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Scientific research in public relations domain

DORINA TNSESCU, PETRUA VLAD, IRINA IONESCU, MDLINA BARNAManagement-Marketing Department

Valahia University of Targoviste

Address: Str. Lt. Stancu Ion, no. 35ROMANIA

[email protected],[email protected], [email protected],[email protected]

Abstract: - PR research has somehow remained behind after the explosive growth of the diversity of practicalactivities and an analysis is required, a fundamental work on the origins and development of PR, the outliningof a uniform image and the definition of professional identity of those working in the field. Regional and evennational peculiarities revealed by researchers in PR can help decrease the deficit of modernity in the definitionof public relations in Eastern Europe.

Key-Words: - public relations, fundamental research, development, confusion, strategic planning, image,professional identity

1 IntroductionDonBates, a specialist in Public Relations Societyof American (PRSA) and honorary member of theInstitute for Public Relations said in 2002:If we think at the power and importance of

communication, at the impact that public

relations activities are having for a company, is

somewhat paradoxical that we dont have so far

a fundamental book on the origins and

development of public relations. We have,indeed, valuable contributions to the scientific

validity of field, the work of Bernays, Cutlip and

Newsom are essential for any future

specialist[1].

Scientific research of public relations is aphenomenon characteristic of the twentieth century, but the roots of this activity spread to the oldesthistorical periods, seemed to be as old as it is humancommunication.

At the beginning of XXI century, the definitionof public relations, impose a uniform social imageand setting professional identity of those who practice public relations were only partially metobjectives. Increase in number and in variety oftypes of activities that are subsumed to publicrelations sphere as well as numerous dedicatedresearch, especially in recent decades because of thetheoretical aspects of public relations, led to the proliferation of ways to design and define thisdomain.

2 Public relations or relations with

the public?Definitions of public relations are numerous. Latestapproaches to public relations are built under theauspices of marketing. Marketing uses combinedfour instruments of managerial policy known asmarketing-mix: product policy, pricing policy,distribution policy and communication or promotionpolicy.Public relations represent a component ofcommunication policy with advertising, directadvertising, sales promotion and personal selling.All these tools form the promotional mix.

Philip Kotler shows that public relations occurespecially in the setting of good relations betweenfirms and various public groups, for those to nothinder the company in achieving its objectives.Public relations remain as a technique of promotional mix, along with advertising, directadvertising (by mail, tele-shopping or e-shopping),

sales promotion and personal selling [2].Public relations involve the research of allaudience: receiving information from them, warningthe leadership in connection with their attitudes andreactions, aid in establishing policies thatdemonstrate increased attention towards theaudience and constant evaluation of the efficiency ofall public relations programs.As a function of management, public relations meanresponsibility and understanding in establishingpolicies and information, to achieve the most mobileinterests of the organization and its publics.

It should be highlighted the fact that public

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relations should not be confused with customerrelations.

Dumitru Bortun, president of the RomanianAssociation of Professionals in Public Relations(ARRP) said the modernity deficit is due toconfusion. When Western societies became modern,appeared so-called public sphere that JrgenHabermas defines as zone between civil societyand state where are guaranteed institutional criticaldiscussion on matters of general interest.In close connection with the public sphere we talkabout public interest, public institution, publicofficial, public information, public communicationandPublic Relations.

But in their historical experience, Romanian andMoldavian society have not known public sphere,making that in the present political culture of the

Romanians and Moldavians to not exist mentalcategories that we have listed above. In theseconditions, the adjective public in the phrasePublic Relations is readable as a noun oneaudience, two audiences. Thats why it is believed,usually, that it is about relations with the public.

In fact, relations with the public are a part ofpublic relations - with press relations,

institutional protocol or imaging [3].In terms of Caesar Tabarcea and Alexandra

Crciun, confusion is made especially in Romaniaand is largely due to language, the preposition

with indicating itself a relationship, but

selective (relationships can be, so, with othersdifferent from the public).

Anoffice of public relations is a simple publicinformation office, especially with the organizationstructure and the way ahead in responding to arequest (This problem will be solved by Mrs. X,second floor, room 15).

Communication is done in one direction, fromthe organization to the public, the public relationsoffice is not interested in public preferences anddoes not want to seduce him, but only, in optimalconditions, to satisfy his wishes. You might evensay that, unlike PR, a Relations WITH Public Officewants to have as less demanders as possible. [4].

Public relations are part of externalcommunication policy of the company and packsnon-publicity actions to establish the direct contacts,

systematic with influential people in winningsympathy to the general public [5].Public Relations Consultants Association in

Britain believes that: public relations are themethod of defining the messages andcommunicating those to the determinate audiencesto influence a response in the desired direction.

