on. Usually, it's the PR representative that decides the budget and which media to use for advertising.

3. Publications: Bringing out brochures, folders, pamphlets, circular letters, in-house-magazines and similar materials are the responsibility of PR department. Simplicity, clarity, cost, true image of the organisation and attractiveness are the points to be remembered while preparing such material.

4. Other Media coordination: Use of other audio-visual media, films, exhibition, hoardings, puppetry and folk-songs come under the range of operations of PR department. Good oral presentation and courteous speaking over the phone may also augment the positive image as spoken words are still amongst the most effective modes of communication. They have to keep up good relations with other publicity media like radio and television.

5. PR with Constituents: in conjunction with the local press, PR persons may also need to form a liaison with local people, financial analysts, bankers, major leading institutions, share-holders and potential investors.

Internal PR activities include maintaining relations with all employees including executives and other senior personnel, so the public relations officer gets all the data, keeps himself informed of all the happenings in the organisation.

Significance of Public Relations in Business

Public relations are about sharing the correct information to right places and people, to create brand reputation. Public relation agencies work with organizations and help them to create their image in a certain industry. Public relation is vicinity that can change the future of a business. When used appropriately, PR can effectively build a corporation – giving it the ability to conquer almost any obstacle. Therefore, public relations is very significant for all businesses, below are some reasons for its importance:

Helps Manage Reputation

PR helps to manage reputation. Trusted media connections are a prerequisite for reputation management. For instance, consider an appalling situation like advertising gone wrong or unsatisfied customers hitting out on social media about how bad a product is. In times like these, media connections can assist in repairing the damage through an easy press release. PR agencies provide businesses the opportunity to build such connections.

Promote Brand Values

In any industry, trust plays a pivotal role in determining whether a business will be successful or will hit the ground. Lack of trust can even cause loss of sales. However, PR representatives can increase credibility by improving an organization’s reputation through thought leadership pieces, influencer connections, and networking strategies.

With the assistance of PR, a business will be able to send positive messages to its audience who are in line along with the brand image by using the ideas that targeted customers respond to more positively.

Strengthens Community Relations

Public relation strengthens the community relation. When you make new connections, it means you're building ties with the local market by joining groups, donating time to charity or any causes associated with your business. Being a lively member of a community establishes your reliability. Great public relation means setting up on-going relationships with many important influencers and knowing how your business may become an excellent data source for the influential.

Public Relations is Opportunistic

Your public relation communications with influencers need not always be about your business. Offering accessibility to your consumers so as to assist the influencer to ascertain how they’re solving issues using your organization’s services and products. Definitely the influencer understands that you simply are not about to give him a consumer who is unsatisfied, yet without your support, he isn’t likely to gain access. And, he will have the chance to speak with your customer about your competitors and see what they are doing more broadly than only your business.

PR Enhances Your Online Presence

In this world where everyone is digitally connected, PR helps companies to make the most of their online presence. Not only can PR agencies provide today’s organizations with the support and guidance they need to promote themselves online, but these companies may also be able to step in when disaster strikes or something goes wrong with the image you’ve been trying to build. With the assistance of social media, press releases, and connections with promotional sites that publish content, PR companies are ready to help their clients to attain desired things, and overcome the roadblocks that might stop them from getting success.

Using PR-activity, the corporate monitors the interests of consumers, partners, and employees, identifies threats, helps management to resolve various conflicts and quickly establish a dialogue. Generally, PR is focused on public opinion. In the present fast-growing market, PR is becoming an important part of marketing communications. Public relation influences the performance of marketing as a whole. Hence, for better opportunities and results collaborating with an avant-garde PR agency is extremely essential.

2.2.          Emergence of Public Relations

Tracing the Growth of Public Relations

Rowan University Communication Institute (2000) has successfully traced and published a brief history of Public Relations (PR). In this piece of writing, it is stated that the concept of PR is not new in the world. It is as old as 1000 of years. The whole concept of tracing the growth of PR is divided into 4 parts as per Grunig and Hunt Models (1984) that describes the field’s various management and organizational practices. These models serve as a guideline to understand the brief history of PR.

