Chapter 15 notes

Earning a Seat at the Table: Defining The Professional Communicator‟s Role Former U.S.

Secretary of State Henry Kissinger – who knew a thing or two about bureaucratic infighting — observed that leaders listen to advisors whose views they think they need, not those who insist on a hearing because of the organizational chart.

the marginalization typically is grounded in how the communication function – and hence the leaders of that function – are defined.  These include:

• Being cast as an implementor: the head of communication is seen as a doer rather than as a leader.
• Being cast as a tactician: whether the head of communication is implementing or managing the function, communication is seen as solely as a tool or tactic, and not as part of the strategic focus of the enterprise.
• Being cast as part of a functional area: the head of communication is seen as a writer, or as a media person, or as a technology person, and not as having enterprise-wide standing to offer advice beyond the narrow functional area

Source: Reputation Management

Read Full Post »

Chapter 14 notes

– Public relations consultants work in firms that offer communication advice and services to clients – for a fee. Consultants must balance the interests of clients, employees and the firm‟s owners.

– This “triple squeeze” creates unique challenges for managers and adds an extra dimension of reward – and stress – to what is already a challenging profession.

Dr. Gitlow describes Deming‟s theory of management as based on four  paradigms:

1. People are most effectively motivated and inspired by a mix of intrinsic and extrinsic rewards.  Intrinsic motivation comes from the sheer joy of performing an act, and releases human energy that can be focused into improvement and innovation of a system.

2. Manage using both a process and results orientation, not only a results orientation. Management’s job is to improve and innovate the processes that create results, not just to demand results

3. Management’s function is to optimize the entire system so that everyone wins, not to maximize only his or her component of the system. Managers must understand that individuals, organizations, and systems of organizations are interdependent.

4. Cooperation works better than competition. In a cooperative environment, everybody wins. Customers win products and services they can brag about. The firm wins returns for investors and secure jobs for employees. Suppliers win long-term customers for their products. The community wins an excellent corporate citizen.

Source: Reputation Management

Read Full Post »

Chapter 13 Reading Notes

“Corporate responsibility must evolve from being seen as an unwanted cost to being recognized as an intrinsic part of a healthy business model, an investment that creates competitive advantage and helps a company achieve profitable, sustainable growth.”

– Demonstrating corporate responsibility is a key challenge for business leaders, and effective communication is a central element of every successful corporate responsibility program.

– Corporate responsibility means meeting the expectations of stakeholders; it goes beyond philanthropy and legal compliance.

– The first challenge is defining corporate responsibility. Companies use “corporate responsibility,” “corporate social responsibility,” “corporate citizenship,” “business ethics” and “sustainability” interchangeably to describe corporate initiatives ranging from philanthropy, to legal compliance, to social and environmental programs.

The business case for adopting responsible corporate practices includes:

• managing and mitigating risk
• protecting and enhancing reputation, brand equity and trust
• attracting, motivating and retaining talent
• improving operational and cost-efficiency
• ensuring a license to operate
• developing new business opportunities and
• creating a more secure and prosperous operating environment

Source: Reputation Management

Read Full Post »

Chapter 12 Reading Notes

Effective crisis response––including both in what a company does and what it says––provides companies with a competitive advantage and can even enhance reputation. In particular, companies that handle crises well tend to protect those things they hold most dear, including:

• Stock price
• Operations
• Employee morale and productivity
• Business relationships
• Demand for their products
• Support of public policymakers
• Strategic focus.

– Whether a company survives a crisis with its reputation, operations, and financial condition intact is determined less by the severity of the crisis––the underlying event –– than by the timeliness and quality of its response to the crisis.

– The single largest contributor to reputational and other harm in the aftermath of a crisis is perception of indifference, especially when there are victims.

Source: Reputation Management

Read Full Post »

Chapter 11 Reading Notes

Issues Management Overview

Issues management is a corporate process that helps organizations identify challenges in the business environment—both internal and external—before they become crises and mobilizes corporate resources to help protect the company from the harm to reputation, operations, and financial condition that the issue may provoke. Issues management is a subset of risk management, but the risks it deals with are public visibility and reputational harm.

