Corporate communication

• It is a process, a tactic and not really an independent entity

• It is a department communicates on various issues that concern the organization

and its stakeholders, an independent department to render the staff function of
aiding and advising the top management and other departments on their issues
that require communication intervention.

Various kinds of communication

• Marketing communication:
It consists of those forms of communication that supports sales of particular goods
or services. This includes advertising, sales promotion, direct mail communication
etc.

• Organizational Communication
It is used generally to cover PR, public affairs, investor relations, labour market
communication, corporate advertising, environmental communication, corporate
communication etc.

• Management Communication
It is described as ‘accomplishing work through other people’. Management
includes functions such as planning, organizing, commanding, coordinating and
controlling. Management communication is used in various staff and line functions
in an organization.

Functions of corporate communication

• Media relations

• Employee communication

• Corporate image management

• Government relations

• Corporate advertising

• Corporate PR

• Brand promotions such as events & sponsorships

 Strategies and Tactics
• Targeting the key trade press to keep the company in focus as far as
its brand equity is concerned

• Working on tactics that bring people face to face

• Selecting appropriate media and drafting appropriate messages to

reach out to various constituencies

• Creating a strong, positive and identifiable corporate image

• Building the reputation of key executives

• Managing crisis communication

• Assisting the top management in change management within and

outside the organization

• Maintaining investor and shareholder relationships

• Assisting the management in community relations through

corporate social responsibility

Reputation
• Reputation is defined as the ‘standing’ that an individual or an
entity has in the perception of people.

• The net result of the interaction of all the experiences, impressions,

beliefs, feelings and knowledge that people have about a company,
Bevis(1967)

• The benefits of a positive corporate reputation

• Can give distinctiveness and a competitive advantage

• can contribute to profits

• can act as a safeguard in times of adversity

• Corporate reputation

• It is a multi-stakeholder social construction that resulted from

strategic communications created by an organization & refracted by
the media & by analysts

Impact of good reputation on Stakeholders

(from slide 11)

Corporate reputation management imperatives

• Key performance indicators

• Competitive edge

• Product and service range

• Corporate governance

• Corporate social responsibility

• Shareholder confidence etc.

CRM
• Position through words and imagery (corporate identity
programme) : corporate advertising

• Media content analysis

• Stakeholder evaluation

• Brand audit

• Internal communication measurement

• Opinion polls

• Crisis research

• Image surveys etc.

 Image
• Corporate image is the feature of the company that stakeholders
come to perceive.

• Acc to Dowling (1986), “an image is the set of meanings by which an

object is known & through which people describe, remember &
relate to it. That is the net result of the interaction of a person’s
beliefs, ideas, feelings & impressions about an object.

Image/identity
• Image is a reflection of an organization’s reality.

• Identity is the visual manifestation of the image as conveyed

through the organization’s logo, products, services, buildings,
stationary, uniforms & all other tangible bits of evidence created by
the organization to communicate with a variety of constituents.

Image/identity/reputation
• Image is taken to mean the view of the company held by external
stakeholders, especially that held by customers

• Identity is taken to mean the internal, that is the employee’s, view

of the company, following Albert and Whetten's (1985) notion of
'How do we see ourselves'.

• Reputation is taken to be a collective term referring to all

stakeholders’ views of corporate reputation, including identity and
image.

Building corporate identity

• Identity is the visual manifestation of the image as conveyed
through the organization’s colour, style, lettering, signature line,
logo, products, services, buildings, stationary, uniforms & all other
tangible bits of evidence created by the organization to
communicate with a variety of constituents.
 Corporate advertising

Known as -
• Institutional advertising

• Public service advertising

• Advocacy advertising

• Social advertising

Ethics of PR

Public Relations Society of India (PRSI)

• Established in 1958

• to promote the recognition of public relations as a profession

• to formulate and interpret to the public the objectives and the

potentialities of public relations as a strategic management function.

• Society functioned as informal body till 1966 when it was registered

under the Indian Societies Act XXVI of 1961, with headquarters in
Mumbai.

• The father-figure of professional PR practitioners in India, Kali H.

Mody, was the founder President of PRSI from 1966 to 1969..

• The members of the society are public relations practitioners from

Multinationals, Govt., Public and Private sector, Academics and PR
consultants.

NATIONAL PUBLIC RELATIONS DAY

• April 21 as the First All India Public Relations Conference was organised
in Delhi on April 21, 1968. The theme of the conference was
‘Professional Approach’. This was a very significant public relations
meet in our country, when a professional approach was given to public
 relations ( a change from publicity, press a gentry, information) besides
adopting a Code of Ethics for PR profession. In fact that was the
beginning of professional public relations in India.

• Since then, PSRI had 26 All India PR conferences including the 9th PR
World Congress in Bombay in 1982 and the first Asia Pacific PR Meet in
Kolkata during January, 1998 and International Public Relations
Conference at Bangalore in 2002.

• International Code of Ethics for Public Relations as adopted by the

Public Relations Society of India at the 1st All India Public Relations
Conference, New Delhi, April 21, 1968.

International Code Of Ethics

• CONSIDERING that all Member countries of the United Nations
Organization have agreed to abide by its Charter which reaffirms "its
faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the
human person" and that having regard to the very nature of their
profession, Public Relations practitioners in these countries should
undertake to ascertain and observe the principles set out in this
Chapter,

• CONSIDERING that, apart from "rights", human beings have not only
physical or material needs but also intellectual, moral and social needs,
and that their rights are of real benefits to them only in so far as needs
are essentially met,

• CONSIDERING that, in the course of their professional duties and

depending on how these duties are performed, Public Relations
practitioners can substantially help to meet these intellectual, moral
and social needs,

• And lastly, CONSIDERING that the use of techniques enabling them to

come simultaneously into contact with millions of people gives Public
Relations practitioners a power that has to be restrained by the
observance of a strict moral code,
• On all these grounds the Public Relations Society of India hereby
declares that it accepts, as its moral charter the principles of the
following Code of Ethics, and that if, in the light of evidence submitted
to the Society, a member of this Society should be found to have
infringed this Code in the course of his professional duties, he will be
deemed to be guilty of serious misconduct calling for an appropriate
penalty.

