Social Responsibility in Public Relations

Michal LibermanCommunication and PR Major at Eastern Michigan

UniversityClass of ‘19

Definitions Review

Brief Review of The Article• In an interesting research done by Holley Reeves from the university of Georgia, the

raise of social responsibility importance was discussed.• Since the 1970, the corporation of social responsibility (CSR) has grown significantly

in the field of academic researchers and spread from business fields of research to the public relations field (and of course, other fields as well). However, the correlation between the PR professional’s perceptions and social responsibility have remained unclear.

• Reeves (2016) study is examining the role of public relations in known CSR programs. The interviewers for the study were communications professionals in nine diverse companies with active corporate responsibility programs and they have expresses positive perceptions of CSR agendas, yet, expressed negative criticize towards the public relations’ ownership of the programs. Meaning the approach with public relations in a supportive or complementary function is lacking.

Organizational Culture

• Organizational culture is a system of shared assumptions, values, and beliefs, which governs how people behave in organizations. These shared values have a strong influence on the people in the organization and dictate how they dress, act, and perform their jobs. (Madison, 2017)

• “What the business does and how they conduct the way business is done” (Reeves, 2016)

Public Relations and the Corporation of Social

Responsibility

What brought the PR profession to deal with CSR?

• “Expanding from business management to the public relations field and beyond, corporate social responsibility (CSR) has become an area of increased interest in academic research and professional practice since the 1960s” (Carroll, 1999 at Reeves, 2016).

• “In the current competitive and information driven business environment, corporations are held to a higher standard and expected and encouraged by civil society and governments to act ethically in a manner that benefits shareholders and stakeholders” (Benn, Todd & Pendleton, 2010; Haque, 2011; Waddock, 2008 at Reeves, 2016).

• The public relations industry, being the field that represents all the other fields, has high involvement in the public’s main focuses and mainstreams. As a result, the PR industry much recognize those societal pressures of CSR.

Justification for CSR and PR• “The social responsibility of business encompasses the economic, legal, ethical

and discretionary expectations that society has of organizations at a given point in time” (Carroll, 1979, p. 500 at Reeves, 2016).

• Public relations and corporate social responsibility initiatives must correlate in order to contribute to a similar organizational/ social needs and functions.

• Both the PR and the CSR fields are looking to enhance and strength the relationship between an organization and key stakeholders. The PR professionals is able to analyze the political, social, and historical environment, and by that, contribute to CSR program development. Moreover, both PR and CSR nurture organization public relations with relevant societies’ groups and individuals within CSR activities and PR practices (Clark, 2000, at Reeves, 2016)

Research: Questions and Findings

Research Questions:

• RQ1: What role should PR play in CSR programs? • RQ2: Are public relations professionals the appropriate

group to handle the development and implementation of corporate social responsibility programs?

• RQ2.a: If not public relations, what department should control CSR programs?

• (Reeves, 2016)

Findings• Interviewed professionals were firmly opposed to the PR ownership of

responsibility initiatives; however, each professional emphasized the importance of including many voices when developing a corporate responsibility programs.

• “Public relations held a supportive or complementary role for CSR as an advisor and communicator.”

• “Nearly half of those interviewed specifically used “integrated” or “embedded” to describe the position of their responsibility team; the remaining professionals described a similar situation using synonymous phrases. Corporate responsibility is “baked into the operations of our company,” “embedded into everything that we do,” and “just away of life in the company”. “

• (Reeves, 2016)

• Organizational structures and practices vary from business to business but several similarities emerged:

1. Corporate responsibility programs are autonomous and embedded in practices throughout the firm.

2. Most had a high-level corporate responsibility professional to organize and guide programs.

3. CSR programs were supported by executives and perpetuated by organizational cultures.

4. Public relations served as an advisor, communicator, and boundary spanner, and various communication strategies seek to balance informing the public with excessive promotion.

• (Reeves, 2016)

How does SR in PR relates to culture?

