IBANDA UNIVERSITY

FACULTY OF HUMANITIES AND SOCIAL SCIENCES

PROGRAMME: DIPLOMA IN SOCIAL WORK

COURSE : PUBLIC RELATIONS AND MANAGEMENT

GROUP IV

NAME REG. NO

ASINGWIRE GILBERT IU/2021/DSWSA/026/W

KAHONDA PIUS IU/2021/DSWSA/048/W

MUHEBWA ROSEMARY IU/2021/DSWSA/015/W

BOONABAANA CLAIRE IU/2021/DSWSA/046/W

NUWAMANYA MACKLINE IU/2021/DSWSA/030/W

QUESTION:

ORGANIZATIONAL CONTEXT OF PUBLIC RELATIONS

LECTURER: MR. NUWAGIRA STEVEN

Public relations is a distinctive management of function which help to establish and maintain
mutual lines of communication, understanding, acceptance and cooperation between an
organization and its publics.

According to j. Grunig and hunt public relations is the management of communication between
an organization and its publics.

Kent state university also defines public relations activity as the strategic management of
communication and relationships between organizations and their key publics.

And an organization is any group people organized with a common purpose; in most cases, it is a
business, a corporation, a governmental agency, or a nonprofit group.

In 1978, the First World Assembly of Public Relations Associations in Mexico defined PR as
‘the art and social science of analyzing trends, predicting their consequences, counselling
organizational leaders, and implementing planned programs of action which will serve both the
organization and the public interest (Newsom et al. 2000: 2).

Public relations involve the management of problems or issues; helping management to keep
informed on and responsive to public opinions; and this emphasizes the responsibility of
management to serve the public interest; helps management keep abreast of and effectively
utilize change; and serves as an early warning system to help anticipate trends; and uses research
and ethical communication techniques as its principal tools. (harlow 1976: 36.

Public relations is used in a wide range of organizations and in each one slightly different skills
and competencies have emerged among practitioners with communication the most important
skill here.

The practice of using communication to influence the public is hundreds of years old, with its
roots in ancient civilizations, including the greek and roman empires. Throughout history,
governments, monarchs and powerful institutions such as the catholic church have used
communication and information to generate support for their cause among the populace (grunig
and hunt 1984; cutlip et al. 2000).

it was the emergence of the concept of public opinion that eventually formed the scientific
justification for using public relations and communications techniques in this way. Nowadays,
the term public opinion is used frequently in the media, by government and by public relations
practitioners almost without thinking.

However, as it emerged from the philosophical traditions of the eighteenth and nineteenth
centuries, it was a hotly debated topic and the context in which it is used today only emerged in
the early years of the twentieth century. The concept of public opinion became relevant in the
mid-eighteenth century, accompanying the emergence of fledgling democratic states.
Rousseau, the french philosopher, is generally credited with first coining the term, in 1744, and
its use quickly became more extensive as discussions continued about how democracies should
and could incorporate the views of the populations they were supposed to govern (price 1992).

Public relations is one of the most effective ways to build on marketing strategies and create a
solid online reputation. Companies that are investing a tremendous amount of time and effort
into staying on top of their public relations strategies, get better returns. Public relations in
organizations is therefore of great importance as it helps in the following ways;

Communication management. A fundamental technique used in public relations is to identify

the target audience and to tailor messages to be relevant to each audience. The public relations
role calls for developing communications objectives that are consistent with the organization’s
overall objectives. As two-way communicators, public relations professionals interact directly
with key publics, relaying the resulting information with recommendations to other members of
the management team. An example of communications management in this case is making the
recruitment process in an organization public, ranging from job advertisement, publishing
shortlisted candidates and those that have passed interviews.

Issues management. This involves identifying problems, issues and trends relevant to the
organization and then developing and executing a program to deal with them. This also includes
the study of public policy matters of concern to the organization. Everything that an organization
does must be in line with the existing laws in the country. In case of any challenges in the
organization, the public relations must take a step to find out how the law talks about the given
challenge and its solutions before designing the best programs for solving the given problem.

Crisis management. Public relations establish methods and policies to be used when the
operations of the organization become involved in an emergency affecting the public. This
includes policies and procedures for the distribution of information to employees, media,
government and other key publics. Having identified the given problem affecting the
organization, and the public relations officer having gathered public opinions about that problem,
the organization management have a foundation to design policies and lay best strategies to over
go the problem. For example, in case the community development officer is not efficiently
performing his or her duties according to the public’s interests, it is now the duty of the
organization management to resolve the problem by transferring the officer
Relationship management. This involves the role of public relations in identifying key publics
and establishing strategies for building and maintaining mutually beneficial relationships with
those publics.

Resource management. Public relations management of human and financial resources revolves
around setting objectives, planning, budgeting, recruiting and hiring public relations employees
and administering of these resources.

Strategic management. Acting as a counselor, the public relations professional helps the
management team in developing sound policies that are in the best interests of the public as well
as the organization. The public relations professional integrates an understanding of the concerns
and attitudes of key publics into the organization’s managerial decision-making process.

Helps to manage reputation. Trusted media connections are prerequisites for reputation
management. They help organizations to reach out to their customers and know their demands
and needs for them to improve on their services thus providing organization with the opportunity
to build connections with the community.

Additionally, it changes the way people think about an organization. Whereby, the online
world allows people to say whatever they want about a business, true or not. The organization
will therefore base on this to give explanation of its works and stereotypes so as to clear its
name, for example through public relations campaigns to create public awareness.

Strengthens community relations. Public relation strengthens community relation. When you
make new connections, it means you are building ties with the local market by joining groups
and donating time to a charity or any cause related to the organization. Being an active member
of a community establishes your reliability. Great public relation means setting up ongoing
relationships with many important influencers and knowing how your organization may become
an excellent data source for influence. 

Public relations enhance the organization’s online presence. In this world where everyone is
digitally connected, public relations helps companies to make the most of their online
review presence. Not only can public relations agencies provide today’s organizations with the
support and guidance they need to market themselves online, but these companies can also be
ready to step in when disaster strikes or something goes wrong with the image you’ve been
trying to build. With the help of social media, press releases, and connections with promotional
sites that publish content, organizations are able to help their clients to achieve desired things and
overcome the roadblocks that might stop them from getting success.

Increase profits, sales and leads with public relations. Public relations are not complete
without marketing.  A company that enhances its reputation through a range of unique public
relations practices makes it likely that new potential customers will find their way right to its
door. Customers and clients will have more options to connect with the company through its
business stories and press releases. Public relations agencies make that possible by helping
organizations to craft the right messages to resonate with their target customers in impactful
ways. In the end, that means bigger profits.

Public relations communicates social values. Service consumers are becoming increasingly
conscious of the values of organizations that they work with. Employing a diverse workforce,
women’s rights, and sustainability are just a few of the many values that consumers say will
make them more likely to like the organization. Public relations specialists are responsible for
communicating a company’s values and building trust with consumers and their audience. 

Conclusively therefore, public relations are about sending the right messages to the right place
and the right people, creating a stronger brand reputation. Pr agencies work alongside their
clients to help them achieve this and promote them within their clients industries. Pr is an area
that can transform the future and profitability of a business. Used properly, pr can give a
company the ability to overcome almost any obstacle it may face. This is some of what makes
pr so essential
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