Download Communication

Chapter Three:
Communication
Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall
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In the early 21st century, social media
dominates the communications practice.
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We live in a “wired” world.
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Words and images flash to millions around
the globe in real time.
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The power of communication has
never been greater.
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Public relations practitioners are professional
communicators.
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They must be the best in the organization at:
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writing
speaking
listening
promoting
counseling
Being understood and understanding others is
crucial to this process.
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When communication is planned , as it should
be in public relations, every communication
must have a goal, an objective, and a
purpose, if not, why communicate in the first
place?
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All planned communication must have goals.
Here are a few:
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To inform
To persuade
To motivate
To build mutual
understanding
In all efforts, an integrated, strategically planned
approach is of key importance.
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1. To inform : to inform or educate a particular
public for ex. Before holidays association of
America will release information providing
advice on safe driving habits for long trips.
2. To persuade: to take certain actions, for ex. A
mutual fund annual report that talks about
the fund long history of financial strength and
security may provide a persuasive appeal for
potential investors
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3. To motivate : motivation of the employees to
( pull for the team) is a regular organizational
communications goal.
4. To build mutual understanding: often
communicators have as their goals the mere
attainment of understanding of a group in
opposition
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The point is whether written release , annual
report, speech or meeting all are valid public
relations communication vehicles designed to
achieve communication goals with the key
publics.
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Many theories exist from the traditional to
contemporary about the most effective ways
for a source to send a message through a
medium to elicit a positive response. Here are
but a few :
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Two-step flow theory: an organization
beams its message to mass media, which
delivers the message to mass audiences,
readers, listeners and viewers. This theory
may have given the mass media too much
credit.
People today are influenced by a great many
factors of which mass media maybe one but
its not necessarily the dominant one.
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Concentric-circle theory: ideas originate with
great thinkers and political leaders, then evolve
gradually to the public in circular fashion.
Its developed by Pollster Roper.
The theory suggests that people pick up
acceptable ideas from leaders, whose impact on
the public opinion maybe greater than of the mass
media
The overall study of how communication is used
for direction and control is called (cybernetics)
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1.
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Pat Jackson’s five-step process:
Building awareness
Developing a latent readiness
Triggering event
Intermediate behavior
Behavioral change
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1.
2.
Building awareness: through all the
standard communications mechanisms
from publicity to advertising to public
speaking to word of mouth.
Developing a latent readiness: this is the
stage at which people begin to form an
opinion based on such factors as knowledge,
emotion, memory and relationships
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3. Triggering events: is something either natural
or planned that makes you want to change
your behavior
4. Intermediate behavior: this is what Jackson
called the “ investigative” period when an
individual is determining how best to apply a
desired behavior
5. Behavioral change: the final step is the
adoption of the new behavior.
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S-E-M-D-R communications process: the Source
Encodes a Message, which is Decoded by the
Receiver.
Source : who issues the message to the receiver
Encoding stage: is which the source’s original
message is translated and conveyed to the receiver
Decoding stage: in which the receiver interprets
the encoded message and takes action.
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Spiral of Silence: communications depend
on the silence and non-participation of a huge
majority, which will often choose to “vote
with the majority.”
Its developed by Elisabeth Neumann
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The complexity of communications in contemporary
society has led to more “audience-centered” theories:
*Constructivism: knowledge is constructed, not
transmitted. The communicator must understand:
 the receiver’s beliefs, preferences, background
 how receivers think about issues, then work to
convince them to adopt a new point of view
 Its concerned with the cognitive process that
precedes the actual communication within a given
situation rather than with the communication
itself
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Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall
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Coordinated Management of Meaning
Is a theory of communications
based on social interactions
 This theory posits that when we
communicate we construct out
social realities of what is going on
and what kind of action is
appropriate
 Each of us have his own stories of
life experience which we share
with others in the conversations
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When we interact , say the creator of this
theory, we attempt to coordinate our own
beliefs, morals and ideas of good and bad
with those of others so that a mutual
outcome might occur.
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Grunig-Hunt Public Relations Models:
formulated by professor James Gruning and
Todd Hunt they generate 4 models that define
public relations communications which are:
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Press agentry/publicity
Public information
Two-way asymmetric
Two-way symmetric
What do each of these mean, and how can they work
for the public relations practitioner?
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1.
2.
Press agentry/publicity: is essentially one
way communication that beams message
from a source to the receiver with the
express intention of winning favorable
media attention
Public information: one way communication
designed not necessarily to persuade but
rather to inform, this and the press agentry
have been lined to the common notion of
(P.R propaganda)
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Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall
3. Two way asymmetric: this is a two way
communication approach that allows an
organization to put out its information and to
receive feedback from its publics about that
information.
 under this model the organization wouldn’t
necessarily change decisions as a result of
this feedback!!
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4. Two way symmetric: this preferred way of
communicating advocates free and equal
information flow between an organization
and its publics based on mutual
understanding. This approach is more
balanced
 Symmetrical : with the PR communicator
serving as a mediator between the
organization and the publics.
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Communication begins with words. They are among
our most personal and potent weapons.
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Words mean different things to different people
depending on race, education, occupation and
personal background.
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Words significantly influence the message conveyed
to the receiver.
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The public relations professional must carefully
understand and encode their client’s messages.
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For example when Hillary Clinton in the heat
of the 2008 democrat presidential
nomination process labeled opponent Obama
as Elitist, her rival lashed back in anger, the
implication being that he couldn’t relate to
the blue collar voters.
The study of what words really mean is called
semantics, and the science of semantics is a
necessary thing the one needs!!
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Another example: the semantics of the words
may make no sense , take the word Fat in the
American culture means the person who is
generally not associated with the
attractiveness!!!! But along Came 50 cent and
hip hop became with new spelling (Phat)
which means the baddest of the bad, the
coolest of the cool …… what a word can do !!