In 50 BC, Julius Caesar in his campaign biography “Caesar’s Gallic Wars” had published his military exploits to convince the Roman people that if he was elected, he would become the best head of state all of Rome had seen yet.

In 394 A.D., St. Augustine, A professor of rhetoric in Milan, Italy considered as an in charge of PR who propagated the regular eulogies to the emperor.

In 1776, Thomas Paine wrote “Crisis” a pamphlet to convince the Washington army soldiers to stay and fight. Paine was considered as a master of political propaganda whose writings was giving a strong impact on people to do things and believe things.

Benjamin Franklin, who used to give lots of positive assertions pioneered the rules for ‘Personal Relations’ before mass media.

P.T.Barnum in 19th Century in the U.S. Was a master of promotion. William Saward, Lincoln’s secretary in 1861 was an expert to handle the press. In 1903, Ivy Lee officially became the first PR to advise John D. Rockefeller on PR issues. Lee professionalized PR by following these principles:

• Tell the truth
• Provide accurate facts
• A public relations representative must have access to top management and must be able to influence decisions

Ivy Lee defined public relations as, “Public relations means an actual relationship of the company to the people and that relationship involves more than a talk.”

In 1923, Edward Bernays, another stalwart in PR set up principles of PR and focus more on crystallizing public opinion. He also tried to stress in his own capacity that public relations is in fact a public service, that it must promote new ideas and must progress towards building public conscience.

Edward Bernays is known as the father of Public Relations and Ivy Lee, the first PR as a counsellor.

Later in the 1960s and 1970s, the definition of public relations had become vast and was viewed as a function that transcended both the journalistic publicity and persuasive communication campaign traditions. Companies started using two – way Asymmetrical method wherein focus was to win public confidence, continuous and planned programme using institutional advertising. The company went directly to the public and feedback of public was adjusted as per organizational interest.

The succeeding decades of 1980s and 1990s brought a significant change in PR tactics and approaches. Involvement of external and internal stakeholders, competitions, the PR function has become more dynamic. Public relations geared not only to persuade the general public but establish a mutual understanding, compromise and creating non-zero-sum game situations for organisations and their affected publics and stakeholders. This model of mutual understanding is considered as two –way symmetrical method.

Public Relations in India

Introduction

The India Economy Reform of 1991 opened the door for LPG i.e. Liberalization, Privatization, and Globalization. That was the period when Public Relations got its rightful place in India. The emergence of multi-national corporations during the early 1990s, a rise in foreign direct investment and also the deregulation of industries, had made market competitive and businesses felt to build their reputation. Those who were new entrants, keen to create their identity and image and those who have been existing long, started focusing to build their repute. This led to the genesis of PR and advertising agencies within the country.

PR in India – The Pre- Independence Period:

The growth of PR as a profession in India is considered a very debatable topic. Many scholars analyse the historical evolution and growth of PR in India from their varied perspectives, for instance:

J.M. Kaul chronicles four stages of the historical evolution of PR in India – The Early Stage, The stage of Conscious PR; the third stage of PR and finally professionalism in PR.

Rahul Jain, in his paper ‘PR Landscape’ published by ‘Global Alliance for PR and Communication Management’ for information only categorized PR in 3 broad phases – propaganda, publicity and public information. During the struggle of the Indian freedom movement, the political leaders used various forums to disseminate information and appeal to common masses to participate in the freedom movement. Mass Media especially newspapers played an excellent role in creating national enthusiasm among Indians. The British Government in 1921 established a Central Publicity Board to function as a bridge between government and also the media. The nomenclature of Central Publicity Board got changed in 1923 into The Directorate of Public Instruction and in 1939, it became the Directorate of information and Broadcasting.

It is believed that Tata Iron and steel company (TISCO) opened their PR department in 1943 in Bombay (now in Mumbai). It also started a monthly publication in the succeeding year for employee communication.

