Thesis (M.S.)--Boston University

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Dissertation submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree Master of Technology: Public Relations Management in the Faculty of Informatics and Design at the Cape Peninsula Univesity of Technology / The aim of this research is to establish the gaps between the potential role of the public relations practitioner within the CMA central bank context, and management’s perception and expectation of that role. The study may then improve the overall status of public relations in central banking. The research focuses specifically on the role of public relations practitioners of central banks belonging to the CMA of Southern Africa. The research question is: what are top managements’ perceptions and expectations of the public relations practitioner’s role in CMA central banks, and how does this differ from the potential role public relations practitioners can play within this context? An empirical study was conducted in order to achieve the aim and meet the objectives of this research study. Elements of both the positivist and anti-positivist paradigms are evident in this research study. The research approach is, therefore, both quantitative and qualitative of nature. The research design is an instrumental and intrinsic case study, which used methodological triangulation. The study population consisted of the dominant coalition (top management) of the central banks. Management committees at the central banks provided a sampling frame for the study. Due to the small size of the population a census was taken instead of a sample. Fourteen self-administered questionnaires were returned, but the response rate was too low to draw any solid conclusions from the data. In order to overcome this obstacle, one-on-one in-depth interviews were conducted with the fourteen respondents who returned their questionnaires. According to the majority of interviewees, the strategic role of public relations practitioners is the ideal role. The interviewees emphasised that the most senior public relations practitioner plays an essential role in acting as the CMA central banks’ media liaison person. This entails being the spokesperson of the bank, writing and disseminating information to the media, ensuring the media complies with central bank protocols, as well as coordinating and responding to media enquiries on a daily basis. The data suggests that, currently, public relations practitioners spend most of their time dealing with the media. It is a concern, though, that many of the interviewees could not describe the current ‘satisfactory performance’ or behaviours of most senior public relations practitioners. Many answered: “I don’t know”. The interviewees further commented that the public relations position lacks status and authority at the central banks. However, indications are that this situation is slowly improving with positions gaining increased status. Despite limitations, the majority agreed that corporate communication is extremely important to central banks in the light of continuously building and maintaining public confidence. The data further suggested that public relations practitioners may increasingly find that the value of their position rests in advising and serving on the Boards of central banks in the future. According to the literature review, there are mainly three public relations roles: strategist, manager and technician. All three of these roles should be enacted depending on the environment within which the public relations practitioner operates. Ideally, the public relations practitioner should enact these roles with a strategist mindset. Top management of the CMA central banks expect that senior public relations practitioners enact a strategist role, but currently this is lacking. The study further suggests that top management found it challenging to describe the current roles that practitioners are executing within CMA central banks. Many of the interviewees had difficulty answering questions about the current behaviours and performances of practitioners. The expectations of top management for practitioners to enact a strategist role are contradictory to what they further revealed in the interviews. This is because the dominant coalition’s key expectation is for public relations practitioners to mainly deal with the media by disseminating information, but also to influence media reports positively. The research may suggest that top management equates the strategist role as that of a media liaison person. The data further suggests that CMA central banks may be following the press / media agentry or public information public relations models, which are one-way models. This is in conflict with the strategist role, which is mostly evident in organisations following the two-way public relations models. Overall, this study emphasised the lack of research regarding corporate communication / public relations within the central banking context. It is therefore recommended that further research be conducted about the comprehensive role that public relations practitioners can play in central banks.

Thesis (MTech (Public Relations Management))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2015. / Public relations (PR) is still a generally unexplored terrain in Botswana and many public relations practitioners (PRPs) are therefore experiencing challenges to either obtain worthwhile training and valid and applicable job descriptions or support from management where they are working. This is due to a large misunderstanding of what the profession entails. This career and study discipline certainly seems to be misconceived, misunderstood and misappropriated in many organisations and even in individual managers’ minds. Some of these misconceptions reflect that public relations is not sufficiently separated and distinguished from the other study fields and career descriptions in the discipline of communication studies, such as marketing, journalism, integrated marketing communications, corporate communication, branding, propaganda, publicity and advertising. This is a residual effect of earlier appointments of so-called public relations practitioners as the wine-and-dine attendees on the social circuit of a company who need to make a favourable impression of the business and the people on other stakeholders. There is no formal and professional public relations body in Botswana. The Public Relations Institute of Southern Africa (PRISA) is in the process of establishing a local chapter, which could be the beginning of an answer to the misconceptions about the country’s public relations industry. Qualitative and quantitative research approaches were used to collect data, the questionnaires were self-administered and the researcher carried out interviews. The triangulation method was used as one of the strategies to validate the research results. The total population of the study amounted to 110 participants. Unfortunately not all participants completed and returned the questionnaires, but 89 have completed and returned them, while seven interviewees participated. As for the collection of data, the pilot questionnaires were carried out with 18 participants and the pilot findings formed part of the research findings. For sampling of the population, the purposive or judgmental sample was used, based on the fact that the sample had knowledge on the researched title.

