...& L’Etang, 2006, 270). Discuss this in the light of professionalism in the public relations industry Professionalism in public relations is a multifaceted construct that discusses the ethical standards and skills required for PR practitioners and some of the criteria that are central to the profession are a body of knowledge, ethical practice, certification, importance to society and review by peers (Grunig & Hunt, 1984). The core professional value that serves as the ethos for the whole profession is the foremost among these criteria (Grunig, 2000), however, some practitioners discount it for its lack of pragmatics due to failing to master communication techniques that are known by the average citizen, people today who call themselves public relations practitioners still do not measure up to professional standards and lack of training (J. Grunig & L. Grunig, 1992; Grunig & Hunt, 1984; Dozier, Grunig, & Grunig, 1995). Several issues are identified from this definition for the core professional value that serves as the ethos for professionalism in PR. The issues shall be the discussion of the use of professionalism in the PR industry. As PR is a specialised professional occupation encompassed with its own set of values and beliefs, debates on the role of the professionalism development and education are inevitable among the public. To have a breakthrough in the profession, the profession should not be confined to restrictions of values and beliefs, instead should...
Words: 1930 - Pages: 8
...THE DEVELOPMENT OF PUBLIC RELATIONS IN INDONESIA By: Nabila (1406546866) A survey was conducted by the U.S. Department of Labor in Fortune Magazine and U.S. News and World Report said that public relation is one of the fastest growing professions. A public relations is a profession that is needed by all the organization, business, and other sectors. Many common people said that public relations practitioners are only depend on the how well they speak. However, the job that public relations practitioners should do pretty much tough. Not only talking, they have to be able to do many things like giving an advice to the CEO, solving of the organization problem, and evaluating the organizational programs, etc. More definitions on public relations have been determined. These are several definitions of public relations from some experts as follow: Otis Baskin, et.al stated that “Public relations is a management function that helps achieve organizational objective, defines philosophy, and facilitate organizational change. Public relations practitioners communicate with all relevant internal and external publics to develop positive relationships and to create consistency between organizational goals and social expectation.”. While Cuplit in Ihut Murni Aritonang, et.al defined that “Public Relations is the management function that establishes and maintains mutually beneficial relationships between an organization and the public on whom its success or failure depends.” Another definition...
Words: 1190 - Pages: 5
...Public Relations: History, Ethics, and its Future Public relations is a vast and very lucrative field of business. Depending on which branch of this field that one is interested in pursuing will determine the limitless path of possibilities that each professional will face. As the years pass, the methods of public relations have advanced tremendously. Resources have branched out and professionals are gaining clientele from all over the world. From past to the present, the educational and professional standards have really grown in an effort to ensure that all current and incoming professionals are trained properly. The public relations field was in action long before it was a named profession. It was said to be dated back as far as 50 B.C. When Julius Caesar wrote a book about his experiences in the military and promoted himself as the best choice for political office. St. Augustine, who was a professor of the Western Roman Empire gave speeches to the minister of imperial court. He was one of the first to be active in public relations. Thomas Paine sent inspirational writings to the soldiers during the war which gave them the strength to continue the fight. As time marched on, there were even more people that were prominent in this field which opened the doors for public relations to officially become a profession. Ivy Lee, a top ad visor to John Rockefeller, was a very popular person in this time. Mr. Rockefeller was the owner...
Words: 638 - Pages: 3
...Ethics in the Public Relations Industry There are a wide range of complex definitions applied to the practice of ‘Public Relations’, the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) for example has a full page statement outlining the profession (PRSA website1), as well as the definition formally adopted during the PRSA 1982 National Assembly “Public Relations helps an organization and its publics adapt mutually to each other” (PRSA website2). For the purposes of this discussion however I plan to use the definition as outlined in the PRINZ Constitution and Rules (PRINZ Constitution): “Public relations practice shall be defined as the deliberate, planned and sustained effort to establish and maintain mutual understanding and excellent communications between an organisation and its publics” With this in mind it would appear that upholding principals such as honesty, independence and fairness to be a simple task; however when financial or employment pressures change the practice from “establish and maintain mutual understanding” to more selfish ‘profit driven’ and organisation centric views, ethical challengers arise. The modern business environment is fertile ground for unethical behaviour. There is an overwhelming emphasis on profit among many (certainly not all) large organisations. Looking at the prevalence of this ethos, particularly when combined with the short-term rewards that one may gain through less ethical actions, it is certainly not hard to understand how many...
