Corporate communications and Public Relations (PR) are closely linked to each other. It helps an organisation to establish and maintain healthy relationships with its customers (Communication and Public Relation Strategy, 2003). Corporate communication includes all the internal and external communications which helps in developing favorable relations with the stakeholders. It is essential for a PR officer to share right information to the right group at the right time. It improves the credibility, reputation and authenticity of the company (Smith and Lasswell, 2015). PR is not limited to customers or end consumers of the product. It involves employees, suppliers, stakeholders, media, government and general public. It is necessary for an organisation to disseminate correct information to the public at appropriate times. Strong communications and PR can allow a company to handle uncertainties and crisis (Guth and Marsh, 2016). For example, Cadbury Company used its strong PR strategic campaigns to deal with worm controversy.
The present report in based on John’s Outback Adventures Tours which operates from Sydney, Australia. They have found some problems in their Communication system and PR campaigns. John Williams, the owner of the company is planning to design a training program for the employees so that they can improve their interpersonal skills. The two areas which needs development are:
Effective team communication is important for the success John’s Outback Adventures Tours. It will allow the staff members to understand the goals and objectives of the company. PR requires extensive collaboration from the members (Grunig, 2013). Lack of team work and communication will not allow the employees to manage their work and responsibilities. It will become a problem for the company in the development of strategies and execution of plans. John’s Company should understand the interdependence between the employee’s daily work and company’s strategy. It will improve their productivity as well as customer service. It will create a positive unified work environment (Dozier, Grunig and Grunig, 2013). They can use certain method to improve their PR and corporate communication:
Client management is an important element of PR. It ensures that all the needs and preferences of the consumers is taken care of by the employees. John’s Company has to ensure that the integrated efforts of all the workers satisfy the customers. It will increase the response time as well as the quality of the services (Dodge, 2015). For example, in John’s company the account manager act as the first point of contact for the customer. But he is also involved with other staff members in the development of plans for the client. The success of the company is dependent on the integration between the accounts manager and other employees.
Effective Team communication is necessary during the development of communication tools such as advertisements, photos, websites, videos and print items (Shipman, 2017). These tools play a crucial role in dissemination of information to the public. John’s company should use different communication channels such as intranet, written and telephonic methods to share their views and opinions. It will ensure that the principles and guidelines of the organisation are followed.
Team communication becomes most important during a crisis. Employees are given different roles and responsibilities in the organisation. They have to coordinate with the PR team to send correct information to the public and media (Guth and Marsh, 2016). Misunderstanding and ambiguity in the process can affect the reputation and image of the company. John’s company perform different activities and they have many clients from foreign countries. It is essential for them to maintain effective team communication so that they can provide best services to their customers. It will also help them in improving their public relations and it will benefit them in long run.
Public relation specialists and staff members work together to understand the target market. Employees provide details about the services while public relation officer share knowledge about the expectations of the client (Austin and Pinkleton, 2015). It helps the company to design a customized package for the customer. The main clients of John’s company are international tourists especially from China. Chinese people like to travel in large groups because it reduces their cost. Furthermore, they use social media to decide and plan for their trips. This information can be very useful for John’s company. They have design packages, advertisements and PR campaigns according to it. Effective team communication will be helpful in the implementation of the above plan.
John’s Outback Adventures Tours can use following methods for implementing their employee training program:
Key Communicators: They should appoint a key communicator in each department who makes sure that team communication and Public relations strategy is implemented (How to modernise public relation, 2011). He can monitor the plans and processes and make changes in it as per the requirement. It will help in employee engagements and participation. They can also share their views and opinions about the needs of customers in different area. It will improve coordination, employee participation, team work and overall customer service of the organisation (Qualities of team work in public relations, 2016). Apart from this, John’s company can design their advertisement and PR campaigns on the basis of target market.
Up-skill training programs: Up-skill training will help the employees of John’s company to improve their quality of work. They can use courses which improves the ability to persuade, deliver message and building relationships (Culbertson and Chen, 2013). Furthermore, they should be encouraged to use modern methods of communications such as chats, intranet and other electronic templates. It will increase the response time and there will be no distortion in the messages.
Embed strategy: John can recruit new staff members to plug in the gaps in the organisation. It will allow the existing members to learn and develop new skills (Berger and Meng, 2014). Training and practice programs will help in the development of employees while new workers will promote healthy competition in the organisation. It will allow the employees to understand the importance of team communication. It will benefit the entire organisation because the customer handling capability of the workers will improve.
360 degree evaluation process: 360 degree evaluation process can be very beneficial for John’s company. It provides an opportunity to the workers to identify their issues and mistakes. The can make changes in it which will help them to grow (Suarez Monsalve, Moreno and Carlos Molleda, 2016). Furthermore, it will allow the management to design training programs.
