corporate communication today

 History Corporate Communication

Corporate communication started long time back without people knowing if what they were doing was corporate communication. It then develop and known as public relations.

Development stages of corporate communication

Pre modern era aronoff 1983

There was recognition of power of public opinion. In this factor leaders were looking for the people’s sentiment. They recognize the power of publics in order to sustain their power.

·         There was continues completion among institution for the public support

·         Development of media through which the public will be reached

  Modern era

·         Ivy lee add for professionalism in public relations. Public relation as professional activity he suggested to maintain effective media relation above all alignment of business in social responsible manner

·         Edward Bernays he applied social science technique of writing research in public relation also he Develop and define the modern canceling advising and management functions of public relation.

·         Arthur Page he emphasize that communication is a management functions with the voice of the senior executive team   

·         Paul Garrett he add the use of words and deeds in the meaning that a person will understand

Stages in historical development of corporate communication

·         Manipulation

In this stage corporate communication is assumed to use whatever means were available to achieve desired public’s opinions. Example exaggerating the facts and distortion of the truth etc.

·         Information

In this stage corporate communication Is regarded as conducts for the information flowing from the organization  to the public so that public will understand sympathize with the organization.

·         Mutual influence and understanding

Corporate communication sees its role as the provider of information and counselor to management on the nature and realities of the public opinions and methods by which the organization establishes its policies make decision and take actions In the light of public opinions. 

History of the public relation in Africa now known as corporate communication

African public relation practice

Public relation practice in Africa can be classified into two: ancient and modern.

Ancient practice:

This was the pre-colonial practice of corporate communication.

• How to record and communicate information about religion and government.

Thus written scripts were invented that could be used to record this information

such as hieroglyphic and papyrus scrolls.

• How the scribes worked; writing hieroglyphs, keeping government records and

writing letters for kings.

• Using of communication tools and media; gong, talking drum, moon-light story

telling, folk tales telling, village square gathering, sporting activities.

Modern practice: It comprises the colonial and post-colonial practice of the profession,

• Press Agentry.

• Public Information.

• Two-way Asymmetrical.

• Two-way Symmetrical.

Press agentry describes the model where information moves one-way from the organization to its publics. … it is synonymous with promotions and publicity.

Corporate communication people operating under this model are constantly looking for opportunities to get their organization’s name favorably mentioned in the media. Public information differs from press agentry because the intent is to inform rather than to press for sales, but communication is still essentially one-way. Practitioners operating under this model respond to queries from their various publics and become

proactive when they believe their publics need to know something important. The two-way asymmetric model is best described as scientific persuasion. It employs social science methods to increase the persuasiveness of its message. Public relations practitioners use polls, interviews, and focus groups to measure public attitudes that gain the support of key publics. Although feedback is built into process, the organization is much interested in having the publics adjust to the organization rather than the reverse.

The two-way symmetric model represents a public relations orientation in which organizations and their publics adjust to each other. It focuses on mutual understanding and two-way communication rather than one-way persuasion.(James Grunig, 1992) The practice of public relations in Africa can be traced to around 1700 BC in the ancient Egypt.

Egyptian Life

Daily life in ancient Egypt revolved around the Nile and the fertile land along its banks. The yearly fltooding of the Nile enriched the soil and brought good harvests and wealth to the land. The people of ancient Egypt built mud brick homes in villages and in the country. They grew some of their own food and traded in the villages for the food and goods they could not produce. Most ancient Egyptians worked as field hands, farmers, craftsmen and scribes. A small group of people were nobles. Together, these different groups of people made up the population of ancient Egypt. 1 (The British Museum) Pharaoh: Lord of the Two Lands political and religious leader of the Egyptian people, holding the titles: 'Lord of the Two

