Hyderabad Chapter of PRSI and RG Kedia College of Management, Hyderabad jointly organised a one-day National Workshop on 8th February 2014 in Hyderabad.
The PR Legend, Dr CV Narasimha Reddi designed the
captioned workshop with diligence for the benefit of PR practitioners working for
Government organizations, PSUs, Corporates and Colleges and also the students
of business communication courses. The workshop has been divided into 4
technical sessions and discussed various issues concerning Dynamic
communication skills; Organizational behavior; Stakeholders relationships
management, Media strategy, Corporate reputation, Emerging trends in corporate
communication etc. The workshop was attended by about 200 delegates across the
state and also from neighboring states.
‘Strategy’ is “a
plan of action designed to achieve a long-term or overall aim”. At the inaugural session, in his presidential
address, Dr CV Narasimha Reddi observed that there are still vacancies upto an
extent of 65% in corporates in India and that these vacancies are skill
shortage vacancies and not general vacancies. This is due to lack of
skills-oriented training. Similarly Organisations are falling short of harmony
and reaching the goals. Therefore orientation on strategic communication is the
need of the hour he stressed.
The Chief Guest
was Mr Surendra Lunia, Hon’ble Secretary, Kedia College and the guest of honor
was Mr S. B. Kabra, Hon. Jt Secy of
Kedia college. Together, they wished the workshop a grand success. Mr Krishna, Director of the college & Mr
Narasimha Rao, Chairman of the Hyderabad Chapter of PRSI set the workshop to
motion by welcoming the gathering.
The first
session dealt with the topic “Dynamic
Communication Skills towards Effective Organizational behavior”. Mr Y Babji, National Vice President
(South), PRSI who acted as the discussant for the session,
in his introduction to the topic said that “Though in simple communication is
between two consisting of transmitting and receiving some kind of information,
it is otherwise tough when it comes to the question of effectiveness. For a
communication to be effective certain skills are required. Dynamic
communication skills are to build trust. Organisation is a social entity. There
are varieties of legal types of organisations ranging from Home to political
organisations and from a Gram Panchayath to Central Government. Organisational
communication is a process of coordination of both internal and external
communication and study of Organisational behavior is to attain harmony with an
organisation and to attain the desired goals”.
The keynote
speaker, Dr. Narendranath Menon, a
senior Faculty Member at the Institute of Public Enterprises, Osmania
University spoke about the VUCA factor viz., Volatility, Uncertainty,
Complexity and Ambiguity in Organizations. He stressed on the importance of
Reading and Listening and about the barriers to communication. He underlined
the need to cut out jargons while communicating. Dr. Menon also touched upon
concepts such as Information overload, Trust, Body language and also about
pre-conceived assumptions. He observed ‘Leadership’ and ‘Character’ are two
most essential factors in setting the organizational behavior in a right manner
and in the desired direction.
The second
session was on “Stakeholders
Relationship Management and Media Strategy: Corporate Reputation”. Ms. S Sujatha, Program Coordinator of
PRSI acted as discussant at this session and introduced the topic as well as
the keynote speaker.
The keynote
speaker, Dr C.V. Narasmha Reddi, Editor,
Public Relations Voice elaborated on Trade wars, Corporate challenges and
the importance of Stakeholders. He explained the function of each class of
Stakeholders and how the customer is a king. He stressed on the importance of
Speaking, Listening, Reading, Writing and Body language and also how being a receptive
is important while dealing with the masses and subordinates. Dr Reddi indicated about “The great wall of
China” that exist within the Organisation and vertically divide internal and
external publics. He also spoke about the 3 attributes of good governance laid
down by Confucius viz., Food, Weapons and Trust explaining that Trust plays a
very important role in governance and that the other two namely Weapons and
Food in that order can be dispensed with, in favour of Trust. He summed up by
deliberating on the subject of Globalisation and Media scenario in the country
saying that to this day, India has 83,000 newspapers, 850 TV channels, 300
Radio stations, 15 crore internet connections and 90 crore mobile phones
throwing both opportunities and challenges to the PR practitioners.
The third
session was on “Emerging trends in
Corporate Communications/Public Relations: Vision and a Paradigm shift into the
future”. Dr J Chennaiah, Vice Chairman, PRSI, Hyderabad Chapter as the
discussant of this session introduced the topic and the Speakers.
The keynote
speaker, Dr. K. Chandramouli, IAS (Retd),
Director General of AP Academy of Rural Development spoke about the
metamorphosis of Corporate Communications from “Brick and Mortar’ to “Click and
Mouse” and that an Organisation is as good as its corporate communication. He stressed on the importance of qualitative
research and enhancing Social skills. He stressed that communication from the
masses should sensitize people who form Governments explaining the example of
Anna Hazare how he could sensitize the ever busy IT people to throng streets
with lighted candles in a movement -‘India Against Corruption’. He touched upon
the areas of Peer learning, Good governance, Going green, Organisational
credibility, and e-governance. His concept of 3 shifts in Corporate Communications
from Privacy to Control; Reach to Relevance and Big data to Good Data was
thought provoking. He presented a few ad shots including a heart touching clip
of a lame, old cobbler standing up to the National Anthem.
Another
keynote speaker, Dr Madhavi Pandya,
Professor at the Siva Sivani Institute of Management talked about how
Indian Corporates are redefining concepts and also about Emerging Corporate
Communication trends. She also spoke about the trends in marketing and how
marketing strategies and marketing communication capture segments and
facilitate goods reaching the unreachable areas. What market is going to be is
unimaginable. To explain this, Dr Madhavi quoted an example of her maid servant
who always talk about shampoo including some international brands and their
effects on hair and other cosmetics of beauty care.
The
feed-back session shared the learning experiences of the
Participants. Several expressed their satisfaction over the workshop, topics
and the way it was organized. Many praised for the notes communicated.
The
Valedictory session saw Prof.
R. Nageswara Rao, Director, Academic Audit of Osmania University speak about
perceptions in Communication process. He explained the individual perceptions
of an illiterate common man, a literate, an MBA graduate and a Scholar while
defining a Cow, each throwing their relevant perceptions that sounded
irrelevant except that of a common man. Speaking on the usage of social media,
he gave another example of a maid servant that attends 7 house-holds. When this
servant wanted to have a leave for a week she did not inform all the households,
but updated her status on the face book saying that she will not be available
for work for next 7 days. When a house-wife argued how is it that you expect us
to know your status, the maid replied, “your husband saw my status and
responded and if he did not inform you, it is not my mistake”.
