Public organizational communication is the exchange of messages with large groups of people using face to face or medicated channels. The concern is not with such technological, media oriented public organizational communication activities as television, radio, film, telephone, videocassette and microfilm.
The qualities that differentiate public organizational communication from dyadic and small group organizational are the following :
1. Communication is source (speaker) oriented
Whereas in dyadic and small group organizational communication a reciprocal relation between c0mmunication source and receiver is involved.
2. Large groups of receivers are involved
A dyad is two people and a small group for most purpose no more than five to seven members.
3. There is less interaction between Speakers and listeners
The decrease in interaction is a direct function of the speaker-oriented nature and increase number of participants in public organizational communication.
4. Language is more general
Speakers must use language with general appeal because of the large size of the audience. Usually a speaker researches the character of an audience.
Contingencies that Affect Communication
Organizations must be able to sense a change in their environmental and to meet the change create and exchange messages internally among relevant departments and units and externally to important publics or they will not survive.
1. Economic Factors
Many managers view the economy as the most critical contingency affecting the organization. Rates of inflation and unemployment affect the size and shape of their labor force, the availability. And cost of capital needed for growth and expansion and ability to market their stocks and bonds to the investing public. Its various financial publics, stockholders, suppliers, customers, financial exchanges, brokerage houses ,security analysis can help an organization with traditional economic cycles.
Private sector profit making organizations have always viewed economic with respect, probably because its direct link to survival. for example, have typically gone through intermediary parties for major funding hospitals must now become more aware of potential the clients, the public and other hospitals.
2. Technological Factors
Organizations in
3. Legal Factors
Hundred of organizations are confronted with local, state, and federal laws and regulations, many of which have direct implications for their survival. Ten years ago the occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA),the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) the Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ES0P) and the equal employment Opportunity Commission (EE0C) were unknown, but today they affect millions of people and account for billions of company dollars spent to comply with regulations.
The most critical facet of consumer information processing is the product users uncertainty about the product. An individuals uncertainty about the product determines whether the consumer will purposely seek information about the product safe use as well as the 0bjective for processing product safety information.
4. Socio political cultural Factors
The Laws to which most organizations conform were brought about by social cultural and political pressures.
For example :The Equal employment opportunity Commission evolved after turbulent years of protest of inequalities.
Several organization today recognize social responsibility toward the community within which they interact. For example : IBM for years has supported two small schools in
Taiani in of the first major studies of how corporations identify their expected social behavior, the factors that influence social and the role of communication found strong support for the role of a boundary spanning agent . Among Taiani's c0nclusions were the following :
• 0rganizations identify the social or role behavior expected of them from their internal and external environments publics.
• 0rganizations are more likely to contribute to publics seeking their support if there is a great degree of perceived overlap or interface between the goals and objectives of the organizations and those of the public group seeking it's support.
• Organizations perceived the role of communication in this process to be establish a attitudes ,perceptions ,demands and expectations and to disseminate relevant and timely information the organization.
5. Environmental Factors
Organizations today must attend to the overall quality of life of their employees and their families and of the community. More and more attention is being given to problems of pollution of air and water and impact on the land as results of an organizations activities.
- Importance and Frequency of Public Communications in 0rganizations.
Good public relations has become extremely important to most businesses and industries today. since never before has big businesses been held in such low Esteem.
Image Making and Industrial Positioning
Image Making : Organization make use of public communications to create or redefine images about their services and products to create, reinforce and redefine their personal images.
Industrial Positioning : Is how a certain product or service is put in the mind of the prospective user. The basic approach to positioning is not to create something new and different, but to manipulate what’s already in the prospect’s mind. To retie the connection that already exists.
Types of Public Organizational Communication Activities
We know that public communication is a valued and frequently used activity by many organizations. In all of these activities, a speaker assumes primary responsibility for encoding and delivering a message to a large group of people.
We will now see how labor unions ,universities and business and industries use public organizational communication.
How Labor Unions Use Public Communication ?
Labor unions have a national membership of more than twenty million people and yet are probably the organization least studied by communication experts.
The Five major activities in which the active union member is most frequently involved :
1. Organizing includes
Those activities in which labor activist attempts to build the membership of the union. Most of the communicative interaction is of the interpersonal variety.
2. Bargaining
Also primarily an interpersonal task that involves meetings informal conversations and planned persuasive encounters. However, when a union makes its formal presentation to management.
3. Administering and policing the agreement
Involves the actual operation of the agreement under working conditions. union members must know and understand the terms of the agreement
4. Participating - in union meetings
Includes presenting reports, answering questions and listening to occasional speech. parliamentary procedure is usually enforced and attendance at such meetings is quite loam.
5. Representing the union before other groups
Probably calls for the greatest communication skill and ability. The union member must face a variety of audiences for a variety of purposes.
How universities use public communication
During most of academic year 1971-1972. The nation campuses were quite. Many spokesman for higher education claimed that campus unrest was a thing of the past.