Lands' and 'High Priest of Every Temple'. As 'Lord of the Two Lands' the pharaoh was the ruler of Upper and Lower Egypt. He owned all of the land, made laws, collected taxes, and defended Egypt against

foreigners. As 'High Priest of Every Temple', the pharaoh represented the gods on Earth. He

performed rituals and built temples to honour the gods. Many pharaohs went to war when their land was threatened or when they wanted to control foreign lands. If the pharaoh won the battle, the conquered people had to recognise the Egyptian pharaoh as their ruler and offer him the finest and most valuable

goods from their land. 2 (The British Museum) Writing The ancient Egyptians believed that it was important to record and communicate information about religion and government. Thus, they invented written scripts that could be used to record this information. The most famous of all ancient Egyptian scripts is hieroglyphic. However, throughout three thousand years of ancient Egyptian civilisation, at least three other scripts were used for different purposes. Using these scripts, the scribes were able to preserve the

beliefs, history and ideas of ancient Egypt in temple and tomb walls and on the papyrus scrolls. 3 (The British Museum)

The Scribes

Two main duties of the scribes:

• Writing hieroglyphs that appeared on the tomb and temples

• Keeping government records and writing letters for pharaoh.

These scribes were the governments and the religious organizations public relations executives, because they kept record and communicate information about religion and government to the masses.

Joseph in the Bible was the PR executive to the government of Egypt of his time. Toavert famine at that time, he used PR campaign to educate the Egyptians for gathering food for seven years of plenty and to distribute food for the other seven years of famine. He demonstrated PR prowess by analyzing trends, predicting their consequences, counselling Pharaoh (the head of the government) and implementing planned program of action which served the government’s and the public interest. This collaborated with the IPRA’s definition of PR: PR practice is the art and social science of analyzing trends, predicting their consequences, counselling organization leaders and implementing planned program of action which will serve both the organization’s and the public interest.

There were different means of communication in Africa as earlier mentioned before the advent of the colonial masters; these include using the gong by the town crier to call the attention of the target audience and announcing the message of the ruler, elder consultative forum, age-group forum, moon-light story telling, folk tales telling, talking drums, village square gathering, sporting activities, etc.

Development in North Africa

Despite the fact that one of the early history of PR practice could be traced to North Africa , PR is still at low ebb in the region. There is only one PR association in the region, ‘Arab Public Relations Society’ of Egypt. The ignorance of public relations activities affect the perception of the people of the region of the power and usefulness of PR. It is only Egypt that has a record of PR practice in the region.

Public relations as a separate business function is practically non-existent in Egyptian and other Middle Eastern companies. Egypt's only major PR firm, Rada Research and Public Relations Co, caters mostly to foreign companies that understand the importance of PR in the business environment. This situation is attributed to the lack of understanding of the value of a favorable public image in the region. Rada Research PR Manager Halim Abou Seif also points to the differences between Western and Middle Eastern business practices. He notes that Egyptian and Middle Eastern business communicators need to improve on such areas as translating, informing clients as to how they are perceived by the public, planning technical articles for the 'vertical' media, and dealing with 'crisis' situations. According to observers of the Egyptian business scene, Egyptian businesses do not understand the contribution public relations can make, confuse it with advertising or don't believe in it even while the private sector is growing in the new era of economic reform toward privatization.

Business people in the Middle East don't know that in the U.S. and Europe, public

relations is much more than generating favorable publicity and knowing what kind of

story is likely to be printed or broadcast. They don't know that a strategic goal is to

project a favorable public image, one of good corporate citizenship. Nor, that allied with

that is the first responsibility of public relations: to persuade management that the

reality must correspond with the public image.

One Egyptian practitioner, who works with 15 foreign clients, sees his company's client

list growing in the next five years, but is pessimistic about any growth among Egyptian

companies working with the profession.

Halim Abou Seif, public relations manager for RadaResearch, says, "There is not

enough understanding among Egyptian companies about what public relations can do.

Whatever growth comes will come from international companies."

He notes that the Egyptian culture differs from the Western experience and that business

practices, financing, retail distribution and consumer tastes may appear unusual to a

foreign company doing business in Egypt for the first time.

He adds that Egyptian culture often requires an approach quite different from accepted

practice in North America and Europe.

