First, some popular concepts and phenomena at present.
When discussing this issue, let's first list some viewpoints and phenomena and make a brief comment: "Public relations is a big laundry list, and everything can be put in." Public relations are everywhere, which is determined by its universality. But the "big laundry list" is too general and irrelevant. "Public relations is to give gifts to people and invite them to dinner." See public relations as simple and low-level.
"The rise of public relations and the decline of advertising." The value and function of public relations are constantly emerging, but the business volume of advertising in Chinese mainland is increasing at a rate of more than 15% every year. Is the relationship between public relations and other related work and activities a one-off relationship?
"Public relations is communication." "Public relations is image." "Public relations is integrated marketing communication." ... This view from a certain angle has some truth, but they only tell a part of public relations or describe some appearances of public relations. "I don't know where to start public relations." Many people have such confusion.
"Just talk." In this case, either there is too much discussion in the society, resulting in rebellious psychology; Either public relations has been vulgarized and everyone doesn't want to talk about it.
There are many reasons for the above viewpoints and phenomena. Among them, a very important reason is that the understanding of the function and status of public relations is insufficient and inaccurate, and the positioning of public relations-related work is inconsistent and unclear.
Second, the status of the public-private relationship is determined by its own attributes and functions.
The status of public relations refers to the status of public relations in social life. Public-private relations are objective, universal, diverse, continuous and mutually beneficial, which are some of its basic attributes. Whether people realize it or not, public relations has its own position in the operation of society.
Public relations has the functions of communicating information, enhancing understanding, resolving contradictions, promoting coordination and cooperation, and increasing income. These functions are very important to a specific social organization and the whole society.
From the microscopic point of view, good public relations have the following functions and influences on specific social organizations:
1. Help social organizations to monitor social environment (public opinion, consciousness, attitude and behavior, etc.). ), collect all kinds of social reactions to the organization, and provide information and decision-making consultation to the decision-making level and corresponding departments of the organization.
2. Establish and maintain two-way communication between social organizations and the public, disseminate organizational information to the public, strive for understanding and support, and strengthen contact with the public.
3. Create a good image for the organization, expand its visibility and improve its reputation.
4. Promote social organizations to adjust their organizational goals and actions in a planned way, influence public opinion, attitudes and behaviors with corresponding policies and actions, coordinate the relationship between social organizations and the public, promote cooperation between the two sides, and help organizations achieve their established goals and increase their interests.
5. Enhance the cohesion and attraction of the organization, so as to maintain harmony inside and outside the organization.
6. When the organization is facing a crisis, effectively resolve conflicts, ease and eliminate conflicts, turn passivity into initiative, and turn disadvantages into advantages.
From a macro perspective, the role and influence of public relations on society are mainly reflected in the following aspects:
1. Promote the development of productive forces. The overall ability produced by the organic combination of human factors and material factors in the production process, the reasonable combination and the best function of various factors within the productive forces are closely related to the public-private relationship. The contact and communication between the public and the public has produced new elements, new functions and new strength.
2. Promote the change and improvement of social relations. Production relations are the foundation of social system, which is produced by public relations activities in the field of material production. Political relations, ideological relations and other social relations are also produced by public relations activities in these corresponding fields. Public relations activities are an important motive force and source for the emergence, development, change and perfection of various social relations.
3. Public relations activities are an important way to inherit and develop science and culture. Human beings rely on public relations activities to inherit and innovate existing scientific and cultural achievements.
4. Coordinate the goals, interests, attitudes and actions of social groups to maintain the harmonious development of society. On the one hand, the relationship between the public and the public can strengthen the connection between social groups, promote their cooperation, keep the development of various social groups in sync, and promote the benign operation of society; On the other hand, we can exchange information, strive for understanding and resolve conflicts. Establishing and maintaining the relationship between the public and the public can form a self-regulation mechanism within the social relations system, so that social groups can consciously and actively coordinate and maintain harmonious development.
