The Practice

Chapter 6- Public Relations Practice

Today, i found out that contemporary PR practitioners require more than just one skill. In fact they need to be multi-skilled. Organizations rely heavily on PRs because these people help achieve organization goals. As we all know it is difficult for an organization today because they are faced with pressure all the time. That is why PR is crucial for an organization. PR practitioners are the ones to find solutions to problems, to changes, to build relationship with the public, create dialogue, improve organization image, manage issue and improve awareness and understanding of the organization. With all this to do, they also have to understand what is ethical or unethical and find appropriate ways to help the organization in a way that does not negatively affect the public. With all the responsibility that is required in a PR job, being a PR practitioner is definitely no easy job.

So what really is ethical or unethical you might wonder. The readings provided an interesting title, "Our actions are guided by our values". People all around the world have different interpretations to things, observe things in ways that aren't the same and predict upcoming events in different perspectives. The fact is, everyone grew up in different communities, experiences, schooling, family and religion and these factors affect the way values are established in an individual.

There are many types of organization a Public Relations practitioner can work in. The first is the non-profit-sector and these include organizations such as Red Cross and World Vision. PR's working under Non-profit forms need to be skilled in various fields. However, there is a limitation in working in a non-profit company as there is usually a lack of governance and accountability. People give money to help and assist victims, but at many of the times there have been cases where the money that they give do not reach the victims at all.

Another type of organization to work in is the corporate sector. The corporate sector is mainly existing to provide returns for its stakeholders and their main priority is to ensure the future viability and ongoing profitability of the business. The PR's working in this field has the role of facilitating the business through relationship management, support the achievements and corporate goals and to be able to contribute in enhancing the corporate reputation.

The third form is the public sector. The PR's working under this sector has the role to deliver government messages about programs, services and initiatives to the general public. They give the community information that people need to know about. These things include, drink driving and quit smoking campaigns. Public relations in this field also have the role to portray the government in a positive light as they are working for the government.

The final form of organization is the consultancy. Consultancies generally work as individual businesses. They make income by providing PR services to clients and by satisfying their client's needs. Consultancies are competing against other consultancies to gain business and therefore, the more knowledge and skills, the better chance for the consultancy to be more successful against its rivals.

Organizations need to be aware of their community connections and basically, why they want to deliver to the public. Organizations need to build strong relationships and connections that outline their values and principles. Every corporation has its own approach on community connections. For instance, BHP Billiton's approach is: "Critical to our long-term success is our ability to build relationships and work in a collaborative and transparent way with business partners, governments, non-government organizations and host communities. Wherever we operate, we commit to engaging regularly, openly, honestly with people interested in and affected by our operations."