Models of Professionalism in the PR Industry

Models of Professionalism in the PR Industry Professionalism is an attempt to translate one order of scarce resources, specialist knowledge and skills into social and economic rewards (Larson, 1977). It is describes as a sphere of expertise and identifying level of practice and competencies among Public Relations practitioners which has been developed for over hundreds years ago in our society. Different Public Relations (PR) associations shall practice different forms of code ethics. For example most of PR associations adopted Code of Athens while others have their own code of ethics as guidelines. In accordance to Brown (1986), he defined ethics as a set of values that establishes the criteria by which conduct will be judged. Ethics also are culture-bound and therefore create some difficulties for global public relations practice. Thus, Code of Ethics is a formal statement of an organisations values on certain ethical and social issues. The famous four models that influence the contemporary public relation theories of practice were adapted from Grunig and Hunts (1984). They comprised of Public agentry /publicity that was used to draw attention to an event. A two-way asymmetric will deal with the feedback from the public by providing persuasive communication. Whereas a two way symmetric is mutual understandings between the public and organisation that was built through dialogue, listening and understanding. Other theories discussed are the systems theory that helped to explain and predict organisation behaviours and contribution of PR role to the entity as whole. A situational theory is a tools to categorise publics perceptions of a situation and their subsequent behaviour; and agenda setting theory discussed about the media and the way news is selected by media outlets for consumption by the public (Sheehan Xavier 2009). PR practitioner are demanded to be ethical as they go professional. According to Seithel (1997), PR practitioner must be honest and trustworthy to cater the needs of the public and individual organisation in order to protect those who entrust their well being to the professional (try to rephrase the sentence- vague). They also need to protect their profession values and commit themselves to uphold the profession by honouring its obligation and values. In order to quantify professionalism, PR practitioner should demonstrate their skills on handling special tasks. Professionalism are divided into three categories. First, it is an act to serve the best interest of client and public, Utility of vagueness (Kultgen,1988) which contributes to the ideological use of functionalist models in the struggle for status. Secondly, it acts as an ideology of advocacy (Simon, 1978) where professional is neutral and detached from the clients purposes and also create an aggressive partisan of the client working to advance the clients needs. Finally, they denote a right that the public possesses by virtue of being the primary, generic unit in society. It is also denotes a benefit(s) from publics relationship with other units to insure the well-being of society as a whole.(nda ku paham) However as Bayles (1981) states not all responsibilities are those of individual professionals. Some are responsibilities of a profession as a whole and cannot be reduced to obligations of individual professionals. The use of professionalism normally linked in PR field with the expression of the need to improve occupational standing- body of knowledge, ethics and certification to understand the defining characteristics of profession (Cutlip, Center Broom, 1994, pp.129-163; Grunig Hunt, 1984,pp. 66-69; Wylie, 1994). This is to improve the effectiveness of public relations as well as their image of presentation. But how? Any examples For example, Institute of Public Relation in Malaysia does not belong to individual professional Public Relations practitioner but its portals who desire the systematic, organized growth and development of Public Relations as a profession, who contribute positively to the nations continuous growth and development in all spheres of human endeavours. This was subjected due to the different culture backgrounds and races in Malaysia. The main objective of Institute of Public Relation in Malaysia is to enhance professionalisms among public relations practitioners in Malaysia. To be more specific, the objectives of Institute of Public Relation in Malaysia are:- 1.Supports research and other educational activities in public relations. 2.Giving advice and provide information and create opportunities for discussions on all aspects of public relation activities. 3.To promote the understanding, development and recognition of public relations. 4.To established and prescribe standards of professi onal and ethical conduct and ensure the observance of those standards. 5.To encourage the attainment of professional academic qualification. 6.To nurture, promote and maintain contacts with public relation practitioners. The Institute of Public Relation in Malaysia (IPRM) has its own code of ethics to manage the practice of Public Relations in Malaysia. Public Relations practitioners in Malaysia are governed in two ways, firstly by the Code of Professional Conduct (Code of Athens) which was enforced by the institute of Public Relations Malaysia. Any negligence they can be fined and deregistered. Secondly, it is governed by the law of the country where Public Relations practitioner can be sued or imprisoned for any offences committed under the law of the country such as Printing Presses and Publication Act 1984, Seditition Act 1948, Defamation Act 1957, Copyright Act 1987 and Internal Security act 1960, revised in 1972. Institute of Public Relation in Malaysia Code of Ethics was adapted from the Code of Athens where all members should:- 1.Conduct professional activities with respect for the public interest 2.Shall at all time  deal fairly and honestly with his client or employers, past and present, with fellow members and with the general public 3.Shall not intentionally disseminate false or misleading information; maintain truth, accuracy and good taste. 4.Shall not engage in any practices which tend to corrupt the integrity of channels of public communication. 