Week 4: Public Relations Research & Public Relations Practice

Lecture - Media Relations

Media Relation is defined as a sub-field of PR and is the linkage with the media personalities and resource that facilitates a business organization in getting a favorable, timely, and widespread editorial coverage.

As Ms. Tanya mentioned, Media Relation has different types of tactics which comes in different forms, #Written, #Spoken, #Acted, & #Imagined. What I find interesting is the imagined tactic. Initially, I thought that imagined tactic literally meant that it was "made up" or rather, it was "hallucination"! Alright, so I made a mistake. Imagined tactics actually meant computer generated pictures, photoshopped-edited photographs, painted pieces of art and, etc. Interesting, right? :)

Alright, moving on, tutorial has been the most interesting so far! There's actually a "walking organizer" service in Singapore! I don't literally meant "organizer, books" I meant as a whole, organizing chaos - for messy places, messed up people. This business is certainly interesting and thriving well, the first and only!

Coming back on track, Ms. Tanya showed the press release by this company and, she emphasized on the way she portrayed her company and herself. Yes, this article is certainly intelligent. She was conscientious in piecing up all the information to suit the needs of her target audience - what they need but don't necessary do it.

Reading

Public Relations Research

From what I understand, Public relations practitioners does research in a few forms. Firstly, two types of research would be primary and secondary. Next, two methods of research would be qualitative research and quantitative research. The distinct characteristics that defines both quantitative and qualitative have both its benefits and disadvantages when it comes to applying its research methodology on different case studies, however when in need of precise and quantitative evidence, quantitative research would be the preferred method to be used due to the nature of quantitative research methodology itself. With regards to public relations, I think that these two types of research are equally important, base on the nature of the subject. If you need detailed and precise information, obviously you would go for qualitative research. Personally, I feel that triangulation research method, incorporating both quantitative and qualitative, would be the best method to use, seeking both precise data and a large sampling unit. Having done relevant research, the information gathered can make a big difference as it helps the organization to better understand, plan the next step, implement and further evaluate their program. And, I totally agree that without research and in-depth analysis, pr practitioners will be making wild guesses and assumptions issues which can't be justified and might just end up with more problems at the end of the day.

So, in conclusion, the relationship between public relations and research is that market research provides the basis for public relations decisions and in most cases, research should be carried out before planning a campaign, as well as to assess the campaign. In addition, strategic research is primarily used to set program objectives and to develop messages as theoretical research helps build theories, such as why people communicate.

Public Relations Practice

Week 3: Public Relations Ethics

Lecture

This is the second lesson for Public Relations and I've learnt that advertisements runs in every part of Singapore, surrounding our everyday lives.

So, just what is public relations? From my understanding, public relations is the opposite of advertising. For advertising, money is paid for messages to be posted to consumers through different forms of media. In public relations, money is not paid for company to appear in print or articles. Instead, reports and publications of the company is based on the reporter's information which they received and researched.

Going deeper into the context, each and every advertisement that we see on the street is a strategy to attract targeted consumers. These strategies has a goal (objectives) and, in order to develop a good and working strategy, comprehensive research is vital. I agree with this point as I believe that an adequate amount of research certainly helps in contributing to our knowledge and will build a better foundation for the designated campaign and

Ms. Tanya elaborated on the SWOT Analysis which includes Strengths, weakness, opportunities and threats. I understand that SWOT analysis as a simple framework for generating strategic alternatives. In other words, it is a strategic planning method utilized by many organizations to ensure that there is a clear objective defined for the project. SWOT falls into 2 categories, whereby strength and weakness are internal factors and opportunities and threats are external factors.

For instance:

Strength - Quality processes and procedures & location of the business

Weakness - Poor quality of goods and services & damaged reputation

Opportunities - Market vacated by an ineffective competitor & join ventures / mergers

Threats - Price wars with competitors & taxation introduced by government on the product

A good example will be Wal-Mart, a successful retail company made use of SWOT analysis to analyze and focus on the key issue:

Strengths - Wal-Mart is a powerful retail brand. It has a reputation for value for money, convenience and a wide range of products all in one store.

Weaknesses - Wal-Mart is the World's largest grocery retailer and control of its empire, despite its IT advantages, could leave it weak in some areas due to the huge span of control.

Opportunities - To take over, merge with, or form strategic alliances with other global retailers, focusing on specific markets such as Europe or the Greater China Region.

Threats - Being number one means that you are the target of competition, locally and globally.

Personally, I feel that SWOT analysis is good for analyzing and examining the interaction between the business and the external marketplace. With this planning technique, it helps marketers / organizations to focus on key issues, that potentially has the most impact on the business. In addition, it also allows the organization to know their current standing in the market.

