Question: Explain the organizational and societal functions of PR. From the following list select at least two functions you consider to be organizational functions of PR and two functions you consider to be societal functions.
a. Communications management
b. Relationship management
c. Media Relations
d. Publicity
e. Marketing communications
f. Employee relations
g. Investor relations
h. Social responsibility
i. Community relations
j. Consumer relations
k. Government affairs
l. Public affairs and issues management

*** Organizational functions of a PR are those functions which are directly related to providing benefits to the organization and its strategy and marketing function. Organizational functions are those distinct advantages that a good PR campaign provides to an organization such as brand building, creating public awareness, providing feedback, etc. ***

***Societal functions are described as production functions with inputs, transformations, consumption of resources, and outputs. Distinction between available supplies, requirements, and needs is stressed. Societal functions of a PR campaign are those functions which are aimed at providing benefits to the society in terms of providing them information about good and bad products, advantages and disadvantages of new products, product comparison, etc.***

Public relations specialists handle organizational functions such as media, community, consumer, industry, and governmental relations; political campaigns; interest-group representation; conflict mediation; and employee and investor relations. They do more than "tell the organization's story." They must understand the attitudes and concerns of community, consumer, employee, and public interest groups and establish and maintain cooperative relationships with them and with representatives from print and broadcast journalism. (http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos086.htm ) Public relations help our complex, pluralistic society to reach decisions and function more effectively by contributing to mutual understanding among groups and institutions. It serves to bring private and public policies into harmony.

http://www.prsa.org/_Resources/Profession/index.asp?ident=prof1

The major difference between organizational and societal function of a PR is that organizational function are more geared towards providing benefit to the company and its products whereas societal functions are more geared towards providing information to the consumers and stakeholders of the company.

*** Functions like communication management and media relations are organizational functions of PR wherein community relations and consumer relations and consumer relations can be termed more of societal functions***

Communications management is the systematic planning, implementing, monitoring, and revision of all the channels of communication within an organization, and between organizations.

It includes the organization and dissemination of new communication directives connected with an organization, network, or communications technology. Aspects of communications management include developing corporate communication strategies, designing internal and external communications directives, and managing the flow of information, including online communication. New technology forces constant innovation on the part of communications. The purpose of communications management is to ensure that both managers and workers have access to the same information. One of the simplest and most practical communications management methods is a straightforward, hierarchical, bidirectional communication method, with clear incentives. Goals can include understanding the exact meaning and intent of others; being understood by others; gaining acceptance for yourself and / or your ideas and producing action or change.

Relationship management covers methods and technologies used by companies to manage their relationships with clients. Information stored on existing customers (and potential customers) is analyzed and used to this end. Automated CRM processes are often used to generate automatic personalized marketing based on the customer information stored in the system.

Media relations is a low-cost, highly credible way to inform the community about who you are and what you do. Always make sure the information you are presenting deserves the attention of reporters, editors and their readers, listeners and viewers. Media relations require that you think, write and speak like a journalist. You have to evaluate your story from a journalist's perspective and present a clear explanation of why a reporter or editor should consider it news.

Publicity is the deliberate attempt to manage the public's perception of a subject. The subjects of publicity include people (for example, politicians and performing artists), goods and services, organizations of all kinds, and works of art or entertainment. From a marketing perspective, publicity is one component of promotion. The other elements of the promotional mix are advertising, sales promotion, and personal selling. Promotion is one component of marketing. The advantages of publicity are low cost, and credibility (particularly if the publicity is aired in between news stories like on evening TV news casts). New technologies such as weblogs, web cameras, web affiliates, and convergence (phone-camera posting of pictures and videos to websites) are changing the cost-structure. The disadvantages are lack of control over how your releases will be used, and frustration over the low percentage of releases that are taken up by the media.

Marketing communication consists of the messages and related media used to communicate with a market. Those who practice advertising, branding, direct marketing, graphic design, marketing, packaging, promotion, publicity, public relations, sales, sales promotion and online marketing are termed marketing communicators, marketing communication managers, or more briefly as marcom managers. Traditionally, marketing communication practitioners focus on the creation and execution of printed marketing collateral; however, academic and professional research developed the practice to use strategic elements of branding and marketing in order to ensure consistency of message delivery throughout an organization. Many trends in business can be attributed to marketing communication; for example: the transition from customer service to customer relations, and the transition from human resources to human solutions. In branding, opportunities to contact stakeholders are called brand touch points (or points of contact.) Marketing communication is concerned with the general behavior of an organization and the perceptions of the organization that are promoted to stakeholders through these touch points. Integrated marketing communication presents aspiration of companies to develop and optimal combination of communication elements in order to maximize effects and minimize losses (defined as investment which did not result in goal achievement).

