1: Meaning, Definition, Nature, Scope and Functions

B A (JMC) (3-YDC), SEMESTER –IV

SEC III: PUBLIC RELATIONS AND EVENT MANAGEMENT

UNIT 1: PUBLIC RELATIONS

LESSON 1: MEANING, DEFINITION, NATURE, SCOPE & FUNCTIONS

     

Objectives:

Know the meaning and definitions of public relations

Describe the nature and scope of public relations

Understand Public Relations as a management function.

Differentiate Public Relations from other disciplines of communication

And Explain the functions of public relations.

Introduction:

Meaning, definitions, nature, scope and functions of Public Relations given in this lesson are the important things to understand the subject.  Public Relations is a management function. It is to maintain cordial relations between the Organisations and their concerned publics, in other words specified audience or targeted public. It means Organisations, Companies and Individuals communicate with the targeted Public as well as Media. Such communication is for achieving the goals and also to pursue the vision and mission set before the Organisation. Public Relations supports all management functions such as HR, Marketing, Finance etc. It is distinct from Publicity, Advertising, Lobbying & Propaganda. It discharges various functions like Media Relations, Customer Relations, Employee Relations, Govt Relations, Financial Relations and the like.

Meaning of Public Relations

It is the work of presenting a good image of an organization to the public by providing information. – Oxford Advanced Learners’ Dictionary.

It is the business of inducing the public to have understanding for and goodwill toward a person, firm or institution, also the degree of understanding and goodwill achieved. –Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary.

It is the practice of promoting goodwill among the public for a company, government body, individual or the like; the practice of working to present a favorable image. – The Macquarie Dictionary.

The aim of PR is ‘to promote positive and favourable images of people or firms in public life, without actually appearing to do so’. Most companies have PR departments dedicated to creating and sustaining a good image with the general public. – Dictionary of communication and Media studies.

The above dictionary meanings will make us understand that Public Relations is an organisational activity of dealing with people, seeking their favorable public opinion and goodwill thereby achieving the organizational goals. 

Definitions:

Public Relations is the management function, that evaluates public attitudes, defines the policies, procedures and interests of an organization with the public interest, and executes a program of action to earn understanding and acceptance. – Denny Griswold.

Public Relations are the attempt by information, persuasion and adjustment to engineer public support for an activity, cause, movement or institution. – Edward L. Bernays

Public Relations is the management function which gives the same organized and careful attention to the asset of goodwill as is given to any other major asset of the business - John W Hill

Public Relations is a combination of philosophy, sociology, economics, language, psychology, journalism, communication and other knowledges into a system of human understanding. – Herbert M. Baus

PR is everything involved in achieving a favourable public opinion. - George F Meredith.

Public relations is an umbrella term which covers a wide range of areas, including: Corporate communications; Issues management; Product publicity; Investor relations; Financial communications; Lobbying; Public affairs; Media relations; Community affairs; Crisis management; Events management; Sponsorship and a range of services which feed into all these. - Jon White and Laura Mazu, Strategic Communication Management – Making Public Relations Work.

Public relations is a method of creating a climate of good opinion in which business can be done. It uses many means to smooth the lines of communication, enabling the person concerned to improve his image by putting his best face forward. – The Good Publicity Guide, Reginald Peplow.

Public relations is the management function that identifies, establishes, and maintains mutually beneficial relationships between the organization and the various publics on whom its success or failure depends. – Scott M. Cutlip.

Public relations is finding out what people like about you and doing more of it; finding out what they don’t like about you and doing less of it. – John E. Marston, Modern Public Relations.

Public relations is concerned with maintaining harmonious and understanding relationships between the various parts of an organization and all the groups, which have a relationship with it. This could mean management, workers, shareholders, trade unions, suppliers, customers and government as well as the public. – Paul Winner.

Public relations consists of all forms of planned communication, outwards and inwards, between an organization and its publics for the purpose of achieving specific objectives concerning mutual understanding. – Frank Jefkins.