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The true importance of words lies in
framing key messages to move publics
to action.
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We can view messages according to these
theoretical explanations:
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The content is the message. The content of
the communication constitutes the message.
This is why accurate and truthful content is
key in all public relations communications.
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The real importance of a communication a
message- lies in the meaning of an article or
in the intent of the speech
Neither the medium through which the
message is being communicated nor the
individual doing the communication is as
important as the content.
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The medium is the message. Here, the
medium itself is the most important factor in
communication.
Theorists argue that the content of a
communication maybe less important than
the medium in which the message is carried.
This theory is relevant in today’s hyper media
society, where the reputation and the
integrity of a particular media source may
vary widely
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Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall
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for example: a story carried on the internet
blog would generally carry less weight that
one reported in the New York Times
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The person is the message. This view
recognizes the power and personality of the
speaker.
Today , we often refer to a leader’s Charisma,
the charismatic appeal of a political leader
maybe more important that what the
individual says. Such was the historic appeal
of Fidel Castro , Ronald Reagan could move
the audience by the very inflection of their
words
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Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall
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The point is the speaker’s words. Face, body,
eyes, attitude, timing, all form a composite
that as a whole influences the listeners.
In such cases the source of communication
becomes every bit as important as the
message itself.
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It is critical to understand the biases, preferences
and knowledge of our message receivers.
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Everyone is biased; no two people perceive a
message the same way.
What factors can influence a receiver’s bias?
Let’s find out…
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Personal biases are nurtured in many factors
including Stereotypes, Symbols, Semantics,
Peer Group Pressure and Especially in today’s
culture the media, so lets define each one !!
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We live in a world of stereotypical figures. What
images do the following names bring to mind?
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Gen-Xer
Feminist
Computer geek
Blue-collar worker
Used-car salesperson
Like it or not, stereotypes
influence communication.
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For example: research indicates that a lecture
delivered by a person wearing glasses will be
perceived as more believable than the same
lecture deliver before the same audience by
the same lecturer without glasses.
The stereotyped impression of people with
glasses is that they are trustworthy and more
believable
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Consider the following symbols. What images do
they create in your mind?
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The Red Cross
The Statue of Liberty
The World Trade Center
The Star of David
The Pentagon
When properly used, symbols can be highly
persuasive.
 in September, 11,2001 the trade center was
attacked by the terrorists , it was chosen cause of
its symbolic value as American icons
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Words mean different
things to different
people.
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Language and the
meanings of words are
always changing.
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Debate buttressed by confusing semantics
terms- pro Life to signify those against
abortion and Pro-choice to signify those in
favor of allowing abortions.
Because language and the meaning of the
words change constantly. Semantics may
handle with extreme care. Good
communicators always consider the
consequences of the words they plan to use
before using them
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To frame effective messages, public relations
professionals must understand intricacies of
peer-group influences on attitude and action.
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Recall the power of peer groups from your
high-school days. Did they ever cause you to
believe or do things that you normally
wouldn’t?
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In one famous study, students were asked to
point out the shortest of the following three
lines:
A) ---------------------------B) ---------------C) ----------------- Although line B is the shortest, each student
in the class expect one was told in advance
to answer that line C is the shortest.
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The object of this test was to see whether the
one student would agree with his peers.
Results indicated that , to a statistically
significant degree , all students including the
uncoached one , choose C.
Such an experiment is an example of how
peer pressure prevails in terms of influencing
personal bias.
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The media is a powerful agenda setter. It can tell us
what issues are important.
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The Agenda-Setting(1922) Hypothesis states that:
 the media does not reflect reality — it filters and
shapes it.
 media concentration on a few issues leads the
public to perceive those issues as more important.
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By interesting the media in client-centered stories,
public relations professionals also play a role in
agenda setting.
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The point is that people base perceptions on
what they read or hear, often without
bothering to dig further to elicit the facts.
This is a two edged sword: although
appearances are sometimes revealing, they
are also often deceiving.
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Communicators must get feedback from a receiver
to know what messages are getting through, and
how to structure future communications.
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You aren’t really communicating unless your
recipient:
 hears your message
 understands it
 reacts to it
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Once the message is clearly understood, it may trigger
one of several effects:
Change attitudes
Crystallize attitudes
Create a wedge
of doubt
 Do nothing at all
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1.
2.
It may change attitude: this result, however,
is very difficult to achieve And rarely
happens.
It may Crystallize attitudes : this outcome is
much more common, often a message will
influence receiver to take actions they might
already have been thinking about taking
but needed extra push to accomplish.
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For example: a receiver might want to
contribute to a certain charity, but seeing a
child’s photo on a contribution canister might
crystallize his attitude to trigger an action.
3. It may create a wedge of doubt:
communication can sometimes force receiver
to modify his point of view, a persuasive
message on Cable Tv can cause viewers to
question their original thinking on an issue.
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4. It may do nothing: at times, the best laid
communication plans result in no action at all
 For example: the expensive communication
campaign to reduce cigarettes sales, yielded
less than the required results. More recently
the campaign started to pay off , with the
number of smokers among U.S adults
numbering 21% by 2008 down from 29% in
the early 1980. changing attitudes take times
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Whether the objective of the communication
have been met can often be assessed by such
things as amount of sales, number of letters,
number of votes obtained. If individuals take
no action after receiving a communication,
feedback must still be sought.
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Public relations professionals make their living by
knowing how to communicate desired meanings.
Hone your expertise in this area.
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Performance must precede communication. Slick
publications and winning websites many capture
the public’s attention, but proper performance is the
only key towards winning continued public support.
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