Many believe that systematic function of PR started with the Indian Railways. The reason for building the railways, carrying raw materials from one section of the country to a different section seems to be a riskier affair, therefore, they started using promotions for passengers inside the train to recover the cost.

PR in India – Post Independence

India opted for mixed economy model post-independence. The government gave uncountable preference to Public sector organization. This led to the advent of Industrial Policy Resolution of 1948 and followed by Industrial Policy Resolution of 1956.

The Government implemented policies in accordance with import substitution industrialization and advocated a economic system where the government-controlled public sector was expected to co-exist with the private sector.

A decision at the highest government level was taken around that point, that each of the central public sector enterprises (CPSEs) (now numbered about 250) would have a PR department headed by a professional. It was also conveyed to the public sector chiefs that for informing and motivating the staff, every public sector undertaking under the Central government would bring out a house journal for employee communication.

When we look at the media scenario in India from its Independence till the late 70s when many public sector companies were being set up, the television and radio were under the government control. Now it is no longer the case with more than 350 news channels in the private sector, Doordarshan competes with them but at the same time reflects government’s perspective rather than being an independent news broadcaster. Print media has always been independent and vibrant and continues to be the same. Efforts at gagging the print media from time to time haven't really succeeded.

Professionalism in PR

The establishment of Public Relations Society of India (PRSI) during the 1970s gave an enormous impetus to the public relations industry. As it was mentioned previously that reform within the Indian economy during the 1990s gave the doorway to several MNCs to be invited in India which led companies to focus on their reputation and brand identity and building a positive image. That was the time when many public relations and advertising companies started setting up

To help companies to get the hang of the situation, finding the strategy to deal with difficult times, and responding to criticism from adversary groups etc.

Current State of PR in India

Today, Public relation is a thriving profession in India. There are thousands of small and large PR consultancies in the country, employing millions of practitioners. Most companies in private sectors and almost all companies in the public sector comprise of a public relations department. According to a survey conducted by the Associated Chamber of commerce and Industry in India (Assocham, 2012), the public relations industry in India is growing at an annual rate of 32 percent.

Many believe the definition of traditional PR has undergone a change in India. PR in its new avatar not only encompasses media relations and employee communication but also is being used increasingly for strategic communication, brand building, customer relations, and crisis management. From an executive and functional perspective, PR is now becoming a part of the high-level management job enforcing upon the core values of an organization. Public relations in India are a fast-emerging institution, especially with its growing acceptance as a skilled and specialized profession.

Reasons for Emerging International Public Relations

Introduction

International PR is undergoing major changes in the recent decades. In the 1960s, John Hill was the first one who conceptualized the first international public relations office. After twenty years, international public relations were defined as: – ‘’the planned, and organized effort of a corporation, institution, or government to ascertain mutually beneficial relations with the general public of other nations." (Wilcox 1989).

In the 20th Century, both perceptions and practices concerning international public relations changed dramatically. Newson (2000) explains the term as:-

“The globalization of news media, the unification of the world’s economy and the emergence of multinational companies have helped to expand this area of public relations. International public relations is not today limited businesses because many non-profit organizations and associations are included in its scope."

The reasons for emerging International public relations are as follows:

Integrated and Independent Economy

The concept of free trade policies, single market, and fewer investment barriers has connected countries globally. Therefore, the existence of multinational negotiations among nations, GATT (General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade), international organizations to observe an develop international trade and monitory system such as World Trade Organizations, International Monetary Fund and World Bank came into being to represent the trend of the world economy. But, the open door of other countries to enter into foreign markets has also developed lots of complications in economic environment related to employee, clients and political and economic factors. This resulted in the organizations to contemplate public relations counselling more seriously. It is imperative for an organization which does business across multiple countries because they help an organization, individual, social organization to deal with absentee ownership, handle sensitive matter related with cultures of other peoples, combat ethnic and religious hatred of centuries. Today, the government also employs PR practitioners to win global support for their foreign policy goals, promote tourism and establish nation’s identity within the world community.

