Advanced Public Relations

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Week 5Managing Campaigns in PR

• Advanced Public Relations
• KOM 5321
• Dr. Nurul Ain Mohd Hasan

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By definition

• A campaign is a planned set of public relations
  activities, normally over a limited period of
  time and with specific objectives addressing a
  particular issue and involving an identified
  group (Tench Yeomans, 2014).
• For e.g A local authority may run an awareness
  campaign about GST with the aim to increase
  understanding on why GST is an important exercise
  and needs to be implemented in the country.

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Public relations campaigns

• Aspects of public relations campaigns are aimed
  at
• Products
• Services
• Ideas
• By creating a favourable environment.
• Its called a PR campaign when techniques and
  principles of PR are used to persuade a
  particular campaign.
• Usually by involving the media.
• It is often planned and usually one-way
  communication with a possibility to be two-way
  communication.

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Whats the aim of PR campaigns?

• To inform and create awareness
• To persuade, educate and motivate
• To mobilise public opinions
• To utilise the use of the media for public
  information and public opinions for target
  audience

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The importance of campaigns in PR

• PR campaigns provide a platform for possible
  two-way communication. However the campaign
  practices are mostly one-way communication.
• It is an ongoing assessment for an organisation
  on what makes an organisation viable and credible
  in a fluid socioeconomic and political
  environment (Newsom, Turk and Kruckeberg, 2000).
• Even more important for transnational
  organisations.

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Types of campaigns

• Various types of campaigns exist
• However, in the context of public relations
  activities in managing campaign, there are
  generally six (6) as stated by Newsom, Turk and
  Kruckeberg (2000). For instance PR has the skills
  to
• Put on a public awareness campaign
• mount public information campaigns (to offer
  information together with awareness)
• Do a public education campaigns
• Reinforce publics attitudes and behaviour
• Change (or attempt to change) the attitudes of
  your publics
• Carry out behaviour modification campaigns e.g.
  healthy lifestyle campaign

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Communication as a core systems asset

• For PR to make a full contribution to the
  effectiveness and success of a public campaign,
  it has to be seen as offering more than message
  delivery or contributing to building brand and
  reputation because its superficial and has
  less substance
• Social marketing is a new buzz word in
  campaigns especially in healthcare organisations
  (Tench Yeomans, 2014).
• Latest trend is Brand journalism - 2015
• The role is concerned with analysis and
  understanding and evaluating key relationships in
  order to achieve results.

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Characteristics of successful campaigns

• Studies of successful campaigns indicate that
  five (5) elements or characteristics are always
  present (Newsom, Turk Kruckeber, 2000).
• These elements for successful campaign are
• Educational aspect create awareness
• Engineering change behaviour by making it
  convenient
• Enforcement change of policy, strict laws
• Entitlement - a form of reinforcement ongoing
  campaign, change focus to highlight what success
  has come out from the campaign.
• Evaluation annual assessment and three or five
  year evaluation of the success/challenges of the
  campaign.

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Implementing the campaign

• Adapting and applying tactics to strategies-
• The framework for your whole campaign must be
  suited to its institutional environment
• Is the institution a closed or an open
  communication system? This is determined by your
  top management.
• Determine what goal is to be achieved? Is it for
  publicity, or advertising and/or promotion?
• PR managers will set persuasive strategies to
  meet with the goal of a particular campaign.

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Evaluating the campaign

• Monitoring
• Its important to monitor because you may need to
  change directions of the campaign, reallocate
  resources or redefine priorities to achieve your
  goal
• E.g. A change of a policy or regulation must
  start with a proper campaign that sets the
  peoples minds before policy/regulation starts.
• Issue monitoring is required
• Monitor what the publics reaction to your
  campaign is and make changes e.g. Did the
  public accept GST in Malaysia? Or did they need
  time to be aware of what they were expecting?

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• Postmortems
• What worked? What didnt? why?
• What was accidentally a success?
• What could have been done better?
• Formal research needs to be done to determine
  whether your goal has been achieved.
• Evaluate the impact on publics
• The effect on the organisations goals and
  mission
• The effect of the attitude of publics toward the
  organisation
• The effect on the organisations financial
  status, ethical stance, CSR
• The key is to measure organisations financial
  impact, ethical impact and social responsibility.
  

