Transcript Public Relations II

Informasjon og
Samfunnskontakt
Employee/Internal
Relations
Community Relations
Government Relations
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Internal Communications
“Employee morale is affected by how
much we know about the company’s
plans.”
98 percent of employees agree.
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Four Eras of Employee
Communication
Era of entertaining employees - 1940s
Era of informing employees - 1950s
Era of persuasion - 1960s
Era of 2-way symmetric communication
- 1990s
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Trends of Internal
Communications
Few companies develop a strategy for
announcing change
Failure in over 80 percent of cases
involving announced change
Biggest symptom of failure - lots of
inaccurate, negative rumors
Second symptom - learning about
change from press
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Trends of Internal
Communications
Employees are insulted when a less
‘rich’ channel is used
Management does not adapt message
to different groups
Employees react negatively to use of
buzzwords
Great differences between literal
meaning, intention and effect of overly
positive messages
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Time Spent by PR Department
on:
Media
10%
Employees
35%
Government
25%
30%
Investors
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Companies not doing
Enough
Employees don’t believe what
management says.
Are not sufficiently informed.
Change not communicated well.
Management does a bad job of explaining
reasons behind decisions.
Communication is not timely.
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Major Barriers
Employees do not ‘buy in’ to change
No senior management champion
Lack of adequate skills or experience to
implement
Turf battles
Lack of congruent reward system
Inability or unwillingness
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Employees Want Top
Management to:
Inform them ahead of time
Care about how they really feel
Give their supervisors enough authority
to get job done
Make a strong commitment to serve the
customer
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Employees Want Top
Management to:
Have the ability to solve major
organization problems
Run a socially responsible organization
Provide new products and services to
meet competition
Place more emphasis on quality than
quantity
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Communications Strategy
Nature of
Change
Organizational
Dynamics
Strategy
Time
L. R. Smeltzer, An Analysis
for Announcing Organization-Wide
Change, Group & Organizational Studies,
Vol. 16, No. 1 March 1991.
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Organizational Dynamics
Employee Differences
Organizational Culture
Organizational Climate
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Communications Strategy
Message
Style
Coverage
Source
Channel
Time
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Media Capacity & Communication
Characteristics
Media Characteristics
Media Richness
Capacity
Medium
Feedback Cues/Channels Intimacy Language
High
Face-to-face
Immediate Multiple
Personal Natural
visual, audio
Telephone
Fast
Audio
Personal
Natural
Written, addressed
(letter, memo)
Slow
Limited
visual
Personal
Natural/
Numeric
Written,
unaddressed
Very slow
Limited
visual
Impersonal Natural/
Numeric
Low
From R. Daft and G. Huber, How Organizations Learn:
A communications framework, Research in the Sociology
of Organizations, Vol.. 5, 1987.
Focus
What is size and nature of work force?
What does the work force think of
organization?
How satisfied are employees?
What employee communications exist?
How effective are communications
tools?
Are there special employee relationship
programs?
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Internal Audiences
Management
Upper level, mid level, lower level
administrators
Nonmanagement (staff)
Specialists, clerical, secretarial
Uniformed personnel
Equipment operators, drivers, security
Union representatives
Other nonmanagement personnel
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Communication Objectives
Increase employees’ knowledge
Enhance favorable attitudes toward
employer
Get more adoption by employees of
behavior desired by management
Make employees spokespersons for
organization in community
Receive more employee feedback
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How
Recognize employee accomplishments
and contributions
Prepare and distribute employee
communications
Schedule interpersonal communication
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Theme and Messages
Depends on reason for conducting
campaign
Action or special events
training seminars
special programs on safety or new
technology
open house for employees and families
parties, receptions, and other social affairs
other employee special events related to
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Media
Bulletin boards
Displays and
exhibits
Telephone hotlines
or news lines
Inserts in paychecks
Internal television
Speakers bureaus employees to
community groups
Films
Video cassettes
Meetings
Teleconferences
Audio-visual
presentations
Booklets, pamphlets,
brochures
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Prescriptions for Managers
Face-to-face: non-routine and difficult
communications
Memos: routine, simple communications
Discussion & Meetings: make presence felt
Rich media: implementing strategy
Multiple media: critical issues and need to get
message heard
Evaluate appropriate technology
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Effective Internal
Communications
Two-way communication
Audience participation
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Evaluation
Communication, Retention, Acceptance
of Messages
Coorientational Evaluations
Human Relations Audits
Communication Satisfaction
International Communications
Association Audit - extensive use of
network analysis and interviews
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Evaluation
Network analysis - tracing employee
communications through the organization
Duty study - employees recording daily
communications
Observational studies - observers recording
employees communications
Cross-sectional interviews - asking employees
about communications activities
‘Small World’ technique
Diffusion method
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Hints
Fully understand situation
Involve communications experts at
beginning
Coach people to understand change
Know and study company culture
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Hints
Make sure there is a feedback system
Be consistent in what you say and do
Do not micromanage - let people be
comfortable
Don’t be afraid to make changes
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Community Relations
Home of office and operations
Supplier of work force
Provides setting, services, etc.
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Community relations programs are
specialized public relations
programs to facilitate
communication between an
organization and publics in its
geographic locality.
Grunig and Hunt
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Community Activities
Expressive -- activities to promote
themselves & to show good will to
community
Instrumental -- activities to improve the
community or change it to make it easier
to work there
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Check List
What is level of credibility?
Have there been complaints?
What are present and past community
relations practices?
What are major strengths & weaknesses?
What opportunities exist?
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Community Publics
Community media - diffused linkage
Local employees & customers functional linkage
Community leaders - enabling linkage
Community organizations - normative
linkage
Activists publics -- diffused linkage
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Makeup of Community
Opinion
Miniature of national government
Power structure
Opinion leaders
Networking
Prime movers
Independents
Dissidents
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Pyramid of Power
Major
employers,
land owners, top
officials, wealthy
‘first’ families
1.
2.
3.
4.
Corporate, commercial
executives, lawyers, etc.
Local officials, editors, lesser city
officials, association executives
Business, teachers, factory managers, workers
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Effective Communication
Targeting of opinion leaders or
community leaders
Two-way symmetric relations
Communication objective
Cultivation of organizations, their
leaders and membership
Reach out with sponsorship of
activities
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Evaluation
Number of government officials reporting contact
with organization.
Number of members of local publics reporting
contact.
Number of community leaders discussing
controversial or policy issues.
Number of managers reporting they have made
changes as result of information from community
about service or problems.
Number of negative behaviors reported by
community leaders. Peggy Simcic Brønn
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Government Relations
(often called Public Affairs)
Government at all levels
Political action
Community involvement/corporate
responsibility
Issues management
International
Strategic planning
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Government Publics
Highest level in country - Storting
Next level - fylke
Decreasing level - kommune, city, etc.
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Check List
What is the makeup of the
organization?
What are past and present relations
with government?
What are strengths and weaknesses?
How vulnerable is organization to
legislation?
Which of our activities could result in
government involvement?
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PR’s Function
To establish long-term, two-way
and open relations between
organization and
politicians and officials.
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Success Factors
Subject knowledge
Multi-dimensional activities
Flexibility
Ability to focus
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Possible Objectives
Increase knowledge of organization
among politicians
Create or enhance favorable attitudes
toward organization
Influence favorable vote on a bill
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Possible Activities
Fact finding
Coalition building
Direct lobbying
Grass-roots lobbying
Political support
activities
Political action
committees (PACs)
Political education
activities
Communications on
political issues
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Effective Communications
Law Makers
Regulation
Makers
Private
Sector
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