Public relations can and should make an important contribution in helping to
form an organization's ideas about what it is, what it should do and what its
publics want and expect from it.
Communication Management
The public relations role that calls for developing communications objectives
that are consistent with an organization's overall objectives. As two-way communicators,
public relations practitioners interact directly with key publics, relaying the resulting
information (with recommendations) to other members of the management team.
Crisis Management
Establishing methods and policies to be used when an organization's
operations become involved in an emergency affecting the public. This includes policies and procedures
for the distribution of information to employees, media, government and other key publics.
Issues Management
This involves identifying problems, issues and trends relevant
to an organization and then developing and executing a program to deal with them. Included is
the study of public policy matters of concern to an organization.
Relationship Management
This involves the role of public relations in
identifying key publics and establishing strategies for building and maintaining mutually
beneficial relationships with those publics.
Reputation or Image Management
The planning and implementing of policies,
procedures and strategies that demonstrate an organization's commitment to public and
social responsibility, ethical behaviour, corporate identity and reputation with key publics.
Resource Management
PR's management of human and financial resources revolves around
setting objectives, planning, budgeting, recruiting and hiring PR staff and administering those resources.
Risk Management
As preventive PR, this role involves helping an organization
recognize areas of potential danger and recommending needed changes before potential dangers
develop into crises.
Strategic Management
Acting as a counselor, the PR practitioner serves on the management team helping
the organization develop sound policies that are in the best interests of the
public as well as the organization. The PR practitioner integrates an understanding
of the concerns and attitudes of key publics into the organization's managerial
decision-making process.