Accordingly, each Member of this Society –

SHALL ENDEAVOUR

• 1. To contribute to the achievement of the moral and cultural

conditions enabling human beings to reach their full stature and enjoy
the indefeasible rights to which they are entitled under "Universal
Declaration of Human Rights";

• 2. To establish communication patterns and channels which, by

fostering the free flow of essential information, will make each
member of the group feel that he is being kept informed, and also give
him an awareness of his own personal involvement and responsibility
and of his solidarity with other members;

• 3. To conduct himself always and in all circumstances in such a manner

as to deserve and secure the confidence of those with whom he comes
into contact;

• 4. To bear in mind that because of the relationship between his

profession and the public, his conduct - even in private - will have an
impact on the way in which the profession as a whole is appraised

SHALL UNDERTAKE

• 5. To observe, in the course of his professional duties, the moral

principles and rules of the "Universal Declaration of Human Rights";

• 6. To pay due regard to, and uphold, human dignity, and to recognize
the right of each individual to judge for himself;
• 7. To establish the moral, psychological and intellectual conditions for
dialogue in its true sense, and to recognize the right of the parties
involved to state their case and express their views;

• 8. To act, in all circumstances in such a manner as to take account of

the respective interests of the parties involved: both the interests of
the organization which he serves and the interests of the publics
concerned;

SHALL REFRAIN FROM

• 9. To carry out his undertakings and commitments which shall always

be so worded as to avoid any misunderstanding, and to show loyalty
and integrity in all circumstances so as to keep the confidence of his
clients or employees, past or present and of all the publics that are
affected by his actions.

• 10. Subordinating the truth to other requirements;

• 11. Circulating information which is not based on established and

ascertainable facts;

• 12. Taking part in any venture or undertaking which is unethical or

dishonest or capable of impairing human dignity and integrity; Using
any "manipulative" methods or techniques designed to create
subconscious motivations which the individual cannot control of his
own free will and so cannot be held accountable for the action taken
on them.

The “IPRA Code of Conduct”

• Adopted in 2011 the Code is an affirmation of professional and ethical
conduct by members of the International Public Relations Association
and recommended to public relations practitioners worldwide.

• The Code consolidates the 1961 Code of Venice, the 1965 Code of
Athens and the 2007 Code of Brussels.
• (a) RECALLING the Charter of the United Nations which determines “to
reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights, and in the dignity and
worth of the human person”;

• (b) RECALLING the 1948 “Universal Declaration of Human Rights" and

especially recalling Article 19;

• (c) RECALLING that public relations, by fostering the free flow of

information, contributes to the interests of all stakeholders;

• (d) RECALLING that the conduct of public relations and public affairs
provides essential democratic representation to public authorities;

• (e) RECALLING that public relations practitioners through their wide-

reaching communication skills possess a means of influence that
should be restrained by the observance of a code of professional and
ethical conduct;

• (f) RECALLING that channels of communication such as the Internet and

other digital media, are channels where erroneous or misleading
information may be widely disseminated and remain unchallenged,
and therefore demand special attention from public relations
practitioners to maintain trust and credibility;

• (g) RECALLING that the Internet and other digital media demand
special care with respect to the personal privacy of individuals, clients,
employers and colleagues;

In the conduct of public relations practitioners shall:

1. Observance
Observe the principles of the UN Charter and the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights;

2. Integrity
Act with honesty and integrity at all times so as to secure and retain the
confidence of those with whom the practitioner comes into contact;
3. Dialogue
Seek to establish the moral, cultural and intellectual conditions for dialogue, and
recognise the rights of all parties involved to state their case and express their
views;

4. Transparency
Be open and transparent in declaring their name, organisation and the interest
they represent;

5. Conflict.
Avoid any professional conflicts of interest and to disclose such conflicts to
affected parties when they occur;

6. Confidentiality
Honour confidential information provided to them;

7. Accuracy
Take all reasonable steps to ensure the truth and accuracy of all information
provided;

8. Falsehood
Make every effort to not intentionally disseminate false or misleading information,
exercise proper care to avoid doing so unintentionally and correct any such act
promptly;

9. Deception
Not obtain information by deceptive or dishonest means;

10. Disclosure
Not create or use any organisation to serve an announced cause but which actually
serves an undisclosed interest;

11. Profit
Not sell for profit to third parties copies of documents obtained from public
authorities;

12. Remuneration
Whilst providing professional services, not accept any form of payment in
connection with those services from anyone other than the principal;
13. Inducement

Neither directly nor indirectly offer nor give any financial or other inducement to
public representatives or the media, or other stakeholders;

14. Influence
Neither propose nor undertake any action which would constitute an improper
influence on public representatives, the media, or other stakeholders;

15. Competitors
Not intentionally injure the professional reputation of another practitioner;

16. Poaching
Not seek to secure another practitioner’s client by deceptive means;

17. Employment
When employing personnel from public authorities or competitors take care to
follow the rules and confidentiality requirements of those organisations;

18. Colleagues
Observe this Code with respect to fellow IPRA members and public relations
practitioners worldwide.

IPRA members shall, in upholding this Code, agree to abide by and help enforce the
disciplinary procedures of the International Public Relations Association in regard
to any breach of this Code.

Adopted by the IPRA Board 5 November 2010