Effective relations between an organization and its publics are one of the keys to business success. Given the fact that today’s society is now completely flooded with both electronic and traditional communications, the practice of public relations has never been of more value. In fact, “In the United States alone, public relations is a multibillion-dollar business practiced by 158,000 professionals, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Furthermore, the Bureau says that “employment of public relations specialists is expected to increase faster than the average for all occupations through 2012 (book).”Public relations are clearly a growth industry and a recognized asset to successful business operations. However, one may find that public relations are commonly misunderstood and almost always difficult to define. This can be attributed to two main factors. Public relations do not apply to every organization in the same way, and PR research and application are constantly evolving fields. Most people falsely associate public relations solely with the act of maintaining publicity.
The bottom line is that public relations actually encompass several functions such as writing, media relations, planning, counseling, researching, publicity, marketing communications, community relations, consumer relations, employee relations, government affairs, investor relations, special public’s relations, public affairs and issues management, and web site development.In the simplest sense, public relations as a field is concerned with creating and maintaining a positive public image for an organization. Public relations are also utilized in order to build rewarding relationships with an organization’s publics, such as customers, employees, shareholders, or the general public.Fraser P. Seitel, author of “The Practice of Public Relations, Tenth Edition”, defines public relations as “a planned process to influence public opinion, through sound character and proper performance, based on mutually satisfactory two-way communication (Seitel, 2007).
”It is interesting to point out that Fraser portrays public relations as a two way process between an organization and its publics. This definition strays from the popular notion that public relations focuses on an organization maintaining its image in a singular sense.Attempts have been made at ambitious and thorough definitions of public relations. In 1975, the Foundation for Public Relations Research and Education commissioned a universal definition.
65 public relations experts gathered and analyzed 472 existing definitions to create this definition. It reads “Public relations is a distinctive management function which helps establish and maintain mutual lines of communications, understanding, acceptance, and cooperation between an organization and its publics; involves the management of problems or issues; helps management to keep informed on and responsive to public opinion; defines and emphasizes the responsibility of management to serve the public interest; helps management keep abreast of and effectively utilize change, serving as an early warning system to help anticipate trends; and uses research and sound and ethical communication techniques as its principal tools (Harlow, 1976).”The topics of public interest, ethical duties, and problem management are stand out points in this definition. In regards to managing problems and issues, public relation professionals often focus on responding to negative accusations or information. Organizations must also recognize and disclose problems accordingly when publics may be affected.
This definition is one of the first to highlight such points. Organizations also have a duty to serve public interest.A well known, short and simple public relations definition was created and founded by The Public Relations Society of America in 1988. It plainly reads, “Public relations helps an organization and its publics adapt mutually to each other (Seitel, 2007).”The Public Relations Society’s definition encompasses much of what many other definitions attempt to say in a simpler sentence. It does hold true that public relations research, action, communication, and evaluation do help an organization and its publics effectively adapt to each other.
Although broad and difficult to define, the practice of public relations remains as a large building block of a successful organization. Effective communication between an organization and its many publics, coupled with the establishment of positive repertoire highlights the importance of sound public relations. On a professional level, PR is a growth industry that shows no sign of slowing down.