5. It is beneficial to people's own development. In the activities of public relations, individuals can get rid of all kinds of restrictions, get in touch with society and the world, and get the material culture and spiritual culture created by others to enrich themselves and make them develop better.
6. Optimize the socio-economic, political, cultural and psychological environment. Coordinate the goals, interests, attitudes and actions of relevant parties with normal contact, promote the cooperation of various social "cells" and departments, make social interaction in a benign state, optimize various social environments, and make the whole society run in an orderly manner.
Where there is something, there is a place. These important roles that public relations can play are indispensable to social organizations and the whole society. These attributes and important functions of public relations determine that public relations occupy a very important position in social practice.
Third, the needs of contemporary social development have strengthened and promoted the social status of public-to-public relations.
Twenty years ago, with the development of China's reform and opening up, public relations in the modern sense flourished in Chinese mainland. When history enters the 2 1 century, the relationship between public and private sectors is urgently and widely needed in social economy, politics, culture, science and technology, diplomacy and other fields.
With the development of market economy, various economic organizations become more and more dependent on consumers and other public. The refinement of social division of labor makes the competition among market players more and more fierce. The finer the division of labor, the more cooperation is needed. With the intensification of competition, the demand for cooperation is also increasing.
With the democratic development of social and political life, the public is recognized and their rights and interests are respected, which greatly improves their status in social and political life. The enhancement of public participation consciousness and the increase of participation in practice have had an important impact on social organizations. Public trust and support has become an important condition for the survival and development of social organizations.
The reform of government institutions and the transformation of functions urgently need to introduce the consciousness and methods of public relations to carry out their work. With the active social and cultural exchanges, public relations play the role of bridge and link. With the development of media and the modernization of information technology, our society today is more closely linked, and every move of social organizations will affect the public quickly and widely.
The need for public relations is not only manifested in China, but also very hot in the world. After entering the 1990s, the Secretary-General of the United Nations announced that "the world has entered the era of globalization". Globalization is the inevitable trend of world economic development. The information revolution and the wave of information economy are the most important factors to accelerate the process of globalization. The globalization of market economy and information dissemination is an important symbol of the era of globalization. The development of multinational corporations is the main driving force and activity condition of the globalization of economic activities. At present, large companies in the world have become multinational companies, and their public relations have become an important tool for internationalization and globalization.
The meaning of globalization not only refers to the globalization of economic life, but also includes the globalization of political, cultural and social life. The global political and economic pattern formed in the early 1990s made the theory of economic security based on economic strength become the code of conduct for all countries. Throughout the world today, economic interests are playing an increasingly prominent role in the foreign relations of various countries.
The reform of government management system has become a trend, and governments all over the world are trying to change from the original rulers and controllers to coordinators and servers. It is precisely because of this situation that a wave of global government public-private relations activities has been set off. The diplomatic activities of heads of government and principal officials began to focus on expanding foreign trade, promoting domestic products, seeking partners, expanding investment fields and signing economic and trade contracts. This is a new breakthrough and development of public relations in the field of government behavior.
After the end of the cold war, world politics has developed towards multipolarization, but the world is still far from peaceful. Regional conflicts and ethnic conflicts occur from time to time, and governments and United Nations Member States have been looking for opportunities for cooperation. * * * With the resolution of many problems brought about by local conflicts, many public relations personnel have entered United Nations agencies and traveled around the world to ease the contradictions between the two sides of the conflict and enhance their understanding and communication.
It turns out that people's understanding, understanding and implementation of public relations activities are one-sided and single, which is the so-called "small public relations". With the advance of globalization, the scope of public relations activities is expanding, and the work field of public relations is also expanding. Due to the increase of social demand, the status of public relations has been strengthened and promoted.
Fourth, the relationship between the public and the public has an important strategic position.
The basic attribute, function and important role of the relationship between the public and the public in contemporary social economy, politics, science and technology, culture and social development determine that the relationship between the public and the public has an important strategic position in social practice.
