The Importance of Public Relations – Reports and Case Study Analysis
Part A
1) The Importance of Internal Public Relations
Public relations or PR is the art of managing communication between an organization and its key publics to build, manage, and sustain a positive image (2006). The main emphasis in public relations is facilitating effective and efficient communication, which enables many individuals in the organization or outside of the organization to perceive a specific company as efficient and productive.
There are two types of public relations, namely, external public relations and internal public relations. External public relations are the most common form of public relations, which are factual in nature and contain little or no adjectives describing how great a product or service is, and its main purpose is to gain the attention of the target market and achieve publication in the desired media (2006). In contrast to external public relations is internal public relations, which are concerned with the distribution of information to a corporate community, within an organization or a company, or to a group of prospects, and it involves more freedom, for the organization is not reliant on media or publications. Moreover, internal public relations are important in terms of rumor control, motivation of employees, clarity of information, announcement and introduction of new products, and message and information management ( 2006). From the function of internal public relations, it can be seen that its importance relies on its ability to effectively distribute and dissipate needed and essential information in the entire organization. Moreover, (1995) emphasized that internal public relations can be used in the company or organization’s aim to introduce new products and technology, announce new organization policy and procedures, and promote messages for the safety of employees and a variety of personnel related topics.
In relation to this, the importance of internal public relations can be further appreciated with the use of an example, specifically the case of Marks & Spencer. It has been reported that Marks & Spencer is one of Britain’s best-known retail brands, and has been synonymous with reliability, value and quality for generations (2002). The company has consistently been rated as Britain’s most favored company in surveys among business leaders, and its name had become a national icon for British business in terms of honorable trading, and a cultural icon representing all about the British character. However, the company experienced a serious downfall because of a media-led crisis that shook customers, shareholders and the confidence of the public (2002).
The company’s core values states that ‘all Marks & Spencer goods are made to our specification and sold under our exclusive brand name. We differentiate ourselves by serving the mass market with innovative high quality goods at competitive prices’. In the company, the importance of keeping corporate mission and values statements as separate operations entities but integrated for a corporate communication strategy became vital, for as profits fell, academic and industrial journalists started to criticize the company’s internal management, such as its relations with suppliers and store operational policies and its external management in terms of customer and media relations ( 2002). Due to the fact that Marks & Spencer has already gone through a process of re-engineering in the 1980s and 1990s, it has to address the reconfiguration of all its messages including its mission and values statements. In relation to this, four main issues or problems were identified: 1) the company had an identity crisis leading to a lack of image credibility, 2) because of its identity crisis, public relations strategy of the company was weakened, which appears to be not prioritizing the communication channels and messages were not structured carefully, 3) the convergence of corporate communication led the company to fail in identifying its key constituents, and 4) constituents were not responding in the way each of its traditional, loyal groups had done in the past ( 2002).
From these problems, it can be seen that the company must first organize and improve first on its internal transactions and management before focusing on its external relations. In essence, it would be crucial if Marks & Spencer would be focusing first on improving and developing its internal public relations, for what is happening in a company’s internal management and organization will surely reflect on its external relations and management. From the problems presented of the company, specifically its downfall in terms of sales and profit, it can be deduced that the disorganization and chaos in relation to its internal public relations plays a crucial role in the success of their sales.
As a solution, Marks & Spencer must first focus in addressing their internal problems and make use of an effective and efficient internal public relations strategy. In addressing the company’s identity crisis, the company must implement and organize employee training and development, which includes a discussion on the corporate values and missions of the company. Along with the discussion of the company’s corporate values and missions is the brainstorming or determination of the possible solutions for the improvement of its internal public relations. Through the training and development of employees, the company will be able to address the problems regarding communication channels and messages or information essential in the company. Moreover, to address the problem regarding corporate communication, Marks & Spencer can employ or implement new information systems in the company to enhance the distribution of information in the entire organization. The improvement of the corporate communication in the organization would enable the company to enhance and develop the interrelation and interaction of its employees, including the company’s shareholders. With this, the company has used its internal public relations as a strategy in improving and enhancing its internal communication. From this, Marks & Spencer will be able to give importance to the use and function of internal public relations and use it to further improve and develop their external public relations.
