Sunday, August 19, 2007
Week 6: Chapter 4 Blog
1. I think the key points to remember from this week's readings were...
- Practitioners need foundation knowledge on several bodies of law as there is no one over-arching body of law covering public relations.
- PR decisions must be made in context of the legal environment.
- It is often more beneficial for an organization to negotiate a settlement or seek some alternative means of resolving conflict than to expose clients to public scrutiny.
- The bodies of law that govern PR are diverse and complex.
- The key areas to be considered in the legal environment are:
· protecting reputations
· protecting creative ideas
· the practitioner’s duty of care
· legal risk management
· technology and future legal directions in a public relations context
- Reputations are integral to contemporary PR.
- “A reputation is generally something an organization has with strangers, but a relationship is generally something an organization has with its friends and associates.”
- Legal issues can affect reputations and relationships.
- The tort of defamation limits what a PR practitioner can publish, but it also allows practitioners and their clients to protect their reputations.
- A PR practitioner can defame someone unintentionally and without even knowing that person exists.
- At common law the defenses to defamation are truth, fair comment and privilege. These vary between the states and territories.
- The court will take three factors into account when determining whether there is a duty to publish to the world:
· the extent of the publication
· the proportion of readers who have a legitimate interest in receiving the communication
· whether the publication is for commercial gain
- A defamatory publication is costly in terms of reputations, time and money.
- The Trade Practices Act 1974 is set of laws that PR practitioners need to consider.
- Section 52 of the act and the equivalent state provisions impose onerous obligations on organizations and those people who communicate the organization’s message.
- There are many legal aspects related to the real and creative property in public relations.
- The main rules to follow are:
· Real property law
· Personal property law
· Intellectual property law
· Copyright Act 1968
- It is unlikely that a PR practitioner would take action against a media outlet for circulating their message, as this would be the primary intention of releasing the communication.
- Confidentiality agreements are important within an organization, they are crucial in keeping the ‘trade secret’ within the organization.
- Contract law is required in public relations to both define and maintain the relationships between all parties involved.
- Duty of care in public relations is when advice is given to a party and both the adviser and the receiver know that it is okay to trust that advice, in other words the PR practitioner is trustworthy to the client.
2. The readings made me think more about public relations theory/practice in that …
This chapter made me aware of the intense legal environment which public relations are a part of. There are many legal situations that can arise and a public relations practitioner needs to be aware of the strategies to minimize harm to both the organization and the public. The PR practitioner needs to keep their knowledge up to date with the current laws governing their actions such a property laws, copyright laws, common law and contract law, as well as many others that influence their operations. One slip up concerning the laws of public relations could mean the end of a career and also the failure of a major organization. These mistakes can at least cost an organization its reputation or in a worse case the organization can be destroyed.
- Practitioners need foundation knowledge on several bodies of law as there is no one over-arching body of law covering public relations.
- PR decisions must be made in context of the legal environment.
- It is often more beneficial for an organization to negotiate a settlement or seek some alternative means of resolving conflict than to expose clients to public scrutiny.
- The bodies of law that govern PR are diverse and complex.
- The key areas to be considered in the legal environment are:
· protecting reputations
· protecting creative ideas
· the practitioner’s duty of care
· legal risk management
· technology and future legal directions in a public relations context
- Reputations are integral to contemporary PR.
- “A reputation is generally something an organization has with strangers, but a relationship is generally something an organization has with its friends and associates.”
- Legal issues can affect reputations and relationships.
- The tort of defamation limits what a PR practitioner can publish, but it also allows practitioners and their clients to protect their reputations.
- A PR practitioner can defame someone unintentionally and without even knowing that person exists.
- At common law the defenses to defamation are truth, fair comment and privilege. These vary between the states and territories.
- The court will take three factors into account when determining whether there is a duty to publish to the world:
· the extent of the publication
· the proportion of readers who have a legitimate interest in receiving the communication
· whether the publication is for commercial gain
- A defamatory publication is costly in terms of reputations, time and money.
- The Trade Practices Act 1974 is set of laws that PR practitioners need to consider.
- Section 52 of the act and the equivalent state provisions impose onerous obligations on organizations and those people who communicate the organization’s message.
- There are many legal aspects related to the real and creative property in public relations.
- The main rules to follow are:
· Real property law
· Personal property law
· Intellectual property law
· Copyright Act 1968
- It is unlikely that a PR practitioner would take action against a media outlet for circulating their message, as this would be the primary intention of releasing the communication.
- Confidentiality agreements are important within an organization, they are crucial in keeping the ‘trade secret’ within the organization.
- Contract law is required in public relations to both define and maintain the relationships between all parties involved.