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Changing behaviour applying theory to PR
campaigns

• Grunig and Hunts Four PR model
• Press agentry Practised by PR professionals
  with a goal to only promote products, services
  and events with no intention to gain publics
  feedback in the campaign
• Public Information Campaigns using this model
  are used largely by government agencies,
  law-enforcement agencies, educational
  institutions, and units of the military.
• Two Way Asymmetric persuasive campaigning
  with a goal to change publics opinions, with the
  aim to resolve conflicts without compromise.
  Feedback is gained but the goal is to better
  understand a publics behaviour so as to change
  the focus of the campaign to better suit the
  public.
• Two-Way symmetric the goal of a particular PR
  campaign is to achieve mutual understanding, to
  resolve conflict through negotiation and
  compromise.

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Some theories from Mass Communications to apply
PR campaigns

• Diffusion Theory -
• The 5 steps of adoption awareness, interest,
  trial, evaluation, and adoption
• e.g. an individual will gain steps 1 2 from a
  campaign ad, but the personal influence by family
  and friends would likely to move the individual
  towards steps 3, 4 5.

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• Maslows Hierarchy of needs

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• Agenda setting
• The theory suggests that the media set the agenda
  for public debate and discussion.
• When applied to public relations practice, the
  theory would place more emphasis on the media as
  opinion leaders and active participants.
• E.g. a placement of campaign advertisement on the
  newspaper would depend on the related issues set
  by editorial board.

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Government campaigns

• Government campaigns often deal with rising
  issues of a particular country.
• In Malaysia, one of the major issues was on
  smoking among teens and adults Tak Nak (anti
  smoking) campaign
• Often times, government agencies often create
  alliances with NGOs that have similar purposes.
• Healthy lifestyle the go green concept
  1Malaysia Health Campaign with environmental
  rights activitists/NGOs
• HIV epidemic mainly on sharing of needles the
  sensitivity of the issue in the country HIV
  awareness campaign, i.e. Ministry of health
  working together with anti-drug agency and prison
  department.
• Anti Dadah campaign

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Government PR campaign to create public
information
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Using statistics to create public awareness.
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Tobacco campaign in Bangkok
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Colgates Senyum Malaysia Campaign with support
the support of Jab Kemajuan Masyarakat (KEMAS)
The campaign is part of Colgates effort to
support Ministry of Healths National Oral Health
Plans goal to reduce dental cavities about 50
among young children at the age of 6 or below by
the year 2020.
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WEEK 6RESEARCH IN PR

• ADVANCED PUBLIC RELATIONS
• KOM 5321
• DR. NURUL AIN MOHD HASAN

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Research in public relations

• Research in public relations is often viewed as
  informal by many academic writers.
• Public relations practitioners have often relied
  on informal type of research in two ways
• Simply counting of press releases as a form of
  research
• Examining media outlets to see which has carried
  those releases is another form of informal
  research.
• Research in public relations therefore can be
  classified as informal and formal
• (Reference see Stacks, 2011, Primer of Public
  Relations Research, 2nd Edition)

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Why conduct public relations research?

• Research is essential to any PR activity or
  campaign.
• It is a beginning of a process that seeks to
  bring a specific objective. E.g. a PR campaign
  will not work effectively without understanding
  who your target group is, therefore, research is
  needed for this reason.
• PR models for plan of action before any campaign
  is to be done
• Hendrixs ROPE Research what is the problem,
  Objectives- set your targets, Program plan how
  you are going to meet with your target,
  Evaluation post mortem
• RACE Research, Action, Communicating,
  Evaluating
• Cutlip, Center Brooms four-step process
• Defining PR problems (whats happening now?
  situation analysis),
• Planning and Programming (What should we do and
  say, and why? strategy)
• Taking Action and Communicating (How and when do
  we do and say it? implementation),
• Evaluating the programme (How did we do?
  assessment).

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Cont..

• Research is important in PR because research is
  part and parcel of their jobs when they offer
• communication strategies
• Counsel on communication problems
• Educate clients/top management as to the best PR
  strategies and actions (showing managerial tasks
  in PR)
• Decision making requires solid foundation and
  data to support your decisions and actions.

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Formal research in public relations

• It is a systematic way of conducting research in
  public relations which often evaluates data using
  either quantitative or qualitative methodologies
• Todays practitioner is in a business that
  demands more than simply doing informal research
• They strive to deliver evidence that the bottom
  line (the economic justification) has been
  enhanced by the activities they conduct for their
  organisations.