Specialized literature mentions public relationsamong communication channels (Figure. 2.1.).

3 The evolution of public relations

The evolution of public relations for the purposes oftheir individualization and legitimacy asindependent professional activity is almost entirely

an American phenomenon.The term public relations was first used in 1882 by

Professor Verdier at New York University.Americans experience in what they call PR (publicrelations) is deep and covers everything related tothis area.Thus, in 1990, in America there were approximately162.000 practitioners of public relations and it isestimated that their number reached around 197.000at the end of the century. The most important

Publicity Sales promotions

Advertising at point of salePUBLIC RELATIONS= means of commercial communication

Communication channel = means by whichto convey a message to the recipient

Fig. 1 Public relations, communication channel


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professional organization is the Public RelationsSociety of America, which counts about 20.000members [6].

From a report by the U.S. Department of Labor, published in 1996 we find that: it is expected thatemployment of specialists in PR to grow faster thanaverage employment in all other areas until 2006;the 1996 PR specialists kept about 110.000 jobs, in1996 more than 200 colleges and about 100 highschools offer courses for specialization in publicrelations, usually in departments of journalism andcommunication; and for the first time the number ofPR students beat the number of advertising students(15.352 to 14.607 students)

The concerns of specialists to bring to a commondenominator the essential elements of publicrelations led to a typology of existing definitions.

Depending on how they answer the question Whatispublic relations?, we can distinguish threecategories of definitions [7].

a) Standard definition, that answer to thequestion above by describingthemostvisibletypesofpublic relations activities and by using someelementsofoperationalnature (writing and editingof messages, media relations, research, managementactivities, counseling, organizing special events,training in public speaking, production of audio,video or printed materials, training, networking withother people/organizations, etc.); either by

describing the functions performed by publicrelations, and by using some conceptual elements(the role of social glue, creator of an atmosphere ofunderstanding between the organization andindividuals, etc..)

Public relations domain is very important to the public institutions because enables them tocommunicate with the public [8]. Also, the publicrelations can by sent information about the types ofactivities for the benefit of individuals andcommunities, provided by public institutions. Greatspecialized associations in public relations give

more definition to this area:Public Relations Practice is the social art and

science to analyze trends, to predict theirconsequences, to advise leaders of organizations, tointroduce planned action programs that serve boththe organization and the public interest (WorldAssembly of Public Relations, Mexico City, 1978).

Public relations is a conscious and systematiceffort, based on research, dedicated to winning theunderstanding and establishing and maintaining theconfidence among the public (German Associationof Public Relations)

Public relations are the deliberated effort,sustained and planned to establish and maintain

mutual understanding between an organization andits audience (British Institute of Public Opinion).Both definitions are limited because the field cannotbe regarded only as a whole in which the techniquesare used in communication strategies, it aimed atachieving certain objectives through functionperformance.

b) Keywords type definitions. Some authorsconsider that much more effective for understandingthe phenomenon ofpublic relations is to identifykeywords from the definitions set out over time andnot to adopt a standard statement. In this way, D.L.Wilcox and his associates detained six words thatappear in most definitions. These together couldrespond better to the question What is publicrelations?, balancing the conceptual and operationalelements of conceptual and operational order:

deliberate - public relations require a deliberateaction;planning the activity of public relations is

organized; after the research and analysis arestaggered in time the actions to be take,

performance - public relations activities should be a performance, that should lead to improvedrelations between the organization and its audience;

public interest in the practice of publicrelations must take into account the public interest;

two-way communication - a balancing ofinterests of the two players, organization and public,

can only be made by maintaining open aninteractive communication channel, bidirectional;managementfunction - public relations policies

can be targeted with success only if integrated intothe overall policies of the organization, that if publicrelations contributes to exercise managementfunctions of the organization.

c) Statement definitions. In November 1982,general meeting of the Public Relations Society ofAmerica adopted a FormalDeclaration that, to thedetriment of traditional definitions, tries to explainthe role that public relations play in society, but also

the necessary activities, results and knowledge forpublic relations practice.

4 Public Relations in Romania

In Romania public relations is a relatively newprofession. In a survey of Hungarian public relationsmagazine PR Herald found that more than 50% ofcompanies do not know what is public relations,dont have professional advisers and think that theydont even need them. However, in Romania there is

the Romanian Association of Public Relations,based in Bucharest.


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Public relations of a company regard theorganization and management of the complexsystem of commercial, economic, political,administrative, social, media, cultural relations, etc.in which the company is caught, to make it workfor himself or to prevent it to work against him.