5.Shall not create or use of any organisation purporting to serve some announced cause  but actually promoting a special private interest of a member or his client or his employer which is not apparent 6.Shall safeguards the confidence of both present and formers clients and employers. Shall not disclose confidential information. 7.Shall not represent conflicting or competing interest 8.Shall not accept fees, commission or any other valu able consideration from anyone either than his client or employer. 9.Shall not attract business unfairly 10.Shall not purpose to prospective client or employer that his fee or other compensation to be contingent on the achievement of certain result. 11.Shall not intentionally injure the profession reputation or practice of another member 12.Shall not engaged in or be connected with any occupation or business which is not consistent with membership of the institute. 13.Shall not seek to supplant another member with his/her employer or client, no shall he/she encroach upon the professional employment of another member unless both parties are assured that there is no conflict of interest involved. 14.Shall corporate with fellow members in upholding and enforcing the code. In Malaysia, system theory of public relations and strategy strengthen the concepts of public relations management in Malaysia. System theory (general system theory) is widely being applied to the field of public relation in order to explain and predict the organisational behaviours and explain how the public relations role contributes to the entity as a whole (Sheehan and Xavier, 2009). With the application of system theory, professional can play their adaptive roles in shaping the standards of professionalism based on the concept of adjustment and adaptation of public relations. It is important in creating transparency of the organisations to their environment. Professional public relations practitioners should be able to respond to the dynamic real world, especially in competitive business environment (Cutlip et al., 2000; Cornelissen, 2004:167) For example, case study done by Zulhamri Abdullah and Therry Threadgold: Waste Management Company, CEOs stated that Unlike multinational companies which are taking a great concern over public relations as they have gone up and down, but some Malaysian companies have not really exposed to high competition and being having good at all time. Malaysian CEOs must be more agile and competitive. Communication is very important for a company to be appeared as the best company. This can be done by communicating and engaging your business with external stakeholders. Thats why we invest in PR to be seen by our stakeholders. A real PR practitioner must be able to influence a CEOs thinking and judgement. Here, PR is a part of top management committee. This statement shows the importance of the role of PR in the company and how the CEOs trust the PR ideas and judgement towards decision- making. Good communication skills will help the PR to exploit the business deals with internal and external stakeholders. In order to realise this vision, the development of PR knowledge is important towards the professionalism in the field. For nurturing real professionals and improve level of competencies among PR fraternity, it will take a long process. A lack of talent, skills and competency among PR practitioners are the most critical issues faced by the organisations/sectors. Accreditation is an important requirement in professionalization of PR practice which is based on voluntary rather than an imposed mandatory system. It should be more focus on providing technical and managerial knowledge and skills which is more complex and sophisticated. Social responsibility was the aim of IPRM and other PR Institute, in order to proof occupations value to the society by giving or putting facts which can be supported by the truth. Organisation in democratic societies exists with consent of the public so it is a must for the organisation to be socially responsible. There are some advantages and disadvantages of socially responsible PR. The advantages are by helping them to improve their professional practice through codifying and enforcing ethical conduct and standards of performance, stressing the need of the public. Also they serves the public interest by discussing the view articulate in the forum and to promote human welfare by helping social system to adapt the changing needs and environments. Whereas as a drawback, PR gains advantages for and promote special interest, sometimes at the cost of the public well being, strangled the channels of communication that confuses, and also corrodes the channel of communication with the cynicism and credibility gap. As conclusions, in order to be professional Public Relations practitioner, he/she must abide the code of ethics which have been provided by their organisations. They also should be trustworthy in handling specific task in order to gain trust from clients and the public itself. The level of skills to be professional will be judged through their expertise on handling the tasks given. ( dang ur conclusion not good enuf lah write more.. kalo boleh support with any statement) References: Abdullah Z. Threadgold T. Towards the Professionalisation of Public relations in Malaysia: Perception Management and Strategy Development. (accessed date 16/08/09) Barlett, J., Twyoniak, S. Hatcher, C. 2007. Public relations professional practice and the institutionalisation of CSR. Journal of Communication management, 11, 4, 281-99. Bivins, T. 1993. Public Relations, Professionalism, and the public interest. Journal of Business Ethics, Feb, 12, 2. Cornelissen, J.P. 2004. Corporate Communication: Theory and Practice. London: Saga Publication. Cutlip, S.M., Center, A.H broom, G.M. 2000. Effective Public Relations. London: Prentice Hall International, Inc. Institute of Public Relation in Malaysia.2009. Code of Ethics. http://www.iprm.org.my/index.php/code-of-athens/english-version (accessed date 16/08/09) Johnston J Zawawi C (eds), 2004, Public Relations Theory and Practice , 2nd edn, Allen and Unwin, Crows nest, NSW Pieczka M. and LEtang J. 2006. Public relations and the question of professionalism, in LEtang and Pieczka (eds). Public Relations Critical Debates and Contemporary Practice. Mahwah NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum, 265-78 Sheehan M. Xavier R. (eds) 2009, Public Relations Campaigns, 1st edn, Copyright Agency Limited, Sydney NSW.