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An introduction to research

• Research is a process of enquiry and
  investigation
• It is systematic, methodical and ethical
• Research offers you a measure of control and
  autonomy over what you learn or understand to be
  true OR to be your interpretation of reality.
  
• It gives you an opportunity to
• Confirm
• Clarify
• Pursue
• Discover

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THE PURPOSE OF RESEARCH IS TO

• Review or synthesize existing knowledge
• Investigate existing situations or problems
• Provide solutions to problems
• Explore and analyse more general issues
• Construct or create new procedures or systems
• Explain new phenomenon
• Generate new knowledge
• ...or a combination of any of the above
• (Collis Hussey, 2003)

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Major differences between Quantitative and
Qualitative Methods
Quantitative Qualitative
Data Collection Data Collection
Controlled Uncontrolled
Objective Subjective
Systematic observation Random Observation
Data assessment Data assessment
Can be measured reliably Cannot be measured reliably
Validity can be measured Validity is assumed
Deductively interpreted Inductively interpreted
Outcomes Outcomes
Description Description
Prediction, control Understanding
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Elements of the Research Process

• Deductive thinking (Quantitative) based on
  available facts.
• THEORY
• HYPOTHESIS
• OBSERVATION
• CONFIRMATION

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Elements of the Research Process (Cont.)

• Inductive thinking (Qualitative) based on what
  the researcher deems to be true.
• OBSERVATION
• PATTERNS
• HYPOTHESIS
• THEORY

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TYPES OF RESEARCH
Exploratory Descriptive Analytical Predictive
Undertaken when few or no previous studies exist The aim is to look for patterns, hypotheses, or ideas that can be tested which will be the starting point for further research Research techniques case studies, observation, reviews of previous related studies and data. To identify and classify the elements or characteristics of the subject e.g. looking at frequencies, numbers etc. Research techniques quantitative techniques, data collection based on surveys, analyse and summarise data. Often extends the descriptive approach To suggest or explain WHY or HOW something is happening e.g. the cause of the phenomenon Important features locating and identifying the different factors (or variables) involved. Aim is to speculate intelligently on future possibilities Predicting when and where future phenomenon or issue might take.
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Qualitative Methods

• When should I use qualitative methods?
• When variables cannot be quantified
• When variables are best understood in their
  natural settings
• When studying intimate details of roles,
  processes, and groups
• When the paramount objective is understanding

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Research is an integral aspect for the survival
of public relations practice

• For many years, PR has been under pressure to
  prove its worth (Tench Yeomans, 2014).
• Research in PR means evaluating actions and
  realities/roles that PR plays in the
  organisation.
• Research findings support previous concepts.
• At other times, research refute (or reject)
  previous concepts.
• Research keeps PR on track for improved
  professionalism.

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• Research in PR implies
• Rigour Thoroughness in the most up to date
  practice, where your have evidence of the
  realities through research.
• Underpins credible practice It shows
  professionalism
• Generates confidence among practitioners If
  practice is evaluated and understood thoroughly,
  we can find solutions make adjustments where
  necessary why factor is answered.

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Some common PR research methods

• Outcome evaluation
• What the organisation can benefit from a research
  done on PR
• How research can generate sales and market the
  organisation based on statistical analysis
  surveys or structured interviews
• Output evaluation informal type of research
• Media coverage evaluated through the quality of
  the coverage
• Content analysis
• This method quantifies the textual material being
  studied.
• Identifying key messages and how these are
  effectively communicated.
• Social media
• Track blogs, forums, comments, analyse no. of
  twitter/insta followers, etc.

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Issues of public relations research

• Isolation and restriction are two main issues..
  This is due to
• The failure to exchange ideas with disciplines
  close to PR PR literature and theories are
  limited often times using other theories to
  support PR research.
• For instance, Leeper (2001) stated that the field
  of public relations has been in search of a
  unifying theory, in which many theories apply to
  PR but no PR theories.

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• ii. The conceptual bases of PR in research which
  often times is too scientific in nature The
  most famous use of the word excellence in PR
  (McKie, 2001, p77), gives rise to many isolation
  in research as the word restricts research to
  move towards a new development, new thinking, and
  new paradigm.
• E.g. Tobacco company as a client of PR agency
  the term excellence in PR may be questioned. For
  instance - What excellence or best practice are
  you adopting when you are assisting Tobacco
  company to increase the culture of smoking in a
  society and to help increase sales of
  cigarrettes?