- Duty of care in public relations is when advice is given to a party and both the adviser and the receiver know that it is okay to trust that advice, in other words the PR practitioner is trustworthy to the client.
2. The readings made me think more about public relations theory/practice in that …
This chapter made me aware of the intense legal environment which public relations are a part of. There are many legal situations that can arise and a public relations practitioner needs to be aware of the strategies to minimize harm to both the organization and the public. The PR practitioner needs to keep their knowledge up to date with the current laws governing their actions such a property laws, copyright laws, common law and contract law, as well as many others that influence their operations. One slip up concerning the laws of public relations could mean the end of a career and also the failure of a major organization. These mistakes can at least cost an organization its reputation or in a worse case the organization can be destroyed.
Sunday, August 12, 2007
Week 5- Chapter 4/ Additional Reading
1. I think the key points to remember from this week's readings were...
- A typical public relations program follows the following model: set objectives --> plan and budget --> implement program --> evaluate.
To be continued......
- A typical public relations program follows the following model: set objectives --> plan and budget --> implement program --> evaluate.
To be continued......
Week 5- Chapter 7 Blog
1. I think the key points to remember from this week's readings were...
- PR practitioners need to think and practice strategically in order to be relevant in today’s organisation.
- The stages of the strategic process in PR are:
· Creation of organisational vision and mission statements
· Creation of public relations vision and mission statements
· Establishment of performance indicators
· Budgeting
· Writing of a strategic public relations plan
· Scheduling of public relations activities
- The public relations strategic planning is influenced in social, economic and political contexts. It is influenced by corporate culture, ideology, values and beliefs, systems and business processes.
- Strategic public relations is a very highly valued organisational function, it tends to be valued more highly than the typical department in an organisation.
- PR consultants are held in high esteem by chief executives in terms of skills of communication, media relations and publicity.
- Building a strong corporate reputation is important for the success of an organisation, which strategically managed public relations play a significant role in.
- Vision and mission statements need to be created for the organisation as part of its public relations strategy.
- The vision statement describes the future state of the organisation at a selected time.
- The mission statement is the road map that describes how the organisation will move to reach its vision.
- Key performance indicators are important and practical in general strategic planning, however they are not well suited to public relations strategies because the results of PR work can be intangible and not often repeated on a regular basis.
- PR strategic planning is very similar to the format of the business or marketing plan, which consists of the ‘ten-step strategic communication plan’:
1. Executive summary
2. The communication process
3. Background
4. Situation analysis
5. Main message statement
6. Stakeholders
7. Messages for key stakeholders
8. Implementation
9. Budget
10. Monitoring and evaluation
- Public Relations budgets are categorised into two groups:
· Administrative costs: salaries, on-costs and fringe benefits for full and part time employees.
· Program costs: photography, printing, catering, travel, gifts, production, room hire, accommodation, phone and fax transmissions, website creation and maintenance.
- Scheduling is essential for a public relations plan to be successfully implemented. No one plan no matter how carefully researched and prepared it may be can be implemented effectively without scheduling.
- Lists are useful in the PR function as they ensure nothing is forgotten in the strategic plan. These tools allow the PR process to be outlined, keep order and provide organisation and follow up. Often a checklist is used before an event and another evaluation checklist is used to provide feedback.
- Flowcharts, calendars and Gantt charts are also useful tools to ensure that the PR strategic plan is running on schedule.
2. The readings made me think more about public relations theory/practice in
that …
Like organisational objectives the public relations goals and objectives are best achieved when a strategic plan is created and used by an organisation. The plan needs to be effectively planned, implemented and evaluated to ensure that it is beneficial for the public relations practitioner and the organisation as a whole. Budgets are firmly established and the jobs that need to be completed are closely planned and monitored to ensure that nothing is missed or negatively impacts on other jobs. The use of a strategic public relations plan is crucial for the public relations department to maintain the high standard of the organisation.
- PR practitioners need to think and practice strategically in order to be relevant in today’s organisation.
- The stages of the strategic process in PR are:
· Creation of organisational vision and mission statements
· Creation of public relations vision and mission statements
· Establishment of performance indicators
· Budgeting
· Writing of a strategic public relations plan
· Scheduling of public relations activities
- The public relations strategic planning is influenced in social, economic and political contexts. It is influenced by corporate culture, ideology, values and beliefs, systems and business processes.
- Strategic public relations is a very highly valued organisational function, it tends to be valued more highly than the typical department in an organisation.
- PR consultants are held in high esteem by chief executives in terms of skills of communication, media relations and publicity.
- Building a strong corporate reputation is important for the success of an organisation, which strategically managed public relations play a significant role in.
