Public Relations Institute Of New Zealand Essay

Perhaps no one has had a greater impact in the field of public relations as Edward Bernays. He was named one of the 20th century most influential people by LIFE magazine, yet most people don’t even know his name. Known as the “father of public relations”, Bernays was born in Austria in 1891, but his family moved to New York when he was one year old. He would go on to graduate from Cornell with a degree in agriculture, but instead of becoming a farmer he decided on becoming a journalist. During World War 1 he helped the Woodrow Wilson administration to promote the idea that US efforts would bring democracy to Europe. It was during this period that Bernays began to understand the power of propaganda and wondered if it could be used just as effective

: The Public Relations game is fast changing. The industry has been found to be intimidating in its approach, especially for those who do not practice it. PR is no more cut and dry it used to be in the past. In the current scenario, the domain is all about maintaining focus on the art and science of creating and promoting favourable relationship with the public.

Grunig (2013) sees public relations and communication management as fundamental to the achievement of organisational goals. A major road and tunnelling project in West Auckland, has required considerable planning and communication with publics. The Waterview Connection Development (WCD) is a motorway link between State Highways 16 and 20, which, in part, runs through tunnels. The WCD aims to provide a direct link between the central business district and the airport, and an alternative to State Highway 1.

Ever since Bernany’s work, public relations have continued to become a vital part to businesses success, as the field continues to grow. While this progression has occurred, different public relations functions also have developed. Specifically,

During the twentieth century public relations operated with a ‘thin’ understanding of ethics, which caused complex problems for society. To understand why and how this happened we must first understand what ethics and public relations are and how they work together. Public relations is ‘the management of communication between an organization and its publics’ (Tench & Yeomans 2009, p. 5)); its role is to establish a positive relationship between an organisation (or individual) and society. Public relations has power – with that power comes a responsibility to be ethical, accurate and aware. Ethics is ‘the study of individual and collective moral awareness’ (Grassian 1992, p. 3); ethics allow people to identify what is ‘right and wrong, good and bad’ (Breit 2007, p. 309). Making ethical choices in public relations means to have honesty, loyalty, respect and integrity. Throughout this essay I will discuss why public relations has been perceived as unethical and examples of unethical communication; I will then

Harlow (1976) defines public relations (PR) practice as “the distinctive management function which helps establish and maintain mutual lines of communications, understanding, acceptance and cooperation between an organisation and its publics”. PR plays an important role in organisations because they are representing a broader group of activities, even encompassing all communication activities of an organisation (Lee, 2011). To put in a laymen term, public relations practitioners (PR) work to build long-term relationships among individuals and institutions through planned promotions of goods, services, and images of a company to create a good will for a person, place, and event and also to helps management to be informed and responsive to public opinion to further improve the organisation.

I do not know much about public relations (PR), but if I can attempt to put it in a single definition it would be the communication or process in connecting to the mass media. The mass media is any consumer, voter or supporter of that particular company or person. When I envision what a person might do in a career in public relations I immediately think of Olivia Pope from ABC’s popular show Scandal. Public relations is involved with creating press releases, curating charities and essentially anything that will helps improve that business’ brand or that party’s’ image significantly. Unlike a management position, public relations comes in and consults during a crisis or scandal that affects the public and leaves when the situation is resolved.

Public Relations in New Zealand is widely useful, practised and builds up an organisation’s relationships with its publics. PR in short, is essentially about communication and relationship building. PRINZ [Public Relations Institute of New Zealand] (2009) defines PR as “The deliberate, planned and sustained effort to establish and maintain mutual understanding between an organisation and its publics.” This essay will deconstruct and critically examine this definition of public relations in relation to PR theories. These theories being Systems Theory, Relationship Management and Excellence Theory will be examined and applied to campaign examples. This will give a comprehensive understanding of the theory’s meanings as well as relationships with aspects of the PRINZ definition of PR. To understand PR theories however, the term publics must first be addressed.

The most recent definition of public relations, according to the Public Relations Society of America (2012), states that “Public Relations is a strategic communication process that builds mutually beneficial relationships between organizations and their publics.” Through the rapid advancement of modern media and technology, there have never been more outlets and opportunities available for accomplishing the goals of public relations. Believing the development of social media has not created serious changes in the way public relations practitioners go about their duties would be foolish and a fast track to falling behind in this rapid world of communication. The main goals of public relations are “to

Even though public relations practitioners have developed a poor reputation in journalistic circles due to the perceived bias for their clients, I believe that there are many good public relations personnel who are able to maintain a symbiotic relationship with media professionals. This is evident through an interview I conducted with the Senior Producer of the TODAY Show, Victoria Owens whose job relies heavily on contact with public relations practitioners her job is deciding which information from these sources to use in the show. Ms Owens shared her own opinions about the nature of her and her colleagues’ relationships with public relations practitioners, which in most cases contributes to the success of the show. Further more … has a

"Public relations is the management of communication between an organization and its publics." (Grunig & Hunt's, 1984)

One could argue that public relations are talents which the human species are innately born with, and that this gift has existed since we first crawled out from the cave. However, our self-awareness of these abilities and our choice to study and refine them into a skilled trade began just after the First World War with the father of Public Relations, Basil Clarke. Clarke whose background was in journalism, eventually joined the British

In a hospital setting, Public Relations and Marketing requires one to establish connections within the immediate environment, with the board of directors, with potential investors, extended department employees, the media and of course an online presence. When holding the position of Public Relations, one wants the hospital staff’s support. There are instances that will be challenging and the Public Relations manager seeks to have everyone on the same page. The board of directors have great power; they can bring a project down in no time. A Public Relations Manager also wants to have a working knowledge of new technology which might require him to engage in networking beyond the local area. Experts have noted “networking stimulates stakeholders to engage in international exchange to gain new knowledge and experiences as well as presenting their work abroad and to further exchange” (Klemenc-Ketiš & Kersnik, 2014). In this way, the Public Relations Manager wants to be valued by the board in that they know the manager has knowledge of technology investments that could benefit the hospital. As a Public Relations Manager, one wants a working relationships with the media. The media can be harsh. Should there be a local crisis the Public Relations Manager seeks to have the media report events in a positive manner. In order to have these skills and draw entities together, it is essential to obtain the best education possible.

The theory explains that the value of public relations in organization and society lies in socially responsible managerial decisions and quality organization to public relations. Organisations must behave in ways that solve the problems and satisfy the goals of the stakeholders as well as the management in order to be effective. Good relationship with organisation’s strategic publics is helpful in developing and achieving goals desired by both the organization and its publics, reducing costs of negative publicity, and increasing revenue by providing products and services needed by stakeholders. Practitioners identify publics who are affected by or affect organizational decisions and communicate symmetrically with them to build high quality long term relations.

As the name of the discipline implies, public relations is how an organization builds beneficial relationships with its key stakeholders. With effective communication as the practices’ primary tool, modern day organizations have taken advantage of proficient practitioners to boost exposure of their company and its message across to international audiences.