Definition of Public Relations, Research Paper Example

Public relations are thought to be a phenomenon of the 20-th century. It is considered a young sphere of business, but in reality, the activity of influencing public mind through conviction with a help of various methods and techniques, were known long ago in ancient Egypt, Greece, Assyria and Persia. That time, the goal of public relations was to glorify the Pharaoh and the country’s officials (Baines, Egan, & Jefkins, 2004).

Globalization and growth of competitions between companies lead to the rapid development of public relations and “need for public relations activities” (Baines et al, 2004, p. 4). Nowadays in different business spheres it is possible to hear that the investments in public relation sphere can give the growth of joint-stock value of the company and lead to the increasing of the company’s business-process efficiency (Oliver, 2007).

Even though the term of public relations seems to be simple and understandable, people see and understand it in different ways. There is a variety of definitions which reflect different conceptions and viewpoints. The definition of public relation we studied at school and college sounds something like this: “Public relations is a specialized company’s activity on producing its auspicious image in public’s opinion”. In reality after studying the sphere of public relations carefully it is clear that public relations are something greater than just forming in the public’s mind one or another point of view.

Public relations are a versatile activity of the company which involves various public and companies with different purposes and aspirations. It is management activity directed to the establishment of mutually beneficial and harmonious relations between the company and public. Public relations is a complex of communicative, analytic, procedural and technological actions directed to harmonization and coordination of relations inside the company, between the participants of the company, between the company and the public.

Public relations can educate certain public about things which are significant to the company – its business, products or how to use a definite product. It describes different methods the company can use for performing new products by using a diversity of special events and situations. This sphere requires knowledge, based on understanding, researches and analysis of all the factors which impact the public relation and attitude toward the company. Based on aforesaid, the goal of public relations is to create and protect the company’s reputation and improve its image.

Oliver (2007) defines public relations as, “management orientation based on planning and control” (Oliver, 2007, p. 9). This definition shows that public relations is a planned process and can be determined as a function of management that fixes lines of cooperation and communication between the company and the public. This means that public relations strategy has to take into consideration the ways that all its activities can be joint and integrated for “mutual understanding” (Oliver, 2007, p. 19). While determining the definition of public relations Oliver (2007) emphasizes the necessity of researches and analysis and pays a great attention to the distinguishes between public relations, advertising and propaganda. Depending the goals and sphere of using Oliver (2007) singles out three areas, where the definition of public relations is used: marketing communication, business communication, and governance.

This is only one definition of what the term of public relations means for modern society and business sphere. Public relations may also be defined as, “the need for planning, sustained effort and mutual understanding” (Baines et al., 2004, p. 7) between the company and public. This sphere engages relations between the employees, company’s owner and investor. Baines, Egan, and Jefkins (2004) emphasize that “public relations should aim to achieve consensus between an organization and its publics” (Baines et al., 2004, p. 7). This means that someone in the sphere of public relations will analyze and examine the public, consult and recommend the decisions, plan the scope of measures for changing the public’s point of view, set the goals for the company.

Similar to Oliver (2007), Baines et al., (2004) pay great attention to the comparison of public relations with propaganda and advertising emphasizing that “public relation techniques are often used to reduce negative associations as well as to create positive ones” (Baines et al., 2004, p.10). This definition of public relations is more efficient and effective because another “tools are the wrong medium for a particular type of communication” (Baines et al., 2004, p. 92). The same as Oliver (2007) Baines et al., (2004) consider that public relation has to be based on researches and analysis.

Another definition of public relations explains the term as the effectiveness of two critical and important spheres of “building a relationship (homophily) with the consumer and providing knowledge about the product under consideration” (Stacks & Michaelson, 2009, p. 22). This definition shows that public relations play an exceptional role in the cooperation process and provides the public with additional information and knowledge important for making decisions while purchasing anything (Stacks & Michaelson, 2009).

In contrast to two previous definitions of public relations, Stacks and Michaelson (2009) compare public relations only with advertising emphasizing that “public relations as a part of the marketing mix should be considered equal to and not subservient to advertising” (Stacks & Michaelson, 2009, p. 16).

Today public relations become an effective and inalienable instrument of marketing which brings more and more profit and income to the companies all over the world. Such variety of definitions of public relations is a cause of permanent development and growth of public relations sphere in today’s society. Nowadays the company’s everyday activity becomes more competitive. This leads to the situation when lots of experts, economists and managers create their own definitions of public relations. Though there are different definitions of public relations, there are many theories, models and concepts which help the company to develop and grow.

References

Baines, P., Egan, J., & Jefkins, F. W. (2004). Public relations: contemporary issues and techniques. Oxford, UK: Elsevier Butterworth-Heinemann.

Oliver, S. (2007). Public Relations Strategy. London, UK: Kogan Page Limited.

Stacks, D. W., & Michaelson, D. (2009). Exploring the comparative communications effectiveness of advertising and public relations: a replication and extension of prior experiments. Public Relations Journal, 3 (3), 1 – 22.