2) Crisis Management Plan in a Soft Drinks Organization
Crisis management distinguishes the fact that an organization is part of an environment characterized by uncertainty and change, leading to new challenges, and within this environment, regulation, legislation and shareholders assist to shape the business continuity process of an organization through accumulated knowledge within the organization (2002). In relation to the problem of a soft drinks organization on product contamination, it must be able to give and generate the right response to address the problem, and this can be done through the preparation of the nine basic steps in crisis management.
Identify the company’s crisis management team – This must include a small team of senior executives, who will be responsible in handling the work a crisis may generate. If ever in-house resources are not sufficient, then the company can opt to seek help from law firms, accounting firms, or public relations agencies (1990). This team will be responsible for providing solutions for the contamination of the product, and handle the crisis effectively through different strategies.
Identify spokespersons – Within the team, there should be an authorized spokesperson in times of crisis, a CEO who is brilliant and very effective in communication (1990). This person will be responsible for leading the crisis management team and facilitating meetings.
Train spokespersons – Spokesperson training is important for it teaches the spokesperson to be prepared and to be ready to respond in a way that maximizes the chance of a story being reported the way the company wants it to be reported (1990). With proper training, the spokesperson of the soft drinks organization will be able to respond effectively and efficiently to the crisis, and even communicate efficiently to media. With this training, the CEO will be able to be oriented on the right statements to say in front of the public.
Establish communication protocols – Initial and developing crisis-related news can be received by anyone in the company, so it would be important for the company to have an emergency communication tree that can be distributed to all company employees informing them precisely what to do and whom to call in case of a potential or actual crisis. Moreover, it would be essential to prepare in advance, for the employees of the organization will learn that a crisis does not necessarily mean bad news but simply something very important to the company requiring quick action (1990).
Identify your audiences – Failure of the company to communicate with its own employees would make the firm suffer massive employee theft on every level, so it would be essential if the company would obtain the complete mailing, fax, and phone number lists of each audience for rapid communication in time of crisis (1990). In this way, it would easy for the crisis management team to coordinate with all the important members of the company, to provide answers and solutions to the various problems it faces.
Anticipate crises – It is important to gather the crisis management team for a long brainstorming session discussing all the potential crises that can occur in the business, for this exercise may lead to the realization that some situations are preventable by simply modifying existing methods of operation, and the team can begin thinking about possible responses and the best or worst case scenarios now than when under the pressure of an actual crisis ( 1990). It would be beneficial for the team to think ahead and expect all the possible consequences and solutions to the problems, so when the time comes for the actual crisis, such as product contamination, the company can focus on providing solution for it.
Assess the situation – This is simply ensuring that the crisis management team receives all incoming information and that the right type of information is being provided. After assessing the situation, the team can now proceed to determining their reaction (1990). With proper assessment, the crisis management team can effectively determine the right reaction to the crisis.
Identify key messages – This includes addressing the audience by stating the main points of the meeting ( 1990). This would be essential so the audience would easily grasp the situation and be able to go directly to the discussion of the problem and its solutions.
Ride out the storm – Going through a crisis is one tough challenge. However, taking things one-step at a time and thinking logically and rationally would help ease the situation.
With the nine steps introduced by (1990), the soft drinks organization will be able to assess and evaluate their situation and their crises, to be able to function and operate smoothly. With the help and guidance of these steps, the organization can organize their thoughts and be able to provide solutions easily to the problem at hand. Moreover, the organization will be able to maintain their reputation and brand image and identity by making sure that their production processes and technology are efficient enough to meet the demands of their consumers. Likewise, effective and efficient crisis management strategies could be implemented by Richard Branson in his prestigious company, the Virgin Group of Companies. He encountered problems on his Virgin Trains on the aging rolling stock and crumbling infrastructure it had inherited. However, with an effective crisis management, Richard Branson was able to provide solutions, and continued to provide new high-tech tilting trains and enhanced levels of services (2006).
Similarly, the soft drinks organization must be able to use their skills and strategies in crisis management, through the improvement and development of their internal public relations. With effective internal public relations and communication, the employees of the company will be able to maximize and utilize the use of communication and interrelations, which will help develop a pleasant working environment in the company. Moreover, with an effective crisis management plan and communication, the soft drinks organization will have more opportunity to make better relations and interactions with their employees and shareholders.