Customer Relations Essay

How can organizations become more open to feedback? What kinds of employee training would help? What would you tell your employees about feedback importance if you were the boss? Establishing Policy An organization can become more open to feedback by practicing as part of its daily operations, a system of feedback receptiveness that encourage customers to complain. This system will also require employees to act on those complaints in productive ways. The more customers come to expect good responses from the organization, the easier it is to be that company that welcomes feedback. Paul R. Timm (2011) maintains that you create a good feedback climate by reinforcing customer behaviors, not by challenging them. If customers fear a debate or argument every time they voice a concern, they will quit giving feedback. So he suggests the following: -Compensate them or provide restitution for unsatisfactory product or service. -Share their sense of urgency; get the problems handled quickly. -Avoid further inconveniences. -Punish someone for the problem (sometimes). -Assure them the problem will not happen again. (Timm, 2003) If companies can accomplish these first important steps, they will show customers and employees that they are serious about receiving feedback, establishing a dialogue, and keeping their customers. The feeling of engagement goes a long way toward earning allegiance and building confidence in management, but defensiveness against feedback will put you out of business. As a customer, I have had the best customer satisfaction in establishments that have a well-advertised customer service focus (Wal-Mart, Whole Foods, Starbucks, and Nordstrom’s Rack). The ones where employees know there’ll be mystery shoppers; that â€Å"corporate† takes its ALS seriously; that reward or recrimination depends on each customer interaction they have throughout the day; that the company who acts on complaints quickly, tactfully, and efficiently, wins! Using Technology By having third-party involvement as a neutral conduit between the customer (and employee) and the organization, frank and open communication can be achieved. It eliminates barriers to listening like interactional elements arising from listener self-centeredness and self-protection. The more the organization hears from its customers, the greater its responsibility becomes to act efficiently and swiftly. It can easily invite feedback and advertise itself as engaging and receptive with the use of listening system technology. Allegiance Technologies has developed a Web-based â€Å"active listening system† (ALS) that provides an exceptional turn-key customer and employee dialoguing tool. (Timm, 2011) It gathers complaints, compliments, questions, and suggestions, assures anonymity, and provides customers with a third party through whom they can feel safe blowing the whistle on their local Target, or long-time employer. The anonymity feature makes the system especially useful for employees who may fear retaliation. E.g., in government-mandated processes for facilitating whistle-blowing on company misdeeds. Once the company responds to the feedback, the ALS system provides follow-up in order to measure customer loyalty and satisfaction. Additionally, companies must be sincere and accommodating when they use technology driven forums like feedback pages and social networking to invite customer feedback. If they can get the customers to feel good about giving it, then they would have scored a victory for customer satisfaction. Employee Training Training employees to get with the program should begin at the recruitment phase. John Mackey of Whole Foods looks for people who have a high degree of emotional intelligence — a high capacity for caring. (Mackey, 2009) The fact is you have to care about people to succeed at good customer service. The notion of getting the right people in is something that employers Wal-Mart and Southwest Airlines understand well. The right people tend to adapt quickly to the goals and mission of the company and training will be that much more effective. Organizations should consider the people that interact daily with customers, a most critical element of every corporate strategy. Despite numerous studies indicating a strong relationship between employee loyalty and customer loyalty, the average customer service representative stays an average of 18 months on the job. The onus is on companies to do more to upgrade the skills, training and pay of customer service representatives, especially si nce they handle an estimated 65% of all complaints. To ensure compliance with its customer service goals, employers can use a variety of employee monitoring systems, such as mystery shopping. Traditionally this approach grew unreliable as findings were tainted by the subjective judgment of the shopper. However, with the use of digital video, mystery shoppers can evaluate the action through cameras hidden in their clothing. The images are digitally recorded and stored on a computer within 48 hours of the mystery shop. Managers can then sit down with employees and invite them to view the tape, and simply ask, â€Å"How do you think you did with that customer?