Public Relations: A Practitioner's Guide (part 1)

What is Public Relations?

by

Charles Lamson

There are many different definitions of public relations. American historian Robert Heilbroner once described the field as "a brotherhood of some 100,000, whose common bond is its profession and whose common woe is that no two of them can ever quite agree on what that profession is."

In 1923, the late Edward Berneys described the function of his fledgling public relations counseling business as one of providing

information given to the public, persuasion directed at the public to modify attitudes and actions of an institution with its publics and of publics with those of that institution.

Today, although a generally accepted definition of public relations still eludes practitioners, there is a clearer understanding of the field. One of the most ambitious searches for a universal definition was commissioned in 1975 by the Foundation for Public Relations Research and Education. Sixty-five public relations leaders participated in the study, which analyzed 472 different definitions and offered the the following 88-word sentence:

Public relations is a distinct management function which helps establish and maintain mutual lines of communications, understanding, acceptance, and cooperation between an organization and its publics; involves the management of problems or issues; helps management to keep informed on and responsive to public opinion; defines and emphasizes the responsibility of management to serve the public interest; helps management keep abreast of and effectively utilize change, serving as an early warning system to help anticipate trends and uses research and sound and ethical communication techniques as its principal tools.

In 1988, the Public Relations Society of America formally adopted the following definition of public relations:

Public relations helps an organization and its publics adapt mutually to each other.

The Public Relations Society noted that its definition implied the functions of research, planning, communications dialogue, and evaluation, all essential in the practice of public relations.

No matter which formal definition one settles on to describe the practice, in order to be successful, public relations professionals must always engage in a planned process to influence the attitudes and actions of their targets.

Planned Process to Influence Public Opinion

What is the process through which public relations might influence public opinion? Communications professor John Marston suggested a four-step model based on specific functions: (1) research, (2) action, (3) communication, and (4) evaluation. Whenever a public relations professional is faced with an assignment---whether promoting a client's product or defending a client's reputation---he or she should apply Marston's R-A-C-E approach:

1. Research. Research attitudes about the issue at hand.
2. Action. Identify action of the client in the public interest.
3. Communication. Communicate that action to gain understanding, acceptance, and support.
4. Evaluation. Evaluate the communication to see if opinion has been influenced.

The key to the process is the second step---action. You cannot have effective communication or positive publicity without proper action. Stated another way, performance must precede publicity. Act first and communicate later. Indeed, some might say that public relations---PR---really should stand for performance recognition. In other words, positive action communicated straightforwardly will yield positive results.

This is the essence of the R-A-C-E process of public relations.

Public relations professor Sheila Clough Crifasi has proposed extending the R-A-C-E formula into the five part R-O-S-I-E to encompass a more managerial approach to the field. R-O-S-I-E prescribes sandwiching the functions of objectives, strategies, and implementation between research and evaluation. Indeed, setting clear objectives, working from set strategies, and implementing a predetermined plan is a key to sound public relations practice.

Still others suggest a process called R-P-I-E for research, planning, implementation, and evaluation, which emphasizes the element of planning as a necessary step preceding the activation of a communications initiative.

All three approaches, R-A-C-E, R-O-S-I-E, and R-P-I-E, echo one of the most widely repeated definitions of public relations, developed by the late Denny Griswold, who founded a public relations newsletter.

Public relations is the management function which evaluates public attitudes, identifies the policies and procedures of an individual or an organization with the public interest, and plans, and executes a program of action to earn public understanding and acceptance.

The key words in this definition are management and action. Public relations, if it is to serve the organization properly, must report to top management. Public relations must serve as an honest broker to management, unimpeded by any other group. For public relations to work, its advice to management must be unfiltered, uncensored, and unexpurgated. This is often easier said than done because many public relations departments report through marketing, advertising, or even legal departments.

Nor can public relations take place without appropriate action. As noted, no amount of communications---regardless of its persuasive content---can save an organization whose performance is substandard. In other words, if the action is flawed or the performance rotten, no amount of communicating will change the reality. Stated another way, it is axiomatic in public relations that "You can't pour perfume on a skunk."

The process of public relations, then, as Professor Melvin Sharpe has put it, "harmonizes long-term relationships among individuals and organizations in society." To "harmonize," Professor Sharpe applies 5 principles to the public relations process:

• Honest communication for credibility
• Openness and consistency of actions for confidence
• Fairness of actions for reciprocity and goodwill
• Continuous two-way communication to prevent alienation and to build relationships
• Environmental research and evaluation to determine the action or adjustments needed for social harmony

And if that doesn't yet give you a feel for what precisely the practice of public relations is, then consider public relations Professor Janice Sherline Jenny's description as "the management of communications between an organization and all entities that have a direct or indirect relationship with the organization, i.e. its publics."

No matter what definition one may choose to explain the practice, few would argue that the goal of effective public relations is to harmonize internal and external relationships so that an organization can enjoy not only the goodwill of all its publics but also stability and long life.

*SOURCE: THE PRACTICE OF PUBLIC RELATIONS, 10TH ED., 2007, FRASER P. SEITEL, PGS. 4-6*

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