Public Relations in commercial organizations

1. Why do we need a PR department in our organization?

2. What benefits can PR specialists bring in to our organization?

3. What duties PR specialists will have?

4.  What makes PR different from other domains like publicity or advertising ?

5. What type of study program you must graduate in order to work in PR?

The term "PR" is still a subject of discussion and confusion between people and organizations , in order to eliminate this confusions I listed above the five most frequent asked questions when it comes to PR.  The content bellow aims at giving suitable answers to each of the five questions.

 Introduction.

 PR (Public Relations) is a branch of what we call nowadays Communication Sciences .The public relations sector appeared and developed do to the growing need of commercial organizations to build and maintain strong and productive relations on two major plans :   a) inside the organization  
                                                                                                                           - between workers
                                                                                                                           - between  managers
                                                                                                                           - between the operational level (workers) and the managerial level (general managers , local managers , office managers )
                                                                                                                           - conflict management

b) outside the organization - managing publicity campaigns

                                                - communication with the general public (verbal , written ) 

                                                - communication  with other organizations 

                                                -  relations with the mass media ( interviews , newspaper articles , etc)

                                         

PR : Organizational communication 

   Organizational communication is a domain that can be considered the middle point between two sciences : management and communication psychology . This domain focuses on the ways in which communication between workers and managers can effect the well being of the organization .
   Good communication can increase productivity , the quality of the products or services offered by the organization , transparency of the decision making process and the employees trust in there managers .

PR:Factors of conflicts between organizations
Communication between organizations  plays a major roll in the balance of the local and global markets . The most common conflict generators are the following - common target groups
                                                                            - product /service similarities
                                                                            - common resources
                                                                            -  migration of human resources
                                                                         
PR: Conflict management 

   It is a area of the science of communication psychology which analyzes conflicts in order to understand their structure , depth , propagation and methods of resolving them .

   Conflicts can be very toxic for the general health and productivity of a organization , they can generate communication blockages , administrative chaos , decrees in productivity , power struggle , fragmentation and even bankruptcy. In order to prevent such situations , organizations must have conflictology expert , usually a PR expert or a organizational  psychologist will take this job.

PR: Publicity campaigns 

   Employees who work in the PR department can design publicity campaigns , some organizations have a separate publicity department which deals with publicity strategies and advertising . 

   Many times , people integrate the concept of marketing in the general notion of publicity , marketing is a branch of economy that studies the methods that can be used for the distribution of  products and services on the market , statistics and economic analysis are used to determine the profits  resulted from such actions and to monitor their future development. 

   Publicity on the other hand is a multidisciplinary field which reunites domains as : creative writings , illustration design , video design ,psychology , sociology  , communication science ,etc .

     Publicity campaigns focus on two main objectives :

     a) putting the message of a organization the mass media cycle : newspapers - street publicity- TV advertising   ; the main objective of such action is to create a solid costumer base(1) .

       b) creating a solid communication channel between the organization and the newly created costumer base , which will help spreading the organization's message indirectly through social connections(2).

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(1) - solid costumer base - a group of people which have as a common feature their frequent use of a product / service provided by a organization.

(2) social connections - ties that are generated by the process of socialization . 

PR : Education and career development 

What institution can form specialists in the field of Public Relations?
   Many universities offer study programs in this field , depending on the structure of the education system , degrees in PR can be obtain by applying to a university or college .
   The educational offer can vary depending on the institution that you choose to apply to , some universities can offer only bachelor's degrees  in this domain , others can offer the full package : bachelors's , master's and Ph.D .
If your local university dosen't offer degrees in this field ,  the candidate can apply for a related field like : journalism , literature degrees , languages , philosophy , etc . 
Career perspectives : PR specialist  , spokes person , communication analyst , communication psychologist , organizational psychologist , publicity expert , advertising , creative writing , publications , journalism , etc.