Functions of Public Relations
The line between organizational and societal functions of public relations is increasingly becoming blurred. For the purposes of this assignment, marketing communications and employee relations have been grouped into the organizational function while social responsibility and community relations have been grouped into the societal function. These segmentations have been derived primarily be examining direct links to profits and how much a company has focused on either inward or outward activities. However, companies that seek better profits are now realizing that they are tied to what they can do for the welfare of the members of society. Along with this realization comes a tighter linkage between organizational and society functions of public relations to achieve a new business vision called corporate social responsibility (CSR).
Marketing communications is more aligned with organizational functions because it helps meet the internal needs of promotion to advance sales of products and services. While there is attention on an external force, the customer, the primary motivator attention is on advancing the organization's internal techniques to maximize profit. Marketing communications programs are designed to: identify and acquire new prospects; retain and expand current customers; develop and support the sales channel; and create brand images that help the company sell (Riesterer). Successful programs help an organization save money by reducing the actual...
Ultimately, the goal is to inform and motivate an organization's employees so that they will act in the best interest of the company, i.e. behavior that will maximize the company's profits. Bidirectional communication between management and employees is necessary for this to happen. Thus, the public relations department works closely with personnel or human resources to achieve good employee relations by performing activities such as publishing newsletters, explaining company policies and benefits, training, facilitating management/employee meetings, and creating employee productivity campaigns (Public relations FAQ).
Social responsibility is best categorized as societal because, in this instance, public relations is applied to the long-term public needs rather than attempting to generate interest by ignoring the negative consequences for society (Panteleeva) or by focusing solely on the income sheet. Examples of social responsibility include the economic impact of business decisions on a location, impact on the environment, the impact of products and services on the public's well being, and business participation in funding political candidates, to name a few. According to Pantelleva, public relations focused on social responsibility presents an organizations activities having impact on external groups as…