Apart from analyzing, setting objectives for the project is equally important. Let me elaborate - SMART objectives help ensure that effective goals are set. Setting objectives are important as it helps the company to focus on specific aims over a period of time and can motivate staff to meet the objectives set.

Specific – Objectives should specify what they want to achieve

Measurable – Should be able to measure whether the objectives set are met

Achievable - Are the objectives set, achievable and attainable?

Realistic – Can the goals be realistically achieved with the available resources

Time – When do to achieve the 'set' objectives.

I didn't know that for planning, there's so many steps to go through. However, these steps are essential for the success of a campaign as it reminds the organization of its' aim and focus over time.

Reading

So, what exactly are ethics? The book define ethics as standards of behavior and, my ethics are the rules and standards governing the conduct by which I live my life and make all my decisions by. And, in relation to public relations, ethics are important for a few reasons. Firstly, ethics act as a guideline and gives a baseline for understanding the concepts of right and wrong and ethics helps by giving a ready understanding of how to react to a certain situation long before that situation happens. Secondly, ethics acts as "invisible" mediator when dealing or coming into contact with other people. So, If the sense of ethics are wrong then, the reaction to other people will result in a negative manner. Lastly, ethics are critical as people see us in them. We have the ability to show others the correct way to act and behave by remaining ethical in the way we talk to people and deal with the media.

So, being honest, keeping promises and caring for others are ethical behaviors. Then, how is unethical behavior defined? Pushing someone is unethical however, when someone is about to be hit by a car, and was pushed hard onto the other side of the street, is that considered unethical too? Often, unethical behaviors are not illegal and frequently, it falls in the grey area, between both right and wrong which often makes it difficult for people to decide what to do when it is encountered. In addition, different people have different views of what is ethical and what is unethical. For example, some people feel that it is alright to tell a little "white lie", while others feel that a lie will always be a lie and there is no excuse for it.

There are 3 main school of thoughts for ethics:

• Deontologist - Theories suggest that it would be possible to create a complete and comprehensive law that would prevent all negative behavior for everyone who follow the law.
• Consequentialist - theories suggest that how ethical the action is becomes irrelevant… the result of the action in preventing harm and promoting the most happiness for the most number of people becomes the single benchmark for ethical behavior.
• Virtual theory - Moral individualism suggests that a person cannot know what it is to be moral without first discovering what it is within themselves that determines certain behaviour to be linked to moral or immoral acts. Likewise he or she must also give others the freedom to undergo this process within themselves to find their own moral center.

Personally, I agree with moral individualism as the prerequisite is to discover the truth which is true to the person in order for the person to understand their own moral drives. With regards to public relations, virtual theory dictates that public relations practitioner must make the right choices for themselves at all times thinking of both the short term and long term effects. Therefore, if everyone made decisions which created positive benefits for themselves, they would all be acting ethically because they would be true to themselves.

Week 2: First Lecture & Tutorial & Theoretical Contexts

Attended the first lesson for Public Relation and lecturer, Ms. Tanya did an introduction to Public Relations with the class. Personally, it is in contrast to my knowledge of public relations. I am looking forward to the rest of the lessons.

A key concept to public relations is communication hence, communication theories play a significant role in the history of its development. The link between communication theories and PR can be studied in this information transmission model.

According to Shannon and Weaver's model (as seen above), a message begins at an information source, which is relayed through a transmitter, and then sent via a signal towards the receiver. But before it reaches the receiver, the message must go through noise (sources of interference). Finally, the receiver must convey the message to its destination.

From my understanding, this model of transmission fixes and separates the roles of 'sender' and 'receiver'. However, communication between 2 persons involves simultaneous 'sending' and 'receiving' - not based on talking alone, including body language. In Shannon and Weaver's model the source is seen as the active decision-maker who determines the meaning of the message; the destination is the passive target.It is a linear, one-way model, ascribing a secondary role to the 'receiver', who is seen as absorbing information. However, communication is not a one-way street. Even when we are simply reading a book or watching the television, we are far more interpretively active than we normally realize.There was no provision in the original model for feedback (reaction from the receiver). Feedback enables speakers to adjust their performance to the needs and responses of their audience. A 'feedback loop' was added by later theorists, but the model remains linear.