- Vision and mission statements need to be created for the organisation as part of its public relations strategy.
- The vision statement describes the future state of the organisation at a selected time.
- The mission statement is the road map that describes how the organisation will move to reach its vision.
- Key performance indicators are important and practical in general strategic planning, however they are not well suited to public relations strategies because the results of PR work can be intangible and not often repeated on a regular basis.
- PR strategic planning is very similar to the format of the business or marketing plan, which consists of the ‘ten-step strategic communication plan’:
1. Executive summary
2. The communication process
3. Background
4. Situation analysis
5. Main message statement
6. Stakeholders
7. Messages for key stakeholders
8. Implementation
9. Budget
10. Monitoring and evaluation
- Public Relations budgets are categorised into two groups:
· Administrative costs: salaries, on-costs and fringe benefits for full and part time employees.
· Program costs: photography, printing, catering, travel, gifts, production, room hire, accommodation, phone and fax transmissions, website creation and maintenance.
- Scheduling is essential for a public relations plan to be successfully implemented. No one plan no matter how carefully researched and prepared it may be can be implemented effectively without scheduling.
- Lists are useful in the PR function as they ensure nothing is forgotten in the strategic plan. These tools allow the PR process to be outlined, keep order and provide organisation and follow up. Often a checklist is used before an event and another evaluation checklist is used to provide feedback.
- Flowcharts, calendars and Gantt charts are also useful tools to ensure that the PR strategic plan is running on schedule.
2. The readings made me think more about public relations theory/practice in
that …
Like organisational objectives the public relations goals and objectives are best achieved when a strategic plan is created and used by an organisation. The plan needs to be effectively planned, implemented and evaluated to ensure that it is beneficial for the public relations practitioner and the organisation as a whole. Budgets are firmly established and the jobs that need to be completed are closely planned and monitored to ensure that nothing is missed or negatively impacts on other jobs. The use of a strategic public relations plan is crucial for the public relations department to maintain the high standard of the organisation.
Week 4- Chapter 11 Blog
1. I think the key points to remember from this week's readings were...
- There are two main groups of internal publics that continually need to be satisfied by the organisation, these are the organisation’s employees and the association’s members.
- It is important to maintain employee goodwill as it only takes one employee to be treated harshly and almost the entire organisation will know. Word of mouth is a very powerful communication method and in the case of an unhappy employee, the grapevine operates rapidly.
- There are many tools and methods of communication that an organisation can use to ensure their relationship with their employees is healthy. These include:
· Newsletters and company newspapers: publications that follow the format of the mainstream newspaper or news magazine, however they cater to the specialised audience: the employees.
· Noticeboards: also known as bulletin boards.
· Memos: brief letters that are exchanged by staff on a particular issue.
· Awards: recognising employees for their performance through the use of a certificate, cash bonus, gift, or travel packages.
· Events: socialising with colleagues outside work hours.
· Intranets: network of computers within the organisation.
· Interpersonal communication: face-to-face communication and staff meetings.
- Community relations need to be maintained in order for the organisation to be accepted and supported in society. It is extremely important for companies to show that they actually care about their community.
- There are many approaches to community relations that an organisation can choose to adopt, including:
· Consultation: developing a two-way relationship between the community and the organisation by asking community leaders to participate in the planning and decision making process.
· Scanning the environment: knowing what the community stakeholders are thinking, feeling and doing.
· Filling the gaps: providing as much information as possible to the public to avoid the creation of rumors.
· Collaborations with community groups: audience participation where publics are involved in the communication.
· Negotiation: mutual gains approach is used which involves the values of respect, humility, trust and commitment to a joint solution to an issue.
2. The readings made me think more about public relations theory/practice in that …
Public relations is not simply about organising events and displaying an organisation to the public, but it has a strong role to fulfill in satisfying the internal and community groups. The internal publics are extremely important, as without these people the organisation would not be able to function effectively. There are many different ways that the relations between the company and the employees can be maintained to a high level, many of these approaches should be adopted by a successful organisation.
Community relations are also extremely important as the company needs to be accepted in society and preferably supported by the community stakeholders. It became clear that it is paramount to an organisation that community members are involved and committed to supporting the organisation.
- There are two main groups of internal publics that continually need to be satisfied by the organisation, these are the organisation’s employees and the association’s members.
- It is important to maintain employee goodwill as it only takes one employee to be treated harshly and almost the entire organisation will know. Word of mouth is a very powerful communication method and in the case of an unhappy employee, the grapevine operates rapidly.
