Assume you are a group public relations manager of a huge organisation which is facing serious cash flow problems and possible retrenchment due to lack of viability.

Assume you are a group public relations manager of a huge organisation which is facing serious cash flow problems and possible retrenchment due to lack of viability.

You have been assigned by the board of Directors to devise a public relations communication strategy to those who will be retrenched if the situation does not improve in the next six months.

Use the six point planning model to elaborate each stage of your communication strategy. [25] 16.03.19.

1.       I am a public relations manager

·         What is the role of the Public relations manager

2.       The company is facing serious cash flow problems.

3.       They is a possibility of retrenchment

4.       Devise a communication strategy for those to be retrenched.

5.       Use the six point model

Definition of terms

Public relations manager

Retrenchment

The six point model

Elaborate the function of the Public relations manager in a paragraph

Espagorate the six point model and explain how you will integrate it in your communication strategy

The British Institute of Public Relations, cited in Yaroson and Asemah (2007) defines public relations practice as the deliberate, planned and sustained effort to establish mutual understanding between an organisation and its publics.

There is the known – unknown crisis and there is the unknown – unknown crisis. The practitioner must make conscious efforts to manage crisis through effective communication. A very special type of work that PR practitioners do is, helping their organisations to resolve crises whenever they occur. They do this essentially by managing the flow of information between the organisation and the publics, via the mass media and by advising

management on what to do and how to do it so that the crisis is not aggravated. To practise preventive public relations, it is necessary to plan extensively to avoid crisis, but since crisis must occur, it is your duty to counsel management in crisis situations.

Public relations describes any form of communication which is aimed at bringing about goodwill and mutual understanding between an organisation and its publics. As a planned communication, it concerns every organisation, whether commercial or non- commercial, government inclusive. This is because, every organisation needs to create a favourable image for itself before its internal and external publics for successful operation. The recognition and acceptance of public relations as a vital communication tool in the hands of all organisations in all modern societies cannot be overemphasised. Public relations is a management function in human organisation, which helps in establishing a favourable relationship between an organisation and its publics.

Planning simply means making arrangement for tomorrow. Armstrong, (1995:234) says that as a manager, you will normally plan ahead over a relatively short period of time -up to one or at most two years. This goes to say that planning can be short term or long term. Planning involves selecting missions and objectives and the actions to achieve them. It requires decision making that is, choosing future courses of action among alternatives. Nnaemeka in Salu (1993:8) observes that planned public relations efforts have form and order, and are generally designed to dovetail to specific corporate philosophy or mission of an organisation, its administrative and management posture in its relations with various publics. It is generally characterised by a chain of organised and interconnected communication activities and programmes, that have to be executed in a sequential order, over a clearly specified period; resources and efforts that have to be mobilised at what times and scale, in order to attain a set of public relations objectives. Planned Public relations efforts are deliberately designed to fit into the overall administrative and programmatic scheme of the organisation, budget, management and programmes, either in the short or long term. The term planned public relations can also be referred to as preventive public relations. It is the kind of public relations practice which entails an organisation continuously carrying out public relations activities so as to create goodwill for itself. Public relations according to Ubani (1996:12) is a planned and continuous efforts to close the gap between how an organisation wants to be seen and how its publics actually see it through responsible action, mutual communication and feedback process which improves manage

 Communication that does not consciously integrate elements of persuasion is bound to fail in intent and purpose. This is hinged on the fact that persuasive communication is viewed as a psychological change process. Meaning that, application of strategies or techniques of persuasive communication would increase the potency of corporate communication. Here, emphases is placed on tactful use of logical reasoning patterns, generalization, analogy, syllogism, causality and correlative thought process and other appropriate measures of persuasion which could be rightly inbuilt into corporate communication system for effective stakeholder relationship in the Niger Delta of Nigeria. This recommendation is made on the strength that persuasion is a constructive art or process that brings about a responsive change in the lifestyle of those who are exposed to this communication form (Maamaa, 2011).