Words: 2102 - Pages: 9
...Because public relations has roots in journalism and many of its practitioners were once journalists, there is an unfortunate tendency to apply journalism standards to public relations. It is, however, misguided and unfair to both professions. Despite using similar skills, the two fields are fundamentally different and seek different ends. Their ethical standards are also very different. That should not be interpretted as meaning that one of them is better than or worse than the other; they're just different, and it is important to understand those differences. PR and journalism have some similarities, but . . . The Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ), the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA), and the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) ethical guidelines all agree about the importance and value of such key concepts as truth, accuracy, fairness, human rights, freedom of speech, and democratic principles. But, that can be somewhat misleading. The underlying differences between public relations and journalism are far more basic and far more critical than these similarities in what they value. According to their own professional codes and standards, there are fundamental differences in whom they represent and whose well-being they most directly serve. DIFFERENCES!!! Journalism serves the general public, and journalists are expected to act in the public's best interests even if such actions have detrimental effects on their employers. ...
Words: 1117 - Pages: 5
...Issues In Public Relations INTRODUCTION At multiple points in their careers, public relations (PR) practitioners are likely to face decisions that are ethical in nature. Such decisions reflect a range of ethical dilemmas between, for example, truth vs. loyalty, justice vs. mercy, short-term vs. long-term consequences, and the individual vs. the collective (Kidder 1995, p. 18; Stacks & Wright 1989, pp. 53-67). Public relations practitioners, by nature of their position and job responsibilities, are often in a crossroad of a range of competing interests. Often, the tension may be between the practitioner’s own values and the culture of the organization. In other cases, it may be a conflict between the practitioner’s professional code of ethics and organizational norms and expectations. In yet other circumstances, they may be faced with competing interests between the organization and its various publics. At the very least, practitioners will frequently confront contradictions between business demands for economic performance and public expectations for ethical conduct. Concerns over these competing responsibilities and the ethical dilemmas they produce for public relations are the subject of this essay. In it, a range of challenges faced by public relations practitioners related to issues of ethics and corporate social responsibility (CSR) are explored. It is argued that CSR has, in many respects, altered the expectations and demands placed on the profession. As a profession...
Words: 311 - Pages: 2
...GLOBAL PUBLIC RELATIONS-ONLY LOCAL PUBLIC RELATIONS.DISCUSS “It is widely accepted amongst economists that since World War II, the world has been integrated into a single market by lowering trade and investment” (Hill, 2001, p.17). Under this lowering integrated and interdependent world economy, often described as “global economy,” individuals’ nation’s economic gains are much greater than the losses through free flow of goods, services, and capital. The multilateral negotiations among nations, the international organizations to monitor and develop international trade and monetary system, World Trade organization, International Monetary Fund, and World Bank are good illustrations to represent this trend of world economy. Further, Phatak (1997, p.3) claimed that globalization of world economy leads to globalization of other societal entities such as politics, education, and culture etc. Conversely, in the field of public relations, this environmental change led by globalization means opportunities and challenges to practitioners as well as scholars. According to Cutlip, and Broom (2000, p.6), public relations is the management of function that establishes and maintains mutually beneficial relationships between an organization and the public’s on whom its success and failures depends. In other words, public relations is all about the liaison between an organization and the public. Without a clear definition of publics, the discourse of public relations...
Words: 3883 - Pages: 16
...Running Head: ORGANIZATIONA AND SOCIETAL RELATIONS Organizational and Societal Relations Nijema Brown University of Phoenix Organizational and Societal Relations Public relations deal’s with both organizational and societal relations functions, which has two elements each, media and employee relations (organizational function) and community relations and social responsibility (societal relations) which, describes the make-up of the functions. This paper is an analysis or how the two functions organizational and societal relations can pose as issues in an organization and ways to address the issue to the public. Functions of Public Relations Public relations have two functions, which are organizational and societal. The organizational function deals with what a company is supposed to do as an organization, while societal function is all about what the public expects from an organization and how an organization communicates and build relationships with the public. Two main elements of organizational function are media and employee relations. Two main elements or the societal function are community relations and social responsibility. Organizational Functions Media Relations Media relations are significantly important to public relations because it is the main way organizations communicate with the public. “The public finds most of its information about a company through the media” (Functions of Public Relations). Different media outlets such as the newspaper...