- There are many tools and methods of communication that an organisation can use to ensure their relationship with their employees is healthy. These include:
· Newsletters and company newspapers: publications that follow the format of the mainstream newspaper or news magazine, however they cater to the specialised audience: the employees.
· Noticeboards: also known as bulletin boards.
· Memos: brief letters that are exchanged by staff on a particular issue.
· Awards: recognising employees for their performance through the use of a certificate, cash bonus, gift, or travel packages.
· Events: socialising with colleagues outside work hours.
· Intranets: network of computers within the organisation.
· Interpersonal communication: face-to-face communication and staff meetings.
- Community relations need to be maintained in order for the organisation to be accepted and supported in society. It is extremely important for companies to show that they actually care about their community.
- There are many approaches to community relations that an organisation can choose to adopt, including:
· Consultation: developing a two-way relationship between the community and the organisation by asking community leaders to participate in the planning and decision making process.
· Scanning the environment: knowing what the community stakeholders are thinking, feeling and doing.
· Filling the gaps: providing as much information as possible to the public to avoid the creation of rumors.
· Collaborations with community groups: audience participation where publics are involved in the communication.
· Negotiation: mutual gains approach is used which involves the values of respect, humility, trust and commitment to a joint solution to an issue.
2. The readings made me think more about public relations theory/practice in that …
Public relations is not simply about organising events and displaying an organisation to the public, but it has a strong role to fulfill in satisfying the internal and community groups. The internal publics are extremely important, as without these people the organisation would not be able to function effectively. There are many different ways that the relations between the company and the employees can be maintained to a high level, many of these approaches should be adopted by a successful organisation.
Community relations are also extremely important as the company needs to be accepted in society and preferably supported by the community stakeholders. It became clear that it is paramount to an organisation that community members are involved and committed to supporting the organisation.
Sunday, August 5, 2007
Week 4
1. I think the key points to remember from this week's readings were...
There are many different roles/jobs that a Public Relations Practitioner can take. The role a practitioner takes in one organization may be the same as the role that another practitioner takes in a different organization, however because of the dynamic nature of each different organization this role can be very different. Some of the common PR jobs include:
- Marketing and communications assistant
- Account manager
- Communications consultant
- Media and communications manager
- PR consultant
- Core values and corporate communications manager
- Marketing communications manager
- National sales and marketing manager
- Communications director
- Marketing manager
- Assistant director, media and public relations
- Media adviser
- Managing director/owner
- Executive director, charitable foundation
- Owner/sole operator
As you can see the jobs range from entry level employee to the higher level executive roles within an organization. Throughout one’s career, most practitioners aim to build their career to the higher level role. While the majority of dedicated practitioners do achieve this goal, depending on the organization other employees may remain stationary in a position for a large length of time.
2. The readings made me think more about public relations theory/practice in that
Any job in public relations is going to be a busy fast-moving job. After reading the different case studies, it became obvious that PR is a full-on occupation of long hours and hard work. It is not the glamorous, dinner-dining job that most people often believe. To succeed at a PR practitioner’s career one needs to be motivated and enthusiastic about their job. It is also important to try to gain employment in an organization that interests you because you need to believe in what you do and believe in the firm’s aim. There is no way one can do their job to the best of their ability if they do not ‘live and breathe’ the goals and philosophy of the organization.
There are many different roles/jobs that a Public Relations Practitioner can take. The role a practitioner takes in one organization may be the same as the role that another practitioner takes in a different organization, however because of the dynamic nature of each different organization this role can be very different. Some of the common PR jobs include:
- Marketing and communications assistant
- Account manager
- Communications consultant
- Media and communications manager
- PR consultant
- Core values and corporate communications manager
- Marketing communications manager
- National sales and marketing manager
- Communications director
- Marketing manager
- Assistant director, media and public relations
- Media adviser
- Managing director/owner
- Executive director, charitable foundation
- Owner/sole operator
As you can see the jobs range from entry level employee to the higher level executive roles within an organization. Throughout one’s career, most practitioners aim to build their career to the higher level role. While the majority of dedicated practitioners do achieve this goal, depending on the organization other employees may remain stationary in a position for a large length of time.
2. The readings made me think more about public relations theory/practice in that
Any job in public relations is going to be a busy fast-moving job. After reading the different case studies, it became obvious that PR is a full-on occupation of long hours and hard work. It is not the glamorous, dinner-dining job that most people often believe. To succeed at a PR practitioner’s career one needs to be motivated and enthusiastic about their job. It is also important to try to gain employment in an organization that interests you because you need to believe in what you do and believe in the firm’s aim. There is no way one can do their job to the best of their ability if they do not ‘live and breathe’ the goals and philosophy of the organization.
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