Public Relations Like Other Professions example essay topic

" Is public relation a new profession?" . This question have been asked so many times. Many people think it is, other argue it is not. In order to answer this question, I would like to define the term "profession" as well as look deeper into meaning and functions of public relations. We also need to research into other functional areas such as the law, medicine, accounting, and assess if the field of public relations demonstrates similar or dissimilar characteristics. I believe that public relations is not a profession as yet, however, it shows trends of emerging profession.

What is a profession? For our purposes", a profession is a group of people organized to earn a living by providing a service at a standard higher than law, market, and (ordinary) morality demand" (Encyclopedia of Business Ethics 1998, p. 514). A profession must be a group. There can no more be a profession of one than a club of one. A profession must be organized. Without organization, there is only a particular occupation.

But not any organization will do. The organization must be designed to help its members earn a living. An organization concerned only to help others would be a charity or other service group, not a profession. Why would any occupation want to be a profession? Why, in other words would rational people voluntarily burden their livelihood with demands neither law, market, nor morality make? The answer, of course, must be that the people in question believe that they benefit overall from taking on those burdens.

The term "profession" has variety of different meanings. Things are made even more complicated by the sociological fact that recognized professions have a lot of social prestige and their members enjoy a distinctly superior social, economic, legal and political status. Because of this, there is an understandable scramble among occupational groups, especially the newer ones as PR, for the title of profession. Bearing in mind the ambiguity and flexibility of then terms "profession" and "professional", related to ethical issues, this entry is confined to traditional modules of the so-called "higher" professions of law, medicine, divinity, and academic Scholarship.

Using these as models, social scientists have identified a number of elements as paradigmatic of a profession. Encyclopedia of Business Ethics (pp. 515-16) defines them as follows: First, the provision of "esoteric" services that require practitioners to complete a lengthy period of academic training, usually including an advanced degree. The underlying assumption is that the professions incorporate an "intellectual" component. Secondly, professions call for an "altruistic orientation" on the part of practitioners. That means that the primary objective of a professional practice is zealously to serve the needs of others, notably individual clients (patients, students) and society in general.

The commitment to the service of others and of society is paramount. Third, in a profession all individual practitioners are considered to be members of a professional body, organized or unorganized, that, as an autonomous self-governing collective group, is responsible for determining standards of acceptable professional practice, for providing guidance for professional education, and for controlling the licensing of its members. Finally, professions are characterized by a unique relationship to society, which grants them an array of special privileges and powers, often amounting to monopolies, on the assumption that such privileges are necessary to enable members to practice their profession effectively and for the public interest. In addition, society provides subsidies to the professions at large, such as educational assistance, libraries, hospitals, equipment, research facilities, etc.

The mutual advantages gained by a profession from society and by society from profession are often taken to imply that there exists a sort of social contract between the state and the professions, which, as such, provides a moral basis for their relationship and for the special moral responsibility that professionals owe to society. What is a public relations? From its modern beginnings early in this century, public relations has suffered from an identity crisis. In order to understand public relations better, I would like to explore some of its definitions, practices and theories. A review of modern public relations's hort history suggests a number of definitions, metaphors or approaches to the field. Public relations pioneer Ivy Lee was never quite sure what to call himself, but focused on honesty, understanding, and compromise to ensure " proper adjustment of the interrelations" of public and business.

Edward Bernays' definition, interestingly, also included the notion of adjustment:" Public relations is the attempt, by information, persuasion and adjustment, to engineer public support for an activity, cause, movement or institution". In the mid-1970's, Harlow reviewed the evolution of public relation definitions. Through the first two or three decades of this century, "using communication to build and hold goodwill" was the dominant theme in public relations, according to Harlow. In another mid-70's article, Harlow built a working definition that was condensed from 472 different definitions and the input from 65 practitioners: "Public relations is a distinctive management function which helps establish and maintain mutual lines of communication, understanding, acceptance and co-operation between an organization and its publics; involves the management of problems or issues; helps management to keep informed on and responsive to public opinion; defines and emphasizes the responsibility of management to serve the public interest; help management keep abreast of and effectively utilize change, serving as an early warning system to help anticipate trends; and uses research and sound and ethical communication techniques as its principal tools". The most common definitional components appear to be "management", "organization", and "publics". Another widely quoted definition from Denny Griswold, which first appeared in the Public Relations News: " Public relations is the management function which evaluates public attitudes, identifies the policies and procedures of an organization with the public interest, and executes a program of action to earn public understanding and acceptance".