Relating this communication model to public relations, In this linear transmission model, both participants are treated as isolated individuals. However, contemporary communication theorists treat communication as a shared social system. I agree with this statement. We are all social beings, and our communicative acts cannot be represented simply by the expression of purely individual thoughts and feelings. Such thoughts and feelings are socio-culturally patterned & enacted. Even what we call 'our' language (i.e. Singlish) doesn't solely belong to us. In fact, we are born into the culture, Singapore's culture. Hence, we can't change the rules. Words have connotations which we didn't choose for them. An emphasis on creative individuality is itself a culturally-shaped myth which had a historically 'modern' origin in the West. Transmission models of communication reduce human communication to the transmission of messages, whereas, many literature texts, linguists and communication theorists tell us, there is more to communication than this. For instance, phatic communication, which is a way of maintaining relationships. Research shows that in United Kingdom, talking about the weather is a simple matter of phatic communication than just purely transmitting information. No allowance is made in the transmission model for differing purposes. The same images of a football match telecasted on the television would have very different meanings for the fans of opposing sides. Hence, in models such as Shannon and Weaver's, no allowance is made for relationships between people as communicators (e.g. differences in power). Messages are framed differently, according to the roles in which we communicate. For instance, if a friend asks me about my thoughts on a certain lecture topic, I would most likely answer in a somewhat different way from the way others answer the same question. Interviews are a very good example of the unequal power relationship in a communicative situation. Many people in society do not all have the same social roles or the same rights. And, not all values, norms and meanings are accorded equal value. It makes a huge difference on whether the participants are of the same social class, gender, age group, ethnicity or profession. In addition, it is known that certain voices carries more authority than others. I feel that the dominant directionality involved in communication cannot be fixed in a model instead, it is closely related to the situational distribution of power.

Week 1: Understanding 21st Century Public Relations

This reading explains the different types of cultural perspective of public relations ranging from the United States to Asian countries.

In the US, public relations practitioners establish relationships and develop networks within the community by respecting, recognizing and valuing each individual's contribution. As for UK, they practice by maintaining friendliness and good relations by understanding and responding and addressing issues of discontentment, dissatisfaction or anger appropriately. Another method is to change or influence the public's opinion by working hand-in-hand and collaborating with important and influential organizations.

As for Asian cultures, government plays an important role in communication from the media to the public. In certain countries, the government takes responsibility by controlling and restricting the type of messages released to the public.

I agree with the asian perspective of our government being in control of media communication about what is to be and not to be released to the public for national development. Yes, it does limit and affect publicity and planning to a certain extent however, it is also important for government to be in control so as to manage and protect their citizens. Okay, take for example there is no government control and we are free to advertise or say whatever we want without filtration, what will become of the country? The well-being of the country will cease to exist and there will be chaos.

Moving on, having read the public relations theory, I agree that these theories should be taught to students to help them to identify its uses and improve their understanding. I've done some research and read up on The Excellence Theory of Public Relations.

The Excellence Theory proposed establishing “a set of theoretical benchmarks by which to help solve the practice problems of public relations.” The generic principles outlined under this theory to determine excellence in public relations practice are:

1. Involvement of Public Relations in Strategic Management. The public relations department helps the organization build relationships with both internal and external publics and supports the organization’s efforts to achieve strategic goals and objectives.

2. Empowerment of Public Relations in the Dominant Coalition or a Direct Reporting Relationship to Senior Management. The strategic management of public relations must be an integral part of the strategic management of the overall organization, and the public relations unit has to practice public relations according to professional principles.

3. Integrated Public Relations Function. Excellent public relations departments integrate all public relations functions into a single department or have a mechanism to coordinate the units’ multiple efforts, so they can be managed in a more strategically meaningful fashion. Public Relations as a Management function separate from Other Functions. Avoiding the sublimation of public relations to other departments such as marketing or human resources, for example, thus, allowing the public relations practitioners more freedom and independence in executing their activities and communicating with the various publics.

5. The Role of the Public Relations Practitioner. A manager, rather than a technician should head the excellent public relations unit, so it can be part of the dominant coalition within the organization.

6. Two-Way Symmetrical Model of Public Relations. This is a model based on research and uses communication effectively to promote understanding and conflict resolution with strategic publics. However, in some cases it is possible to combine some elements of the two-way symmetrical model with the two-way asymmetrical model creating a “mixed motive” model.

7. A Symmetrical System of Internal Communication. Excellent organizations allow a wide margin of autonomy to their employees and enable them to participate effectively in the decision making processes within the organization.

8. Knowledge Potential for Managerial Role and Symmetrical Public Relations. Excellent public relations departments should ensure that their practitioners have the needed theoretical and professional knowledge required to carry out their roles effectively.

9. Diversity embodied in all Roles. Excellent public relations units should integrate both men and women in all roles, as well as practitioners representing different racial, ethnic, and cultural back- grounds. This is especially important to communicate effectively with varied publics.

From this, I realized that public relations theories are holistic attempt to provide benchmark information guiding public relations practice through gathering theories inside and outside the field and testing them against all aspects of public relations practice.