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• iii. The 21st century PR research, with new
  technological advancement that comes with new
  attacks and catastrophic scenarios, PR cannot
  stick with traditional value-free and neutral
  scientific observations (McElreath Blamphin,
  1994, p. 74).
• Therefore, new methods that studies the grey
  areas of PR needs to be conducted.
• More critical discourse analysis can help bring
  out the richness and depth of PR profession and
  discipline because through understanding a
  specific neglected community/marginalised
  minority may help PR practitioners to plan a more
  meaningful strategy to communicate to these
  targeted group.

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Updating PR research paradigms

• Some current issues and challenges that need to
  be addressed
• According to a study to understand the
  willingness of public to express opinions about a
  particular issue through both in-person and the
  social media, 86 percent of people were willing
  to have an in-person conversation, but just 42
  percent of Facebook and Twitter users were
  willing to post about it on those platforms. Of
  the 14 of Americans unwilling to discuss a
  particular issue in an elaborate matter in person
  with others, only 3 were willing to post about
  it on social media.
• Another more recent issue highlighted in the IPRM
  website forum was on the clash of opinions
  between journalists and PR practitioners about
  the importance of building relationships with the
  media. Some of the journalists think that
  building relationships with them are not
  necessary and a waste of their time what they
  want is catchy news stories. Thats it!
• These are some of the new perspectives that may
  need further research to create new avenues for
  PR researchers and practitioners to engage and
  discuss with.

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WEEK 7LOBBYING IN PR

• ADVANCED PUBLIC RELATIONS
• KOM 5321
• DR. NURUL AIN MOHD HASAN

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Lobbying in PR

• When talking about lobbying it is a public
  relations activity done by activitists, mostly
  NGOs. It involves public affairs.
• The task is to challenge the current
  legal/ethical system governed by a particular
  nation.
• It is public relations from an advocacy (publicly
  supported) standpoint.
• International perspectives lobbying is
  predominantly a Western perspective and it lies
  to the very core of how democracy is being
  practised in the Western world. Democracy is
  understood differently, in various levels, in
  other parts of the world, including Malaysia.
• However, international corporations and NGOs in
  Malaysia value some forms of lobbying and often
  use this for the purpose to create an awareness.

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What is lobbying?

• Closely connected to public relations the use of
  persuasion for change in society/nation/community
  etc.
• Lobbying is influencing decisions made by
  government/ legislators.
• It includes all attempts to ensure the view
  points of an individual or organisation is
  represented.
• A lobbyist is a person who tries to influence
  government on behalf of a special interest.

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The goal of a lobbyist

• Your ultimate goal when lobbying is to ensure
  your target
• Is informed about the issue
• Understands your position
• Becomes convinced that your position is the one
  they should adopt

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Some questions to ask when taking part in lobbying

• How do we gain government contract, aid or
  assistance?
• Who in government should we liaise with, and why?
• Can government promote our products or
  organisation?
• How can we get a Minister to visit us or to
  support us?
• How do we react if a campaign is launched against
  the objectives of our company?
• What are the ethics and techniques of government
  liaison?

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• AWAM lobbies and advocates for improved
  legislation and policies on gender-related
  issues, including rape, domestic violence and
  sexual harassment. We collaborate with other
  womens NGOs for example, through the
  Joint-Action Group for Gender Equality (JAG) to
  give greater impetus to our lobbying and advocacy
  efforts. Historically, AWAMs advocacy work has
  focused primarily on rape. Some of our
  achievements together with other womens groups
  are
• The amendments to laws relating to rape (1989)
• The enactment of the Domestic Violence Act (1994)
  
• The amendment of Article 8(2) of the Federal
  Constitution to prohibit discrimination on the
  basis of gender (2001)

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Cont

• The idea behind lobbying is to challenge the
  current system, to acknowledge and make notice
  that change in the legal system is required for a
  community.
• E.g. AWAM is also an active partner of advocacy
  campaigns on - The Convention on the Elimination
  of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women
  (CEDAW)