Yet another definition by Bernal is: " Public relations practiced as a profession is an art applied to a science, in which the public interest and not pecuniary motivation is the primary consideration. The engineering of consent in this sense assumes a constructive social role. Regrettably, public relations, like other professions, can be abused and used for anti-social purposes. I have tried to make the profession socially responsible as well as economically viable". Public relations is a complex not only by its definition, but also by its functions and roles.

Public relations' primary roles, functions and tactics are: definition - "managing strategic relationships"; situational roles - persuader, advocate, educator, crusader, information provider, reputation manager; primary functions performed - research, image taking, counseling, managing, early warning, interpreting, communicating, negotiating; tactics / tool utilized - publicity, product placements, news releases, speeches, interpersonal communications, web sites, publications, trade shows, corporate identity programs, corporate advertising programs, etc. (Hutton 1999). Let me bring my discussion to its purpose: "That public relation is a new profession". As I mentioned earlier, elements of profession include learned knowledge; commitment to serve the needs of others; membership of a professional body, licensing, and enforceable codes of ethics; unique relationship with society; and help members of organization to earn a living. So, how Public Relations fits into these parameters?

First, Public Relations Institute of Australia (PRIA) requires advanced educational degrees and qualifications such as membership of PRIA. Second, PR has great commitment to its public, as PR is a communicational link in our society. Third, through rough and tumble times, public relations had adopted standards of education and performance including codes of ethics, to help them serve the public welfare. The International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) is a professional membership group and has members in 52 nations. Other aspect is that public relation has similarities with many professions as journalism, advertising, marketing, publicity and at the same time public relations is very different and unique. Finally, PR helps others and also designed to help its members to earn a living.

So, public relations fits into definition of profession but how it related to established or "classical" professions? For example, International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) in its guideline identifies six principles fundamental to the accounting profession: Integrity, Objectivity, Professional competence and Due Care, Confidentiality, Professional Behavior, and Technical Standards. According to virtually all statements of professional ethics, professionals are supposed to have an overriding responsibility to act in the public interest, in exchange for the benefits they obtain through right to organize. For most professions such as law, medicine, accounting or engineering, the public interest is supposed to be served by acting in the interest of the client, i. e., the party paying for the services.

Public Relations exhibit some characteristics of the "classic professions" but have not acquired full professional status because of opposition from established professions and an inability to convince the public that they command unique expertise. I would like to call public relation as developing profession. In my opinion public relation has great opportunity as a profession in future. Once again, the professions are rapidly and radically changing. "Commercialism" has crept into all areas of our life, including law, medicine, religion, and education. This trend has been reinforced by what might be called the "erosion of public morality", that is the loss of a sense of personal integrity and social responsibility, which are the cornerstones of professional ethics.

Future generations may develop new institutions and new ethics to take place of those that have been lost. Maybe future will change definition of a profession itself. Public Relations have very important role in today's society as former president of Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) once wrote: "As soon as there was Eve with Adam, there were a relationships, and society, no matter how small or primitive, public communications needs and problems inevitably emerge and must be resolved. Public relations is devoted to the essential function of building and improving human relationship" (Jackson, cited in Wilcox, et al. 2000). From one perspective, it might be said that public relations has evolved from "the public be fooled" to "the public be damned" to "the public be manipulated" to " the public be informed" to " the public be involved or accommodated".

Unfortunately, however, nothing ever close to a consensus has emerged from all of these definitions and theories. Present situation can be put as "a brotherhood of some 100,000 whose common bond is its profession and whose common woe is that no two of them can ever quite agree on what that profession is" (unknown writer, cited in Public Relation Review 1999).

Bibliography

Baskin, O., Aronoff, C. and Lattimore, D (1997) Public Relations and the Practice 4th edn Brown & Benchmark Wilcox, D.
L., Ault, P.H., Agee, W.K. and Cameron, G.T. (2000) Public Relations Strategies and Tactics 6th edn Harper Collins The Encyclopedia of Business Ethics (1998, 2nd edn, Blackwell Publishers Ltd, Oxford.
Hutton, J.G. 1999, "The definition, dimensions, and domain of public relations", Public Relations Review, vol.
25. no. 25, pp. 199 (1) Bibliography Gruing, J.E. Ed. (1992) Excellence in Public Relations and Communication management.
Katzman, J.B. 1993, "What's the role of public relations? Profession searchers for its identity", Public Relations Journal, April, vol.
49. no. 4, pp. 11 (6). Study Guide References Baskin, O., Aronoff, C. and Lattimore, D (1997) Public Relations and the Practice 4th edn Brown & Benchmark Wilcox, D.