Sharing of tasks and delegation: Employees should be allowed to work together. They should be given new roles and responsibilities in the organisation (Argenti, 2015). John’s company has an administrative department which understands the requirements of the clients and designs plans for them. Involvement of workers in this task can give competitive edge to the company because they will be having lot of ideas and alternatives.
|
Activities |
Time frame |
|
Team briefing (Informing employees about vision, mission and goals of the company) |
3-5 days |
|
Up-skill training programs |
2 weeks |
|
Embed strategy |
Beginning of the year (Short term strategy) |
|
360 degree evaluation process |
Review at the end of the year |
|
Sharing of tasks and delegation |
At regular intervals |
Intercultural communication is a communication process which takes place between people with different cultural backgrounds (Intercultural communication in Tourism, 2015). It changes the perception and preferences. John’s Outback Adventures Tours has many international tourists especially from China. It will be beneficial for them to understand the importance of intercultural communication. It will allow them to design PR campaigns and advertisements according to them. Intercultural communication includes communication between tourists and local population, employees and other specialized personnel they meet (Stacks and Salwen, 2014). There is always a risk of miscommunication and misinterpretation. So, it is essential for the employees of John’s Outback Adventures Tours to understand the needs and preferences of the clients.
The employees of John’s Outback Adventures Tours have to communicate with lot of different people across the globe. It is important for them to understand the customs and traditions of people from different cultures (Utz, Schultz and Glocka, 2013). The training program of the company should focus on the development of customer service skills of the workers. These skills include:
John’s company should raise awareness about cultural differences. They should adopt a non-judgmental approach in this aspect. It will help them to understand people in a better way and this will create a feeling of trust (Suarez Monsalve, Moreno and Carlos Molleda, 2016). Employees should be given training so as to make cross cultural communication more effective. John’s company has most of the costumers from China. They can use a basic guide for their employees:
Language: Chinese is the local language in China but there are varieties of dialects in the country.
Culture and society: Chinese people follow Confucianism system of behaviors. It focuses on loyalty, seniority, respect of ages, sincerity and maintains harmonious relation with each other. They have collective society rather than individualistic. It can be used to design holiday packages for them. Chinese people often travel in large groups (Smith and Lasswell, 2015). John’s company can take this into consideration and they can organize group travel. Apart from this, Chinese people will always maintain decorum and they will not do anything which causes public embarrassment. Silence is used to show disagreement rather than showing it publicly.
John should adopt a strategic and integrated approach in their intercultural communication and PR campaigns in China. It requires understanding of culture, complex issue in China and involvement of stakeholders in all the levels (Carver, 2014). During the time of any national crisis such as earthquake, companies should show their contribution towards the society. Furthermore, they should be active in media and social networks. Stakeholders have huge influence in China. It is essential for John’s company to take care of media, government, consumers, NGOs and other institutions (Kiousis and Ragas, 2015). They have to develop plans and PR campaigns which show commercial goals along with the objective of government and society. Training and development programs should be based on the improvement of PR and government relations in China. Regular monitoring and tracking of PR performance is important (Moss, Likely, Sriramesh and Ferrari, 2017). They have to change the strategies according to the requirement of the people. Similarly, John can use a different strategy for other countries. But there has to be difference between PR strategy in western countries and in China. If the company wants to simply follow their existing strategy in China. They have to make sure that they reflect local conditions. It can be done by monitoring and training the employees. In China stakeholder’s environment is very complex (Intercultural communication in Tourism, 2015). Therefore, John’s company should use advertisement and promotional programs very effectively. Internet and social media can be useful for them in creating PR campaign. It will also help them in designing the communication process according to the needs of the people. It will be beneficial for the company in long run. Business in China is based on relations (Communication and Public Relation Strategy, 2003). It is an opportunity for the company and they should train their employees to improve their intercultural communication. Methods to create a intercultural communication training programs are:
It is recommended that John’s Outback Adventures tours should use social media to improve their public relations and communication. They have to change their internal communication methods. It will make their team communication more effective (Wilcox and Reber, 2016). Apart from this, they should also encourage their customers to give feedback about the services. It will allow the company to improve their plans and procedures. These details have to be shared with the workers so that they can also understand the needs and expectations of the customers. Moreover, staff members should be involved in the decision making proces (Stacks and Salwen, 2014)s. They work in close relations with the clients and they can provide useful details about them. There has to be a proper monitoring system in the organisation. It will be beneficial for the company to appoint key communicators in the organisation. They should be responsible for team communication, intercultural communication, training of employees, designing of PR campaigns and corporate communication (Austin and Pinkleton, 2015). John’s company has many customers from other countries especially from China. So, they have to work on their intercultural communication and public relations in China. Effective training programs should be organized to develop the skills and knowledge of the workers. Key communicators and PR officers can be used for the implementation and execution of the training and practice programs. It is the responsibility of the management to provide details about mission, vision, goals and objectives of the company to the staff members. It is important for everyone to know the strategy and plans of the organisation. Effective communication methods should be adopted to ensure this. It will increase the satisfaction level of the employees which will ultimately improve the customer service of the company. It will help John’s company to make changes in the services according to the expectations of the consumers.
