Post #7: Reading Response on Chapter Six (Chia and Synott, 2009).

Chapter Six: Public Relations Practice

Following the previous chapter on research methods used in the PR industry, the current chapter takes a look at the PR industry itself. Firstly, we are presented with the categories of PR effectiveness (Synnott, 2002, as cited in Chia & Synnott, 2009), afterwhich an elaboration of the role of PR in different types of organisations is presented. A section on community engagement was also included before the chapter ended with an overview of the challenges in this industry.

For the purposes of this reflection I would like to focus on the eight categories of PR effectiveness and the role of public relations within some organisations. As we have seen in the textbook on pages 131-132, the eight characteristics and what role models should exhibit under these characteristics are listed. As budding (is this even the term I should use on ourselves?) students of public relations, which of these characteristics are more important to us should we choose to enter the industry?

I would think that having sound work practices and approaches matter first and foremost. To be responsible for and committed to your work, having high standards, not being ashamed to seek advice (even from peers or juniors) and being objective; these are like the foundations of not just the PR practitioner, but also the journalist.  This is also related to having sound personal attributes such as being professional, creative, people-oriented and passionate about your work. With these core behaviours soundly lodged in our minds, it is in my contention that we have taken the first step towards becoming a successful PR practitioner: by shaping up our attitudes.

The other characteristic that is listed in our textbook, that I feel is important to us right now is the "Works for the profession" ideal. Wanting the build the profession and contribute, protecting its image and reputation are very noble callings to follow, and I feel it's good to keep that in our minds (if) we are to enter the industry. With that down, this makes three the number of characteristics I have determined to be important. Of course, that's not to say that the others aren't important, but I think those other characters mostly come with experience and continual training.

Now, on to the role of PR in the different organisations. Having worked in the Singapore Youth Olympic Games Organising Committee (SYOGOC) as an intern, before transiting to the volunteer stage at games-time, I've seen just how important PR practitioners can be. I believe that SYOGOC, being a government entity responsible for bringing the Games to fruition, would come under the "not-for-profit" sector and "public" sector as described in Chia and Synnott (2009).

Certainly, there were lots of volunteers to manage and the various events I participated in and helped organise certainly assisted in driving home the impression that the Games were coming, and that it'd be as best as Singapore can make it to be. I may not have realised it then, but looking back on my experiences, the reputation of SYOGOC before games-time was still pretty credible, with frequent media coverage, however big or small, of the precursor programmes that were happening, including the Asian Youth Games, which was a test-event for the Youth Olympic Games (YOG) itself. It was also during this period that I learnt how to be more diplomatic to volunteers since I was responsible for drawing up the roster for the language services volunteers as part of my duties as an intern.

During the Games itself I was a volunteer, and this was when many unpalatable events came to light. There was the "substandard food" case, and several instances of food poisoning that came to light in the media. I see now that these are again, examples of crisis management. I see now that the need for media relations was especially important, and I remember several Mediacorp-affiliated employees (Mark Richmond - deejay and Huang Zhi Hao - former Channel 8 broadcast journalist) among some of the staffers at SYOGOC. Certainly their links to the media world would have been of good use to manage issues such as these. Of course, the communication efforts also relied on new media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and so on, apart from the official sites that gave updates and information as they came. Internally, Dr Vivian Balakrishnan (Minister MCYS) and Mr Teo Ser Luck (Senior Parliamentary Secretary, MCYS), were on hand to visit volunteers and give them words of encouragement. These too would be classified as PR measures, the benefits to HR notwithstanding.
It is with greater understanding now that I see how some of the various points reflected in our text work in reality, and this marks the end of my post.