Public Relations Management In Organisations

In this chapter, it states that public relations is essential for all the different organisation as they will be able to monitor and respond to changes in the internal and external environment such as climatic change or change in demand etc. PR also helps to maintain the reputation of the company (Mehta and Xavier, 2009). I think it is somewhat similar to parents protecting their child and ensuring that their child does well in their studies so that their reputation is not ruined. Then again, that is just my own inference.

A PR practitioner has to be adaptable to different situation and they have to make adjustments accordingly as well. This means that they have to make adjustment to certain policies in order to please a client or to even overcome their own problems (Mehta and Xavier, 2009). Take for example Qantas airways; they had to increase their ticket price to cover rising cost of aviation fuel (Mehta and Xavier, 2009). This decision may seem unpopular to the public, but it helped to protect the profitability of Qantas (Mehta and Xavier, 2009). Thus, I think public relations management in organisations have to be versatile and always have a solution to a problem. Seems like a tough and challenging job to me.

A PR department will be made up of juniors and experienced practitioners and they each have different roles and responsibilities. Practitioners’ roles and responsibilities are influenced by the organisation’s environment and the professionalization of PR (Mehta and Xavier, 2009). I agree with this as different organisations have different goals that they want to achieve and thus it changes the role of the practitioners as well. PR is also linked to other departments such as marketing and human resource. I agree with this as the entire department have to work together as they make up the company as a whole.

The reading also mentions about corporate social responsibility (CSR) which can be a challenge to PR as they have to consider the environment and the society when they plan their activities. Thus, PR practitioners may face conflicts with their clients as sometimes their clients expect them to gain profit for them no matter what. This, links back to ethics again as CSR falls under ethics as well. Thus, we have to take into consideration the environment and the public.

In conclusion, I learnt that PR practitioners have to be ever ready as they are constantly faced with different kind of situation. I like a job with challenges, so maybe I am in the right line. =)

signing off,

nivitra