Public Relations
Inhoudsopgave
Lecture 1 – An introduction ........................................................................................................................................................ 2
Lecture 2 – Crisis Communication ............................................................................................................................................... 3
Lecture 3 – Crisis Communication ............................................................................................................................................... 7
Lecture 4 – Media effects ......................................................................................................................................................... 15
Lecture 5 – Media effects ......................................................................................................................................................... 18
Lecture 6 – Corporate Social Responsibility .............................................................................................................................. 22
Lecture 7 – Corporate Social Responsibility .............................................................................................................................. 27
Lecture 8 – Social media management ..................................................................................................................................... 33
Lecture 9 – Social media management Webcare ...................................................................................................................... 36
Lecture 10 – Internal Communication ....................................................................................................................................... 42
Lecture 11 – Internal Communication ....................................................................................................................................... 45
1
,Lecture 1 – An introduction
What is this course about?
We will cover 5 fundamental themes in Public Relations and Strategic Communication which we approach both theoretically and
from a social science perspective.
1. Crisis communication: How organizations frame communication in order to limit the damages from crisis, depending on the
origin of the crisis
2. Media effects: How does the media influence public opinion and how can organizations influence the media agenda
3. Corporate Social Responsibility: What are an organization’s responsibilities beyond profit and how can they be effectively
communicated to the public
4. Social media: How can organizations use social media so as to build and maintain a relationship with their relevant audiences
5. Internal communication: How should organizations facilitate communication with and within their employees in a way that
fosters a positive environment
Our examples and case studies give you an idea of why Public Relations matter and how important it is in our everyday life.
Public relations: what is it?
1. Managing of Communication of an organization, e.g., negotiation of points of views and bridging interests (Grunig)
2. The development of relationships to help communicate about an organization, an issue, a person or a product
(Gordon)
3. Management of a mutual understanding between an organization and its publics (Cutlip)
Organizations
- ‘Organizations’ is a term that we will use a lot.
- Organizations complies a broader range of institutions than ‘firm’ or ‘company’
- When we talk of companies we discuss commercial entities
- Organization implies a number of other institutions that don’t necessarily sell something but that might still be involved
in Public Relations
2
,Lecture 2 – Crisis Communication
Where is this lecture about
Part 1: Crises and Stakeholders
1.1 What is a crisis?
1.2 What are stakeholders and why do they matter?
1.3 How should organizations classify stakeholders and why?
Part 2: Understanding crises and how to respond
2.1 What are issues and why should you care?
2.2 How can you classify crises?
2.3 What are best practices in crisis response?
1.1 What is a crisis?
A crisis is a turning point in a situation, where an important change takes place, that could determine a negative outcome.
For organizations, crises include:
- Natural crises (floods, earthquakes, fires)
- political crises (corruption, changes in government)
- internal crises (misconduct, abuse)
- ...
A crisis is the perception of an unpredictable event that threatens important expectancies of stakeholders related to health,
safety, environmental, and economic issues, and can seriously impact an organization’s performance and generate negative
outcomes.
*Coombs, 2015
1.2. What are stakeholders and why do they matter?
Stakeholders in a crisis can be defined as individuals, groups, communities or organizations, who may affect, be affected by or
perceive themselves to be affected by the crisis.
*Ndlela, 2019
Why stakeholders?
Interest around stakeholders comes from stakeholder theory, an economic theory that posits that organizations are embedded
in a series of relationships with other organizations, communities, and institutions such as governments.
- According to this theory, the goal of an organization should be the mediation of everyone’s interests (and not just
making a profit).
- “an organization’s success is dependent on how well it manages the relationships with key groups such as customers,
employees, suppliers, communities, financiers and others that can affect the realization of its purpose” (R. Edward
Freeman & Phillips, 2002).
1.3 How should organizations classify stakeholders and why?
Organizations as networks
Most organizations, no matter if NGO or commercial, are involved in a number of relationships that include people inside and
outside of the organization.
When thinking of how to respond to a crisis, organizations should understand:
- Which stakeholders are affected
- How seriously they are affected
- What are the consequences of the stakeholders being affected
...this requires a classification.
3
, Stakeholder management
At the center of establishing and maintaining relationships with stakeholders is communication. Organizations should:
- Be aware of whom to relate to in case of a crisis
- Involve stakeholders in pre-crisis preparedness, for crises that can be prevented
- Establish appropriate communication channels for each stakeholder
(Rawlins, 2006)
Two fundamental questions:
1 How to define and identify stakeholders?
2 How to manage the relationship with various stakeholder groups?
Primary stakeholders: those who are directly, significantly or potentially affected by the activities of the organization
(employees, customers, suppliers, etc). This can also mean those who are directly, significantly and potentially affected by a
crisis.
Secondary stakeholders: those indirectly affected or for whom the impact is not that direct, such as the media, special interest
groups and authorities.
Internal stakeholders: directly affected and take part in the organization’s decision- making and operations. E.g. managers,
owners, employees
External stakeholders: not involved in the organization’s operations. E.g. customers, suppliers, authorities.
Organizational linkage
Normative stakeholders
Those the organization has a common interest with, shares similar problems or values. For example, universities and middle
schools might. Be each other’s normative shareholders
- suppliers of raw materials (because they are also harmed by problems with food
- competitors in the “healthy” fast food industry
Diffusive stakeholders
Stakeholders who are not involved in a company and only appear in the context of a crisis
- the media
- users on social media
Functional stakeholders
Stakeholders who are essential for the management of the crisis (depending on crisis: public security, police, ambulances etc)
- healthcare services (for people who got sick)
- a PR firm to craft apology
- lawyers!