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• SAMPLE OF LOCAL LOBBYISTS
• AWAM All Womens Action Socitey (NGO) an
  independent feminist organisation aimed at
  protecting the rights of women in Malaysia -
  http//www.awam.org.my/whatwedo.html
• Lobbying and AdvocacyAWAM lobbies and advocates
  for improved legislation and policies on
  gender-related issues, including rape, domestic
  violence and sexual harassment. We collaborate
  with other womens NGOs for example, through
  the Joint-Action Group for Gender Equality (JAG)
  to give greater impetus to our lobbying and
  advocacy efforts. Historically, AWAMs advocacy
  work has focused primarily on rape. Some of our
  achievements together with other womens groups
  are The amendments to laws relating to rape
  (1989)
• The enactment of the Domestic Violence Act
  (1994) 
• The amendment of Article 8(2) of the Federal
  Constitution to prohibit discrimination on the
  basis of gender (2001)  

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Effective communication is vital when you are
trying to get your point across and influence
people.

• Five key aspects of effective communication are
• Active listening
• Valuing diversity
• Understanding body language
• The rhythm of three - Technique used in sales
  and marketing
• Most people remember words and numbers best in
  groups of three For example - Phone numbers 3
  phone numbers a day OR There are three things we
  need to agree today. Firstly, how we can work
  together, secondly, where we should hold out
  meetings and finally where we apply for funding
• Being assertive

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Four most common mistakes made by organisations
in their dealings with government

• The friends in high places syndrome
• Common mistake lies on being over confident.
• Just because you know minister/members of
  parliament/ senior officials does not mean your
  case will be decided automatically.
• The eat your way out of trouble syndrome
• A common practice to lunch with the important
  people in parliament/govt but money is well spent
  by concentrating on well-researched advocacy for
  effective and ethical lobbying.
• The congressional syndrome
• Think government and its other ties and links.
  One decision made by one govt institution may
  need the support from another
• View decision-making globally.
• The act now, think later syndrome
• Always do your research thoroughly
• If you do not know how the government will react
  to your case , you have not worked hard enough.

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WEEK 8Writing in PR

• ADVANCED PUBLIC RELATIONS
• KOM 5321
• DR. NURUL AIN MOHD HASAN

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• WHY IS WRITING IN PUBLIC RELATIONS
  CRUCIAL/IMPORTANT?

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Mass Media

• As communication tools are innovated so are new
  models for manipulating information
• As communication reaches a larger and larger
  audience, it is more difficult to manage
• As communication reaches a global audience, it is
  more difficult to target proximity (nearness in
  space/time/relationships)
• As communication reaches a global audience, it is
  more difficult to identify publics
• As communication increases in frequency, the more
  people select other messages

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Communication challenges of writing for the mass
media

• There is a diminishing rate of return on news
  stories, especially print
• Most people never read a newspaper or magazine
  from cover to cover
• The chances that someone will see an
  organisational story, with the ability to take
  action, is significantly reduced
• There is an increasing rate of opinions overlaid
  on existing media stories
• The circle of direct communication has shrunk as
  people get their news from a variety of secondary
  sources

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The arguments on language usage in corporate
writing

• Abrams (1983) views language as a societys most
  important privately produced public goods.
• Language may be viewed as the mean by which an
  organisation communicates its culture to members
  within the society in which it operates
  important to adopt a single working/suitable
  language for the entire organisation.

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The economics of language Can it be measured for
its value for an organisation?

• Dhir and Savage (2002) describe two approaches
  used by economists to empirically measure the
  value of language
• Language is regarded as a means of exchange
• A language is used to suit a given time and
  space.
• E.g. MNCs outside their home-countries
  government relations communities in rural areas.
  
• Language is a characteristic of those who use it
• Language becomes an economic liability when it is
  not accessible and resulting in contradicting
  explanations.
• E.g. The use of English in promoting/publicising
  an organisation will not reach the rural area who
  does not speak the language Or when there is
  ethnic language being used Or a community that
  prefers BM over English.

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Writing to impress

• The impact and cost of careless errors Bad
  grammar/Grammatical errors can impact your
  companys bottom line/ reputation/ image.
• The misconception of spell check -
• The most common errors made daily by public
  relations practitioners http//www.prdaily.com/M
  ain/Articles/Top_25_grammar_and_language_mistakes_
  10475.aspx
• Their vs. theyre then vs. than
• Affect vs. effect into vs. in to
• Its vs. its accidently vs. accidentally
• Striving for clarity for your readership use
  active writing always (straight to the point)
• It was determined by the committee that the
  report was inconclusive (passive)
• The committee determined that the report was
  inconclusive (active)

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Old Navy T shirts spot the error?
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Victoria Secret lingerie Spot the error?
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The trick is in the details Jaffri Amin, VP
IPRM

• The most effective messages prioritise the
  delivery to multiple publics
• The most effective messages consider how every
  public will react to the message
• The most effective messages have singular ideas,
  supported with facts for specific publics.
• If you dont manage the message, the message will
  manage you.

