Ethics – PR issues

There is a fine line between using knowledge to manipulate a situation for personal gain, and using knowledge to gain small victories for a better future. Is it ethical to use personal knowledge to gain the upper hand in an election panel for a potential PR job?  In my opinion, no.

Figure 1. Ethic figure (Learning with Larry, 2010)

My personal standards of what is ethical are simple in this situation. If one has to use personal connections in order to win over a panel, they are not fit for the position to begin with as they clearly do not have the professional skills to ethically claim the job at hand. When applying for a position, and the person reviewing you is known to you on a personal level, it is unethical to use personal knowledge to gain the upper hand! Looking at figure 1, it can be seen that there are many things to consider when looking into what is deemed “ethical” and “unethical” (Learning with Larry 2010). It can often be hard to separate ethical and non-ethical when one is put in certain situations. In my opinion, the easiest way to determine if one believes that one is genuinely fit for a position is asking themselves, “does my actions, reflect my thoughts?” (Zelton 2014). In the long run abiding by ethical values will not only benefit the company, but will also benefit the individual involved as the company will have certain expectations of a candidate.

REFERENCES:

Figure 1: Learning with Larry. 2010. Ethics. [ONLINE] Available at: http://learningwithlarry.com/sample-page/management-principles/ethics/. [Accessed 26 April 2016].

Inc / Minda Zelton. 2014. 7 signs you’re not as ethical as you think. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.inc.com/minda-zetlin/think-youre-ethical-7-questions-to-ask.html. [Accessed 12 May 2016].

Conflict – Public relations

Donald Trump is undoubtedly the most talked about politician in western cultures in recent months. Republican candidate, Trump, has insulted the disabled, reporters, Iowans, Muslims, Seventh-day Adventists, African-Americans, Asians, Women, POW’s and his competitors in the last eight months alone (KOPAN 2016). In the last fortnight he has blatantly insulted those who are pro-life, saying it’s entirely the women’s fault if they fall pregnant and should be punished if they choose termination, while also insulting those who choose to vaccinate their children claiming that it causes autism.

Quote by Donald Trump, 2015 (CNN)

Trump’s public relations campaign is extremely effective, in the way of getting recognized in the public eye as a backwards, racist, uneducated ‘hillbilly’. However it has finally come to light that Trump was out of line, and is actively going to make an “Apology Tour”. The “Apology Tour” campaign kicks off immediately as his PR campaign attempts to undo the damage Trump has caused for himself. From what has been published on the ABC website, it is simply Trump making excuses for insulting the majority od western cultures. See link, http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/donald-trump-apology-tour/story?id=38119482 .

Quote by Donald Trump, 2016 (CNN)

 

In my opinion, in no way is this campaign going to reverse the damage he has caused over the last six months. His PR campaigns paint him as a smug narcissist with no regard to those who are not Caucasian males. I do believe that he has lost the majority of women voters, along with some family-orientated voters, as they are the most recently and brutally offended in the last two months. His public relations team will have to provide a miracle for Trump to continue through being the successful Republican candidate, let alone the Prime Minister of the United States.

 

References:

ABC News. 2016. Donald Trump goes on apology tour. [ONLINE] Available at: http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/donald-trump-apology-tour/story?id=38119482. [Accessed 04 April 16].

CNN, Tal Kopan. 2016. 10 times Donald Trump offended since launching his campaign. [ONLINE] Available at: http://edition.cnn.com/2015/11/27/politics/donald-trump-insults-groups-list/. [Accessed 04 April 16].

Figure one and two: CNN, Jeremy Diamond. 2016. Donald Trump on protestor, “I’d like to punch him in the face”. [ONLINE] Available at: http://edition.cnn.com/2016/02/23/politics/donald-trump-nevada-rally-punch/. [Accessed 04 April 16].

Wilcox, D, Cameron, G, Reber, B, Shin, J 2013, Think public relations, Pearson, New Jersey, USA

Figure FigurF

 

Implementation, part one – Public relations

Todays generation will be the first born into a world with internet, social media and advanced technologies (Shadrick 2016). Every business in public relations (PR) recognizes how important social media, specifically how much of an impact Twitter can be on campaigns along with general company reputation. Take the firm Dian Griesel International. This massive international PR agency has a twitter account (@dgicomm) filled with motivational photos and tweets creating an image for themselves valuing unity, teamwork and positivity.

