IMC_1 Public Relations (PR)

PUBLIC RELATION

“Public Relations is defined as helping an organization and its publics adapt mutually to each other.”

Public relations is a planned and sustained activity to help an institution create a social climate favorable for its growth. It is based on the fundamental belief that the survival of any enterprise, public or private depends today on the sensitive response to changes in public opinion.

The International Public Relations Association defines public relations as “Public relations is the art and social science of analyzing trends, predicting their consequences, counseling organisation leaders and implementing planned programmes of action which will serve both the organization’s and the public interest.”

Public relation is a two way process. On the one hand it seeks to interpret an organization to society while on the other it keeps the organization informed about the expectation of the society. Fundamentally public relation is a means by which an organization improves its operating environment.


ROLE OF PUBLIC RELATIONS
Public relations people have the role of being always in the middle – pivoted between their clients/employers and their publics. They must be attuned to the thinking and needs of the organizations they serve or they cannot serve well. They must be attuned to the dynamics and needs of the publics so they can interpret publics to the clients, as well as interpret the clients to the publics.


WHO NEEDS PUBLIC RELATIONS?
The diverse institutions and individuals requiring professional Public Relations go beyond the more traditionally defined corporate world. Who are they? And Who are the “Publics” of Public Relations?

Following are the main “publics” of Public Relations:

A College or University: A public relations expert needs to defuse those crisis situations where student bodies could be in revolt over demands, where there is a change in educational policy, where something could be wrong with the examination papers or simply when, in interaction with State and Central Governments, grants have to be sought or when a college organizes intercollegiate festivals.

Case: public relations for college festivals like Kshitij – Mithibai college, Brouhaha of sidnam college, Drishti of Narsee Monjee college.

A Newspaper: Some of the better newspapers have Public Relations Staff quite separate from the advertising department or the marketing people.

A Non-Profit Body: From the point of view of the organisation, whether it is Rotary, UNICEF, the Institute of Cerebral Palsy, the Red Cross, or any number of charitable and cultural and social service organizations, a Public Relations cell is an integral part of the institution. It has to interact with a number of bodies for its very existence, for the support of its causes, for mis-understandings that can crop-up as, at every stage it is public money at stake.

An Individual: An aspirant to a political post needs it, so does a person standing for president-ship of a chamber of commerce. So does an actor, a producer or a gallery owner, or a non-resident who is seeking to make a mark in the Indian business circle.

A Cause: The problems exist – AIDS, drugs, population explosion and other environment concerns, slums, poverty of every sort, child abuse, women’s rights on abortion and property and marriage laws, the handicapped, uneducated – and the champions and doers for these causes are only in thousands, not in millions. If PR agencies unite and pool in their resources they can help in tackling such problems.


CORPORATE BODIES:

Corporate organizations constitute bulk of recognized Public relations activity involving numerous publics.

• Employee Interaction:

The most important “public” of Public Relations activity in a corporation is the employee. He is vital in a more crucial way than people imagine. The employee could be viewed as a decision-maker, someone who cannot merely be a target for communication but who would also be dictating the direction in which the company moves. Which means that the Public Relations Practitioners cannot be mere purveyors of information, but have to ensure an involvement and participation of and direction from employees. Employee aspirations have soared as a result of which a PR expert has to remember some basic tenets. He has to ensure the least amount of secrecy and holding back of information. He has to cater to many strata of employees, he has to convey the company’s plans, ideas, projects and vision, and also ensuring better communications during a crisis. Effective Public Relations begins at home!

• Shareholder Interface:

A shareholder relation is a key aspect of corporate Public Relations. Shareholders, particularly those who have stayed with a company for many years because they value their investment in it, deserve more than just the statutory annual report, interim report or ‘not well’ shareholders visits to the company which turn out to be a mere picnic. A well-treated shareholder can do a lot for the company’s image in terms of his feedback to his peer group. For, armed with his detailed knowledge of the company’s financial status, twinned with the kind of “treatment” the company the metes out to him in terms of goodies like shareholders meets and gifts and information, he can be a better ambassador of the company than the organisation could ever imagine. Also now there are new investor associations, which are championing the rights of shareholders. This is an issue companies need to be aware of so that their interaction can extend beyond shareholders to these associations.

Example: Balrampur Chini
The “Stretch” philosophy of Balrampur Chini Mills, is yet another inspiring example of public relations. Stretch is the philosophy of the company, their baseline and also the attitude that reflects everything they do, according to their Managing Director Vivek Saraogi. It is used as the title of their annual reports; it is also a pocket-sized document that is sent out to a few thousand people encapsulating anecdotes that have compiled with great sensitivity. These anecdotes embody the Stretch philosophy, as you would apply it to everything from uncompromising integrity to stretch as a boon, as an education. It has inspired the depressed individual as well as the corporate chief alike.

The annual report for they year 2000-01 gives an overview of the sugar industry and the role of Balrampur. In the new scenario of progressive de-regulation, the future of the industry in the international context and then goes into the Measurement of Value, the requirements of Corporate Governance, analytical reports and a focus on Community Development. The 68-page report leaves no stone unturned, giving an invaluable picture without actually doing any pictorial spreads.