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Social Media Integration

• Social media can assist public relations in
  delivering communication
• Social media is not the only means to deliver a
  message direct to public
• Social media requires real time supervision

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Differences of writing in the social media

• Traditional Journalists /PR practitioners
• Write fact-based commentaries that are reasonably
  objective
• Do not discriminates between the level of
  expertise/popularity and insight
• Citizen journalists/ Bloggers-
• Write some fact-based commentaries, but emphasise
  advocacy and special interest
• Write sometimes to make friends
• Do a lot of discriminating between
  expertise/popularity and value insight.

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WRITING FOR CORPORATE PR

• News releases
• The origin of the modern news releases was
  established since 1907
• Original intention to establish a story
  before other versions were put out
• Press releases later became a tool to generate
  publicity, suggest stories, and share
  announcement
• News releases are a preferred method to
  communicate and be in contact with the
  journalists
• There is now an increase in emailing releases to
  journalists however most organisations still
  prefer faxing releases

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Latest news releases

• The modern news releases is much more interactive
• It is on an organisations corporate website and
  allows for journalists, bloggers and the public
  to share information
• It requires direct information, fast and easy to
  understand no jargons or Shakespeare type of
  language!
• YouTube and video clips can also be part of an
  additional resources for news releases

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In writing news releases, some criteria need to
be checked

• Are all the facts in the story accurate and were
  they double checked?
• Is there newsworthiness in the writing? 5 Ws and
  1 H method Who, What, When, Where, Why and How?
• Is the story complete and in the proper context?
• If outside opinions are included, was the story
  fair and comments fair?
• Was the story told in an interesting way to
  capture readers attention?

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PR WRITING BEYOND GRAMMAR

• Planning Before you start writing, know your
  objectives, who your target audience is and what
  types of outlets youll be pitching.
• Storytelling Its been said that good stories
  happen to those who can tell them. Honing
  (sharpening) your storytelling ability will make
  whatever youre writingwhether its a corporate
  profile, a press release or a Facebook
  updatemore engaging.

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PR WRITING BEYOND GRAMMAR

• Empathy Put yourself in the editors/readers
  shoes and focus on their interests and needs
  rather than yours or your clients.
• Context Help journalistsand their
  readersunderstand the broader significance of
  your story and how it fits into the larger
  context of your industry, your community or the
  world.

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PR WRITING BEYOND GRAMMAR

• Flow Good writing has a rhythm that carries the
  reader along like a catchy melody. Pay attention
  to the way you transit between ideas, where you
  put your paragraph breaks and even the sounds of
  the individual words and sentences.
• Structure The way you organise a storywhich
  ideas you present and in what ordercan have a
  major impact on whether an editor hits delete
  halfway through the first paragraph or reads it
  all the way till the end. this is what makes or
  breaks your story!
• Accuracy The best writing in the world wont
  matter if you get your facts wrong.

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WEEK 9PR ethics professionalism

• ADVANCED PUBLIC RELATIONS
• KOM 5321
• DR. NURUL AIN MOHD HASAN

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• What is the difference between ethics and the
  law?

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The difference is

• Ethics is a social contract consisting of
  principles which have been agreed and accredited
  by a professional organisation or members of the
  public. Punishment is in the form of societal
  ridicule, mockery of the profession, reputational
  damage.
• Whereas the law is a legal contract which have
  been stipulated in the legal acts by a government
  of the nation. Punishment will be viewed in court
  of justice.

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What is ethics in public relations then?

