Cutlip & Center's

Effective
PUBLIC RELATIONS

Chapter 3:
Organizational Setting
PR Starts with Top Management
Organization's reputation stems
from senior officials

One of the few safe

generalizations in public relations
is that an organization’s public
reputation derives in substantial
part from the behavior of its
senior officials.
-Long term success comes from:

1. Commitment to and participation in PR

2. Retention of competent PR counsel

3. Incorporation of PR perspectives in policy

making
 Long term success comes from
4. Two-way communication with both internal
and external publics
5. Coordination of what is done with what is said
6. Clearly defined goals and objectives
 Staff Role
-Line vs Staff Management
Public relations is one of several staff functions, meaning that it
advises and supports line managers who have responsibility
and authority to run the organization. Practitioners therefore
need to understand the staff role.

-Line functions include the product- and profit-producing functions

:engineering, production, and marketing
-Staff functions include those that advise and assist line executives :
finance, legal, human resources( formerly personnel), and
public relations.
(The degree to which line managers and practitioners themselves view
the function as part of the management team)
 Management Expects From PR Staff
1 Loyalty
2 Counsel on the public relations of decisions.
3 Skills in articulating principles and in
enhancing public understanding.
4 Inspiration to help all members do their best
5 character, honesty, trustworthiness
 PR Staff Expects from Line
Management
• positive public relations leadership
• support of approved communication policy
• strategic plan embracing all policies and
programs
• adequate budget to do job
• reasonable availability for consultation
Participation in Management (7 Deadly Sins)

1. Over-promising
2. Over-marketing
3. Under-servicing
4. Putting the firm's profit ahead of the
performance and results for the client
5. Using PR's quick fixes
 Participation in Management (7
Deadly Sins)
6. Treating PR as simply a support function
charged with implementing strategies
formulated by lawyers, financial officers, and
top-line managers
7. Violating ethical standards
 The Internal Department
• The internal department is the most common structure
for serving the public relations needs of organization.
• The unit of specialists within the organization may
consist of only one person, as in small hospital, or
staff of almost 500. The department may be
concentrated in the organization’s headquarters or
scattered among many locations.
• A public relations department’s size, role, and place
in the organization chart vary from one organization
to the next.
Internal Department's Advantages
A. Team membership—extending relations
increase employees’ involvement
B. Knowledge of the organization—better
awareness*better performance
C. Economy to the organization for many on going
programme’s—indirect reduction in
expenditures in marketing, advertizing, efforts
for publicity etc.
D. Availability to associates—assurance of being
there at the time of need
 Internal Department's Disadvantages
• Loss of objectivity—chief goal of a business
• Domination and subservience—PR People
consider themselves more aware & updated
• Confused mission and roles—what to do?
Reasons to Retain Outside Counsel
• Management has not previously conducted a formal public
relations program and lacks experience in organizing one
•
Headquarters may be located far from communications and
financial centers

• The firm has a wide range of up-to-date contacts

•
An outside firm can provide the services of experienced
executives and creative specialists who would be unwilling
to move to other cities or whose salaries a single
organization could not afford
Reasons to Retain Outside Counsel
• An organization with its own PR department
may need highly specialized services that it
cannot afford or does not need on a full-time
basis

• Crucial policy matters require the independent

judgment of an outsider
 Client-Firm Relationships
• Sometimes counseling firms initiate contact with clients
they think need help. More commonly, clients call
counseling firms.
• It is not uncommon for the client-firm relationship to begin
with an emergency.
• Under more typical circumstances, a counseling firm begins
its service after being invited to present a proposal. It
begins by researching the client’s problem situation and its
relationships with the publics affected by or involved in the
situation.
• Called a public relations audit, this initial exploration can
take several days or even weeks.
 Counselors' Advantages
• Counselors rank Variety of talents and skills as their
greatest advantage over internal staffing.
• Objectivity –not restricted by the politics within an
organization.
• Range of prior experience
• Geographical scope of their operations
• Ability to reinforce and upgrade a client’s internal staff.
• Counseling firms with large staffs emphasize the
flexibility of their personnel and operations as a prime
advantage.
• Counselor’s reputation
 Counselors' Disadvantages
1. Internal opposition
2. Questions of cost and hours billed
3. Conflicts of personality or conviction
4. Difficulties caused by distance and availability
5. Clients' lack of understanding of PR and
unavailability of client management
 Counseling Firm Costs
• Fees for continuing services are established in
one of the following ways
1. A monthly retainer covering a fixed number of
hours and services.
2. A minimum retainer plus monthly billing for
actual staff time at hourly rates or on a per diem
basis.
3. Straight hourly charges, usually on a scale
representing the range of experience and
expertise.
 Counseling Firm Costs
• Fixed project fee, typically resulting from
competitive bidding in response to a request
for proposal (RFP)
 New Approaches
• Organizations are using a combination of internal departments
and outside counsel to fulfill the public relations management
function.
• Top management are increasingly recognizing how essential
public relations is to organizational success.
• High-level practitioners are increasingly joining the executive
decision-making group, or at least are being consulted on major
decisions.
• Practitioners in firms are increasingly serving as counselors and
strategic planners rather acting merely as press agents and
communication technicians.
• Public relations is changing and becoming an integral part of most
organization’s management structure.
 New Approaches
• The president of one public relations firm predicts these
changes will affect both internal departments and the firms
serving them:
THE END