It easy to see how important public attitude is to the future of American universities. It also easy to see how with massive press and television coverage, a person’s attitude can be formed after watching five minutes of demonstration without ever leaving the living room.
There is little difference between the plight of the university as it confronts its public and other organizations as they interact with the same public. Universities affected by negative attitudes resulting from campus unrest are similar to oil companies facing attack from angry environmentalists, to automobile manufacturers being chastised by misled consumers. And to the federal government suffering from post-Watergate lack of credibility. In all of these cases, the organizations are forced to interact with large groups of people to whom they are accountable.
When we use the social system model, we can see that it is important for university. As a system in need of balance to maintain close contact with its public that is the environment in which it exist.
To combat the inaction of several universities about setting up effective public relations programs and to help universities with existing program. I made the following recommendations after a one year study of communication channels between university and public. These recommendations are intended to supplement such mechanical communication activities as news and sport release, publications and bulletins. Some of them may be more relevant for publicly supported institution.
1. The university should schedule an annual ( or biannual ) retreat at a location other than the campus ( mountain or seashore resort, hotel, motel, ranch). The retreat should include members of the university faculty and administration, students and community leaders from around the state ( legislators, businessman, and opinion leaders and spouses).
2. The universities should establish a university speakers bureau to provide university staff, student and faculty speakers for any service, civic or educational group in the state/
3. Key student, faculty and administration leaders should form a university amigos team to conduct handshake tours around the state. A similar concept can be developed by alumni association and include :” friend of university”
4. Faculty student teams should visit high schools for the double purpose of recruiting future students and informing the high schools about current academic developments
5. The university should establish a parents committee for purpose of improving communication between the university and parents of student body. A newsletter for parents also should be considered.
6. The governor of the state should meet informally with members of the university faculty, student body and administration. The meetings can be held alternately and should involve different university personnel each time.
7. The state legislature should establish a legislature university communication committee whose sole purpose would be to conduct information exchange sessions with campus representatives. The committee should function much like the governor group described in item six.
8. The university should establish a legislators day on campus, inviting legislator to be the guest of the university. Functions can include campus tours orientation lectures, athletic events, social events and attendance at classes.
9. Members of university community should establish an active lobby to promote the best interest of the university during any hearings concerning legislation affecting the university.
10. The university placement office should attempt to improve relations between employees within the state and university graduates. A first step to reduce the possible exodus of university graduates from the state may be to schedule a job conference for such employers recruit student and student explain why they may want to leave the state.
11. The university should establish a research and development center to make certain services available to public, such as data banks and translation of complex research findings and to provide certain research service, in such areas as environment, leisure, government, business and criminal justice. The overall purpose of the center would be to make the university more relevant to the needs of the public.
12. The university should establish a method of surveying or polling the general community annually. Such a poll can be handled by survey researchers on campus and should monitor feedback.
In the final analysis, no matter how sophisticated a communication campaign the university develops. It should recognize that every student faculty number, administrator, janitor, secretary and staff member competed with the university is actually a separate channel of communication.
How business and public industries use public communication ?
Probably no kind of organization uses public communication more than business and industry. Industry knows it must communicate with the general public in order to markets its products. It knows that it must guard against restrictive legislation. Most large industries are so concerned about their public image that they maintain expensive public relations departments employing some of the nation’s foremost communication experts. The solution to each of these concerns involves the use of some form of public organizational communication, primarily externally directed. Here is how some organizations solved similar problems.
Stations must go to the community at large and to community leaders to gather the information, usually for them to develop a plan for service over the next three years. This forces broadcasters to interact with their public – typically through interviews, surveys, market analyses, fan mail, and informal contacts.
The chemical company must communicate (regularly with both federal and state government offices). The company also maintains regular communication with trade associations, professional societies, news media, academic communities, and consultants. This becomes a massive job and takes great skills, time, effort.
Another audience of vital importance to all publicly held businesses and industries is the financial community, particularly security analysts who recommended stock purchases to potential investors, usually large institutions. This audience is important, because if stock is under priced (selling at a low price – earnings ratio) a company would be at a disadvantage in acquiring another company; or an employee profit – sharing plan invested in the company’s stock could suffer. Most analysts were unfamiliar did not recommended its stock to investors.
5 major public speaking situations in which business and industrial personnel most frequently interact :
- Formal meetings
is usually the highly structured speaking engagement typical of dinners, banquets, and other ceremonies.
- Semiformal meetings
is the oral technical report. The oral technical report as directed toward a special audience, having limited scope as well as presentation time, and delivered extemporaneously with personal and clear language for instant understanding.
- Informal meetings
are casually held, rarely scheduled, but highly important to both management and employees.
- Conventions
- Goodwill or public relation activities
Measuring The Effectiveness Of Public Organizational Communication
- Increase or decrease of sales
- Public knowledge and awareness of your organization
- Public Reaction
- Public Acceptance
- Product Popularity
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