1. The relationship between the public and the public has an overall, directional and significant impact on social organizations. From the above description of the attributes and functions of public relations, it is not difficult for us to make such a judgment: public relations are not only microscopic, partial and technical, but also have a global, directional and significant impact on social organizations. With a good relationship between the public and the public, social organizations have a peaceful, stable and sustainable external environment and efficient, harmonious and optimized internal operating conditions, which makes the survival and development of social organizations have a solid foundation.
2. Public-private relationship is an important strategic resource. In the past, we regarded manpower, material resources, financial resources and science and technology as important strategic resources. In fact, public-private relationship is also an important strategic resource. It can combine these elements to form new functions and resultant forces. You can also win partners and get all kinds of external support you need. The better the public-private relationship of a social organization, the richer the factors and conditions for its survival and development. Now some old diplomats call for "active use of diplomatic resources!" Diplomatic relations are also a kind of public relations, which are established between countries. These old diplomats have worked in the diplomatic map for a long time and accumulated rich relationship resources. Their appeal is very brave.
3. Public-private relationship is an important social practice. Public-private relationship is the interaction between social organizations and relevant public. This interaction not only brings good benefits to both sides, but also plays an important role in all aspects of society. People's labor creation activities cannot be carried out in isolation. People can only engage in social production if they form certain relations of production. People can only survive and live in certain social relations. Only with the help of certain social relations can people obtain and use the fruits of labor.
The relationship between the public and the public has always been highly valued and widely practiced by social organizations.
4. Public-private relationship is an important part of strategic management. A famous entrepreneur once said, "I have to consider two things first every morning: the development direction of the enterprise and the public relations of the enterprise." Developing the relationship between the party and the masses is a big issue that concerns the overall situation and the future. Leaders of social organizations must put them in a strategic position and manage public-private relations through effective planning, organization, command, coordination, encouragement and control. Only by rationalizing the internal and external relations can social organizations be in a good state of operation and seek development.
Verb (abbreviation of verb) public relations work direction
The positioning of public relations is the position of a series of work related to public relations that we measure or set. The objective and important strategic position of the relationship between the public and the public influences and determines the orientation of all work related to the relationship between the public and the public.
1. public relations * * * work should be placed at the level of leadership decision-making of social organizations. Jobs with a strategic position should naturally enter the leadership. Only by direct planning, decision-making, direct implementation and supervision by leaders can public relations work be carried out smoothly and its due role be fully played.
2. The core function of public relations should be coordination. Public relations has many functions. Careful comparison shows that coordination is the most important core function. Grasping the core function of "coordination", other outlines have been lifted, the vision of public relations work has been broadened, and the content of activities has been enriched. This is not only conducive to promoting and strengthening the social status of public-to-public relations, enriching the practice and theoretical research of public-to-public relations, but also conducive to getting rid of some difficulties encountered in the development of public-to-public relations.
3. The public relations organization within the organization should be located at the management level. Public relations organizations established within the organization are responsible for managing internal and external public relations. In the internal structure of the organization, public relations institutions should be set up in management, so that they can organize public relations work under the direct leadership of the person in charge of the organization.
4. Public relations companies, public relations industries and public relations markets in society are all service-oriented. They provide social organizations with consultation on social relations resource management and public relations strategic management, as well as specialized public relations business agency services. After Henry Kissinger, former US Secretary of State, abdicated, he organized a company with only a few people, including Scott Korov, former US National Security Adviser, and Igberg, former Deputy Secretary of State. They only do two things: first, where your big company is going to invest, I will try my best to have a look, study and see if your direction is ok, and ask for advice, that is, to determine the direction; Second, who is the key person you are looking for? I'll try my best to help you get in touch.
Public relations is a high-level and highly professional job. With the development of social division of labor, social organizations need society to provide professional business services for public relations.
Practitioners of public relations should act as managers or management consultants and service providers. Public relations practitioners refer to people who specialize in public relations. Such as public relations experts, public relations scholars, public relations consultants, public relations managers, public relations personnel, public relations personnel and so on. The specialization and professionalization of public relations work is an inevitable trend of historical development. Within social organizations, public relations employees are responsible for the management of public relations, and they are the managers of public relations. Practitioners of public relations companies in society are all providers of public relations services. They provide management consulting and specific business agency services for social organizations with their social relations resources, professional knowledge, wisdom and skills.