Consumer Consciousness: Where public relations comes in, when marketing products is concerned, is in revealing the character of the company that is behind a product. It could be summed up as the reassurance factor beyond brand image. Llew von Essen in his Handbook of Public relations quotes, “Public Relations Techniques can be effectively used to put the company’s side of picture across; to explain marketer’s problems, talk about product complexity, review market conditions and pressures, show how good companies are in combating these pressures and above all highlight how the consumer benefits from product improvement, research and keen competition.

Dealer Dealings: Most of the companies, especially those with large dealer networks, have no integrated approach to communicate or formulate a corporate personality in the minds of the dealers. However, a handful of companies have through their Public Relations efforts, instituted even such things as financial funds for dealers that have served them well when they have they have required sums of money for, say, a wedding in the family or a crisis arising out of an accident.

• Media Monitoring:

The area, which occupies considerable amounts of time for any Public Relations department is the relationship with the media. To many people, this is probably the only function of a public relations person. To the Chief executive, this is the area, which is likely to create the greatest problems. To the public relations expert, this is what brings in the best opportunities to communicate the product-policy-plan conundrum of the company through well-mustered plans. To the journalist or the television producer, it is sometimes a reactive situation of reviving unsolicited plugs, but also one, which could provide material for analysis, projection of industrial progress and background for potentially explosive stories.

• Government Goodwill:

When public relations was in its infancy, the strongest focus, and perhaps the need of the day, was lobbying with the powers that be. Today, the needs of the company to interact with the policy makers, not just through their government liaison departments, but also through their public relations managers who are expected to be able to study the complete picture and present not just a case for license but a total image package.

Human Resource Management_7

HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

In Human Resource Management, we are dealing with

HUMAN BEING

l Is very Sensitive

l Very Volatile

l Very Expensive

l Very Precious

HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT DEFINED

"Harmonizing and Managing people towards corporate goals"

FUNCTIONS OF HRM

l Determining Job Slots in an organization through need research and analysis.

l Inter linking Job Hierarchy, vertically and horizontally and upwards, sideways and downward.

l Determining Job Design, functions and responsibility inter-alias Relationship.

l Selecting, Recruiting, Orientating and Training individuals.

l Providing Material and non-material Incentives, Motivation, Compensation and Rewards, including Benefits.

l Appraising and improving Work Performance and Efficiency--- enhanced Productivity.

l Formulating Policies, Rules and Regulations and Communicating the same.

l Harnessing Employee Commitment, Morale, Trust and Loyalty.

HUMAN RESOURCE PLANNING

Efficient human resource planning needs to answer these questions.

l Are the right numbers and type of people doing the things that need doing?

l Are we using our human resources well?

l Do we have the people we need to satisfy our future requirements?

Selection

is maintaining a recruitment policy that guarantees a continuous supply of personnel in all areas of the business, that meets needs caused by retirement, resignations, promotions, maternity leave, business expansion or diversification across the organization .

Performance Appraisal

Is the appraisal of an employee's performance in a way that ensures the output of an employee matches the expectations of the organization. This requires a proactive approach to the appraisal of the employee, in order that agreed targets can be set and analyzed on a pre-determined basis. Often this performance may be linked to pay structure and bonuses.

Training

Once an employee is on a payroll, they must be included in a rolling program of personal development in order to maintain their interest and motivation. The organization needs to ensure that employees are able to meet the challenges of their role as the environment undergoes changes, especially in areas such as competition, technology and product development.

"RIGHT -PERSON-FOR- THE-RIGHT -JOB"

l Can we accomplish above? If so how?

l Should we fit job into a person or a person to the job?

l Can we change the Nature of the job? To suit an individual?

WHA T IS A RIGHT JOB?

JOB DEFINED

"Is a slot in an organization hierarchy with explicitly defined parameters, based on its need.”

PARAMETERS

Job title * Job function * Job description * Job responsibilities* Job authority * Job Accountability * Job limitation * Job rewards* Job Trends * Job hierarchical status/level * Perquisites and Benefits etc.

• Job is not right; because it is right. Job is right when above parameters are clearly, professionally and explicitly defined in clear and understandable terms.

HRM’s Responsibilities

l HRM's first responsibility

is to find amongst many an incumbent with similar peculiarity as that of the job in question

l HRM's second most responsibility

is to find a person slightly lesser than the dimensions of the job slot.

HUMAN RESOURCE POLICIES

POLICY

"Is a standard format of action taken or to be taken in handling business issues."

A good Human resource governance pre-empts number of policies.

A good Human resource governance pre-empts number of policies.

l Selection policy

l Recruitment policy induction policy

l Indoctrination policy

l Orientation policy

l Training policy

l Performance appraisal

l Reward policy

l Compensation policy

l Promotion, relocation, transfer policy

HRM POLICIES SHOULD BE

l CONSISTENT

l REGULARALY UPDATED

l INCONSONANCE WITH LAWS OF THE LAND

l SHOULD BE CLEAR AND EASY TOUNDERSTAND

l SHOULD HAVE HUMANE ELEMENT IN ALL ITS CONTENT

LAST ACTIVITY

AS HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGERS YOU ARE DEALING WITH HUMANS

matter What?

l Be Judicious

l Be Fair

l Be Transparent

l Be Discrete

l Be Honest

l Be yourself.

