Kaja Tampere, PhD, University of Jyväskylä Finland

Role of PR and Communication Management in Legislation and Legitimation Processes in Democratic Society: Stakeholder Relations of

Ministry in Law Preparation Process

EUPRERA 2007

● In order for democracy to function efficiently, the government has to communicate with the citizens of the country

● Citizens have the right to know what the ministries and

other government bodies are doing and why the various

administrative decisions are being made. In a

democratically organised country, decision making must

be transparent. (OECD 1999, p 19)

● Citizens are sovereign only nominally and exercise their sovereign rights only when the governors of the country are being elected. Citizens have no right to change laws as they please, they have to obtain the consent of the legislator first. (Dunleavy et al. 1995, p 5)

● It is in the best interests of the representatives themselves

to take into account and analyse the “voice” of the people,

in order to ensure through dialogue the legitimacy of

exercising the authority of the state and to increase their

chance of being re-elected.

● Society expects the government (the state) to protect it against the threat of war, ensure law and order, foreign policy, organise taxes, trade and industry, postal services, foster health care, education, social welfare and many other fields. (McKevitt 1998, p 20)

● I would add the obligation to provide information as

another duty of the government – society expects from the

government all the functions McKevitt speaks about but in

performing these functions it is vital to discuss matters and

inform citizens of the choice, content and consequences of

the measures that would lead to the desired aim, because

this is what is required by our democratic system of

government.

Study cases● Estonian Ministry of Social Affairs, the main

database for this presentation, law preparation process Qualitative study through interviews, questionnaires Study object: stakeholders Question: What they are thinking?What is the

ministry's image?What they would like that ministry do? How they imagine good relationships between Organization and stakeholders

● Estonian Ministry of Internal Affairs, the law communication process, law is ready

● University of Jyväskylä, Finland, changes and acceptance of decisions

Findings

● Through legitimation we can diagnose the level of democracy in society. What is the character of organization's-stakeholder's relationship

● Legitimation is the stakeholders acceptance, stakeholders knowledge and competence about organization's decisions

● Legitimation is necessary for organization's image: if organization have legitimation problems, organization also have image problems

Findings● Decision making process is influencing

legitimation: Success of legitimation is in dependence from

decisions The time of communication of decisions is in

correlation with legitimation of organization If the PR and communication management are

starting enough early before the decision, the legitimation is bigger and more effective

If communication management and pr are oriented to organize dialog through participation and PR pedagogical role, the trust will arise and the legitimation is possible

Findings● Trust in org-stkh relationship is different from

trust in hum-hum relationship, but hum-hum relationship is influencing org-stkh relationships

● The key for org-stkh relationship is knowledge, which contains information and experience

● If the stkh have enough knowledge, if they have feeling that they have enough info and knowledge, they are also trusting the organization.

● If they are trusting, the image in their eyes about org will be more positive and this is influences image

IDENTITYIMAGE

REPUTATION MANAGEMENT:

DECISIONS, ACTION AND BEHAVIOUR

ANDCOMMUNICATION

Dependences model (Tampere 2007)

Cases w eighted by KAAL

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Important limitations for legitimation

● Trust marginals: too much info is not building up trust and good relationship and also too little info is not doing so

● Too much is not too good, as too little is not good too :)

● Important to balance PR and Communication Management – not to over communicate and opposite