Public Relations is communicating your organisation’s messages at the right time and in the right place to the right audience. With the proliferation of tools and technologies, we can measure the value of those efforts and how they align with a business’ overall mission - Marla Aaron

Those functions and policies designed to bring about the communications and interpretation of ideas and information to all various publics of an enterprise; and the communication and interpretation of information and ideas from these publics to the enterprise in an effort to bring the two into harmonious and fruitful adjustment. – Schoenfeld, 1954.

Professional public relations is described as “the art of convincing people that they should adopt a certain attitude or pursue a certain course of action; usually associated with management – Howard Stephenson, Handbook of Public Relations, US, 1960

Public Relations is “a planned effort to influence public opinion through acceptable performance and two-way communication”. – Cutlip and Center, 1964.

PR is “A part of the affairs aimed at keeping publics informed, keeping informed about public attitudes, and reacting to those attitudes.” – Reynolds, 1966.

Public relations practice is the discipline, which looks after reputation with the aim of earning the understanding and support, influencing the opinion and behaviors. - Roger silver, 1969.

Public Relations strives by long range effort to build favorable public attitudes. – Douglas L. Gilbert, 1971.

Public relations practice is the art of social science of analysing trends, predicting their consequences, counselling organization, leaders, and implementing planned programs of action, which will serve both the organization and the public interest. – The Mexican statement made at an International conference of Public Relations Institutions held in Mexico City in 1978.

Public relations is a mode of behavior and a manner of conveying information with the object of establishing and maintaining mutual confidence, based on mutual knowledge and understanding, between an organization; a corporate body carrying out various functions or activities and the different sections of the public, internal and external, that are affected by some or all these functions or activities. – Claude Chapeau, 1982.

Public relations practice is the deliberate, planned and sustained effort to establish and maintain mutual understanding between an organisation and its public. – Chartered Institute of Public relations, 1982

Public relations helps an organistion and its publics adapt mutually to each other – National Assembly of Public Relations Society of India, 1982

Practical public relations is the professional attempt to achieve good public relations in order to promote the success or welfare of the company, organization or individual on whose behalf the public relations effort is made. – Sam Black, Practical Public Relations, UK, 1984

Public Relations practice is the management of communications between an organization and its publics. – James Grunig and Todd Hunt, 1984.

At the other extremes are those who hold that public relations professional must rise above the level of mere communicators, mere technicians. Public relations professionals must be social scientists, public policy experts, and managers of issues. Some add that they can always hire writers. – Joseph F. Award, The power of Public Relations, US, 1985.

Public Relations means different things to different people, but professionally, it means “creating understanding and better still, mutual understanding”. Very simple, really except that understanding is probably the most difficult thing in the world to achieve. It is a process of effecting change. – Frank Jefkins, Public Relations for Your Business, UK, 1987.

Public Relations is an effort to identify and interpret policies and programmes of an organization with the objective to establish a bridge of understanding and goodwill between the organization and its publics. – Dr. G.C. Banik, A Guide to Public Relations & Journalism, 1990.

Public Relations involves many other disciplines and it can have an impact on every aspect of an organization. It is about projecting the right message and as such, it can involve press relations, advertising, marketing, sponsorships, exhibitions, local community events, the environment and public affairs. –Claire Austin, Successful PR, 1992

Public Relations means what it says – relations with the public. It is practically a self-defending term, it aims to create and maintain confidence. It is a system of communications to create goodwill. It produces that intangible quality or asset goodwill – and earns credit for achievements. – Frank Jefkins, Public Relations, 1992

Strategic Public Relations is the process of establishing the public relations function in its rightful place – as a management discipline to be found at the highest and in all types of organizations – Mike Beard, President, CIPR, London, 1995

Stripped to its fundamentals, public relations means communication with others. – Tymson & Sherman, PR Manual, Australia, 1996.

Public Relations is a strategic communication process that builds mutually beneficial relationships between organisations and their bodies – Crowd-sourced definition of Public Relations Society of America, 2011.