RadaResearch, founded in 1982, is an Egyptian company, independently owned and

managed by Loula Zaklama, a dynamic executive who frequently travels through the

Western world to meet with clients, being invited into their corporate planning sessions.

For example, in July she was in Germany to meet with top executives of Upjohn, one of

the firm's clients.

She has been a public relations practitioner for a dozen years, teaches the subject at

American University in Cairo, and has taken numerous courses in the U.S. and U.K.

Zaklama is well known in the American Chamber of Commerce in Cairo as a member

of several international public relations associations that work to codify and uphold

ethical standards.

Understanding PR is rare

She says she is disturbed by the status of public relations in Egypt, which she

characterizes as a profession like engineering or architecture. She estimates there are

about 5,000 people in the country who have the title of public relations practitioner, but

they don't understand the concept of the profession at all.

In Zaklama's view there are no more than 50 skilled professionals in the country. Some,

she says, are employed by industry and hotels.

But, overall, she looks askance at the role of public relations in hotels.

"The hotels tend to dump public relations into the sales department or guest relations.

They do a lot of other things and it's just a side job."

Her firm employs 25 Egyptians, with five working on public relations. It is affiliated

with the international communication firms of Gallup International, Hill & Knowlton

and Charles Barker of London -- and its major clients include Boeing, Pepsi Cola,

Procter and Gamble and Glaxo, a British pharmaceutical firm.

RadaResearch -- which has done no advertising work for six years -- offers a classic

example of what a public relations agency can do for a client wherever the client is

located. Its wide range of professional services to help clients meet their corporate

relations and communication needs include these standard practices:

* Media relations, which includes issuing the news releases, following up with the

media on news releases, regular personal contact with media representatives,

preparation of media kits for news conferences and special events.

* Special events planning and coordination for inaugurations, seminars, open houses,

visits, exhibitions and conferences.

* Clipping and monitoring of Egyptian and Middle East media on matters concerning

clients. Articles are clipped daily and translated into English, Arabic and French and

faxed to clients on a regular basis.

* Marketing support of public relations programs including visits to factories and

offices and distribution of promotional material.

Market research a necessity for some

A major part of the company's overall operations is market research services which

handles both qualitative and quantitative research from small focus groups to national

surveys. These services are for attitude studies, new product development, product

testing, social research studies and market forecasting.

It is one of only several companies specializing in market research in Egypt.

Seif says that the media relations aspect of public relations in Egypt is "very tough."

"There is a big confusion among the news media people about advertising and public

relations. When we call on the media, they often think it's for advertising. For the media

to run a story based on a press release it has to be a strong, fantastic event.

"It's hard to get the name of your client printed. Our clients understand this. It takes time

to build an awareness of a product. In time, maybe you can get the name of the client

into the story rather than just 'pharmaceutical firm."

Seif recalls a major PepsiCo convention at Mena House, one of the five-star Cairo

hotels, attended by more than 300 company executives. The chairman gave a speech on

economics; some of the media mentioned the name of the company, some described

him as head of a "soft drink company."

Among the special events RadaResearch has worked on was General Motors Egypt's

official factory opening and Northrop Corporation's demonstration of its F-20 Tiger

Shark fighter aircraft to the Egyptian Air Force.

Seif says the best chance for publicity is via special events because of the "very difficult

reception" of news sent to the media in Cairo.

However, he notes that magazines are not as difficult as television, radio and the major

newspapers (which have severe limitations of space). Photos sent to the major daily

print media are "out of the question" whereas magazines will use a quality shot,

especially the business weekly Tissadi.

Technology lags, pace is slower.

A major difference between doing media relations in the Western world and Egypt is

that very little communication is done here via fax or telephone.

Seif says: "You have to go to the media person each time, explain, and follow-up in

person. There's a problem because many are only in the office one hour a day and the

trick is to find out what that hour is."

Another aspect of RadaResearch's media relations is having clients -- such as Boeing

and Upjohn -- invite Egyptian news reporters to their headquarters in the U.S.

