Question:
Write a Personal Reflection on Professional Public Relations Practice in the New Business Environment.
In this reflective summary I would be discussing about the topics that I have learnt about through week 1 to week 7. I would be mainly focusing on stakeholder approach, globalization and its impact on entrepreneurship. I would also be discussing about the challenges, problems and issues that I have faced while attending these lessons and understanding the concepts that have been covered in these weeks. Examination of my experience, actions, and emotions and comparing them with the concepts learned from the literature would be carried out. The reason of me choosing this topic is because I wish to be able to use this learning and apply them to real projects in future.
A generic and broad definition of stakeholders is any individual or group who have the capacity of effecting or gets affected themselves by any accomplishment of any organization’s purpose (Andriof et al. 2017). Another definition of stakeholder is someone or an organization that is actively involved any project or whose awareness might be affected as an outcome of project execution or project completion (Weiss 2014).
Based on the literature that I have covered in these weeks, I would be attempting to resonate them with what I have understood from the lessons. I have completely understood that stakeholders are extremely important to any organization or project. It is important that the needs and requirements of any stakeholder are considered to ensure success. For any business or project, their clients and end users are significantly more vital than any other stakeholder (Crane and Matten 2016). I have understood from my lessons that in any stakeholder management process, a consultative approach is always recommendable in place of a unilateral decision, which does not take into account the opposing viewpoints and opinions of other stakeholders. In such scenarios, the best approach would be using the stakeholder management salience model that would be helpful in analyzing the stakeholders and identifying the main and most important stakeholder, while at the same time correctly identifying the salience of the actual stakeholders (Bundy, Shropshire and Buchholtz 2013).
Today, the organizations are going through dramatic changes as stakeholder groups are putting an ever-increasing influence on the responsibilities and place of organizations in the society. Some important drivers that are included in this process are organizational learning, ethics, the concept of sustainable development, the search for total quality management, and the environmental movement (Tantalo and Priem 2016). As the different stakeholders have the capability of viewing these complicated problems in a quite different manner from the organization, it is extremely vital that those people who are working with communications have the capability of understanding the underlying intricacies of stakeholder associations. My lessons and literature on a varied number of fields have provided with a comprehension of the elements that are involved in the development of an effective communication strategy. Stakeholder theory acts as an important contributor in something it provides as a mean of discovery of the pertinent participants in the process (Hörisch, Freeman and Schaltegger 2014). The readings contend that the coordination model, as a part of this process, have the capacity of providing a unifying framework for the identification of the nature of the associations between the stakeholders or the actors in the communication process. I have processed form the lessons that for any kind of communication process to come out effective it is necessary that these models get oriented in a proper manner. The literature is built on the already existing research from different organizational learning field for gaining a deeper understanding of the processes that have an influence over the perceptions of different stakeholder groups. From the discussion I have cleared out my doubts regarding the exact communication skills that have been identified as enablers of the engagement of stakeholders in a meaningful dialogue and their consequent enhancement of the effectiveness of the communication efforts of the organization. These major communication skills are inquiry, reflection and advocacy.
Much emphasis has been provided to integrated marketing communication (IMC), but very little has been done to critically analyse the existent standpoints, the evolution of the concept and their application. IMC is getting hugely challenged from the perspective of the rising paradigm of strategic communication. This is carried out through a joint definite, theoretic and integrated communicative viewpoint. There is a need of approaching IMC thinking from a tactical and corporate brand standpoint that would be assisting in engendering intensely altering prospects and demands across different organizations to get a lucid comprehension of IMC practice and theory. Most marketers consider IMC to be something important and to be practiced. In reality is hardly successfully implemented. The key of building major brands are initially finding the appropriate positioning and then successfully creating a durable, optimistic brand attitude. IMC is vital on making sure that every aspect of a brand’s marketing communication delivers a constant message toward that end (Argenti 2005).
Because of the advanced and swifter development of communication, today’s world is shrinking. The advent of satellite has altered the whole outlook of mankind. It has been able to bring mean much nearer to one another, even countries (Marks 2016). Today none of the countries can call themselves as being like an isolated island as what is happening in any country is important for even the remotest places on the globe because of modern communication. The earth is shrinking and the world is becoming a global village as the people of the earth are coming closer to one another, in terms of both time and space (Scherer and Palazzo 2008). Despite the various cultural, religious and economic differences among different countries everybody is today known to each other like it is a village. The concept of global village was first suggested by Marshall McLuhan. Events that are happening in one part of the world can be faced in other parts, that too in real time, which is similar to the concept of a villager’s experience when they were living in a small village (Wasson, Butler and Copeland-Carson 2016).