• The ethical practice of public relations is all
  about earning credibility
• Credibility begins with telling the truth
• Absolute ethics It is what is deemed to be
  ethical despite what other variables are out
  there. or known as utilitarism - i.e. majority
  rules
• Situational ethics - It is about filling in the
  many gray areas that may not have a direct and
  absolute truth/answer (Wright, 2012) i.e.
  anything goes approach
• PR then, must be based on doing the right thing
  beyond what the organisation wants you to do
  this is acting ethically in PR!
• E.g. Should a PR practitioner hide a few
  information about the organisation to the editor
  just to get a space in the media slot? OR should
  a practitioner be transparent?
• What about managing press conferences in times of
  crisis? What are ethical values PR practitioners
  have to adhere to?
• Numerous studies concluded that PR practitioners
  have a social conscience role to play and most
  of the times ethics are not at the same line with
  how PR is practised (Fitzpatrick, 1996 Leeper,
  1996 Wright, 2012)

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Being ethical is not always easy to do for PR
practitioners.

• General reputation of PR has been scarred due to
  peoples perception that PR is all about gaining
  publicity, all about gaining organisations
  economic standing/business development.
• Some publics view PR as manipulators of the
  public mind.
• E.g. Tench Yeomans (2014) states that ethics
  is challenging for PR when there is a question on
  whether or not PR is an actual profession.

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Public relations have often been accused of

• Withholding information from the public
• Directly and indirectly paying for views and
  opinions (bribing, giving gifts to the media for
  a story)
• Biased
• Distorting the reality (turning the wrong to the
  right)
• Propaganda e.g. biased towards one particular
  goal to win the hearts and minds of the people
  HOWEVER practising misinformation of the truth.
• Promoting products that are detrimental OR have
  negative impacts to society/community and
  industries
• Events that are ONLY to gain publicity

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• If PR is about publicity, about getting a space
  in the media slot, gaining publics interest,
  ensuring each stakeholder is happy (investors,
  suppliers, stockholders, customers etc).
• How then, can PR practise ethical values?

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To sustain professionalism and being ethical

• PR practice needs to be accredited (officially
  recognised by members of the public as a
  profession/as a strong practice)
• E.g.
• A collective agreement made by a professional
  association to list down responsibilities,
• Define standards of acceptable conducts,
• Clearly stated and well researched guideline for
  the profession.
• Institute of Public Relations Malaysia (IPRM) has
  clearly stated guideline for PR professionals.
  They are accredited, and PR practitioners are all
  encouraged to be a member with IPRM to get
  accredited and remain in good standards.

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Ethical codes of conduct by IPRM

• The objective of these codes of conduct is to
  encourage high standards of professionalism among
  PR practitioners, as shown below
• A member of IPRM must practise professionally and
  respectfully with the aim to benefit the general
  public
• A member of IPRM must act truthfully and fairly
• PR practitioners must ensure that every
  information that is disseminated is the truth
• PR practitioners CANNOT influence the mass media
  in dissemination of a story or news
• PR practitioners must have a strong knowledge
  about the organisation that they represent.

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Public relations ethics professionalism and the
issues of globalisation

• The challenge lies in the ability for
  corporations to separate themselves from
  BOTTOMLINE/ profit maximisation
• There must be reconceptualisation of how
  organisations COMMUNICATE WITH (NOT COMMUNICATE
  TO) their environmental publics (Stark
  Kruckeberg, 2001).
• Public relations ethics in the new global
  village is to ensure relationships are made not
  only for the benefit of the organisations but
  also that it benefits the community
• Putnams research showed that research done in
  Italy indicated that healthy networks of
  nonmarket relationships built a good sense of
  trust that increase efficiency of human
  relationships (in Korten, 1995)

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PR ethics is an integral aspect of todays
corporate practice because

• In a world where communication technology has
  become a dynamic force - a new global community
  is rapidly emerging
• For PR practitioners, the challenge is to build
  credibility of their roles in a world where every
  moves, every actions, every intentions are judged
  at a global scale (think social media).
• New ways of viewing PR practitioners are needed
  NOT JUST for publicity, not just for event
  planning to gain more profits, and it certainly
  no longer about propaganda and campaigning
  without long term benefit for the community.
• Public relations should be perceived and
  practised as communication that contributes to
  restoring and maintaining community. Thats what
  being ethical in PR!

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But how? Some key words for PR ethics

• A new approach to accountability (Stark
  Kruckerg, 2001) conduct and account for
  business in a way that is inclusive of
  stakeholders meaning transparency in EVERYTHING
  you in the organisation.
• Increasing value to CSR initiatives.
• E.g. Financial statement does not measure the
  total effect of a corporations activities on
  everybody the bottom line may look good, but
  employees may be trading their health for their
  jobs (Estes, 1996).
• Customers may be buying products that will cause
  long term side effects (Sharp, 1996, p. 60).

