ROLES AND PUBLIC RELATIONS
Learning Unit 2 pp 71-77
31 March 2011

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DPR3-Public Relations-LU2.1-PR Strategic Role 31/3/2011
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 Concept of role and types of roles PRP fulfils within strategic management
 Functional responsibilities of PR
 Recognise redefined role of strategist
 Recognise redefined role of manager
 Recognise redefined role of technician
 Apply PR role at macro, meso and micro levels
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• Roles research identifies the many activities in
PR and how PRPs can deal with them
• 1970s: PRPs seen as consultants to dominant coalitions with each role type providing distinct forms of assistance (Glen Broom)
• PRP roles essential to understanding PR function
• Roles impact on achievement and enable performance measurement
• Roles determine how PRPs interact with their environments and those with whom they cooperate
DPR3-Public Relations-LU2.1-PR Strategic Role 31/3/2011
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Historically, Broom identified four roles .
Expert prescriber as the PR expert who:
 Best informed about communication and PR issues
 Best qualified to answer questions about these issues
 Conducts research, defines communication problems, develops and implements PR programmes
 Has little/no influence on strategic decisions
 Has passive management involvement
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Communication facilitator
 Interpreter or communication link between management and stakeholders
 Sensitive listener and information broker who removes relationship barriers between organisation and clients
Problem-solving process facilitator
 Assists in solving corporate communication problems
 Works with top management, part of strategic team
Public Relations Technician
 Provides communication and journalistic skills to implement communication programmes
 Does not conduct research to plan or evaluate work
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• Develops communication strategy
• Addresses emerging societal and stakeholder issues identified through environmental scanning
• Formulates PR strategy to achieve PR goals
• Develops, implements and evaluates communication plan to support deliberate and emerging strategies
• Counsel organisational leaders on communication responsibility toward employees
• Manages activities of a support function
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• Read through case study on pp 73-74 about:
“Communication challenges for the next decade – are we taking our role seriously?”
• Identify five key words that describe the role of the
PRP in the case study
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DPR3-Public Relations-LU2.1-PR Strategic Role 31/3/2011

• PRP as strategist
▫ Assists organisation to adapt to its societal and stakeholder environment
▫ Takes place through feeding information to strategy formulation process as regards strategic stakeholders, societal issues and publics that emerge around these issues
• PRP as manager
▫ Performs duties of middle management position
▫ PLOC, staffing, budgeting
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• Functional responsibilities of
PRP as strategist
▫ Monitors relevant environmental development
▫ Anticipates consequences for policies and strategies
▫ Fulfils boundary spanning role
▫ Forms part of strategy formulation team
▫ Performed at macro/top management level
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• Functional responsibilities of PRP as manager
▫ Formulates PR strategy (deliberate and emergent)
▫ Develops strategic PR plan
▫ Develops communication policy for organisation
▫ Councils leaders/managers on communication responsibility
▫ Oversees PR function’s support to other functions
▫ Performed at departmental/divisional level
▫ Decides what to communicate to stakeholders to solve problems with stakeholder relationships or capitalise on opportunities
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• Functional responsibilities of PRP as technician
▫ Performed at implementation/programme level
▫ Responsible for implementing communication plans/ campaigns directed at stakeholders
▫ Traditional role performed by most practitioners
• Refer to three tables on pp 75 to 77 for three different roles
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DPR3-Public Relations-LU2.1-PR Strategic Role 31/3/2011

• Strategic PR or strategic communication management or corporate communication assumes PR to be a strategic management function with a mandate to function at a strategic level
• PR is a dynamic and developing field of study
• One of most prominent and growing industries in SA market
• Development of technology and new approaches to doing business has led to a metamorphosis in PR as well
• Strategist functions at top management level with responsibility for strategic PR management
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DPR3-Public Relations-LU2.1-PR Strategic Role 31/3/2011

• Accomplished through:
▫ environmental scanning, gathering information about stakeholder concerns and expectations, identifying societal issues and feeding consequences into organisational stratgies
• PR strategy conceptualised as (Mintzberg, 1987):
▫ Deliberate – pattern of decision to use communication as a strategic opportunity to achieve organisational goals
▫ Emergent – pattern of important decisions to use communication to solve organisational problems in unstructured situations or capitalise on opportunities
• Conceptualisation of strategic PR role
▫ Macro, meso and micro levels
▫ Roles through boundary spanning and environmental scanning provides input to strategy formulation processes
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• Read through the Lyme Bay case study on pp 81 – 86
• Answer the two questions as the end of the case study to hand in and discuss in class
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