† and sit back and listen. The employee gets the benefit of exceptionally clear, robust data—feedback that he or she may use to improve service skills. Feedback receptive organizations can take example from Whole Foods whose stores are like big amphitheaters intent on monitoring every aspect of customer service. Ever notice how at Whole Foods no matter who you ask for help you always get an answer? The company tracks and analyzes employee/client encounters with digital video. A look to the sky in any Whole Foods store reveals a wide array of state-of-the-art â€Å"eyes in the sky† that are not just meant for shoplifters. This complete surveillance makes the company aware of the moves of every one of its agents and customers know it. The â€Å"unreasonable† customer will know that cameras will back her up in the event of a dispute, and she’ll have no fear of a debate or argument from the company. She’ll be confident that no-one will try to handle her, and that resolution will be swift because Whole Foods and others like it know that nothing impresses people as significantly as quick follow-up. They also recognize that timing is critical when you get customer or employee input, and that early recovery is far easier than letting a bad situation fester and then trying to fix it. Moreover they do it consistently so that it becomes status quo for employees and customers alike, using a three-step process of feeling empathy, resolving the problem, and offering something more to exceed what the customer anticipates. (Timm, 2011) So when I failed to hear my name called as my coffee order was served, a Starbucks server eagerly offered to make me a new latte if mine wasn’t warm enough. Barely five minutes had that piping hot latte stood on the counter when I came to claim it, and I was happily taken aback by the show of concern from behind the register. Chalk one up for exceeding their expectations! This environment and culture is the one that customers will willingly engage, while happily paying $6.00 for coffee, or $4.00 for a tomato! Chapter 9: Reviewing the Facts Question 2 What are the three important steps needed to recover the potentially lost customer? The effort to satisfy unhappy customers to reduce defection, also known as Customer Service Recovery, is best handled when seen as an attitude of opportunity rather than a painful chore. Companies are highly motivated by some scary statistics: customers who experience poor service will tell seven to 13 others about it, and will continue to voice their dissatisfaction for up to 23 years. On the other hand, a satisfied customer will tell four or five others about a pleasant brand experience. One thing we can all agree on is; you want to keep a customer. The best attitudes for a service provider to adopt stem from a desire for a win-win relationship with the customer; both parties want to feel good about the business transacted. This is not necessarily a â€Å"customer-is-always-right† attitude. Rather, it is more of a problem-solving non- blame-setting attitude. (Timm, 2011) Since dissatisfaction does occur, it can be useful to accept each event as an opportunity and a challenge, if you want to assure your customer that you want to strengthen your relationships with them. It is also not bad for the bottom line– its impact on profitability can be substantial. Studies indicate that service recovery investments yield returns of 30%-150%. (Brown, 2000) Furthermore, British Airways calculates that their efforts to retain customers return $2 for every dollar invested. In fact, the airline finds that â€Å"recovered† customers give the airline more of their business. Likewise, Hampton Inn Hotels estimates that its service guarantee increased revenue $11 million and earned it the industry’s highest customer retention rate. (Wreden, 2003) An effective service recovery program occurs on two levels, the first of which is a three-step process that must be incorporated into customer service operations. The first step consists of both: Apology and Accountability Saying, â€Å"I’m sorry,† communicates an empathy with the customer, showing them perhaps that you feel their pain, and take ownership of a mistake, even if it’s because of supplier or other problems. The second step obliges the provider to: Do everything in their power to resolve the problem. This starts with clarifying exactly what the issue is in a caring manner that avoids interrogation. Responses must also be timely and the timetables for resolution should be a part of customer service policy. Customers appreciate any efforts you expended to solve their problem quickly. If a product needs to be replaced, do it now. If something needs to be repaired (or repaired again), give a high priority to scheduling such repairs. If a delivery has to be rescheduled, do it immediately and confirm it with the customer. Customer expectations can be managed with resolution schedules; if you specify time frames for the next steps, customer satisfaction will increase by 40%. Previously cited British Airways research showed that 40%-50% of customers defected if