Trends during the past few years have indicated that citizens have come to rely on school leaders and workers for professional guidance and educational leadership. School personnel are learning that they must draw upon community resources in order to improve the learning experience of children. A good public relations program can be of great importance to the school as it attempts to meet the varying and changing needs of children and the community. A well planned public relations program will enable the school to interpret the conditions, needs, educational philosophy, policies, and program of the school to the parents and lay citizens of the community. Such a program will give parents and citizens an opportunity to gain a basic understanding of the work that the school has planned, and give them an opportunity to share in the development of many school activities. However, school public relations is not merely a job of keeping the public informed about all phases or activities of the school; it is also the job of the public relations officials to interpret the news of the home and community to the school. Education is conceived as a cooperative process between all agencies concerned with growth and development of the child. The writer of this paper is attempting to set forth certain basic ideas that will bring about harmonious relationships between the home-school-community. / Typescript. / "June, 1950." / "Submitted to the Graduate Council of Florida State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts under Plan II." / Advisor: Harris W. Dean, Professor Directing Paper. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 41-42).

"Educators are now realizing more keenly than ever that the schools need a large measure of goodwill, particularly of the kind of good will that results from an intelligent understanding among citizens of the aims, the scope, the achievements, and the present problems of their school systems. There is a growing conviction that those school systems which are progressing in the development of a better school program are the ones which have an effective program of Public Relations through which they can communicate to the public their aims, goals, and achievements, and through which the public can communicate to them its needs, its problems, and its aspirations. The writer is convinced that the development of a better educational program in her school system waits upon the development of such program of Public Relations. Therefore, this study has ben undertaken for the purpose of developing a program of activities that may reasonable be expected to function effectively as a Public Relations program in Jackson County"--Introduction. / "March, 1950." / Typescript. / "Submitted to the Graduate Council of Florida State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts under Plan II." / Advisor: H. A. Curtis, Professor Directing Paper. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 41-42).

The present study applies three distinct theoretically grounded research methodologies to the research phase of a public relations campaign. The researcher examines the distinctions of each method, the strengths and weaknesses of the data generated, and the implications of mass communication theory as it relates to public relations campaigns. Drawing from DeFleur and Ball-Rokeach's (1989) overview of three theoretical approaches to mass mediated persuasion, the study implements research methodologies from the psychodynamic, the sociocultural, and the meaning construction paradigms. The study examines how the assumptions of each approach might influence a practitioner in each stage of campaign construction. The author concludes that the often implicit theoretical assumptions which guide public relations practitioners have a significant impact on every phase of a public relations campaign.

Innovations in computer technologies have provided the ability to access information from all over the world by the stroke of a finger. These technologies have given birth to the growing practice of telecommuting. There is much research available on telecommuting. However, there is a lack of research on this phenomenon in the public relations sector. This study seeks to fill this void by investigating the telecommuting behaviors of public relations professionals and providing a foundation from which further studies can be built. Survey questionnaires were completed by 122 Public Relations Society of America members. The questionnaires contained measures regarding perceived relative advantages of telecommuting, demographic variables, and telecommuting behavior. There were many important findings from the study. Interestingly, telecommuting is in the late majority phase of the diffusion process. It is also gender related. Surprisingly, this study found more men are likely to telecommute than women. Certain variables were found to be associated with telecommuting. Specifically, selfemployed individuals and those with more years in PR were more likely to telecommute. Most of the PR professionals who reported telecommuting did so in an unstructured manner. The main reason reported for telecommuting was to complete their unfinished work from the office. The majority of PR professionals did view telecommuting as valuable. However, here were differences in the perceptions of relative advantages with full- or part-time telecommuting. The advantages of full-time telecommuting only appeared to be attractive to those individuals who presently telecommute. Over two-thirds of the respondents who did not telecommute were found to be interested in telecommuting on a part-time basis. And most PR professionals, whether telecommuter or not, believed telecommuting will become a standard practice in the future.

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