New Communication Technologies

Today, the planet is filled with information because of the availability of assorted sources of electronic media and sites at an exponential rate. The internet gives lots of accessibility to people to get inform and gain awareness. New communication technologies have provided many advantages to PR professionals in their work and content relating to the organizational structure and connection with the general public.

Brian Solis is a PR consultant and avid blogger who offers advice for PR firms desperate to tap into social media. Solis emphasizes that social media represents more of a sociological change than a technical one. The newer generations prize honesty, engagement, and transparency over anything. For a corporation to induce its message to an online community, it must join that community. And not as a spectator, but as a passionate participant; a real fan. Utilizing emerging digital platforms yields measurable results, which is the underlying goal for every client.

2.3.          Public Relations Environment

Introduction

The functions and decision of public relations (PR) are influenced by both internal and external environmental factors. The internal environment is generated within the organization which influences the decision making of public relations. Internal environmental factors are controllable and consist of personnel, infrastructure facilities, organization facilities etc.

The external environment is not under the control of a corporate entity. External environment includes competition, industry problems, a threat of substitutes, social cultural factors, political factors, economic factors and many others which are externally related to an organization. External environmental factors are typically uncontrollable and the corporate entity can only try to minimize them but cannot exercise total control over them.

Social and Cultural Issues

The societal perspectives/trends by public relations practitioners are often understood from a minimum of four perspectives.

Stakeholder part of Society: Stakeholders are also considered as a part of society. Their values and beliefs come from broader societal influences. For example – the interest of society in health and fitness developed ample opportunities for fitness centres, nutritional products, fitness industries.

Socio-Cultural Trends: A social structure with high degree of civilization, mobility industrialization and urbanization are the primary and most significant factors impacting a business. Corporates depends on the social environment for all essential inputs. Therefore, it is often rightly stated that business is one unit of the overall social structure. No business can control social beliefs, culture, heritage, family systems, religion etc. but, they might influence them to a limited extent. Therefore, it is imperative for PR practitioner to develop a social relationship the general public.

E.G. During the late 1990s, Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft, was facing rising societal concern about the extraordinary profits generated by Microsoft therefore in 1999, he donated $ 3.35 Billion to the William Gates Foundation, which provides grants for health and human service organizations. The Gates Learning Foundation today gives software, computers, and services to libraries in low-income areas.

Restrictive Legislation: It is crucial for public relations practitioners to guide an organization to follow moral and ethical paths. It will help them in avoiding any serious legislation violating activity. For instance, when many companies started generating profits and revenues, they tend to split their businesses or diversify it into various areas.

Demographic and Economic Change: Because of the changes in demographic and economies, many companies have garnered the opportunity to expand their businesses. The concept of “DINK (Double Income and No Kids)” has brought significant changes in lifestyles, the standard of living, etc. Today, as many ambitious women aspire to attain eventful careers in their life, they choose produce children later in their life. It opens avenues for corporates to focus on gender specific production. It also opens a way for movies and television industries to produce entertainment for specific demographics.

Conclusion: Therefore, the public relations representatives must analyse the potential effects of socio-cultural forces on their businesses, and subsequently should manage the reputation and relationship with the society at large. A well-managed relationship with the social and cultural environment can have a significant positive impact on firm’s image.

Economic Issues

The growth in an economy, interest rates, government policies, support agencies, contributions, inflation rates, fiscal policies, foreign exchange rates, and foreign trade balances are among the most critical economic factors that a public relations practitioner must assess in order to facilitate smooth functioning of a corporate. Along with these factors, an economy also has significant impact on consumer demand for products and services. Mostly, organizations assess the effect of economic factors and model their business environments accordingly into different scenarios.

The major economic factors which have a considerable influence on business include growth strategy, labour legislation, industrial relations, stock exchange and its regulations, commodity exchange, price policy, exit policy, export promotion, technological environment etc. Therefore, public relations representative should be well versed with all these terms and consider them while making their decisions in a business.