Part B – Case Study Analysis
1) The performance of Transportation for London in terms of crisis management seemed successful because the organization was able to respond immediately to the crisis caused by the bombings, and from this, the organization was able to respond effectively to help the victims of the incident. Given the fact that they are covering a happy event regarding Live8 and the 2012 Olympic bid prior to the bombings, TfL or Transportation for London was efficient and responsible enough to shift to covering an unprecedented crisis. With the efficiency of the members of the organization, it can be deduced that each had been under proper training and mind conditioning, which helped them not to panic because of the incident.
Their organized and intact skills and abilities were evident as being able to efficiently coordinate with other rescue organizations and organize the transportation of the stranded passengers in the tunnel, and make sure of their safety. In addition, Transportation for London was also able to gather their resources on distributing and informing the media regarding the proper information regarding the incident. From this, it can be seen that the skills and abilities of the members of the organization made are essential in providing the needs of the public on this kinds of situations. The organization was efficient regarding the impact of the incident and in reinforcing the message regarding the safety of the citizens ( 2006).
2) The Transportation for London Organization was able to deploy buses for the mass evacuation of the stranded passengers in the tunnel, and this successfully helped many passengers in the tunnel. However, the confidence of passengers would have easily been gained with the assurance of the organization and the government that the incident will never happen again, as this incident does not only hamper the industrial, commercial and production of other organizations in London because of the interruption, but it also poses threats to the lives of many individuals in the country. The British government should have made announcements to the British society that they will be implementing more strict rules regarding terrorism and the entry of other nationals in the country, aside from the workers in the London.
Moreover, the government should have announced and made decisions on providing more checkpoints and other security and safety measures and stations to ensure that no terrorist will be able to enter the city. In line with this, the government and other rescue and defense organizations must be able to coordinate efficiently with one another in providing more security officers and police around the city. This must be done to ensure the safety of all the citizens of London.
In addition, the British government, including the Transportation for London organization must increase security measures in the airports and seaports for these ports serve as entry for terrorists. With these additional measures, the British government would be able to regain the trust and confidence of the people immediately.
3) First lesson to take note of is the ability and skills of Transportation for London or TfL to make and implement an effective crisis management plan. An effective crisis management plan provides confidence on the part of the members, for they will not have time to panic and not think rationally on this type of incidents. Because the organization is well trained in terms of solving crisis and providing efficient solutions, it can be deduced that TfL has a well-organized crisis management plan. Another lesson to take note of is the facts that because the organization has a well-organized crisis management and communication plan, they were able to contact and immediately coordinate with other rescue organizations in London. With this, they were able to respond efficiently and provide solutions to the problems at hand.
Moreover, the Transportation for London has developed and enhanced internal and external public relations, which utilize effective communication. The organization uses its internal public relations to communicate effectively with the members of the organization, and this effective and efficient communication and interaction is used to be able to distribute and dissipate needed and crucial information externally. Likewise, the organization is also able to effectively use its external public relations to inform the people of their findings regarding the present situation. Effective external public relations enable the organization to relate to the media. Lastly, the members of the organization never showed panic for panic cause confusion concerning decision-making. These lessons must be taken note of to be applied to other organizations in relation to handling crisis management.
4) As the Transportation for London press officer, I will inform the public that it is already safe to travel on the buses and tubes or tunnels of London. However, because the situation is still under observation due to the deployment of additional checkpoints in the tunnel and around the city, there would be some causes of delays in the regular traffic. Delay is caused by the deployment of added security around the city. Although delay will be experienced, it would somehow ensure the overall safety of the citizens in London.
In line with the deployment of more security officers in the tunnel and around the city, more security cameras will also be placed around and in the tunnels or tubes and buses to monitor the activities of passengers. This would add to the precautionary measures being implemented in the city to prevent the same incident from happening again. This information will be dissipated efficiently through the different forms of media, specifically through press conferences and media interviews. In this way, the message will be delegated to the British public personally. These actions will somehow give the passengers and the citizens of London the confidence in riding buses and passing through tunnels. With the skills, talents, abilities, and responsibilities of the members of the different rescue organizations in London, each member will be efficient and effective enough to perform their tasks and responsibilities, and make sure that every citizen in London will be safe and secured.
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