Conclusion
The above report concludes that effective corporate communication and public relations can help a company to grow and expand their business. The information should be delivered to the people at the right time and through correct channels. It helps a company to develop their relations with the customers. John’s Outback Adventures tours have to design a proper training program for their employees so as to improve their communication skills. It will help the company to understand the desires and expectations of the consumers. It will allow them to change their plans and policies. It is important for them to provide customized services to their clients. Apart from this, they have to work on their intercultural communication especially with China. Team Communication is also an issue for them which has to be resolved. Development of plans and strategies regarding these two issue will allow the company to improve their business and corporate communication. Strong Public relations are very useful in growth as well as in crisis.
References
Books and journal
Argenti, P.A., 2015. Corporate communication. McGraw-Hill Higher Education.
Austin, E.W. and Pinkleton, B.E., 2015. Strategic Public Relations Management: Planning and Managing Effective Communication Campaigns (Vol. 10). Routledge.
Berger, B.K. and Meng, J., 2014. Public relations leaders as sensemakers: A global study of leadership in public relations and communication management. Routledge.
Black, S., 2013. Practice of Public Relations. Routledge.
Carver, R.B., 2014. Public communication from research institutes: is it science communication or public relations?. JCOM. 13(03). p.C01.
Communication and Public Relation Strategy. 2003. [Online]. Available through: <https://www.iwight.com/council/committees/Mod-resources%20select/24-7-03/CommunicationsStrategy-iow2.pdf> [Accessed on 30th March 2017]
Culbertson, H.M. and Chen, N., 2013. International public relations: A comparative analysis. Routledge.
Dodge, A. ed., 2015. Public relations: Strategies and tactics. New York, NY: Pearson.
Dozier, D.M., Grunig, L.A. and Grunig, J.E., 2013. Manager’s guide to excellence in public relations and communication management. Routledge.
Grunig, J.E., 2013. Excellence in public relations and communication management. Routledge.
Guth, D.W. and Marsh, C., 2016. Public relations: A values-driven approach. Pearson.
How to modernise public relation. 2014. [Online]. Available through: <https://influence.cipr.co.uk/2014/09/23/modernise-public-relations-agency-communication-team/> [Accessed on 30th March 2017]
Intercultural communication in Tourism. 2015. [Online]. Available through: <https://www.cmj.bxb.ro/Article/CMJ_7_1.pdf> [Accessed on 30th March 2017]
Kiousis, S. and Ragas, M., 2015. IMPLICATIONS OF THIRD-LEVEL AGENDA BUILDING FOR PUBLIC RELATIONS AND STRATEGIC COMMUNICATION. The Power of Information Networks: New Directions for Agenda Setting. 8. p.161.
Moss, D., Likely, F., Sriramesh, K. and Ferrari, M.A., 2017. Structure of the public relations/communication department: Key findings from a global study. Public Relations Review. 43(1). pp.80-90.
Protess, D. and McCombs, M.E. Eds., 2016. Agenda setting: Readings on media, public opinion, and policymaking. Routledge.
Qualities of team work in public relations. 2016. [Online]. Available through: <https://woman.thenest.com/qualities-team-work-public-relations-19532.html> [Accessed on 30th March 2017]
Shipman, M., 2017. Public relations as science communication. Science. 2. p.02.
Smith, B.L. and Lasswell, H.D., 2015. Propaganda, communication and public opinion. Princeton university press.
Stacks, D.W. and Salwen, M.B. Eds., 2014. An integrated approach to communication theory and research. Routledge.
Stacks, D.W., 2016. Primer of public relations research. Guilford Publications.
Suarez Monsalve, A.M., Moreno, A. and Carlos Molleda, J., 2016. Colombians Public Relations: their views on strategic issues of the profession in the Latin American Communication Monitor 2014-2015. REVISTA INTERNACIONAL DE RELACIONES PUBLICAS. 6(11). pp.73-90.
Utz, S., Schultz, F. and Glocka, S., 2013. Crisis communication online: How medium, crisis type and emotions affected public reactions in the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster. Public Relations Review. 39(1). pp.40-46.
Wilcox, D.L. and Reber, B.H., 2016. Public relations writing and media techniques. Pearson.
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