tactics and PR in business

These week's readings covered two chapters, tactics and PR in business.

One interesting point in the chapter of PR tactics is the part about controlled versus uncontrolled communication. Prior to this, i didn't know that there are these two differentiations in the tactics of communication. It is certainly interesting to learn that controlled tactics are those over which the PR practitioner maintains control of every aspect of the process, and uncontrolled tactics are those that can be altered or even blocked completely.

While the controlled tactics can be easily understood, I find that the definition for uncontrolled tactics a bit more tricky because the term 'uncontrolled' means a different thing from what i would expect. From this, I learnt that PR practitioners have to maintain a balance between the two tactics to ensure that a message can achieve its desired impact on the public. The job of a PR practitioner seems to be much more complicated than it appears to be!

In the chapter of PR in business which is more technical with business terms, I found the part about public relations and corporate social responsibility very interesting. This relates back to the topic about ethics in PR, but instead of it being an additional tactic for PR practitioners to employ, or something for them to take into account, it is more of a necessity for companies to be socially responsible.

Termed as Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), it is mentioned that it is a vital aspect of business public relations in gaining the trust of the public in a long term basis. It encompasses fairness, transparency and openess to all stakeholders, and should be a part of the business goals and activities of a company. Therefore, instead of using 'ethical' or 'socially responsible' as a PR tactic, CSR should be one of the goals of a company.