The six point model was propounded by Francis Jefkins, it argues that public relation planning can

be done following the six basic steps below

1.         Appreciation of the problem

This is a necessary step since in its absence the practitioner may be chasing shadows instead of substance, which is an effort that can gulp resources without delivering the desired results. It is very necessary that the people involved in the search for the problems are dispassionate in their disposition so that their sentiment and biases do not becloud their sense of objective judgment. It is equally important we note that public relations problems are communication oriented and with their root in attitudes nourished by beliefs. The manifestations of such problems which are largely occasioned by ignorance can be found in the forms of hostility, apartheid, prejudice and ignorance.

2.defining the objective

Baines, Egan and Jefkins note that a key feature of all objectives is that they should be SMART and they should be:260 · “Specific. Objectives should relate to specific outcomes not to vague and woolly statements of intent. · Measurable. If you do not quantify your objectives you cannot know whether you have been successful. Measurable objectives are at the heart of the control process. · Actionable. Objectives must be actionable and, ultimately, achievable. For a company to set itself the objective of becoming market leader may either be wholly unachievable or require such resources as might bankrupt the organization. · Relevant. The objectives should be relevant to the thrust of the business as a whole. For example, taking again the objective of market leadership, this would be irrelevant to an organization whose mission is to service a limited number of customers with high quality products. · Timely. Objectives should be set to agreed time-scales‖. Nager and Allen sum up the two main schools of thought as follows: the first argues that objectives should be written in a particular format - the infinitive: the objective begins with ―to‖ followed by a verb and then the rest of the phrase.

2.         defining the public

Publics in the context of Public relations can be defined as a group with clearly defined characteristics which a public relations person relates with in the pursuance of his objectives. They are also individuals or corporate entity practitioners have to relate with when pursing public relations campaigns.

3.         selection of the media and technique

t this stage public relations expert delineates the various vehicles, events and activities he intend to employ as he works towards the achievement of public relations objectives. Our media can cut across varieties like:

• Oral media
• Print media
• Electronic media
• Mass media

In choosing the media to employ, the practitioner should consider factors like :

• Objectives being pursued
• Financial capacity
• Editorial policy of the media in question
• The reach of the media
• Ownership of the media
• Location and accessibility
• Time available and how much emergency is involved
• Manpower available with emphasis on knowledge and skills
• Copy date, etc.

With peculiar reference to techniques, our emphasis is on the creation and execution of events that provide us the opportunity to get our message(s) across to the audience (publics). In making choice of techniques, it is still necessary that we look at most of the factors we have put forward as considerations that gives media selection.

In selecting media, the most important determination is the characteristics of the people/audience to whom the medium is directed. Therefore, the print and electronic media classifications are useful on the basis of audience characteristics. Generally the audience characteristics are; direct consumers, retailers, business or trade dealers, industrialists, associations, institutions, end-product users, professionals, international/ national/regional and local customers, customers by direct-response, product or service users. On the basis of audience characteristics the media classification is represented as, Newspapers, business publications, trade and professional magazines, general and specialized magazines, direct mail, form publication as print media, while under electronic media classification are included radio and television, spot radio, spot television etc.

4.         budgeting

A public relations budget is a numerical expression of the resource implication of public relations campaigns or programmes. It is a largely quantitative exercise which usually indicates the financial implication of what an organisation has decided to do in order to realize her public relations goals. This is a very important instrument in the hand of the public relations practitioner for the effective performance of his function.

A public relations’ budget should be considered indispensable on the following grounds:

1.   It is a control instrument in the hands of management for the   achievement of effectiveness in resource utilization. In effect, it   stands as a standard against which management assesses the public   relations department. Also, it is a tool that sends signals to show   excesses and deviation.

2.   It compels the public relations practitioner to think through his   responsibilities in order to achieve optimum effect and maximize the   use of resources as well as deal with his functions comprehensively.

3.   It makes for objectivity in the handling of public relations matters   especially when the evaluation of performance is in focus.

4.   It gives sense of belonging to all the people involved in the planning   process and helps to secure commitment to the achievement of set   objectives.