Economic forces are equally as daunting to organizations as political issues. Economic downturns happen at every level. An organization's customers, vendors and employees can all be affected by economic challenges. An example of economic impact as an external force in PR is the price of crude oil. Car manufacturers, tire manufacturers and their vendors have been scrambling since the price of petrol and diesel has practically doubled in the past several years. As of 2011, consumers want flex fuel, compact and hybrid cars. Major car makers like Chevrolet and GM are overstocked with large trucks and SUVs that they are facing considerable challenges in selling due to their heavy fuel usage. Plus, these companies make far greater profit off of those bigger vehicles. The effect of this economic factor on some car manufacturers is lost profit and high inventories of vehicles they cannot move within the current marketplace.

The economic structure or development level of a nation can provide opportunities and challenges to a PR practitioner. In a capitalist economy, for instance, private enterprise, or privately-owned businesses, are favoured and PR is needed to communicate with multiple players — not just the government. This is because in a free enterprise, the means of production are owned by private individuals or corporations, rather than government ownership or control. Profit is sent to people who invest in businesses, and wages are paid to workers employed by these businesses.

A capitalist economy is similar to a market economy, but the main difference is that a market economy refers less to the production of wealth and more to how wealth is exchanged. Free markets are a necessary component of capitalism, but the term “free market” isn't synonymous with capitalism. Examples of capitalist economies include the U.S., Japan and Sweden. So in countries like these, PR practitioners are going to be working closely with private individuals and businesses — not just the govt.

However, the majority of the world lives in developing countries — countries with a low level of material well-being. These countries (such as Afghanistan, India, Philippines) prioritize nation-building. PR is a tool used for this. So, a PR practitioner in a developing country mustn't be surprised to find himself or herself involved in development communication, defined as a sort of promoting or research designed to develop effective communication to push social development. One example of a successful development communication campaign was the utilization of instructional TV in El Salvador to boost primary education. In the 1970s, El Salvador lacked trained teachers, so TV programs were designed to supply kids with the fundamentals they’d need if they wanted to pursue higher education. The programs clearly worked; graduation rates significantly increased.

Political Issues

Politics and business have a close connection. The government itself is a political unit created by a political system. There are numbers of business legislation enacted by the government which regulates business transactions. The current changes in political dynamics impact the businesses on a larger scale. The government who is in power makes the suitable or favourable changes in the economy which benefit the businesses and in a larger context, the nation. A successful public relations practitioner will analyse the prevailing political environment and then formulate strategies to avail of the opportunities emerging out of a political system.

Political issues are a crucial part of public relations, especially with companies that have multiple facilities. One piece of legislation can cost an organization millionsand might sometimes even force it to shut its doors. For instance, in 2000 the state of South Carolina passed legislation that made video poker illegal. Hundreds of businesses literally closed their doors. Similarly, the refining industry lost millions of dollars in 2010 after the Obama administration placed a moratorium on offshore drilling following the BP oil spill. Political forces exist at the local, state, regional, national and even global level and might play a significant role in public relations campaigns.

Legal Issues

Economic and non–economic issues are both regulated by legal aspects. For instance. The Indian government announced the demonetization of rupee, which in turn has drastically impacted many business sectors. Many times, government passes acts to bring changes within the Indian economy and provides benefit to the masses. Therefore, public relations professionals need to take a keen interest in the legal aspects affecting the performance of the functions and ought to adopt a constructive role in this relationship.

There are many acts passed by the India government that deal with business and economic aspects like The Indian Contract Act 1872, Indian Partnership Act 1932, Sale of Goods Act 1930, Negotiable Instrument Act 1881, Law of Insurance, Arbitration Act, 1899, Law of Carriage, Essential Commodities Act, 1955, The Securities Contracts (Regulation) Act, 1956, and the Consumer Protection Act, 1986.

Below are some principles for legal issues that a public relations practitioner must always keep in mind:

• The law always takes priority over the desires and directives of clients and organizations.
• Communication between public relations representatives and clients is confidential but not privileged.
• Laws prevents governmental agencies from spending money on advertising or promotion but allows public education and public information.
• Stock-issuing companies must provide timely and accurate information.
• Law addresses problems with corporate speech, including what companies may and may not say or advocate.
• Laws protect companies for expressing concern in situations involving injury or death by employees or customers.