The elements of a typical issues management structure are:

1. Governance.  There needs to be some senior body to whom the standing issues management team reports.  That governance structure is responsible for review and approval of major recommendations and plans; identification and assignment of resources to manage issues; and supervision of the work of the issues management team.

2. Issues Management Team.  This is a standing group of people who represent core functional areas across the organization (e.g., legal, manufacturing, human resources, public relations, marketing/advertising, sales, security, administration, information technology, etc.).  It meets on a set schedule, and also whenever a pressing or breaking issue warrants.

 

Source: Reputation Management

Read Full Post »

Chapter 10 Reading Notes

Web involvement allows marketers to better understand two key positioning questions:

(1) Who are the potential customers, and (2) does the product fit their needs? Answers add to traditional demographic, geographic, and lifestyle information. The process is abbreviated as STP: segmentation, targeting, and positioning. If a firm can solve its positioning problem, it can address its marketing mix.

Effective persuasion

Organizational behavior professor Jay Conger pointed to four essential steps in effective persuasion: (1) establish credibility, (2) frame your goals in a way that identifies common ground with your audience (positioning), (3) reinforce your position by using vivid language and compelling evidence, and (4) connect emotionally with your audience.

 

Source: Reputation Management

Read Full Post »

Chapter 9 reading notes

Global Model.

―Global public relations superimposes an overall perspective on a program executed in two or more national markets, recognizing the similarities among audiences while necessarily adapting to regional differences. It connotes a planning attitude as much as geographic reach and flexibility.

Multinational Model.

―International PR practitioners often implement distinctive programs in multiple markets, with each program tailored to meet the often acute distinctions of the individual market.

The Global Corporate Communication Role

Most global corporate communication practitioners have responsibility for the following functions:

• Employee communication
• Media relations
• Corporate identity and brand management
• Public and community relations
• Crisis communication
• Public affairs /Government relations
• Investor relations
• Annual report and other publications
• Corporate social responsibility/sustainability/philanthropy
• Influencer relations (industry analysts, academia)
• Executive positioning
• Corporate publishing and production including Web site

Source: Reputation Management

Read Full Post »

Chapter 8 reading notes

What Is Investor Relations?

IR is most often employed by companies whose shares are held and traded by the public. Privately owned companies may also use IR in circumstances such as when they have bonds trading on the public markets or when they are owned by a dispersed group of private shareholders.

Why Do Corporations Exist?

The corporation is the dominant form of economic organization in the world today.

shareholders have two rights:

1. the right to select individuals to represent their interests who in turn to direct the CEO and other senior managers on what to do

2. the right to have access to a steady, accurate stream of information about the company and its actions.

 

Source: Reputation Management

Read Full Post »

Chapter 7 Reading Notes

Neighbor of Choice

The new community relations model—planned involvement that meets the needs of the community and company or organization—was a response to the realization that companies and other organizations situated in a community must obtain what Burke calls a ―license to operate.

Three Reputation-Building Strategies

• Build sustainable and ongoing relationships with key individuals, groups, and organizations.
• Institute practices and procedures that anticipate and respond to community expectations, concerns, and issues.
• Focus the community support programs to build relationships, respond to community concerns, and strengthen the community‘s quality of life.

Those three strategies are responsive to the needs of both the community and the organization. They help build the organization‘s reputation so that the organization can get along in the community day to day (as neighbors must); also, the strategies build reputational capital that can be drawn upon during the inevitable tough times, such as those accompanying plant accidents or layoffs.

Source: Reputation Management

Read Full Post »

Chapter 6 Reading Notes

What Is Government Relations?

Few professions can point to the U.S. Constitution as the basis for their existence. Many are surprised to find that the lobbying profession is one of the few. In fact, you need only look as far as the First Amendment to see the eight words that serve as the basis for this vocation: ―Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. Few professions can point to the U.S. Constitution as the basis for their existence.

Organizing the Government Relations Function

Government relations can reside within a number of broader functions within a corporation, including:

• Legal
• Communication or Public Relations
• Corporate Affairs
• A business unit

Source: Reputation Management

Read Full Post »