There, they have an opportunity to learn some key aspects of public relations. These, he

says, include:

• Translating. Most executives do not excel at public speaking or writing in nonbusiness

words -- so the public relations function is to translate the executive's

knowledge into intelligible information, without jargon, to an audience.

• Acquainting the client with public perceptions of that client so that information

disseminated is consistent with the real world.

• Preparing technical articles for what is called the "vertical" media (a term not

known in the Middle East).

• And, responding to "crisis" situations. The concept has not arrived in the Middle

East, with one exception, that when a disaster strikes, the public relations

practitioner's job, working with legal counsel, is to assess the situation, assemble

the facts, and organize the client's response. The exception was several years ago

when a Kuwaiti airliner was hijacked, and the Kuwaitis adopted a public

relations plan.

Seif, who has been with RadaResearch for two years, after working in market research,

says his section works closely with the public relations departments of its clients. For

example, he spent 10 days in Seattle, Wash., on a trip to the Boeing Company.

RadaResearch is planning now for two events this fall. One is prominent U.S. heart

surgeon Adel Matar's return to Egypt to perform several sophisticated operations and

participate in medical conferences and, the arrival of the new Boeing 737-500 for the

national airline, Egypt Air.

In summing up, Seif says the view of public relations by RadaResearch is remarkably in

sync with prevailing practice in the U.S. But, it's a loner in the Middle East.

Paul Spiers is a media consultant and freelancer in Cairo.

4 Source: International Association of Business Communicators

Development in Southern Africa

The development of PR practice is more advanced in South Africa than other countries

in the region. Although the practice is developing in Zambia, there is no PR association

in the country. Swaziland and Zimbabwe have national PR associations, while Namibia

is a member of the Public Relations Institute of Southern Africa, PR practice is also

developing in Lesotho, although there is no national PR association.

The era of modern PR in South Africa could be traced to the colonial era, this led to the

establishment of PRISA.

PRISA - the Institute for Public Relations & Communication Management was

founded in 1957 by a handful of public relations practitioners. Membership grew over

the years - today membership stands at 3 510 including students. “The institute

represents senior practitioners and consultants as well as student members. It is

dedicated to delivering dynamic, value-added services to members and to ensure

continued growth and professionalisation of the industry”. 7 Source: PRISA

Public relations is evolving in South Africa, according to Kate Bapela (PRISA former

president) the vision of PRISA is “Recognition of public relations professionals as role

players of significance in Southern Africa and beyond”. 5 (Bapela, 2003). This is not

just on the paper, it is being pursued logically for actualization.

According to Jane Weaver on his experience of PR practice in South Africa (which

portrays the level of the development of PR practice in the country):

Gone are the days of public relations being a stand alone tool as the method of

communicating an organization's message to its target audience.

In order to survive in the media noise of today, companies must consider implementing

an integrated communications strategy. Such a strategy needs to encompass all elements

of the traditional or classical marketing mix in addition to other, more innovative

tactics.

The evolution in the "classical" marketing world has led to a blurring of boundaries in

terms of what each service provider offers to its client base. However, it is this very

blurring of boundaries that has spearheaded the revolution in what is generally referred

to as the public relations space. Public relations has evolved to being a service involving

strategic thought and implementation across all elements of the communications mix.

An early definition, coined by Edward Bernay, held that: "Public relations was a

management function which tabulated public attitudes, defined the policies, procedures

and interest of an organisation, which was then followed by the execution of a

programme of action to earn public understanding and acceptance."

Evolving

Modern PR approaches are required to be far more integrated and dynamic. Not only

are they compelled to keep pace with an industry that is continually evolving with the

changing media landscape, but they also have to ensure that they are tuned into the

concomitant revolution in the marketing arena. Today, any self-respecting

communications consultancy that offers public relations as a tool, acknowledges that

public relations is - as Robert Heath says - a set of management, supervisory and

technical functions that foster an organisation's ability to strategically listen to,

appreciate and respond to those persons whose mutually beneficial relationships with

the organisation are necessary to achieve its mission and values.

