Applied Public Relations

Cases in Stakeholder Management

Kathy Brittain Richardson, Marcie Hinton

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2015
• ISBN:
  9781136753879
• Edition: 3
• Topic: Betriebswirtschaft
• Subtopic: Öffentlichkeitsarbeit

With its practical orientation and scope, Applied Public Relations is the ideal text for any public relations case studies or public relations management course that places an emphasis on stakeholder groups.

Through the presentation of current cases covering a wide variety of industries, locations, and settings, Kathy Richardson and Marcie Hinton examine how real organizations develop and maintain their relationships, offering valuable insights into business and organizational management practices. The book's organization of case studies allows instructors to use the text in several ways: instructors can focus on specific stakeholders by using the chapters presented; they can focus on particular issues, such as labor relations or crisis management by selecting cases from within several chapters; or they can select cases that contrast campaigns with ongoing programs or managerial behaviors.

A focus on ethics and social responsibility underlies the book, and students are challenged to assess the effectiveness of the practices outlined and understand the ethical implications of those choices.

This Third Edition features:

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• 25 new and current domestic and international case studies specifically chosen for their relevancy and relatability to students

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• New "Professional Insights" commentaries where practitioners respond to a set of questions relating to their work

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• Increased emphasis on ethics and social responsibility

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• Fully enhanced companion website that is connected with the text, including a test bank and PowerPoint presentations for instructors, and chapter-specific discussion questions and additional readings for students

CHAPTER 1

Public Relations

Mutually Beneficial Systems of Stakeholder Relationships

No formal organization is an island. Each is composed of an internal system of social networks, and each exists within a framework of interrelated systems of relationships with key stakeholders such as consumers, shareholders, competitors, donors, regulators, the media, and so on. Some organizations may prefer to think of themselves as islands or as floating battleships equipped with all the resources necessary for their own sustenance. In reality, such a view is too shortsighted for success. In an era when a tweet about an organization’s poor service or a nine-second complaint video can be uploaded to the Web while someone waits in a checkout line, understanding how to participate in the global conversation quickly and appropriately is vital—and underlies the need for businesses, corporations, and nonprofits to understand and apply the principles of effective public relations practice.

PRACTICING PUBLIC RELATIONS

Public relations is thought of here as the communication and action on the part of an organization that supports the development and maintenance of mutually beneficial relationships between the organization and the groups with which it is interdependent. This text is written overtly from a systems theory perspective, which suggests that without such adaptation, units in an environment will wither and fade, as they will not be able to exchange vital information with other units in the environment. Such a balanced flow of information creates an open system, one that is responsive and adaptive to changes within the environment and its internal and external systems and subdivisions. In public relations terms, we think of this exchange as occurring through the building of mutually beneficial relationships based on an active flow of information from and to the organization and its key publics. Thus, effective public relations practice underlies the maintenance of an open system. Conversely, when public relations is not an integral part of the organization and balancing internal and external communication with the environment and other systems and subsystems is not a basic function for the organization and its management, then the system is described as closed, one subject to restriction and decline because it will not or cannot change or respond to its environment. Thus, the effective practice of public relations is integrally bound to the health of an organization or institution. As such, it provides the avenue for the organization to monitor, interact, and react effectively with other key groups in the organizational environment.

Clearly, for the practice of public relations to ensure openness, it requires the support and involvement of management. To use a crude human systems example, the nervous system within one’s leg or arm cannot truly function without support and direction from the brain. Although some movement or reaction may occur, the functioning of the limb is dependent on coordination with all other internal systems triggered by the brain through the central nervous system. Public relations practitioners may be assigned duties or activities, but unless these are coordinated with the “management brains” of the entire organization, these actions may produce little that is truly functional for the organization or its interrelated systems.

PUBLIC RELATIONS PROCESSES WITHIN SYSTEMS

With the assumption that effective public relations promotes a healthy, open system for an organization and its interrelated systems and environment comes certain other suppositions. First, an organization must be able and willing to identify who or what these key interrelated systems are. Because the health of other units within a system is also dependent on a mutually beneficial relationship and exchange, as is that of the central unit, they have a mutual stake in each other’s well-being. Thus, these groups are often identified as publics or stakeholders. The process of coming to know and continuing to understand the concerns, needs, priorities, media habits, communication patterns, and social commitments of those key stakeholder groups requires effort, resources, and knowledge. Although it may be sometimes frustrating, such research is an ongoing process; one never can “know” all one needs to know about a stakeholder. Thus, the practice of public relations requires continuing efforts at research, planning, executing, and evaluating in order for organizations to remain open for new input and output. This text seeks to explore how the relationships with those stakeholders may best be managed through appropriate public relations practices.