6. Compared with social activities such as communication, marketing and advertising, public relations activities are in a dominant position. There are some different understandings about the relationship between public relations and social activities such as communication, marketing and advertising. Some domestic scholars define public relations as "communication management", which is similar to the American Institute of Public Relations Communication Management. The University of Maryland is the representative school of this school, and James Grugni is the representative scholar of this school. They think that public relations is the "communication manager" of the organization.
In universities in Chinese mainland, the major of public relations was once placed in the School of Journalism and Communication. This is related to the understanding that the relationship between the public and the public is "communication management". When social organizations are in contact with the relevant public, they must first communicate with each other. Good and effective communication is the basis of mutual understanding, establishment and maintenance of relations. However, it is not enough to communicate only in public relations. The purpose of communication is to let both sides know the situation and master each other's goals, needs, attitudes and behaviors. Communication may promote the cooperation between social organizations and the public and lay the foundation for cooperation, but in many cases communication cannot solve the problem of cooperation. Cooperation is based on mutual satisfaction of interests, and the combination and adjustment of interests of both sides is the key to the formation of cooperation. Therefore, we talk about information, public opinion and so on. It is only one aspect that should be paid special attention to in public relations work. It has a positive effect on mastering the situation and influencing the public, but it is not an essential work. Interest coordination is the deep and fundamental way to solve public relations problems. Communication is a specific technical means of public relations, which provides technical support for public relations.
Northwestern University has a great influence on the research and education of marketing, with the school as the main body, forming an integrated marketing communication school with public relations as the main body. According to this school of thought, the public relations business mainly deals with the problem of "marketing promotion", and the main business content of public relations is "integrated management of all news source related to products or services", with the purpose of "making potential and current customers take purchase actions or continue to maintain their brand loyalty".
There is no doubt that public-private relations help marketing. But marketing is not the core of public-private relationship, nor is it the whole of public-private relationship. The awareness and methods of public relations guide and help social organizations to carry out marketing work. Advertising is also a kind of communication activity in essence. Compared with public relations, it is also a technical means, which can provide services for public relations. The development of public relations can promote the development of advertising. The relationship between the two is not fluctuating. In different periods and in different fields, there may be different development speeds, which are determined by their own nature and functions, as well as the different degrees of utilization and development of them by society.
In a word, compared with public relations, communication, marketing, advertising, etc. are only specific methods of a certain level and aspect, and are some specific technical means under the control of public relations system, and public relations work is in a dominant position.
7. The teaching and training of public relations is mainly to cultivate quality and skills. Public relations quality includes public relations consciousness, public relations theory, public relations working methods and public relations related knowledge. For the average person, as long as he lives and works in society, he is not only a natural person but also a social person. Moreover, people in this society generally belong to a social organization. Social people must deal with society. Trading is also a science. To be good at dealing with people, we must learn and cultivate the awareness, knowledge, skills and wisdom of dealing with people. In response to the needs of social groups, actively carry out education and training in public relations. For public relations practitioners, their professional ability level in public relations work should be higher than that of ordinary people, but the basis of public relations education and training is also the cultivation of quality and skills.
8. The discipline theory of public relations should be located in management. The work of public relations is a kind of management activity. Public relations studies the laws, subjects and objects, principles and methods, functions and processes of public relations management. Therefore, the discipline theory of public relations should be located in management. We are glad to see that in the enrollment work of colleges and universities in 2004, the major of public relations has been classified into the category of management.
9. Public relations organizations in the society, whose main responsibility is to become promoters of career development and industry leaders. The main tasks of public relations organizations are to publicize and popularize public relations knowledge, mobilize social forces to carry out public relations activities, organize public relations theoretical discussions and work exchanges, coordinate public relations organizational relations, and standardize public relations industry behavior.