Essentially, an organization that invests in PR is investing in a management function

that focuses on two-way communication and fostering of mutually beneficial

relationships between that company and its target audiences.

Because the essence of public relations, or rather - integrated communications - is so

deeply embedded in relationships (those between an organisation - its publics and the

media), a further enhancement to the modern approach is a focus on relationship

development and management. Communications is fast becoming an applied social

science where psychology, as well as knowledge of disciplines related to understanding

human behaviour is considered an essential skill for successful practice of the craft.

Strategic communications - PR - is no longer about disseminating press releases. It's a

'brave new world' which embodies a well considered strategic communications process

(which, by its very nature, must be dynamic and evolutionary). The thinking behind this

process has to go way beyond the perceived logical benefits of a traditional PR

campaign to a point where every customer touch point is optimised.

(Jane Weaver is client service director at HMC Seswa Corporate Communications).

6 Source: www.E:\allAfrica_com South Africa PR is Only One Part of Integrated

Communications (Page 1 of 1).htm

According to Margaret Moscardi (the executive director of PRISA) at the annual review

2003/2004.PRISA’ success can be summarized thus:

• Establishment of board for public relations and communication in the Business

chamber

• Representation on the Business Chamber of the services SETA Exco.

• Leadership within G/A and FAPRA

• ISO certification to new standard

• Positioning within Africa through EAPRA and FAPRA

• Hosting of 2006 FAPRA conference

• Launch of Progressions-CPD for the profession

• Expansion of skills development

• Benchmarked levels of practice

• Registration system aligned to levels of practice

• Expanded code of ethics and professional standards aligned with global protocol

• Standards generation

• Leadership development

8 ( Moscardi 2004).

Development in West Africa

The development of PR is more noticeable in Nigeria and Ghana being former British

colonies, couple with growth of civilization, industrialization and political development

in the two countries, although still at low ebb. Both countries have national PR

associations and have both hosted FAPRA’s conference, there are PR firms in the two

countries. There is no PR association in the Gambia, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ivory Coast,

Togo and other West African countries.

The development of modern public relations in Nigeria started in 1948 when the then

colonial administration set up a public relations department with offices in Lagos,

Ibadan, Kaduna and Enugu. In charge of the department was a public relation expert,

Mr. Harold Cooper, who successfully modernized government information services,

and initiated the policy of interpreting government policies to the people. The

department was designed to monitor the reaction of the people to official policies and

activities; serve as liaison between the mass media and the government and carry out

general public relations functions for the government.

---------- the activities of Mr. Cooper and his team of expatriates and Nigerians were

initially concentrated on publicity work dealing with problems arising from the second

world war such as shortages of goods, deprivation of the necessities of life and

imposition of an austere regime by the colonial government. A special section of the

department was engaged in publicizing and popularizing the work of the marketing

board which at time needed the support of the producers at the grass roots level.

Similar publicity activities were simultaneously taking place in such large organizations

as the Nigerian Railway which for example used the services of --- Ernest Ikoli, a

veteran journalist on a trainer basis.

In addition to ensuring a regular flow of information covering the facets of government

activities to the people and interpreting the prevailing policies, Harold Cooper

established contacts with selected leaders of thought whose views and attitudes were

calculated to be helpful to the overall communication efforts. One interesting novelty

was to address letter of welcome to all Nigerian returning from abroad offering them

assistance towards the finding of jobs or resettlement in other ways. Harold Cooper was

succeeded by his deputy, Mr.John Stocker, who was assisted by such Nigerian stalwarts

as Ayo Ljadu, and Mobolaji Odunewu consolidated and expanded government

information and public relations activities in the country.

The growing wave of nationalism which followed the end of the war, the emergence of

political parties, the fight for independence, ------ campaign for Nigerianization of both

the public and private sectors suddenly awakened the foreign firms which dominated

the economy of the country to the need for some form of public relations activities

calculated to meet press criticisms and misconception of their roles on the part of the

people. ----- the only form of pr practised by the trading firms consisted mainly in

occasional Hand-outs of specimen items of trade to customers directly or through

agents.