4
Inhoudsopgave
Lecture 1 – An introduction ........................................................................................................................................................ 2
Lecture 2 – Crisis Communication ............................................................................................................................................... 3
Lecture 3 – Crisis Communication ............................................................................................................................................... 7
Lecture 4 – Media effects ......................................................................................................................................................... 15
Lecture 5 – Media effects ......................................................................................................................................................... 18
Lecture 6 – Corporate Social Responsibility .............................................................................................................................. 22
Lecture 7 – Corporate Social Responsibility .............................................................................................................................. 27
Lecture 8 – Social media management ..................................................................................................................................... 33
Lecture 9 – Social media management Webcare ...................................................................................................................... 36
Lecture 10 – Internal Communication ....................................................................................................................................... 42
Lecture 11 – Internal Communication ....................................................................................................................................... 45
1
,Lecture 1 – An introduction
What is this course about?
We will cover 5 fundamental themes in Public Relations and Strategic Communication which we approach both theoretically and
from a social science perspective.
1. Crisis communication: How organizations frame communication in order to limit the damages from crisis, depending on the
origin of the crisis
2. Media effects: How does the media influence public opinion and how can organizations influence the media agenda
3. Corporate Social Responsibility: What are an organization’s responsibilities beyond profit and how can they be effectively
communicated to the public
4. Social media: How can organizations use social media so as to build and maintain a relationship with their relevant audiences
5. Internal communication: How should organizations facilitate communication with and within their employees in a way that
fosters a positive environment
Our examples and case studies give you an idea of why Public Relations matter and how important it is in our everyday life.
Public relations: what is it?
1. Managing of Communication of an organization, e.g., negotiation of points of views and bridging interests (Grunig)
2. The development of relationships to help communicate about an organization, an issue, a person or a product
(Gordon)
3. Management of a mutual understanding between an organization and its publics (Cutlip)
Organizations
- ‘Organizations’ is a term that we will use a lot.
- Organizations complies a broader range of institutions than ‘firm’ or ‘company’
- When we talk of companies we discuss commercial entities
- Organization implies a number of other institutions that don’t necessarily sell something but that might still be involved
in Public Relations
2
,Lecture 2 – Crisis Communication
Where is this lecture about
Part 1: Crises and Stakeholders
1.1 What is a crisis?
1.2 What are stakeholders and why do they matter?
1.3 How should organizations classify stakeholders and why?
Part 2: Understanding crises and how to respond
2.1 What are issues and why should you care?
2.2 How can you classify crises?
2.3 What are best practices in crisis response?
1.1 What is a crisis?
A crisis is a turning point in a situation, where an important change takes place, that could determine a negative outcome.
For organizations, crises include:
- Natural crises (floods, earthquakes, fires)
- political crises (corruption, changes in government)
- internal crises (misconduct, abuse)
- ...
A crisis is the perception of an unpredictable event that threatens important expectancies of stakeholders related to health,
safety, environmental, and economic issues, and can seriously impact an organization’s performance and generate negative
outcomes.
*Coombs, 2015
1.2. What are stakeholders and why do they matter?
Stakeholders in a crisis can be defined as individuals, groups, communities or organizations, who may affect, be affected by or
perceive themselves to be affected by the crisis.
*Ndlela, 2019
Why stakeholders?
Interest around stakeholders comes from stakeholder theory, an economic theory that posits that organizations are embedded
in a series of relationships with other organizations, communities, and institutions such as governments.
- According to this theory, the goal of an organization should be the mediation of everyone’s interests (and not just
making a profit).
- “an organization’s success is dependent on how well it manages the relationships with key groups such as customers,
employees, suppliers, communities, financiers and others that can affect the realization of its purpose” (R. Edward
Freeman & Phillips, 2002).
1.3 How should organizations classify stakeholders and why?
Organizations as networks
Most organizations, no matter if NGO or commercial, are involved in a number of relationships that include people inside and
outside of the organization.
When thinking of how to respond to a crisis, organizations should understand:
- Which stakeholders are affected
- How seriously they are affected
- What are the consequences of the stakeholders being affected
...this requires a classification.
3
, Stakeholder management
At the center of establishing and maintaining relationships with stakeholders is communication. Organizations should:
- Be aware of whom to relate to in case of a crisis
- Involve stakeholders in pre-crisis preparedness, for crises that can be prevented
- Establish appropriate communication channels for each stakeholder
(Rawlins, 2006)
Two fundamental questions:
1 How to define and identify stakeholders?
2 How to manage the relationship with various stakeholder groups?
Primary stakeholders: those who are directly, significantly or potentially affected by the activities of the organization
(employees, customers, suppliers, etc). This can also mean those who are directly, significantly and potentially affected by a
crisis.
Secondary stakeholders: those indirectly affected or for whom the impact is not that direct, such as the media, special interest
groups and authorities.
Internal stakeholders: directly affected and take part in the organization’s decision- making and operations. E.g. managers,
owners, employees
External stakeholders: not involved in the organization’s operations. E.g. customers, suppliers, authorities.
Organizational linkage
Normative stakeholders
Those the organization has a common interest with, shares similar problems or values. For example, universities and middle
schools might. Be each other’s normative shareholders
- suppliers of raw materials (because they are also harmed by problems with food
- competitors in the “healthy” fast food industry
Diffusive stakeholders
Stakeholders who are not involved in a company and only appear in the context of a crisis
- the media
- users on social media
Functional stakeholders
Stakeholders who are essential for the management of the crisis (depending on crisis: public security, police, ambulances etc)
- healthcare services (for people who got sick)
- a PR firm to craft apology
- lawyers!
4
