I think the key points to remember from this week's readings are that communication and public perception take on important roles in public relations. Public Relations creates awareness, educates and influences public opinion, promotes and protects reputations and guides organisations to communicate change and to re-examine the values and ethics of their operations. In short, public relations mean building good relationship among the company and the public. The public refers to various audiences and constituent groups with which an organisation or individual communicates directly and indirectly.
As stated in the 'Public Relations' by M James, she said that there is no one-size-fits-all communication strategy as public is dynamic and may not be receptive on what you say.
The readings made me think more about public relations practice in that crisis management. I have never thought that been in a public relation team, you would have to deal with crisis management.
The roles of a public relations practitioner do seem to be more than just organising a event or attending social activities. As PR practitioners, we should be able to respond quick and efficiently to emerging issues and actual crises such as extortion threat and fire incidents to achieve specific outcomes for example minimise damage to share prices, property or reputation.
If a crisis is managed properly, a bad situation may in the end turned into a good opportunity for the company to build a stronger relationship with its customers and also increase its goodwill. One good example would be the household brand, Panadol.
From the article, “Management Crisis: How GlaxoSmithKline managed its extortion crisis”, Alan Schaefer Managing Director GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) Consumer Health Care has said that the faster you deal with the crisis the less damage is done to the company. Therefore, it is a huge responsibility on the PR team to be focus on attaining the key objectives which in this case, Consumer Safety First and Maintain the Company and Brand’s Reputation. Overall, the public is impressed at how well Panadol is coping with not just one but two extortion threats that happened concurrently and Panadol continues to strive well in the market.
Bibliography:
Alan Schaefer, Management Crisis: How GlaxoSmithKline managed its extortion crisis, viewed 24 January 2008, <http://www.ceoforum.com.au/article-detail.cfm?cid=6336&t=/Alan-Schaefer--GSK-Consumer-Health-Care/Management-Crisis-How-GlaxoSmithKline-managed-its-extortion-crisis/>
