the need for public relations to have a strategic role

The need for Public Relations to have a strategic role

ROLES AND PUBLIC RELATIONSLearning Unit 2 pp 71-7731 March 2011

• Learning Unit 1 revision test•Status on Project Legacy•Status on Project Lead SA (recently launched)

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DPR3-Public Relations-LU2.1-PR Strategic Role 31/3/2011

Concept of role and types of roles PRP fulfils within strategic management

Functional responsibilities of PR Recognise redefined role of strategist Recognise redefined role of manager Recognise redefined role of technician Apply PR role at macro, meso and

micro levels

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Roles and Public Relations [1]•Roles research identifies the many activities

in PR and how PRPs can deal with them• 1970s: PRPs seen as consultants to dominant

coalitions with each role type providing distinct forms of assistance (Glen Broom)

• PRP roles essential to understanding PR function

•Roles impact on achievement and enable performance measurement

•Roles determine how PRPs interact with their environments and those with whom they cooperate

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Roles and Public Relations [2]Historically, Broom identified four roles.

Expert prescriber as the PR expert who:Best informed about communication and PR issuesBest qualified to answer questions about these issuesConducts research, defines communication problems,

develops and implements PR programmesHas little/no influence on strategic decisionsHas passive management involvement

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Roles and Public Relations [3]Communication facilitator Interpreter or communication link between

management and stakeholders Sensitive listener and information broker who removes

relationship barriers between organisation and clientsProblem-solving process facilitator Assists in solving corporate communication problems Works with top management, part of strategic teamPublic Relations Technician Provides communication and journalistic skills to

implement communication programmes Does not conduct research to plan or evaluate work

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Functional responsibilities of PR with a strategic mandate• Develops communication strategy• Addresses emerging societal and stakeholder issues

identified through environmental scanning• Formulates PR strategy to achieve PR goals• Develops, implements and evaluates

communication plan to support deliberate and emerging strategies

• Counsel organisational leaders on communication responsibility toward employees

• Manages activities of a support function

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Class activity• Read through case study on pp 73-74 about:

“Communication challenges for the next decade – are we taking our role seriously?”

• Identify five key words that describe the role of the PRP in the case study

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Differentiating between PR roles [1]• PRP as strategist ▫Assists organisation to adapt to its societal and

stakeholder environment▫ Takes place through feeding information to strategy

formulation process as regards strategic stakeholders, societal issues and publics that emerge around these issues

• PRP as manager▫ Performs duties of middle management position▫ PLOC, staffing, budgeting

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• Functional responsibilities of PRP as strategist▫Monitors relevant

environmental development▫Anticipates consequences for

policies and strategies▫ Fulfils boundary spanning role▫ Forms part of strategy

formulation team▫ Performed at macro/top

management level

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Differentiating between PR roles [2]

Differentiating between PR roles [3]• Functional responsibilities of PRP as manager▫ Formulates PR strategy (deliberate and emergent)▫Develops strategic PR plan▫Develops communication policy for organisation▫Councils leaders/managers on communication

responsibility▫Oversees PR function’s support to other functions▫ Performed at departmental/divisional level▫Decides what to communicate to stakeholders to

solve problems with stakeholder relationships or capitalise on opportunities

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Differentiating between PR roles [4]• Functional responsibilities of PRP as technician▫ Performed at implementation/programme level▫Responsible for implementing communication plans/

campaigns directed at stakeholders▫ Traditional role performed by most practitioners

• Refer to three tables on pp 75 to 77 for three different roles

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Framework for strategist [1]• Strategic PR or strategic communication management

or corporate communication assumes PR to be a strategic management function with a mandate to function at a strategic level

• PR is a dynamic and developing field of study• One of most prominent and growing industries in SA

market• Development of technology and new approaches to

doing business has led to a metamorphosis in PR as well

• Strategist functions at top management level with responsibility for strategic PR management

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Framework for strategist [2]• Accomplished through:▫ environmental scanning, gathering information about

stakeholder concerns and expectations, identifying societal issues and feeding consequences into organisational stratgies

• PR strategy conceptualised as (Mintzberg, 1987):▫ Deliberate – pattern of decision to use communication as a

strategic opportunity to achieve organisational goals▫ Emergent – pattern of important decisions to use

communication to solve organisational problems in unstructured situations or capitalise on opportunities

• Conceptualisation of strategic PR role▫ Macro, meso and micro levels▫ Roles through boundary spanning and environmental

scanning provides input to strategy formulation processes

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• Read through the Lyme Bay case study on pp 81 – 86• Answer the two questions as the end of the case study to hand in and discuss in class

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the need for public relations to have a strategic role

Documents

pr expert

pr goalsdevelops

pr issuesbest

role type

concept of role

strategic roleroles

pr functionroles impact

public relationslearning