Public Relations is the management of a two-way communication process between an organisation and its publics to promote the corporate mission, vision, goals, services, products, reputation and to earn public understanding – Dr CVN Reddi, Effective Public Relations and Media Strategy, 2014.

These definitions coined by various authors and authorities over a period of time clearly state that public relations is a strategic communication process and a specialised management function for the mutual benefit of Organisation and its concerned publics.

Nature of Public Relations         

Public Relations is both an art and a science. It is an art as you need to use your creative skills to persuade the public as well as the management to move towards your way of thinking. At the same time, it is also a science, as a strategic and planned activity to conduct any event makes it a science. So we can say that like any other branch of communication, Public Relations too is a combination of both arts and science. It is also a business as it requires planning, budgeting, execution and evaluation.

Public relations as a process serves a number of functions. While the definitions may vary, the nature of public relations indicates that it is essentially a task promoting rapport and goodwill between a person, firm or institution and the community at large through dissemination of information. It seeks to earn support, mobilise or solicit favour for an idea, a cause, a problem, for an institution or an individual. It uses a two-way communication in dealing with public opinion. First, it assesses the attitudes of the public towards the organisation. Next, it executes communication programmes to gain public understanding and acceptance of the management’s point of view. Public relations thus aims to bring about harmonious and mutually advantageous adjustment between an organisation and the community through dissemination of ideas and also by providing feedback from the public to the management. It also evaluates public attitudes, identifies the policies that interests the public and executes the programme of communication. Good public relations implies a sound moral base i.e. communication must be sincere and based on facts. Harmless conduct is not enough. Action is required to gain favorable recognition.

Every organisation, whether public or private or a combination of both has a responsibility towards the Society. As a two-way communication process, PR has a greater role to play in a democratic and developing country like India so as to make the people ‘partners in progress’.

Scope of Public Relations

James Madison, the fourth President of US said “A popular government without popular information or means of obtaining it is but a prologue to a farce or tragedy or both”. Popular does mean pertaining to the populace. This statement focuses on the need for free flow of public information between a democratic government and the public.

If India is a socialist, secular, democratic republic to secure to all its citizens’ social, economic and political justice, its success depends much on the involvement of the people in the democratic and development process of the country. Public Relations as an instrument of dissemination of information from the Govt and the governed and the feedback plays an important role in a democratic setup. Public relations as a two-way communication process to promote better relationship between the government and the people, it has a vital role to play in keeping the public informed what the government is doing for them. Such an effort by the public relations discipline will not only create a well-informed society but also enable the people to be active partners in the success of democracy. Public relations is none other than maintaining cordial, meaningful and purposeful relations with the public.

Public Relations has a major role to play in a developing and democratic country like India. The massive population base needs to be told about the schemes of the Government and what they can expect from it. The mass communication media such as Radio, Television, Film, the Press and print publications, advertising and traditional models of communication play an important role in helping people to access free flow of information. In India, the mass communication media emphasizes on facilitating information and entertainment needs of various age groups and focus attention of people on issues of national integrity, environmental protection, health care, family welfare, eradication of illiteracy etc. This offers in-depth of various mediums of mass communication such as broadcasting, film and print media in information, educating people for participating in the democratic practices.

Similarly, Govt organisations, Public sector undertakings or Private organisations, Industrial establishments, Business Houses, Corporates, Companies, NGOs need to maintain relations with the concerned public.

Publics

A general way of defining the public is in a larger context like the large mass of people or groups who belong to a nation or a society or a community with different identities, like religion, race, color, creed and geographical boundaries. However, in public relations, public is used in a narrower way which indicates the public of one particular group belonging to one organisation or a community.  Publics of an Organisation are segregated into two categories for disseminating information. They are - those who are part of the organisation called the internal public while those who are outside the organisation are called external public.

Internal publics are those that deal with the organisation and / or part of the organisation. For example, the shareholders of a company who invest in the company, employees of the company and the stock holders of the company form the internal publics of the organisation.