Elements of a Public Relations Budgets

   The variables that consume money in public relations can be put   under four major headings namely:

• Labour
• Office overhead
• Materials and equipments
• Expenses

A budget can be defined as the ―price tag of a Public Relations program or as the financial plan for the program‖.415 Grunig & Hunt note that Public Relations managers prepare two kinds of budgets, the administrative and the program budget. Since cost is an important factor, it should be considered both for the proposed plan and for possible alternatives. The administrative budget is the budget for the entire Public Relations department. It shows how much money has been allocated for different programs or other budget categories for a fixed period of time, which is usually a year.416 Grunig and Hunt note also that the head of a Public Relations department must develop an administrative budget and have it approved by the department of finance or by the top administrators of the university and the manager must show how the department programs, as reflected in the budget, support the university‘s objectives and goals.

6.evaluation

his is the evaluation of all the activities carried out in the plan. At this point the practitioner can determine whether he was successful in executing the campaign or not. If he was not successful, then it will be a good time to re-design another campaign which will deliver the expected result. There is no failure in public relations, all we experience is failure in expected feed back.

Evaluation in PR must be viewed as more than surveys or post audits. The focus of discussion on Public Relations evaluation implies the systematic use of scientific methods from various discipline like media studies, psychology and sociology as defined by Michael Patton as ―The practice that involves the systematic evaluation of information about the activities, characteristics and outcomes of programs, personnel and products for use by specific people to reduce uncertainties, improve effectiveness, and make decisions with regard to what those programs, personnel, or products are doing and effecting.‖451 Expanding on his definition of evaluation in 1982, Patton said: ―The central focus is on evaluation studies and consulting processes that aim to improve program effectiveness‖. In contrast, Wylie presents a more balanced view. He reverts to Patton‘s emphasis on formative evaluation, but without excluding summative thinking:

The public relations transfer process model was propounded by Frank Jefkins in 1988. According to Nweke (2001:53), the model is an antidote against some negative developments in organisations. Jefkins (1988) that when the negative situation is converted into positive achievements through knowledge, the result predictably, is the primary objective of public relations practice– understanding. The model explains how practitioners can use and apply public relations tools and strategies towards changing hostility among an organisation’s target publics to sympathy so as to be in a better position to convert prejudice into acceptance, develop interest when there is apathy and then, be able to communicate effectively to achieve knowledge where there is ignorance. From the foregoing, it means that organisations can use the Jefkins’ public relations transfer process model to win the goodwill of the publics so as to reduce crisis. Through communication, the public relations practitioner can convert the four negative attitudes of the publics into four positive attitudes – ignorance to knowledge, hostility to sympathy, prejudice to acceptance, apathy to interest. The transfer process model was discovered to be relevant to this study in that, perfection is something humanity cannot attain but, always strive towards. Based on this premise, organisations are bound to experience hostility, apathy and prejudice from members of their publics, and once an organisation experiences any of these, the transfer process model comes in handy. As such the model is said to be relevant to this work.

References

1.         Beard, M. (2001). Running a Public Relations Department, 2nd edition. London: Kogan Page.

2.         Davis, A. (2004). Mastering Public Relations. London: Palgrave. Freeman, R.E. (1984). Strategic Management: A stakeholder approach. Boston: Pitman.

3.         Gregory, A. (2004). ‘Scope and structure of public relations: A technology-driven view’. Public Relations Review 3(30): 245–254.

4.         Grunig, J.E. (1994). ‘A situational theory of public: Conceptual history, recent challenges and new research’. Paper presented at the International Public Relations Research Symposium, Lake Bled, Slovenia.

5.         Grunig, J.E. and F.C. Repper (1992). ‘Strategic management, publics and issues’ in Excellence in Public Relations and Communication Management. J.E. Grunig (ed.). Hillsdale NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

6.         Maconomy (2004). Agency Profit Watch Survey. London: Maconomy.

7.         Mendelow, A. (1991) Proceedings of 2nd International Conference on Information Systems. Cambridge, Mass, cited in Exploring Corporate Strategy,