One early theory of communication, the two-step flow theory, had it that an organization would beam a message first to the mass media, which would then deliver that message to the great mass of readers, listeners, and viewers for their response. This theory, as noted in Chapter 4, may have given the mass media too much credit. People today are influenced by a variety of factors, of which the media may be one, but not necessarily the dominant one. Another theory, the concentric-circle theory, developed by pollster Elmo Roper, assumed that ideas evolve gradually to the public-at-large, moving in concentric circles from Great Thinkers to Great Disciples to Great Disseminators to Lesser Disseminators to the Politically Active to the Politically Inert. Broken down, as rapper M. C. Hammer would say, this theory suggests that people pick up and accept ideas from leaders, whose impact on public opinion may be greater than that of the mass media. The overall study of how communication is used for direction and control is called cybernetics.
Although there are numerous models of communication, one of the most fundamental is the S-M-R approach. This model suggests that the communication process begins with the source, who issues a message to a receiver, who then decides what action to take, if any, relative to the communication. This element of receiver action, or feedback, underscores that good communication always involves dialogue between two or more parties.
The S-M-R model has been modified to include additional elements: (1) an encoding stage, in which the source’s original message is translated and conveyed to the receiver; and (2) a decoding stage, in which the receiver interprets the encoded message and takes action. This evolution from the traditional model has resulted in the S-E-M-D-R method, which illustrates graphically the role of the public relations function in modern communications; both the encoding and the decoding stages are of critical importance in communicating any public relations message.
Words are among our most personal and potent weapons. Words can soothe us, bother us, or infuriate us. They can bring us together or drive us apart. They can even cause us to kill or be killed. Words mean different things to different people, depending on their backgrounds, occupations, education, or geographic locations. What one word means to you might be dramatically different from what that same word means to your neighbor. The study of what words really mean is called semantics, and the science of semantics is a peculiar one indeed.
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Words are perpetually changing in our language. What’s in today is out tomorrow. What a word denotes according to the dictionary may be thoroughly dissimilar to what it connotes in its more emotional or visceral sense. Even the simplest words — liberal, conservative, profits, consumer activists — can spark semantic skyrockets. Many times, without knowledge of the territory, the semantics of words may make no sense. Take the word cool. In American vernacular a person who is cool is good. A person who is «not so hot» is bad: So cool is the opposite of «not so hot». But wait a minute; «not so hot» must also be the opposite of hot. Therefore, in a strange way, cool must equal hot.
In the 1990s, public relations professionals must constantly be alert to alterations in the language. In 1990, when the august New York Jockey Club restaurant offered a breakfast called the «Central Park Jogger» — a term widely used as the identification of a woman brutally attacked the year before in a wellpublicized rape case — the menu was reprinted. On the other hand, when the term couch potato came into vogue to signify an inveterate television watcher, a Pennsylvania potato chip maker was quick to capitalize.
Even more confusing is the language used by various special publics in society, which seems foreign to the uninitiated, to a computer analyst, a bit and a bomb and a chip are commonplace. The rest of us might have a hard time discerning that a bit is the smallest binary number, a bomb is a piece of computer equipment that ceases to function, and a chip is a tiny wafer of silicon or an equally tiny complete circuit.
To a human resources manager, a 401(k) is a salary deferral plan. A Gantt chart is a bar chart used in project planning and scheduling. And COBRA, of course, is the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act covering employers of 20 or more who offer group health plans.
And then there are teenagers, whose vocabularies defy description. Sure, they know what they’re talking about; but do the rest of us have any idea that fresh means cool, dweeb means nerd, gleek means spitting, deaf means the same thing as fresh, and biter is another name for dweeb?
Finally, there are the dozen words — important for all communicators to know — that, according to Yale University, are the most persuasive in the English language: discovery, easy, new, proven, guarantee, health, love, money, results, safety, save, and you.
The point here is that the words used in the encoding stage have a significant influence on the message conveyed to the ultimate receiver. Thus, the source must
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depend greatly on the ability of the encoder to accurately understand and effectively translate the true message — with all its semantic complications — to the receiver.
Text 3. Issues Management
Public relations pioneer W. Howard Chase, who helped coin the term issues management, defined it this way:
Issues management is the capacity to understand, mobilize, coordinate, and direct all strategic and policy planning functions, and all public affairs/public relations skills, toward achievement of one objective: meaningful participation in creation of public policy that alfects personal and institutional destiny.
Issues management is dynamic and proactive. It rejects the hypothesis that any institution must be the pawn of the public policy determined solely by others.
The noblest aspect of freedom is that human beings and their institutions have the right to help determine their own destinies. Issues management is the systems process that maximizes self-express ion and action programming tor most effective participation in public policy formation.