Below are the legal issues that affect public relations:

Defamation

Defamation can be described as a public act or statement that deliberately harms people and their reputations. A PR representative who uses words, photographs, graphics or symbols that defame someone might be sued for libel. If the PR person works for you, your company could be liable, as well.

Privacy

PR professionals have an obligation to uphold people’s right to privacy, especially in media or company interviews they arrange. The law gives people the right to be left alone or to withhold information about themselves that might trigger public criticism. PR people must determine whether the data withheld is offensive or concerns the general public before pressing interviews. The rule applies to staff interviews for employee newsletters as well as guest interviews for publications, websites and television broadcasts.

Copyright

Writers, photographers and artists copyright their work to safeguard it from unauthorized use. The law allows what it calls “fair use” of copyrighted material for news reporting, critiquing, commenting, research and teaching. The rule allows PR people to use others’ works in ads, news articles, annual reports or promotional activities as long as they credit the originator.

Trademark

The name, tag line or printed symbol you employ to differentiate your company from its competitors is your trademark. PR should protect its use when promoting your product or service. It must see that no individual or business is using your trademark as its own, and it should monitor its use by the media. PR also should ensure that your trademark isn’t altered or distorted in print.

2.4.          Theories Used in Public Relations

Systems Theory

Systems theory is made up of interrelated parts, adapting and adjusting to changes in the political, economic and social environment in which they operate. It is employed to explain how public relations helps understand and manage the relationships a corporation has with its stakeholders and publics who structure its environment.

Typically, the organization that focuses on their clients, customers and stakeholders are a part of open systems. They are open to new ideas and criticism. Systems theory is used not only to examine the relationship with the external stakeholders but also to look at the internal functions and stakeholders of an organization. Based on the requirements of organizations, they decide to give the leverage to be given to unit or department.

In systems theory, public relation practitioners advise the dominant coalition, the primary decision makers of the organization, about problems and opportunities in the environment and help these decision makers respond to the changes. In systems theory, as it relies on relationships, therefore, it's interconnected. The environment imposes constraints on the organization. The decision maker’s organization mostly influences the policies of companies. Here, the decision makers of a corporation provide the two-way flow of resources and data between the organization and environment.

Public relations—a subsystem of a corporation itself—is a facet of an organization’s purposive and managed behaviour to realize goal states. Therefore, the systems theory is often applied to several facets of PR. According to the social systems perspective, public relations is an organization-public system that deals with the relationships organizations build and maintain with their public. Public relations people are often thought of as “boundary spanners”, straddling the edge of a corporation, looking inside and outside of it . Public relations people can use cybernetics to regulate its activities.

The essential role of public relations is to act as an open system and to help organizations adjust and adapt to change in their environments, so they must monitor and interpret environmental factors and work with management to develop strategic plans of organizational change and responsiveness. After public relations practitioners identify their problem, they spend much of their time researching and interpreting environmental factors—such as public opinion, social change, political movements, economy, cultural shifts, technological developments, and therefore the natural environment—as well as forces within organizations. If practitioners find conflicts with mutual interests of organizations and their publics, they alter or eliminate the conflicts before they become a problem.

The interdependent organization-publics system consists of an organization and the stakeholders of the organization. Publics are subsystems of a corporation that has to be redefined with every PR problem or situation. The level and definition of the subsystem must be appropriate to the priority, therefore the amount of time, resource, and energy dedicated to monitoring the environment must be relevant. This effort is determined by the degree of conflict or competition with the external environment; the degree of dependence on internal support and unity; the degree to which internal operations and external environment are believed to be rationalized; and also, the size and structure of the organization, its heterogeneity of membership, diversity of goals, and its centralization of authority.