it took the company longer than five days to respond. (Wreden, 2003) That said follow up is a key element in this step. The provider must determine whether the customer received the promised treatment, and, more importantly, how they feel about it. One study indicated that a follow-up call to a once unhappy customer can boost satisfaction by 5%-7%, and intentions to repurchase by 8%-12%. Finally, giving something to the customer to make up for the problem they had, otherwise known as: Symbolic Atonement Often it cannot fully repair the damage, but it symbolically indicates that you are trying. It’s the â€Å"something extra† you give to appease the customer and help win him back. (Timm, 2011) Since atonement calls for having customer reps work directly with customers to determine an appropriate remedy, companies that encourage employee empowerment stand to gain by giving authority to employees to win customers back. Agents at Marriott International, for example, can spend up to $2,500 without authorization to compensate customers — a clear acknowledgement of not only the customer’s direct loss but also â€Å"pain and suffering.† Involving the customer in the process by seeking his ideas, â€Å"What can we do to make this better?† is wise, and might even lead to less costly solutions. REFFERENCES Brown, Stephen W. PhD. (2000). Practicing Best-In-Class Service Recovery: Forward-thinking firms leverage service recovery to increase loyalty and profits. Retrieved from http://www.mba.asu.edu/csl/upload/Service-Recovery-MM-2000.pdf Inc. Staff. (2009). Interview with John Mackey, CEO Whole Foods. Hiring Leaders. (Jul 1, 2009) Timm, Paul R., Introduction to Customer Service: Career Success Through Customer Loyalty 5th ed. (Prentice Hall, 2011) Wreden, Nick. (2003). How to Recover Lost Customers Noted Fusion Branding author details key steps to boost profitability by improving customer recovery. Retrieved from http://www.prweb.com/releases/2003/01/prweb54863.htm

Cash Flow Essay

Cash Flow A statement of cash flows is required by generally accepted accounting principles to be included in a complete set of financial statement. www.wiley.com Companies are required to prepare a statement of cash flow because it contains information for lenders and investors (external users). When a company uses the statement of cash flow it contains their annual reports that help to make decisions about the companies. The basis for cash flow analysis is presented in the statement of cash flow. It contains the actual cash a company generated and it shows how the company is able to operate and perform in the future. There are three ways a company shows the way they consume and produce cash. The cash flow statement has three sections. The three ways are cash flows from operations, investing and financing. How the company gets its cash is the operations and financing. The investing section shows the way the company spends its cash. Ratios would be used in the decision making process. One of the examples of the ratios is the operating cash flow ratio. This measures how current liabilities are covered by the cash flow generated by a company operation. A ratio that falls below 1.00 shows the company is not generating enough cash to meet current commitments. When a company falls below 1.00, it will have to find ways to fund its operations or slow their rate of spending in its cash. If the company has an existing cash balance that can meet the needs, they would have to consider if the company will be able to continue to operate without additional funds, because the existing cash may not last. The cash current debt coverage ratio is another important ratio. This ratio measures the ability of a company to repay its current debts. Ratios less than 1.00 in the cash current debt coverage, means the company is not  generating cash to repay its current debt obligations. On a company balance sheet it is better to have a higher multiple calculated by this ratio. With the trend analysis, which is also called the horizontal analysis, typically over years, financial ratios are compared. Doing a year to year comparison will highlight trends, which will be useful in showing improvement in the organization financial performance or it will show deterioration. The most important information from analyzing statement cash flow is the relationship of two or more variables. This is the cash flow from operation activities to total cash flows. RUNNING HEAD: CASH FLOW The major difference between indirect and direct method is the information that it shows. The indirect method focuses on net income and cash flow of operations. It adds depreciation back and calculates changes in items in balance sheet. The most important line of the statement is the net cash from financing activities to show if a company continually needs to borrow or add other investors to survive. The direct method reports the classes of operating receipts of cash and payment. www.inc.com This would be money received and spent to calculate net cash. There is no depreciation included because it is not money received or spent.

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