The next significant changes in the development of pr in Nigeria occurred between the

years 1950 and 1960.This period witnessed --- political, social and economical changes

in the country including the attainment of independence with all its implication s, the

discovery of oil and the shift of emphasis from general trading to industrialization...

Led by -------- Shell and U.A.C, the companies were compelled to launch planned

programmes covering government press and community relations.

They also helped to popularize the creation of pr departments in their various

companies, and the development of Nigerians to man such positions.

Simultaneously with these developments, the public relations group in the press club of

Nigeria in 1959 decide to organise its own separate activities beginning with lunches,

film shows, lectures, and such activities as are calculated to be in consonance with the

fundamental principles of public relations practice in a developing society.

Following these rapid and extensive spread of public relations activities during the

decade--------------, the activity gained professional identity in 1962 with the

establishment of the Public Relations Association of Nigeria under the leadership of

late Dr.Sam Epelle, a one time director of the federal ministry of information.

Association helped to draw together an increasing number of practitioners who over the

years had become members, associates of the British institute of public relations.

------- from the mid sixties to the mid-eighties, the association subsequently adopted the

more professional name of the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations.

Other contributors to the progress of pr in Nigeria include such as Dennis Buckle,

formerly of UAC, and John Stocker, one time regional director of information based in

Enugu, Eastern Nigeria...

---- , Mass Communication which provides the back-bone for effective practice of the

profession was introduced as a course in ------ the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, the

University of Lagos and the Institute of Management Technology, Enugu. 9 (Offonry,

1985).

According to Dayo Duyile 10 (Duyile,2006), the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations

was chartered in 1990.

The evolution PR in Nigeria in the private and public sectors has resulted to the

establishment of public relations firms, this led to the formation of the Nigerian Public

Relations Consultants Association in 1983.

Public Relations is developing in Ghana , there is a national professional body.

The Institute of Public Relations, Ghana was established in 1972 as the Public Relations

Association of Ghana (PRAG) and registered as a professional body in 1972. PRAG

was re-organized and a new constitution and code of ethics were adopted on December

6,1991 which transformed PRAG into Institute of Public Relations, Ghana (IPR).

Development in East Africa

The wave of growth in PR practice is moving across the continent. To strengthen PR

practice in the eastern region of Africa, the Eastern African Public Relations

Associations (EAPRA) was established on December 13, 2002, comprising the

Public Relations Society of Kenya (PRSK), Public Relations Associations of Uganda

(PRAU), Public Relations Associations Of Tanzania (PRAT) and Rwanda’s association.

According to Peter Mutie “ With the birth of EAPRA, Public Relations practice in the

region is expected to take deeper root and cross-border consultation expedited. EAPRA

will be seeking observer status in the East Africa Community and the preliminary

indication from the community show no objection to this status. The association will

also be seeking to play a leading role in building the image of the region and

supplementing the EAC’s endeavours in projecting the true face of the region’s

economic, socio-political and environmental status”. 11 (Mutie,2003).

PR is evolving in Mauritius, an independent Island republic in the Western Indian

Ocean, east of Madagascar, which is in East Africa. Although she is not a member of

EAPRA, she has a national PR association named Public Relations Association of

Mauritius, which is a member of FAPRA.

Development in Central Africa

The PR practice is noticed in Cameroon, there is a national PR association in the

country, while other countries in the regions have no PR associations.

Current and future of corporate communication.

·         Today the term public relation is being replaced by the corporate communication to emphasize professionalism

·         Corporate communication expertise sees them as management professionals involved in the planning and implementation of high profile communications campaign to ensure awareness.

·         Anticipation of crisis situation and managing issues are part of the corporate communication functions.

·         Modern corporate communication expert must engage in media relations as a corporate spokesperson also on training and community relations in building relationships with departmental aids.

·         Outsourcing finding a person outside the organization the organization to come and make an advert as a corporate communication manager cannot do it.