• Culture is what allowed CSR prepare its dedication in the organization with executive and create a “bottom-up” leadership for programs, such as social responsibilities, to balance the “top-down” executive support. Those functions are what defining the fundamental roles of culture.

• Like mentioned, public relation functions as an advisor, a story-teller, a convincer, a coordinator, and a communicator. Those functions are supporting any large company and enhancing the role of the companies’ responsibility to the society.

• “Public relations offers an external perspective to assist in developing strategy and informing programs, fulfilling the “bridging” function of an intermediary between an organization and its constituents”. (Reeves, 2016)

How does SR in PR relates to culture? – Continue.

•  Reeves (2016) have raised a few interesting insights with how the SR being enhanced in the companies' culture, using the role of public relations:

• One professional described this advisory role and suggested many of the questions posed: “We are there to say, ‘well have you thought about this? What will this community think if we give this grant here? Are there any stakeholders we’ve worked with for a long time?’... What would the potential impacts of making a decision that would be maybe good financially but reputational damaging?

• We help people understand how programs might be perceived or need to be perceived”

How does SR in PR relates to culture? – Continue.

• The interviewees (by Reeves, 2016) stated that the responsibility of spreading the culture of sustainability in an organization is being held by the PR, and that is an area of progression for both PR and CSR.

• “A strongly-embedded responsibility culture allows corporate responsibility to continue regardless of executive support or transitions within the company. Tasking PR with the spread and cultivation of this culture provides an outlet for public relations to develop a leadership role in the planning and implementation of CSR initiatives.”

How does SR in PR relates to culture? – Continue.

• Several practitioners also mentioned that there has been a growth incorporation of CSR news into conventional and pre-existing PR communication efforts. The combination of CSR stories into other communications functions, such as public relations, further created the correlation of responsibility into the culture and daily operations of the organization.

• The practitioners specifically indicated the growth in change and reporting requirements as an opportunity for future growth in PR’s role in corporate social responsibility efforts:

• “Sustainability reporting, CSR reporting will become integrated because there is so much overlap as to what the stakeholders of those reports are wanting to see now... I think that corporate communications groups are going to be playing a bigger role, and part of that too is embedding sustainability in all of their communications. Sustainability is really a way of how you do your business. It’s not just a one-off-separate program.” (Interviewer in Reeves, 2016)

In Conclusion:• Successful organizations enhance social responsibility efforts permeate in

their culture and in every all aspects of the company. From top management to the public relations department to the new incoming recruits and even in how the company is being criticized by an outsider. Public relations professionals’ skills and expertise play an important part in the successful development, performance, and progressiveness motion of these programs, but their parts are likely to be smaller than other departments.

• According to Reeves (2016), “Thriving corporate responsibility initiatives are characterized by teams in which PR advises and supports the broader business and community goals”.

Questions & Personal Suggestions

Questions1. How can I, as a PR professional, work with a client that has no interest to pay his

obligations to society on the social aspect?2. “Balanced reporting” is when the “company uses stories and press releases

surrounding the results-focused report to expand on successes, innovations, positives and negatives”. Is balanced reporting the responsibility of PR or Journalism?

3. “A practitioner described her strategy for balanced reporting in which she “humanizes” the information but supports it with statist” – In a world where “bad news” are more attractive than good-soft news the value of balanced reporting is even bigger – how can a media person create that balance between the pressure that is being put on him due to profit reasons, and his social responsibility of not only reporting bad news and present the world as a scary place?

Suggestions:

1. The link between social responsibility and public relations is rarely being emphasized in a clear way, at least in my program. My suggestion is making a clear connection between the terms in college program, because the connection between the two is very important.

2. Going back to Reeves (2016) research question: If not public relations, what department should control CSR programs? I feel like this question can be farther researched and specifically tested in varied departments of communication (for example; law, marketing, psychology, technical writing).

Reference:

• Reeves, Holley. "Vol. 10, No. 2 (Summer/Fall 2016) 1 Defining Public Relations’ Role In Corporate Social Responsibility Programs". PRSA. N.p., 2016. Web. 5 Feb. 2017.