Messages must pass through four basic elements in which the audience may selectively decide to be involved with the communication or not. The four basic principles involved are attention, understanding, retention, and action. Which one of the four principles do you think is the most important and why?
Communication is the process whereby a sender directs information to an audience or a receiver through a medium. The sender encodes the message and gives time for receivers to decode it before they give feedback. The basic principles involved in communication are attention, understanding, retention, and action. An effective communication process allows an organization to be involved with the community through corporate social responsibility (CSR). An organization’s involvement in the community is very important and it offers credit to the organization. In addition, the multi-approach public relations plan is of benefit to an organization in several ways. Effective communication, involvement in the community, and the multi-approach public relations plan are vital to the success of any organization.
Understanding is an important principle of communication. Decoding is the process where the receiver understands and connects meaning to a message. Before sending information, the sender first has to encode the message first. Encoding is where the sender decides the correct words and the best channel to use in conveying the message that will make it understandable by the intended receiver. However, this does not mean that the recipient will correctly understand the message as intended by the initial sender. Although attention, retention, and action are equally important but understanding is the most important.
Therefore, decoding the message is an important process in communication. “The effectiveness of communication depends on how much the receiver’s decoding matches the sender’s message.” 1For this reason, understanding is the most important principle of the communication process.
Is it important for an organization to be involved in the community? Why is it important for an organization to get credit for its community involvement efforts?
An organization’s involvement with the neighboring community is also known as corporate social responsibility. Corporate social responsibility is about how the company relates to the neighboring community and the impact of the organization’s activities on the surrounding society. CSR is about the activities that the organization does for the surrounding communities. “Corporate social responsibility should be part of the business plan and should be linked to the profit profile, which helps to create the ethos at every level of operation.” 2 This gives a good image of the company since the community feels part of the organization, and, therefore, the community supports fully the activities of the organization.
In addition, the organization involves the society through various activities. These include sporting, sponsorships, the building of roads, schools, and hospitals. This move is giving back to society; both the company the society will use the infrastructure built by the company. This will ensure the fast delivery of services and products of the company. Furthermore, the organization plays a vital role in employing the community. This reduces the chances of immoral behaviors like theft. It is important to get involved in corporate social responsibility since it benefits the organization by increasing its customer base and thus ensure high profits.
What are the benefits of a multi-approach public relations plan?
Moreover, the multi-approach public relations plan is of benefit to any organization or company. This multi-approach public relation is similar to the public relation campaign. It is the application of public relations techniques, principles, and, the media in a campaign-like approach. This approach ensures that the organization’s intended information reaches the required recipients on time and in the correct manner. The multi-approach public relation enables the company to sell its policies to a larger target in a short time. This is since the media reaches a wide population at the same time.
Moreover, the application of this approach in public relations saves the firm the costs of using different approaches. Therefore, multi-approach public relation is important to most organizations; this is why many large companies use it for their public relations. Moreover, the multi-approach public relation makes use of the media mostly. Media is the fasted means that reaches a wider range of people in a short time. The multi-approach public relation will save the organization the chances of misinterpretation of their activities by the public. The multi-approach system puts the company in good light with the public. This ensures that the organization’s activities run smoothly without public interference. This will propel the profits higher. 3
In conclusion, the multi-approach of public relations is the best system that a company can employ when relating with the public. Besides, the application of the multi-approach in public relations plays a critical role in the effective interaction of the company and the outsiders. This approach saves costs and enhances a better understanding of the company and the outside world.
Notes
- Dalton E. MacFarland. Management: Principles and Practices. (New York: New York: Macmillan, 1974) 127.
- David E. Hawkins. Corporate Social Responsibility: Balancing Tomorrow’s Sustainability and Today’s Profitability. (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2006) 7.
- Reddi C. Narasimha Effective Public Relations and Media Strategy. (PHL Learning, India, 2010) 428.
Biography
Hawkins, David E. Corporate Social Responsibility: Balancing Tomorrow’s Sustainability and Today’s Profitability. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2006. Print. [p. 7].
MacFarland, Dalton E. Management: Principles and Practices. New York: Macmillan, 1974. Print. [p. 122-127].
Narasimha, Reddi C. V. Effective Public Relations, and Media Strategy. PHL Learning, India, 2010. Print. [p. 400-428].