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• As PR educators/practitioners
• Should encourage ethical values to corporations
  to provide accurate and complete information to
  all publics, including the communities
  surrounding the organisations.
• A major contribution that PR educators can make
  is to help students become interculturally
  literate among present and future PR
  practitioners e.g. train PR practitioners to be
  interculturally competent, to be able to adjust
  and communicate with each public in a community
  based on their set values, not yours or your
  organisations. Another e.g. is properly ensure
  that organisations train interns.

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WEEK 10PR practices roles in various sectors

• ADVANCED PUBLIC RELATIONS
• KOM 5321
• DR. NURUL AIN MOHD HASAN

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PR roles and practices in various sectors

• Public sectors
• Emphasis is on Management perception and image
  building
• Promote governments policies, programmes and
  activities through promotional planning and
  strategic publicity
• Disseminate information strategically and
  effectively
• Monitor and evaluate media coverage and its
  effects media monitoring
• Customer and members of the public complaints
  coordinator
• Build relationships with both local and global
  media
• Speech writers to ministers/ image consultant
• Write ups of press releases, brochures, etc.

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The differences between public and private sectors

• Private sector practitioners would normally not
  write speeches for their bosses
• At times press releases are assigned to PR agents
  especially big MNCs
• MNCs and other private organisations main focus
  is to build relationships with various publics,
  in particular, NGOs, Government agencies and the
  media.
• Often times, work closely with other departments
  such as advertising and marketing departments for
  CSR activities and promotional events. E.g. Honda
  working closely with Marketing dept for Save the
  Rhino campaign.
• Their campaigns are sales driven e.g. Colgate
• Disseminating of information does NOT directly
  focus on nation building, but is aimed at
  increasing the bottom line through reputation
  building of the organisation.

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However, similarities exist

• Both PR in public and private sectors hold to
  these core objectives
• Building corporate identity. Inclusive of all
  channeling of information from organisation to
  publics with the aim to gain support from the
  publics about policies and operations of the
  organisation.
• Face crisis rationally and effectively in order
  to gain the trust and confidence of the publics
• Assist with improving the communities in the
  nation through CSR work, and alike.

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What makes these two sectors different is

• Public sector focuses on excellence in services
  for the general public
• Private sectors PR practice is often related
  with profitable gains through how many customers
  feel confident to buy the products and be loyal
  to the organisation based on its reputation and
  image.

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Culture and organisation

• To understand how culture works in an
  organisation, one must understand the roots of
  how the organisation was shaped.
• Classical theorists such as Max Weber (1818-1883)
  and his ideas of beaurocracy According to Weber,
  bureaucracy involves
• Clearly defined hierarchy
• Division of labour - No team work.
• Centralisation look at a pyramid from above.
  Its central in which everyone focuses to do work
  to achieve only one goal profit!
• Closed systems
• Importance of rules

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Can we say now, that organisational culture is
free from classical (bureaucratic) culture?

• Despite a shift from bureaucratic organisational
  forms toward more flexible, less formal
  structures bureaucratic control is still common
  in many organisations (Mumby, 2013).
• As a form of control, organisational
  bureaucracy exists as a system of rules, formal
  structures and enable members to gain advancement
  on merit not based on ones contacts and
  connections (Mumby, 2013).
• In public sectors, this type of organisational
  structure and culture is aimed at working
  together systematically and efficiently.

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Some challenges for PR in a public sector are

• Public relations practitioners working in a
  bureaucratic culture restricts their ability to
  move about freely in their tasks and roles. too
  many people to answer to.
• Communication breakdown sometimes occur due to
  information being lost in the process, making
  public relations roles and tasks inefficient.
• Practitioners in this culture always end up doing
  technical tasks due to the systematic rules and
  tasks that is already set by the organisation.

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• The movement of corporate culture, which is a
  change from bureaucratic control to ideological
  control, emerged in the 1980s (Mumby, 2013).
• In Malaysia, Mat Tazin and Kaur (2012) suggested
  that as a result of the privatisation process in
  1980s, PR practitioners were given more public
  relations roles that allow them to grow as
  practitioners, not just merely administrative
  roles.
• Ideological control can be an effective means of
  creating an engaged and energised workforce.
• The terms such as team family are terms
  used to create ideological corporate culture.

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• SEKIAN TERIMA KASIH