External publics are those who are outside the organisation but have some relationship with the organisation. For example, customers of the organisation, who buy and use the product or service, Government departments which deal with the organisation, suppliers, of various raw material to the organisation, business contacts, media and finally the general public or the citizens of the country.

If you take the example of a College, we know that a college has to deal with teachers, students, administration and Govt officials and the general public as well as parent community. You also have the general suppliers of books, papers, stationery, computers, furniture etc for the class rooms. In addition, the college also has to keep in touch with the media to publish notifications and results etc.

We should understand that today, although we distinguish between the internal and external publics, more often than not, they are either extensions of each other or interconnected to each other. For instance, many IT organisations are offering shares to their own employees, who on paper become shareholders of the company. They are also the customers of that company as they buy the products of that company. They form both internal and external publics of that organisation.  Similarly, the general public or a citizen has every right to ask for the details of any Govt organisation through RTI Act and so forms a public for that organisation. So, for a public relations practitioner in the modern world it is important to expand the scope of public relations in a global society.

PR is different

PR is often confused with other activities like Publicity, Advertising, Lobbying, Propaganda etc. While some of these are tools, they are not public relations as such. Look at the difference.

Publicity: It means to publicize something. Cutlip and Centre defined publicity as “the dissemination of information making matters public from the point of view of one who wishes to inform others.” It is also called a systematic distribution of public information about an institution, individual, a product, an idea or a service. Publicity is the technique of securing public attention. It is used to place information in the news medium. Print and electronic media consume the information and it is called media coverage.

Advertising: Advert is to draw attention of somebody. According to Subrata Benerjee, advertising is the paid dissemination of information for the purpose of selling or helping to sell commodities and services or of gaining acceptance of ideas that may cause people to think or act in a desired manner. Advertising is a paid form of non-personal communication through various media by an identified individual or organisation. Advertisers control content placement and time by paying for media advertising time and space.

Lobbying: Lobby is nothing but a waiting hall. According to James Watson and Anne Hill, lobbying is the process in which individuals or groups seek to influence those in power. It is an attempt to influence voting of legislators and regulatory decisions. It basically builds and maintains relations with Govt primarily for the purpose of influencing legislation and regulation. Lobbying is not a legal profession in India. However, industry associations and professional organisations act as pressure groups to influence law makers and the government.

Propaganda: It means propagating. It is the communication, verbal or nonverbal that attempts to influence the motives, beliefs, attitudes or actions of one or more persons. Generally, propaganda is associated with Politics, Religion and War, where there is less scope for truth. The word propaganda became well known with Nazi Germany, Soviet Union and Republic of China that adopted propaganda techniques during wars. Joseph Goebbels was the Propaganda Minister for Hitler of Germany during the Second World War. His propaganda technique was “If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it.” Goebbels propaganda has thus become a synonym for the false information or disinformation.

Functions of Public Relations

Media relations is for forging a strong relationship with public media organizations. A media relations team often works directly with external media by directly delivering them company news, providing validated content sources, and being accessible for public comment on other news stories.

Production relations is to guide the operations of a company. This department supports broad marketing plans and is often related to specific, one-time endeavors such as the launch of a new product, a special campaign, or management of a major product change.

Investor relations is to maintain the relationship between the company and its investors. This aspect of public relations handles investor events, oversees the communication of the release of financial reports, and handles the complaints of investors.

Internal relations is between a company and its employees. Internal relations pertain to counseling employees, ensuring all workers are satisfied with their working conditions, and mediating issues internally to avoid public disclosure of dissatisfaction.

Government relations is to ensure connection between a company and related governing bodies. Some public relations departments want to forge a strong relationship to provide feedback to politicians, sway decision-makers to act in specific ways, and ensure fair treatment of the company's clients.

Community relations is focused on brand and reputation within a specific community. The community could be a specific city or the dog-owner community. This branch of public relations keys in on the social niche of the community to align itself with its members.

Customer relations is the bridge that connects the company and its customers. Public relations often involve handling key relationships, conducting market research, understanding the priorities of its customers, and addressing major concerns.