Twitter is a social networking site that individuals or companies can use to voice opinions, post media or publish short sentences of up to 140 words. It is important for firms to repost and reply to others on twitter. Take figure one.

Figure One – Tweet from @dgicomm (twitter)

By using the ‘@’ symbol, firms can reply to others and re-tweet (re-post) . Figure one portrays to the followers for @dgicomm that this firm values its teams happiness and comfort with each other. They do this by sharing a tweet with a somewhat negative connotation, and turning it into a praise to their team while showing the importance of teamwork.

Figure two, tweet from @dgicomm (Twitter).

Twitter also incorporates the use of hashtags (#). This is used to make quick summary statements about the tweet, whilst also creating a thread that viewers use to access all other tweets under the same hashtag. This acts as both publicity by listing this tweet on mainstream threads and also helps the viewers efficiently summarize the tweets messgae. See figure 2 in regards to clinical trial recruiting.

 

Both tweets are fantastic use of public relations with figure one conveying a strong image of teamwork and company values, and figure two showing the standard of professional business tweets.

 

References:

Dian Griesel International. 2016. About DGI. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.dgicomm.com/. [Accessed 04 April 16].

Figure one: Twitter. 2016. Public Relations +. [ONLINE] Available at: https://twitter.com/dgicomm/status/716702785505533955. [Accessed 04 April 16].

Figure two: Twitter. 2016. Public Relations +. [ONLINE] Available at: https://twitter.com/dgicomm/status/713037804226355200. [Accessed 04 April 16].

ITA Group. 2016. 3 Things Employers Should KnowAbout Generation Z And Technology. [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.itagroup.com/insights/three-things-employers-should-know-generation-z-technology. [Accessed 04 April 16].

Twitter link: Dian Griesel International. 2016. @dgicomm. [ONLINE] Available at: https://twitter.com/dgicomm?lang=en. [Accessed 04 April 16].

Wilcox, D, Cameron, G, Reber, B, Shin, JH 2013, THINK Public Relations, Pearson Education Inc., Upper Saddle River, New Jersey, United States of America.

Planning – Public Relations

“Rome wasn’t built in a day, but they were laying bricks every hour” – James Clear, unknown date.

For an effective public relations (PR) project there are 4 critical steps to ensure success (Wilcox, Cameron, Reber, Shin 2013). Research, planning, communication and measurement.  Research is the foundation of any successful PR project, giving the project team an idea of context in which to talk about the product (Eggerton 2013). This includes questions that need answers before commencing, for example what kind of information is needed, who the target audience is, how the information will effectively be conveyed while looking into budget restraints.

Step two moves onto  the stepping stone to success, planning. Planning looks into how the campaign will be executed while also incorporating the essence of the message. This takes on communication strategies, scheduling through media channels and audience objectives as well as also nonverbal support like visual enhancements to help the audience understand the message.

The foundation is set with the stepping stone in place, it’s time to publicize the campaign with communication! Five objectives will be noticeable when successful communication has taken place; Message exposure, accurate portrayal of the message, acceptance of the message, audience attitude change and audience change in overt behavior (Grunig, 1999).

During the evaluation stage it’s important to measure how successful, memorable and effective the previous three stages were, with information often being converted into graphs and charts. During this stage costs can be overseen, and PR officers and team can come together to discuss opportunities for future endeavors.

Each step is critical. It would be impossible to know the target audience, how to execute the campaign or how effective it was without them. Take figure 1 and figure 2 as visual examples.

Figure 1

Figure 2

 

 

REFERENCES:

FIGURE 1 SOURCE: http://www.slideshare.net/dphillips4262/planning-and-management-of-online-pr

FIGURE 2 SOURCE: http://www.slideshare.net/dphillips4363/planning-and-management-of-online-pr

Pria. 2012. Setting goals and objectives makes your PR planning more effective. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.pria.com.au/priablog/setting-goals-and-objectives-makes-your-pr-planning-more-effective. [Accessed 28 March 16].

Wilcox, D, Cameron, G, Reber, B, Shin, J 2013, Think public relations, Pearson, New Jersey, USA

A history of public relations

“Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some hire public relations officers.” – Daniel J. Boorstin, 1914

As early as the existence of the Roman empire, tactics are used to shape societies opinions on almost everything around us (Wilcox, 2013). This is public relations. There have been major changes in distributive tactics public relations campaigns use, along with strengthening reputations conveyed ultimately drawing a line between marketing and public relations.