Words: 1100 - Pages: 5
...THE EVOLUTION OF PUBLIC RELATIONS Public relations may seem like a very modern profession, but people having actually been strategically placing stories in the media for years. As far back as the late 1800s, famous historical figures and occurrences were promoted through smaller scale weekly newspapers. Let’s take a quick trip back in time and follow the evolution of Public Relations: The Early Years One of the earliest cases of disaster management through PR was in the 1890s when 80 baseball players left the National League. As you can imagine, fans and owners were in an uproar. With the help of a little media outreach, the National League was able to help straighten out management-labor disputes and secure the relationships amongst the players, fans and owners. While this may not be the most modern form of Public Relations (and was certainly not called “Public Relations” at the time), it’s important to be able to relate what happened here to the basics of our job: using interpersonal communication, literature, public events and art to persuade other individuals to believe in our client’s services and/or programs. The First Publicist Historical figures such as Henry Ford and Theodore Roosevelt have been attributed with being the first to utilize the basic PR concepts: “positioning” and “ready accessibility.” In other words, these men were able to position themselves as thought leaders who were easily accessible to the press. But it wasn’t until 1906 that a man came along...
Words: 1913 - Pages: 8
...A Brief History of Public Relations Public relations has been with us for thousands of years. The Greeks had a word for it: sematikos: to signify, to mean. Semantikos means semantics, which can be defined as how to get people to believe things and do things. That is not a bad definition of public relations. In 50 B.C. Julius Caesar wrote the first campaign biography, Caesar’s Gallic Wars. He publicized his military exploits to convince the Roman people that he would make the best head of state. Candidates for political office continue to publicize themselves with campaign biographies and accounts of military exploits to this day. In 394 A.D., St. Augustine was a professor of rhetoric in Milan, the capitol of the Western Roman Empire. He delivered the regular eulogies to the emperor and was the closest thing to a minister of propaganda for the imperial court. Thus, St. Augustine was one of the first people in charge of public relations. The modern equivalent would be the President’s press secretary or communication director. In 1776, Thomas Paine wrote “The Crisis,” a pamphlet which convinced the soldiers of Washington’s army to stay and fight at a time when so many were prepared to desert so they could escape the cold and the hardships of a winter campaign. Paine was a master of political propaganda whose writing could get people to do things and believe things. Benjamin Franklin made it a rule to forbear all contradiction to others, and all positive assertions of his own. He...
Words: 1072 - Pages: 5
...points in their careers, public relations (PR) practitioners are likely to face decisions that are ethical in nature. Such decisions reflect a range of ethical dilemmas between, for example, truth vs. loyalty, justice vs. mercy, short-term vs. long-term consequences, and the individual vs. the collective (Kidder 1995, p. 18; Stacks & Wright 1989, pp. 53-67). Public relations practitioners, by nature of their position and job responsibilities, are often in a crossroad of a range of competing interests. Often, the tension may be between the practitioner’s own values and the culture of the organization. In other cases, it may be a conflict between the practitioner’s professional code of ethics and organizational norms and expectations. In yet other circumstances, they may be faced with competing interests between the organization and its various publics. At the very least, practitioners will frequently confront contradictions between business demands for economic performance and public expectations for ethical conduct. Concerns over these competing responsibilities and the ethical dilemmas they produce for public relations are the subject of this essay. In it, a range of challenges faced by public relations practitioners related to issues of ethics and corporate social responsibility (CSR) are explored. It is argued that CSR has, in many respects, altered the expectations and demands placed on the profession. As a profession, public relations have a long and contested...