Organizational behavior_3

Managing People and Organizations

Managerial Perspectives on Organizational Behavior

Organizational behavior is not a designated function or area. Rather, it is a perspective or set of tools that all managers can use to carry out their jobs more effectively.

A knowledge of organizational behavior helps managers to better:

– Recognize why others in the organization behave as they do.

– Interact with colleagues, peers, and coworkers.

– Understand individual needs, motives, behaviors, and feelings.

– Interact with suppliers, customers, and competitors.

Figure 2.1
Basic Managerial Functions

Planning

–The process of determining the organization’s desired future position and the best means to get there.

Organizing

–The process of designing jobs, grouping jobs into units, and establishing patterns of authority between jobs and units.

Leading

–The process of getting the organization’s members to work together toward the organization’s goals.

Controlling

–The process of monitoring and correcting the actions of the organization and its members to keep them directed toward their goals.

Basic Managerial Roles

Interpersonal Roles

–Are primarily social in nature in which the manager’s main task is to relate to other people in certain ways.

Informational Roles

–Involve some aspect of information processing.

Decision-Making Roles

–Involve some aspect of decision-making.

Table 2.1 Important Managerial Roles

Critical Managerial Skills

Technical Skills

–Those skills necessary to accomplish specific tasks within the organization.

Interpersonal Skills

–Equip a manager with the ability to communicate with, understand, and motivate individuals and groups.

Conceptual Skills

–Involve a manager’s ability to think in the abstract. A manager with strong conceptual skills is able to see the “big picture.”

Diagnostic Skills

–Allow managers to better understand cause-and-effect relationships and recognize the optimal solution to problems.

Figure 2.2 Managerial Skills at Different Organizational Levels

Organizational Challenges

1) Workforce Expansion and Reduction

–
a) Downsizing

•Is the process of purposely becoming smaller by reducing the
size of the workforce or by shedding entire
divisions or businesses.

–b) Expansion

•Is the process of growing an organization by expanding the workforce.

•During boom periods like the late 1990s, downsizing gave way in many sectors of the economy to growth and expansion.

2) The New Workplace

–
a) Workforce Diversity

•The term “diversity” refers to differences among people.

•Diversity may be reflected along numerous dimensions, but most managers tend to focus on age, gender, ethnicity, and physical abilities and disabilities.

–
b) Characteristics of the New Workforce

• In coping with the new workforce, managers face three main challenges:

– Create an environment attractive to today’s worker.

– Providing new and different incentives to keep people motivated and interested in their work.

– Build enough flexibility into the organization to accommodate an ever-changing set of lifestyles and preferences.

3) Organizational Change

–Simply put, an organization that fails to monitor its environment and to change to keep pace with that environment is doomed to failure.

4) Information Technology (IT)

–a) Specific forms of hardware such as cellular phones and fax machines have made it easier than ever for managers to communicate with each other.

–b) At the same time, these innovations have increased the work pace for managers, cut into their time for thoughtful contemplation of decisions, and increased the amount of information they must process.

5) New Ways of Organizing

–a) Many organizations are seeking greater flexibility and the ability to respond more quickly to their environment by adopting flat structures.

–
b) The increased use of work teams also goes hand-in-hand with this new approach to organizing.

Environmental Challenges

1) Competitive Strategy

–a) A firm’s competitive strategy explains how it intends to compete with other firms in the same industry.

–b) Most firms adopt one of three competitive strategies:

•(i) Differentiation

–Firm makes its products and services “different” from others in the marketplace.

•(ii) Cost Leadership

–Firm works aggressively to push its costs as low as possible.

•(iii) Focus

–Firm targets products or services to meet the unique needs of a specific customer group.

2) Globalization

–a) The globalization trend started soon after World War II.

–b) Managing in a global economy poses many different challenges and opportunities.

–c) An important consideration is how behavioral processes vary widely across cultural and national boundaries.

3) Ethics and Social Responsibility

–a) Individual ethics are that individual’s beliefs about what is right or wrong or good or bad.

–b) An organization’s social responsibility is its obligation to protect and contribute to the social environment in which it functions.

4) Quality and Productivity

–a) More and more organizations are using quality as a basis for competition.

–b) Improving quality tends to increase productivity because making higher-quality products generally results in less waste and rework.

5) Manufacturing and Service Technology

–a) Managing manufacturing and service operations requires managers to keep abreast of new forms of technology and to make appropriate investments in new equipment.

–b) The service sector has become much more important.

Managing for Effectiveness

1) Three Basic Levels of Outcomes That Determine Organizational Effectiveness

–a) Individual Behaviors

•Result from a person’s participation in an organization.

–b) Individual Attitudes

•Involve levels of job satisfaction or dissatisfaction, organizational commitment, and organizational involvement.

–c) Stress

•Stress is becoming an increasingly more important topic in organizational studies.