The systems theory proves that the whole is much more than a sum of its parts; the environment is an interrelated web of units depending on one another. All systems exist in an environment containing supersystems, which each have smaller subsystems. The systems theory explains that PR professionals must constantly monitor their environment, intended goals, actions, and feedback from stakeholders and publics so as to create the essential changes to the organization to fit within the environment and reach an objective state of equilibrium.

Situational Theory

As the term suggests, situational theory is about identifying a group of people in a specific situation who can influence the larger sections of society. They are the active individuals that have an influence on the general public at large.

Grunig and Repper agreed that it had been a decent start to use the concept of stakeholders as the simplest way of describing relationships. However, they concluded that not all people in stakeholder groups would be equally likely to converse with a corporation. They felt that public relations practitioners could more effectively manage communications by identifying specific publics within stakeholder groups.

Grunig and Hunt theorized that public typically ranges from those who actively seek and process information about a corporation or a conflict of interest, to those who passively receive information. According to them, three variables predict when public seek and process information about an issue: Problem Recognition, constraint recognition, and level of involvement.

Problem recognition – It is imperative for people to first recognize a problem and its potential impact on them. E.g. 3s is an organization which works in the area of public sanitation. They have come to the conclusion that many Indians, especially in rural areas, do not have toilet facilities.

Constraint recognition – It describes the way people see the problems which stand before the solutions. E.g. 3s in search for a solution, have tried to spot the explanations and tried to connect it with the rationale for it.

Level of involvement – Here, the organization seeks the involvement of individuals within the cause. They tend to identify the group of individuals who have a high involvement with a problem and suggest the solutions to them. E.g. 3s came up with a concept of moving toilets which were highly accepted and appreciated initially by some regions but now they have major clients in all over India.

Using these three variables, Grunig and Hunt described responses that follow from being high or low in these dimensions. For example, those publics who have high problem recognition, low constraint recognition, and high involvement in a problem are much more likely to actively engage in communication about it.

Thus situational theory fundamentally explains the need of the public or what they want rather than emphasizing the organization's choice of information to distribute. Situational theory also assumes that public will pay attention and seek out information that is in their best interests.

Social Exchange Theory

Social Exchange Theory uses the economic metaphor of costs and benefits to predict consumer behaviour. This theory was propounded by John Thibaut and Harold Kelley and applies to many fields of study, including interpersonal communication, public relations, and theories of organizations.

Social exchange theory views exchange as a social behaviour that can result both in economic and social outcomes. Social exchange theory is typically analysed by comparing human interactions with the marketplace. Elementary social exchange models assume that rewards and costs drive socio-cultural relationship decisions. Both parties during a social exchange take responsibility for one another and rely upon each other

Principles of Social Exchange Theory

Ivan Nye has established twelve theoretical propositions that aid in understanding the exchange theory. They include:

1. Individuals choose those alternatives from which they expect the highest amount of profit.
2. Cost being equal, they choose alternatives from which they anticipate most profitable rewards.
3. Rewards being equal, they choose alternatives from which they expect the lowest costs.
4. Immediate outcomes being equal, they choose those alternatives that assure them of better long-term scenarios.
5. Long-term outcomes being perceived as equal, they choose an alternative that provides better immediate results.
6. Costs and other rewards being equal, individuals choose the alternatives that offer or are often expected to provide the most social approval (or those who promise the minimal social disapproval).
7. Costs and other rewards being equal, individuals choose relationships that provide the best autonomy.
8. Other rewards and costs equal, individuals choose alternatives characterized by the least ambiguity in terms of expected future events and outcomes.
9. Other costs and rewards equal, they choose alternatives that provide the most security for them.
10. Other rewards and costs equal, they prefer to go along with, marry, and form other relationships with those whose values and opinions generally are in agreement with their own and reject or avoid those with whom they chronically disagree.
11. Other rewards and costs equal, they're more likely to accompany , marry, and form other relationships with their equals, than those above or below them. (Equality here is viewed because the sum of abilities, performances, characteristics, and statuses that determine one's desirability within the social marketplace.)
12. In industrial societies, other costs and rewards equal, individuals choose alternatives that promise the best financial gains for the smallest amount financial expenditures.