Thus, issues management is the highest form of sound management applied to institutional survival.
Issues management is a five-step process that (1) identifies issues with which the organization must be concerned, (2) analyzes and delimits each issue with respect to its impact on constituent publics, (3) displays the various strategic options available to the organization, (4) implements an action program to communicate the organization’s views and influence perception on the issue, and
(5) evaluates its program in terms of reaching organizational goals.
Many suggest that the term issues management is another way of saying that the most important public relations skill is counseling management. This skill, in fact, was at the heart of the reputation enjoyed by public relations pioneers such as Ivy Lee, Edward Bernays, Carl Byoir, and John Hill. Today, issues management as a specialized discipline has developed to the point where the Issues Management Association, founded in the 1980s, has hundreds of active members.
In specific terms, organizations can manage their own response lo issues and, therefore, influence issues development in the ways identified here.
Anticipate emerging issues. Normally, the issues management process anticipates issues 18 months to 3 years away. Therefore, it is neither crisis planning nor postcrisis planning, but rather precrisis planning. In other words,
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issues management deals with an issue that will hit the organization a year down the road, thus distinguishing the practice from the normal crisis planning aspects of public relations.
Selectively identify issues. An organization can influence only a few issues at a time. Therefore, a good issues management process will select several — perhaps 5 to 10 — specific priority issues with which to deal. In this way, issues management can focus on the most important issues affecting the organization.
Deal with opportunities and vulnerabilities Most issues, anticipated well in advance, offer both opportunities and vulnerabilities for organizations. For example, in assessing promised federal budget cuts, an insurance company might anticipate that less money will mean fewer people driving and therefore fewer accident claims. This would mark an opportunity. On the other hand, those cuts might mean that more people are unable to pay their premiums. This, clearly, is a vulnerability that a sharp company should anticipate well in advance. Plan from the outside-in The external environment — not internal strategies — dictates the selection of priority issues. This differs from the normal strategic planning approach, which, to a large degree, is driven by internal strengths and objectives. Issues management is very much driven by external factors.
Profit-line orientation Although many people tend to look at issues management as anticipating crises, its real purpose should be to defend the organization in the light of external factors, as well as to enhance the firm’s business by seizing imminent opportunities. Action timetable Even as the issues management process must identify emerging issues and selectively set them in priority order, it must also propose policy, programs, and an implementation timetable to deal with those issues. Action is the key to an effective issues management process.
Dealing from the top Just as a public relations department is powerless without the confidence and respect of top management, so, too, must the issues management process operate with the support of the chief executive. The chief executive’s personal sanction is critical to the acceptance and conduct of issues management within a firm.
Text 4. Compare Oral Presentations With Written Communication
Public speaking, like other methods of communication, is influenced by the entire personality of the sender of the message, the particular situation, and the
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receivers of the message. The ability to be a capable and convincing speaker is important to your success and to your professional growth.
The principles of effective communication through written letters, memorandums, and reports discussed in preceding chapters also apply, for the most part, to effective oral presentations. Precise use of language, clarity, empathy, knowledge of subject matter, appropriate emphasis and organization — all these qualities are necessary for the successful transmission of a message in either written or oral form.
Both written and oral reports begin with a careful and objective analysis of data. As in other forms of communication, you consider the probable reactions of the audience to ideas and recommendations. The same principles that apply to objective interpretation and presentation of data in written reports apply to oral presentations. Emphasis must be on data and what they indicate, not on the writer’s or speaker’s beliefs and desires.
Like written messages, oral presentations can be presented in the direct or the indirect order. When presented in the direct order, however, an oral report should have a specific, emphatic ending, often in the form of a short summary.
Many people find speaking much easier than writing. For others, facing an audience is terrifying. The best way to build confidence in yourself — and to make your speech convincing and informative — is to know your subject thoroughly and to understand that your purpose is to inform and to convince, and perhaps to entertain, but not to impress the audience with your cleverness and knowledge.
If you are completely familiar with all portions of the subject (even though you don’t know all the answers) and if you sincerely want to pass this knowledge on to your listeners, you are likely to express your ideas clearly and convincingly.
An advantage of oral communication over written communication is that you have instant feedback. Another advantage is that your facial expressions, tone of voice, and gestures help to make spoken words clear, convincing, and effective.
Graphic illustrations are used in oral reports and other presentations, just as they are in written communications. They can be used effectively, or, as in written reports, they can be misleading, distracting, and unnecessary. The principles of graphic illustration apply to both written and oral reports.
Moreover, when you use illustrations in an oral presentation, remember that every member of the audience must be able to see the entire illustration easily. And, as in written reports, the illustration should not be expected to convey the
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