For understanding global civil society different theoretical perspectives can be used. It can be understood by some as being an actor providing a bottom-up contribution to the effectivity and legitimacy of the whole international system. It is in essence democracy in action as power gets hold up accountable by the populace. Many interpret it as a tool for using by the most powerful states for advancing their eventual interests abroad, most of the time popularizing and promoting ideas that seem key to the national interest. Marxist are known to be viewing global civil society as a form of political vanguards that can distribute a diverse world view that tests the dominant order. Moreover, some are even of the opinion that the idea of global civil society as a whole which is different from the state, family and market remains truly a Western concept that is not applicable easily for the societies where the boundaries among these spheres are fuzzier (Kaldor 2013).
One huge misconception and unawareness I had was about how to proceed with composing a reflection in case of such topics. I understood that reflection is a completely focused skill, whose main objective is making the practitioner more and more aware of their own reasoning and thinking procedure. Putting a halt or slowing down on the thought processes and making sure to avoid any kind of rapid climbing up the ladder of inferring helps in accomplishing this. The initial stage that I covered in distinguishing between the real data and what abstractions are based on that. Most of the activities of stakeholders and their approaches are based on assumptions, which makes it important for formally identifying these and then testing them in the light of the present situation. For example, this can be carried out by explicit identification of the data behind any specific statement, all the while seeking agreements on what is and what is not the actual and relevant data, also providing clarification on lines of reasoning and giving confirmation of the interpretations of other people’s statements.
Conclusion
Based on the magnitude of the issues that are now faced by majority of the organization, the casual takes on the combination of communication and strategies is serious shortcoming that I understood from my analysis and the lessons learned. Communication is an acclaimed significant element in the overall strategy process of any organization. In spite of the purported importance it has, very less could I comprehend about the ways of integrating communications with the strategy development and implementation work. Irrespective of the importance given to communication, it has been found from my readings that its majority of the times gets relegated to a secondary function in different organizations and gets performed by the people who have no idea or skills or training that would help them in accessing any strategic decision-making. In this paper I have attempted to put across all the ideas and challenges I have faced during the weekly lessons, attempting at finding solutions to my issues and coming out as a better manager of stakeholder management situations.
References
Andriof, J., Waddock, S., Husted, B. and Rahman, S.S., 2017. Unfolding stakeholder thinking: theory, responsibility and engagement. Routledge.
Link:https://books.google.co.in/books?hl=en&lr=&id=Pqo0DwAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PT7&dq=Andriof,+J.,+Waddock,+S.,+Husted,+B.+and+Rahman,+S.S.,+2017.+Unfolding+stakeholder+thinking:+theory,+responsibility+and+engagement.+Routledge.&ots=ixsMfv6-ES&sig=ph2vzGDWxsIpkqIfPEdvzFEQ8e0#v=onepage&q&f=false
Argenti, P. 2005. The Power of Integration: Building a Corporate Communication Function That Is Greater Than the Sum of Its Parts. NIRI’s Center for Strategic Communication.
Bundy, J., Shropshire, C. and Buchholtz, A.K., 2013. Strategic cognition and issue salience: Toward an explanation of firm responsiveness to stakeholder concerns. Academy of Management Review, 38(3), pp.352-376.
Link: https://media.terry.uga.edu/socrates/publications/2013/06/Bundy_Shropshire_Buchholtz_2013.pdf
Crane, A. and Matten, D., 2016. Business ethics: Managing corporate citizenship and sustainability in the age of globalization. Oxford University Press.
Link:https://books.google.co.in/books?hl=en&lr=&id=J8-SDAAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PP1&dq=Crane,+A.+and+Matten,+D.,+2016.+Business+ethics:+Managing+corporate+citizenship+and+sustainability+in+the+age+of+globalization.+Oxford+University+Press&ots=5rSi-uLmle&sig=P8a1MZqypEN0ffgHfcLVToKE3Rw#v=onepage&q&f=false
Freeman, E. and Moutchnik, A., 2013. Stakeholder management and CSR: questions and answers. uwf UmweltWirtschaftsForum, 21(1-2), pp.5-9.