Social exchange theory assumes that people always have the expectation to get their reward on a low cost. But for organizations, it is not at the cost of their clients. Sometimes, it is difficult for organizations to look for a long-term cost-benefit analyses. In cases like these, it is essential for public relations practitioners to let the decision maker of an organization analyse the whole range of options along with the associated costs and rewards.

For instance, take an example of a manufacturing organisation that supplies a product to their customers and understands that there is a defect in their product that has already been shipped to customers. In such a situation, the organisation has to take a decision which will help them save their customer relationships while preventing the loss of expenses. This is where a public relations officer comes into play, they will analyse the whole situation and suggest the best possibilities to the organization which will help them cut their losses on the said product while protecting their reputation in the eyes of their customers.

Diffusion Theory

The Diffusion Theory, sometimes also referred to as the Diffusion of Innovations, is a theory which explains how an idea or object is spread and adopted by a specific demographic or general public. It evaluates basic characteristics of people in a population and places them in one of the five adopter categories to determine the most effective way to appeal to that specific audience. Each category explains how a group of people views a new idea, behaviour or product and provides a five-step process that each individual goes through when adopting something new: awareness, interest, evaluation, trial and adoption.

The diffusion theory involves five steps as the basis of acquiring ideas, they are as follows:

1. Awareness. The person discovers the idea.

• Mass media coverage is most helpful at the stage of creating awareness.
• News coverage, editorials and advocacy help build awareness.
• Public service messages (broadcast) and advertising introduce the ideas.

2. Interest. The person seeks more information.

• Controlled direct media: face-to-face, direct mail, brochures, newsletters.
• Events: seminars, meetings, open houses (and similar), exhibits.

3. Trial. The person tries the idea on others and tests behavioral changes.

• May be shaped by public relations through volunteer experience and other positive reinforcement.
• Various kinds of personal contacts prove to be most useful at this stage.

4. Evaluation. The person decides whether or not the idea is in their own self-interest.

• Controlled media and personal experience may carry significant impact on how the individual evaluates the experience or idea.
• Now is the time to show strong appreciation, reinforce positive aspects of the opinion or action, and reassure the individual that the choice was a good one — again, personal one-on-one contact whenever possible.
• Controlled media can also be useful at this point.

5. Adoption. The person incorporates the idea into their behaviour and forms opinions accordingly.

• At this point, PR. Can continue to reinforce and strengthen the sense of "rightness" surrounding the decision.
• Controlled media can play a strong role in maintaining the newly adopted opinion and/or behaviour.

Applications of Diffusion Theory in Public Relations

Different groups of people respond to advertising and marketing efforts based on numerous factors, so the diffusion theory presents an opportunity for PR professionals to learn about the way that decisions are made.

The diffusion theory provided a basic guide of five categories of consumers and professionals and therefore were able to walk through the five-step adoption process and present a relevant and effective campaign.

This is why it is important to understand the Diffusion of Innovations theory. Without understanding the target audience, one may design a relationship completely irrelevant to the way the population is influenced to try a product or adopt an idea.

An instance of how this theory is used in a campaign is in politics. Politics can be tricky as the audience is vast but the goal is to gain the vote of the majority of the people. The first step, awareness or knowledge, is done by making the public aware of the person running for a position. Younger generations can be reached primarily through social media platforms such as Facebook, but to inform older generations it is necessary to create commercials. Different forms of media influence decision making in different demographics.

The second step involves telling the public about how they will benefit from choosing to elect the representative into office, someone voting is more likely to adopt the idea of the particular person running if they believe they will gain from them being elected. The third and fourth step, evaluation and trial, could be done by tracking the number of people attending rallies and interacting with other ads and polls. Finally, if the person chooses the individual running for election, they will vote them.

Therefore, the diffusion of theory is vital to understand in order to be successful in public relations. Understanding how consumers process information and make decisions leads to a successful consumer-corporate relationship because one is able to effectively reach all audiences and groups of people.