Public Relations are responsible for organizingthe global and institutional communication of theorganization. They conceive the strategy and policies of communication, create messages andevents, choose communication channels and selectspokesmen. In the public communication of acompany we cannot have full transparency, butcontrolled transparency.

Public relations are a filter of companycommunication, filter that leaves through and evenincrease the flow of favorable messages and also

prevent or alleviate the impact of unfavorablemessages.Public Relations make a strategic and

controlled compromise between the need for

communication and the need for transparency on

one hand and the need for discretion and privacy

on the other.

The role and services of public relations is tobuild the image of the institution identity to defendand improve it wherever possible, to create andmaintain good relations and indirectly profitablewith the most influential audiences.

The public is a term which shall mean anyorganization, group of interests or individual who byattitudes, opinions or his behavior may conduct animpact how small on the life and interests of theinstitution. The public may be an accelerator of theactions of the organization, but also a brake or anobstacle to his actions and interests.

Categories of audiences, which are targets ofpublic relations actions:

- the media (written press and audiovisualgroups) and Internet environment

- public opinion or external audiences

- internal audiences (employees, directors,various committees and internal organizations)

- financial institutions and funds, banks, stockexchanges, companies rating and insurance;

- shareholders, bondholders, institutions andbodies of state power and publicadministration

- the political parties and other political interestgroups and civil associations, culturalfoundations, groups etc..

No organization has a public generally,homogeneous and unique, but always audiences that

can be individualized and ranked according to thedegree of involvement in processes ofcommunication, support or brake and constraint ofits actions. Different audiences are not equallyactive. Typically, some remain passive or apatheticas long as the actions and interests of the institutiondo not affect them in any way (non-public).

5 Conclusions In the past 50 years, researchers in public

relations, first in the U.S. and now worldwide,

have made remarkable progress in developing a

complex theory to put public relations on an

equal footing with the recognized professions

such as law, medicine or education. At first, publicrelations researchers from borrowed many toolsfrom other disciplines, such as communication and

other social sciences. However, today they havedeveloped their own theoretical body of research.

organizations employing public relationspractitioners or using agency services began to seepublic relations as an important management

function. They recognize that the public relationshave value as they helps to ensure a balancebetween the interests of the organization on the onehand and interests of people affected by theorganization or have the power to affect theorganization - people that called publics - on theother hand.

In addition to the value they have for theorganization, public relations must also have valuefor society to be accepted as a legitimate profession.

academic research, university and furtherstudies and professional practice are all increasinglyfocusing on ethical issues. Public relations functionis in a so-called crossroads. What is the role of public relations practitioner in the organization?Should he become the ethical advisor of topmanagement or would be preferable not to engage instrategic decision making? How we choose torespond to this crisis of confidence among thepublic will draw the lines for future development ofpublic relations.

References:[1] Don Bates, Scurt istoric. Relaiile publice de la

nceputuri i pn astzi.,[Brief History. Publicrelations from the beginning until today]Translation and adaptation: Corina Buzoianu,Forum for International Communications. inoriginal, Mini-Me History: Public Relationsfrom the Dawn of Civilization, 2002, updated

in October 2006. http://www.pr-romania.ro/articole/ istoria-relatiilor-publice/47-


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scurt-istoric-relaiile-publice-de-la-inceputuri-i-pan-astzi-partea-i.html? showall=1

[2] KOTLER Ph., Managementul marketingului,[Marketing management] Ed. Teora, Bucharest,2001

[3] Dumitru Bortun, ARRP President - Interview inThe magazine "Morming TIME" S.R.L.,Monday 5 December 2005, NO.313 Chisinau,Moldovia

[4] Cezar Tabarcea, Alexandra Craciun Antologiede texte despre publicitate Bazele teoretice ale

practicii relatiilor publice [Anthology of textson advertising - theoretical foundations of

public relations practice](http://ebooks.unibuc.ro/StiinteCOM/tabarcea/1.htm)

[5] Ristea Ana-Lucia, Ioan-Franc Valeriu, Stegaroiu

Ion Tanasescu Dorina, Marketing. Crestomatiede termeni si concepte,[Marketing. Reader ofterms and concepts] Ed. Expert, Bucharest,2001

[6] Rogojinaru Adela , Teme de relatii publice,[Themes of public relations] Ed. Ars Docendi,Bucharest, 2003

[7] Pricopie Remus, Relatiile publice: evolutie siperspective, [Public Relations: evolution andprospects] Ed. Tritonic, 2005

[8] Voicu Monica, Rusu Costache, ABC-ulcomunicrii manageriale, [ABCs of managerial

communication] Ed. Danubius, Brila, 1998 http :www.markmedia.ro


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