Employee relations identifies and responding to the issues and concerns affecting the employees of an organization. Employee Relations will assess and monitor current staffing requirements and project staffing needs in conjunction with the utilization of information gathered from supervisors/managers. Employee relations will source, recruit, and screen for qualified individuals to fulfill the staffing needs.

Investor relations is a set of activities which relate to the ways in which a company discloses information required for regulatory compliance and good investment judgment to bond and/or shareholders and the wider financial markets. Most public quoted companies globally now have a dedicated IR officer or manager who looks after the company's IR activities and who deals with buy-side and sell-side investment professionals or other investors wishing to know more about the company. These may include collection of information on competitors, dissemination of information via press conferences, one-on-one briefings, IR section of company websites, company annual reports. IR must be aware of current and up-coming issues which the organization may face, and which may have an impact on the organization. In particular, it must be able to assess the likely impact or reaction of any announcements (or any research reports issued by Financial analysts) to be made on the share price of a company. It will have top-level access to the Chief Executive Officer and Chairman or President of the corporation to ensure that the image of the corporation is maintained in a coherent fashion.

Social responsibility is a doctrine that claims that an entity whether it is state, government, corporation, organization or individual has a responsibility to society. This responsibility can be "negative," in that it is a responsibility to refrain from acting, or it can be "positive," meaning a responsibility to act. There is large inequality in the means and roles of different entities to fulfill their claimed responsibility. This would imply the different entities have different responsibilities. E.g. that states should ensure the civil rights of its citizens that corporations should respect and encourage the human rights of its employees and that citizens abide with the written laws. But it also can be more than just that. Many NGOs mean that their role and the responsibility of their members as citizens are to help improve society by taking a proactive stance in their societal role. It can also imply that corporations have an implicit obligation to give back to society.

Community relations and cultural diversity are complex issues requiring a variety of responses and approaches. Community relations and cultural diversity are based on three key principles which are inextricably linked to each other. These principles are diversity, interdependence and equity.

Consumer Relations The term consumer generally refers to the "end-user" of a company's product or service, that is, the person who pays for and "consumes" that product or service. In a not-for profit context, a consumer may be a "client" of a public organization, benefiting from the services that organization has been created and funded to offer. In a political context, a consumer may be a "voter." Consumers are a critical stakeholder group vital to an organization's success. Organizations that embrace consumers, as true stakeholders in their success will benefit from the long-term asset value those consumers represent. If organizations are to survive and thrive in the market conditions under which they must operate, the consumer and his or her wants and needs must become central to the way the organization perceives itself. A need to understand consumer motivations fully and richly is essential in designing an effective public relations program. Influencing, persuading and motivating this large and diverse audience can be a challenge. You will need to understand what are the wants and needs of the consumer and after you recognize them, you can develop an effective and persuasive program that is likely to succeed.

Government Affairs is a profession within regulated industries, such as pharmaceuticals, medical devices, energy, and banking. Regulatory Affairs professionals usually have responsibility for the following general areas: Ensuring that their companies comply with all of the regulations and laws pertaining to their business; Working with federal, state, and local regulatory agencies and personnel on specific issues affecting their business. i.e. working with such agencies as the Food and Drug Administration (pharmaceuticals and medical devices), The Department of Energy, or the Securities and Exchange Commission (banking); Advising their companies on the regulatory aspects and climate that would affect proposed activities. i.e. describing the "regulatory climate" around issues such as the promotion of prescription drugs and Sarbanes-Oxley compliance. The regulatory professional typically has a background relevant to the business in which they work, i.e., science, law, or engineering.

Public affairs and issues management is a catch-all term that includes public policy as well as public administration, both of which are closely related to and draw upon the fields of political science as well as economics. It is also often used in business as a synonym to public relations. Issue management is the process used to align organizational activities and stakeholder expectations. Issue Managers work in government affairs, legal affairs, public affairs and regulatory compliance. The framework of issues management was developed by Chase (1977) as a public relations strategy for industry. According to this objective, issues are critical developments for a company. They begin as demands from special interest groups and may evolve through public debates in the media into political and legislative demands with a potential for harming the company or limiting its ability to act. Issues management, therefore, means the orchestrating of a positive plan for dealing with the issue, rather than merely reacting to it any issues - including risk issues - have a life cycle. For example, a risk issue begins to appear in the academic literature and at small conferences without any public awareness. Next, the issue might to take shape, and positions will be staked out. Special interest groups emerge and raise the alarm.

They are beginning to explore the issue. The issue gathers momentum. The media will be involved and create widespread awareness of the risk. In the face of increased stridency, the public soon becomes anxious and requires stricter risk regulations. By definition, issues management is the systematic identification of and action on public policy matters of concern to an organization. According to Heath (1988) issues management is the management of organizational and community resources through the public policy process to advance organizational interests and rights by striking a mutual balance with those of stakeholders." The goal is to achieve harmony with key publics.

please see the attached file.