Words: 2426 - Pages: 10
...Public Relations Defined MKT/438 Public Relations August 11, 2013 Richard Dool Define Public Relations Companies large and small hire Public Relations or PR professionals to bring awareness of their products or services. Public relations, is defined by many different sources in many different ways. The purpose of Public Relations differs from one company to the next, depending on organizational size, the particular product or service they may be drawing interests towards, their are a number of reasons why Public Relations is defined so many different ways. Public Relations: The Profession and the Practice Public Relations: The Profession and the Practice, Chapter 1: The Nature of Public Relations, defines Public Relations as, “Public relations is a leadership and management function that helps achieve organizational objectives, define philosophy, and facilitate organizational change. Public relations practitioners communicate with all relevant internal and external publics to develop positive relationships and to create consistency between organizational goals and societal expectations. Public relations practitioners develop, execute, and evaluate organizational programs that promote the exchange of influence and understanding among an organization’s constituent parts and publics” (Baskin, Heiman, Lattimore, & Toth, 2007). Even as defined by this text this is a continually working definition, meaning it will continue to change as the need of...
Words: 763 - Pages: 4
...Public Relations Chaka West BUS600: Management Communications with Technology Tools (MWA 1109B) Sean O’Leary March 8, 2011 Public relations are an effective means of connecting and building relationships with organizations, companies and or individuals with the general public. “When it comes to public relations, it’s hard to do anything correctly if you don’t listen to your customers (Hurst, 2011).” It can be defined as an activity that is undertaken to create a positive reputation. In order for this to be effective, those who serve in that capacity must possess skills to distribute information effectively. Public relations, driven by good communication skills, must be done effectively and accurately if an organization wants to promote its products and grasp the consumers’ attention. According to Al Ries, “You have to start with the mind of the prospect and you have to think about what’s in their minds and relate what you are doing or what your product has to offer, to what’s in their minds (n.d)” Public relations play an important role in the success or demise of an organization. When the public relation is not driven with the right intentions it can create the wrong impression. Public relations personnel must be continuously mindful of counterproductive behaviour’s among the organization's target audiences - customers, prospects, competitors and others. Research Process: The research will be done in 9 steps. First, I will choose a topic that interests me...
Words: 1025 - Pages: 5
...Introduction The public relations of an organization is like the air in the tires of a taxi. Nobody is really concerned about or notices the air in the tires until there is a puncture or a blow out. It is the taxi driver who should check and maintain the correct tire pressure. Public relations are the functions that provide benefits to the organization and its strategy and marketing functions. Organizational functions are those distinct advantages that a good PR campaign provides to an organization such as brand building, creating public awareness, providing feedback, etc. Public Relations Public relations are a constantly evolving and dynamic profession. It has come a long way from its image as a glamorous but anyone can do it job. In fact, as little as 20 years ago, it was highly recommended that to enter the profession, one needed nothing more than secretarial training. But public relations have grown beyond this image. Today, public relations are a sophisticated industry that needs individuals who are confident in their abilities and skills and are aware that they are well suited to a highly demanding profession. Today’s public relations practitioners have a range of tertiary qualifications and constantly try to improve and expand their knowledge and skills. “ Public relations specialists handle organizational functions such as media, community, consumer, industry, and governmental relations; political campaigns; interest-group representation; conflict mediation; and...
Words: 1103 - Pages: 5
...SOCIAL MEDIA The social media have played a major role in changes and challenges in Public Relations through leadership because social media is a big platform where Public Relations used to deliver information and share. The changes in Public Relations have many such as it be trend among every industry where social media become a medium to receive and send information, message and many more. As now day’s social media become a major trend in our daily activity and social media is one of medium which public use to get information and current activity that is happening around them. Moreover it brings a lot changes in Public Relations industry as it help the practitioners to learn more and get knowledge and not only that, able to get response from public towards the activity or message which might be helpful for them to upgrade themselves for better in future. Every Public Relations practitioners need changes in their role as public relations because it can make them use more tools to reach the audience and public worldwide. Meanwhile the challenges that Public Relations face through social media could be among the investor relation or competitors in one same thing which might affect the public’s view and response towards our message. For example there is multiple channel now days such as email, blogs, social media, Youtube and many more CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES According to the survey topic, there are few challenges that face is the power of images. Image-driven content...
Words: 1271 - Pages: 6