Link:https://s3.amazonaws.com/academia.edu.documents/32695143/stakerholder_management_and_csr_-_question_and_answer.pdf?AWSAccessKeyId=AKIAIWOWYYGZ2Y53UL3A&Expires=1511082968&Signature=5lJLfvRDyq9FbNvjUgme16v4IfY%3D&response-content-disposition=inline%3B%20filename%3DStakerholder_management_and_csr_-_questi.pdf
Harrison, J.S., Freeman, R.E. and de Abreu, M.C.S., 2015. Stakeholder theory as an ethical approach to effective management: Applying the theory to multiple contexts. Revista Brasileira de Gestão de Negócios, 17(55), p.858.
Link:https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Monica_Abreu4/publication/283194075_Stakeholder_Theory_As_an_Ethical_Approach_to_Effective_Management_applying_the_theory_to_multiple_contexts/links/565b1fa608ae4988a7ba701b.pdf
Hörisch, J., Freeman, R.E. and Schaltegger, S., 2014. Applying stakeholder theory in sustainability management: Links, similarities, dissimilarities, and a conceptual framework. Organization & Environment, 27(4), pp.328-346.
Link:https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Stefan_Schaltegger/publication/264382617_Horisch_J_Freeman_E_Schaltegger_S_2014_Applying_stakeholder_theory_in_sustainability_management_Links_similarities_dissimilarities_and_conceptual_framework_Organization_Environment_DOI_101177108602661/links/56c8cdd908ae96cdd06bb921/Hoerisch-J-Freeman-E-Schaltegger-S-2014-Applying-stakeholder-theory-in-sustainability-management-Links-similarities-dissimilarities-and-conceptual-framework-Organization-Environment-DOI-10.pdf
Kaldor, M., 2013. Global civil society: An answer to war. John Wiley & Sons.
Link:https://books.google.co.in/books?hl=en&lr=&id=SRcoAAAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PT4&dq=Kaldor,+M.,+2013.+Global+civil+society:+An+answer+to+war.+John+Wiley+%26+Sons.&ots=NZBrXOJuqA&sig=rUyuvjy0cXOnLRq80gixLX_vjLE#v=onepage&q&f=false
Marks, A. 2016. Thought Leadership Content | The CCO as Builder of Digital Engagement Systems | Arthur W. Page Society. [online] Awpagesociety.com. Available at: https://awpagesociety.com/thought-leadership/the-cco-as-builder-of-digital-engagement-systems [Accessed 18 Nov. 2017].
Scherer, A.G. and Palazzo, G., 2008. Globalization and corporate social responsibility.
Link:https://poseidon01.ssrn.com/delivery.php?ID=757114096124126124091084005011089023030092050084043069014031075120089118098112064110018011103047026000040102117124083004126125045037034011050086081086066096090075089043020083070114073006003106030113081069116029068010106116123030073086093013127124001&EXT=pdf
Tantalo, C. and Priem, R.L., 2016. Value creation through stakeholder synergy. Strategic Management Journal, 37(2), pp.314-329.
Link: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/smj.2337/full
Wasson, C., Butler, M.O. and Copeland-Carson, J. eds., 2016. Applying anthropology in the global village. Routledge.
Link:https://books.google.co.in/books?hl=en&lr=&id=Id1mDAAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PP1&dq=Wasson,+C.,+Butler,+M.O.+and+Copeland-Carson,+J.+eds.,+2016.+Applying+anthropology+in+the+global+village.+Routledge.&ots=M8KUAMRnCt&sig=0PCeoxYMBUMFWW9G_QvEdn3fKC8#v=onepage&q&f=false
Weiss, J.W., 2014. Business ethics: A stakeholder and issues management approach. Berrett-Koehler Publishers.
Link:https://books.google.co.in/books?hl=en&lr=&id=gMUlAgAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PT19&dq=Weiss,+J.W.,+2014.+Business+ethics:+A+stakeholder+and+issues+management+approach.+Berrett-Koehler+Publishers.&ots=Ws5_dl26hV&sig=kYmMJexjiuXAKFRYmLVv1XMutVA#v=onepage&q&f=false
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