Summary

Public Relations can be defined in several ways, but basically it is a branch of management which helps to gain attention, communicate or even propagate certain ideas of the organisation to influence its publics.  It is seen as both the art and science of communication. It forms an important link in the communication process between the organisation and its publics.  Employees of the organisation, shareholders and those who are directly connected with the organisation form the internal publics while the customers, govt officials, suppliers and others indirectly associated with the organisation but are outside the organisation form the external publics. The functions of public relations include being the link between the public and the organisation, it gives facts and figures and does not manipulate information given to the public. It includes planning, organizing and monitoring on a continuous basis, the events and activities planned, in order to ensure the smooth working of the communication cycle. In this way, public relations plays a crucial role in dissemination of information to the public and vice versa.

FAQs

1.     What is the meaning of Public Relations?

2.     Define Public Relations.

3.     Who are the publics?

4.     What is the scope of Public Relations?

5.     What are the functions of Public Relations?

Model Answers

1. Public Relations is both an art and science of practicing meaningful relationships with the concerned publics. It is a practice and a profession of dealing with people seeking favorable opinion of the public and for gaining their goodwill thereby achieving the organizational goals. Stripped to its originality, public relations is a daily application of common sense, common courtesy, common decency and etiquette.
2. Public Relations is a deliberate, planned and sustained effort to establish and maintain mutual understanding between an organisation and its publics. Public Relations is a strategic communication process that builds mutually beneficial relationships between organisations and their bodies. Public Relations is the management of a two-way communication process between an organisation and its publics to promote the corporate mission, vision, goals, services, products, reputation and to earn public understanding.
3. General public is a myth in public relations practice. It is always the targeted public, the segmented public and the concerned public with whom the communication is to be established. The PR publics are divided into two categories – Internal and External. Internal public are those that work within the organisation and the external public are outside the organisation yet connected to it. For example: Employees are the internal public and the Customers are external public.
4. The scope of public relations is wider. A general way of defining a public is in a larger context like the large mass of people or groups who belong to a nation or a society or a community with different identities, like religion, race, colour, creed and geographical boundaries. In public relations, public is used in a narrower way which indicates the public of one particular group belonging to one organisation or a community. However, sometimes the employees who constitute internal public may also be the consumers i.e. external public. Therefore, in the modern world it is important to expand the scope of public relations in a global society.
5. Functions of public relations are many. To name a few – Media relations, production relations, investor relations, internal relations, government relations, community relations, customer relations etc. Public relations also supports other management functions like HR, Marketing, Finance.

Multiple Choice Questions

1.      “Public relations helps an organisation and its publics adapt mutually to each other” This definition is coined in 1982 by __________

a.       Chartered Institute of Public Relations

b.      Public Relations Society of America

c.       Public Relations Society of India

d.      International Public Relations Association

2.      Public Relations is a _______

a.    Political function

b.    Management function

c.    Technical function

d.    Societal function

3.      Public Relations Society of America adopted a crowd sourced definition of PR in ______

           a.  1982

b.    1996

c.    2001

d.    2011

4.      Publics are broadly categorized into ________ categories in an organisation.

a.       Two

b.      Three

c.       Four

d.      Many

5.      Public Relations is different from

a.    Marketing & Public Affairs,

b.    Lobbying & Propaganda

c.    Advertising & Publicity

d.    Corporate Society Responsibility

Key: 1. (c)  2. (b)  3. (d)  4. (a) 5. (b & c)

Glossary

Publics: Groups of people, segmented for communication and maintaining relations.

Public opinion: Aggregate of individual views, attitudes or beliefs held by the adult population on an issue.

Society: People living together in a more or less ordered community.

Community: A group of people living in the same place or having a particular characteristic in common.

Organisation: an organized group of people with a particular purpose, such as a business or Govt Dept.

Information: Knowledge communicated or received concerning a particular fact or circumstance; news.

Communication: The imparting or exchanging of information by speaking, writing or using some other medium.

Key Words: Public, Public Relations, Information, Communication, Organisation.

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Y. BABJI