Stakeholder theory takes a similar approach in understanding how business and corporate “firms” relate to their stakeholders—defined as those with the power to affect or be affected by a firm’s performance. From this theoretical standpoint, the relationships between and among stakeholders and the organization are metaphorically described as “contracts,” which “can take the form of exchanges, transactions, or the delegation of decision-making authority, as well as formal legal documents” (Jones, 1995, p. 407). Managers within firms make decisions that may not necessarily be the most efficient in advancing the interests of all stakeholders, and some decisions or contracts may be more ethical than others. Stakeholder analysis, then, seeks to understand how the contracts can become more efficient, ethical and effective in advancing the interests of the firm and its stakeholders.

Although different writers and organizations may describe the process differently, systems theory suggests that the practice of public relations requires systematic, ongoing environmental monitoring. Plans should be based on solid and thorough research that explores the internal and external situation of the organization and its systems. Effective public relations departments or firms lead their businesses and clients to engage in issues management, a systematic environmental analysis that helps identify potential problems and potential ways of responding to or avoiding them. Such research should guide organizations to define carefully the problem or opportunity within the environment that should be responded to. Setting a goal or goals relating to the problem or opportunity establishes the environment for planning. In turn, plans are only as good as their execution, and systems theory again would suggest that such execution should be carried out while the organization is maintaining active environmental monitoring. Finally, input regarding successes and weaknesses should be sought out deliberately at the end of a program and plan. That way, important feedback may become part of the next system action or program and perhaps shared with other linked systems as appropriate to help foster their health.

On occasion, however, organizations may find themselves in crisis situations, some anticipated through scenario planning, others because of sudden internal or external changes in the environment. Public relations practitioners have important responsibilities in helping organizations craft solutions and communications in those instances. While particular responses may vary, organizations that continue to communicate clearly, carefully, compassionately, and accurately with their stakeholders usually find those relationships endure beyond the crisis.

It should be acknowledged that effective analysis, planning, executing, and evaluating of both the environment and relationship management may be approached from other theoretical perspectives. Additionally, other theories and constructs may inform the assumptions of systems theory. Persuasion theory suggests that the motivations and needs of those communicating—both the speaker and the receiver—should be considered when shaping strategies. Members of different publics judge the credibility of the communicator differently, based not only on the communicator’s perceived characteristics, but also on their own social and psychological attributes.

Practitioners and managers within organizations would be well advised to come to understand some of the other dominant communication and social-psychological constructs as they seek to provide strong counsel to employers and clients. Classical rhetoric stresses the importance of credibility and character, concepts as important in the 21st century as they were 25 centuries earlier. Social exchange theory stresses the importance of understanding the ways in which people use variations of cost–benefit analyses to make decisions about relationships. Agenda setting theory offers insights into the many ways in which media coverage affects public awareness and opinions about issues and personalities. Similarly, social learning theory stresses the many ways in which observing models shapes subsequent behavior. Other perspectives—from the elaboration-likelihood model to the diffusion of innovations theory—help practitioners better understand how to affect the attitudes, opinions, and behaviors of critical stakeholders. Knowledge of traditional business fields such as marketing and management provides a solid underpinning for effective communication within and throughout organizations. And, an understanding of the ways in which contemporary mass media and social media practices are changing is vital for practitioners.

ETHICAL AND LEGAL PERSPECTIVES

A plethora of laws, regulations, and torts may govern the relationships of organizations with various publics. In the United States, the framework of the First Amendment to the Constitution provides for the free practice of public relations, yet certain practices may be either restricted or required by statute or regulation. For example, businesses and organizations are as affected by concerns regarding libel and privacy as any individual or media group. Copyright and trademark regulation may, in fact, promote and protect the interests of organizations over the interests of individuals. Publicly traded companies face specific regulation of market communication activity, ranging from required speech dealing with quarterly and annual statements, to prohibited or premature information sharing among insiders. Clearly, the practitioner must consider the legal environment as a key component that affects relationships with stakeholder groups.

The social and economic power of public relations practices today should also be grounded in a foundation of social ethics. Professional associations such as the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) and the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) have endorsed principles that should underlie practice: advocacy of free speech and communication; commitment to disseminating truthful and accurate information; respect for the dignity and value of all individuals; and the maintenance of independence from undue conflicts of interest or allegiance. (Statements of these principles are included in Appendix A and Appendix B.) Systems theory suggests that the good of the whole is supported by the good of the parts, so behaviors that promote mutual benefit are not only ethical but even essential for the ongoing growth and success of an organization or business. As the communications conduit between and among systems that may have competing interests, determining what choices offer the most effective ethical alternatives requires reflection and introspection, rather than just reaction and response. Practitioners must discern what is the best choice for behavior—that which most effectively promotes the principles of human dignity, social responsibility, and truth telling.

CASE-STUDY ANALYSIS

This book addresses nine key stakeholder groups with which many businesses and organizations interrelate and offers contemporary case studies for analysis. Some of these case...