Marketing pushes a product/idea whereas public relations (PR) shapes the reputation. One of the most successful forms of media used during earlier days of PR is print media (e.g. newspapers, flyers, posters), compare that to today’s most successful media being online media (e.g. Facebook, websites, emails) and its clear that print media is completely overshadowed by modern strategies. Not only does online media reach target audiences within seconds, but it can be edited specifically to an individuals needs.

Examine figure one. This newspaper advertisement from 1950’s for clothing company Lane Bryant conveys its reputation for catering to plus size ladies at convenient prices. Now, take figure 2. This modern online advertisement for the same company, conveying the same reputation however doing so in a slightly different approach. Figure 2 reflects todays social standards of acceptance and equality while easily being distributed to those who are specifically seeking plus size clothing without ostracizing those that don’t fit the criteria. This shows no discrimination while incorporating unity along with holding the reputation of having comfortable and flattering clothing.

Figure 1. Lane Bryant paper advertisement from the 1950’s. Source: Business insider (2011)

Figure 2. Lane Bryant recent online advertisement. Source: Skinny VS Curvy (2015)

 

Public relations is forever important in shaping target audiences values and opinions. It is clear that public relations campaigns have developed for the better.

REFERENCES:

FIGURE ONE: Business Insider, 20 Creepy Vintage Ads Featuring Children, digital image, viewed 27 March 2016, http://www.businessinsider.com.au/crazy-vintage-ads-brands-2011-10?op=1?r=US&IR=T#lane-bryant-clothing-1950s-11

Target Jobs, What’s the difference between marketing, advertising and PR?, viewed 27 March 2016, https://targetjobs.co.uk/career-sectors/marketing-advertising-and-pr/414074-whats-the-difference-between-marketing-advertising-and-pr

FIGURE TWO: Versus, Skinny Vs Curvy, Lane Bryants “I’m no angel” Lingerie campaign, digital image, viewed 27 March 2016, http://www.skinnyvscurvy.com/ashley-graham/lane-bryants-im-angel-lingerie-campaign.html

Wilcox, D, Cameron, G, Reber, B, Shin, JH 2013, THINK Public Relations, Pearson Education Inc., Upper Saddle River, New Jersey, United States of America.

 

DRAFT ASS#2

Good afternoon, bloggers!

I have finished off my drafting for ASS#2.

Now in step #4 it says to use the same people allocated to us in ASS#1, however only one of mine came in contact with me and this was after I had submitted my assignment unfortunately!

So I’m more than happy to give it another crack with my original group, however also happy to give feedback to the same people I did last time 🙂

Accounting ASS#2 – word document

Company Spreadsheet 2015 – excel document

I’d appreciate feedback from anybody, 🙂

Thanks heaps, looking forward to reading others assignments!!

Kirsty

ASS #2 feelings so far.

Good afternoon guys!!

So I’m part way through my ASS#2 at the moment, and it’s safe to say I’m very ready to throw my laptop over the balcony. I’m really struggling to wrap my head around how to layout the information when I’m restating the financial statements! I know the information is all there, but it’s just giving me a brain fart trying to lay it all out and make complete sense of it.

If anybody can give me any tips and tricks they’ve used to make sense of the info then that’d be amazing! Right now I’m kinda just re-writing everything into different sections and trying to group it together. Yes — it’s a long process! haha!

I love the KQC section! My writing skills are a lot stronger than my financial skills! I feel like I’ve aced this part of the assignment, so that’s always a nice feeling!

I hope everybody is travelling well and doing better than me understanding everything 😉

Good luck with the studies, I will upload a draft of my assignment shortly for anybody to look over and give as much feedback as possible if you feel comfortable!!

Thanks guys!! 🙂 Kirsty

Drafting of ASS#1

Good evening again, guys! 🙂

Please find attached my word document for the drafting of ASS#1. I am yet to finish it, still have chapter 1 KCQ to add in there and the feedback links to my groups work.

Accounting assigment stage #1

I’m so excited to hear your feedback! This is my first course in accounting, so please be nice 😉 Any and as much feedback is welcome!

Thanks! Kirsty

Drafting for my assigment :)

Hello there Kristina, Kristoffer and Lara!

First off, I’m looking forward to reading your guys blogs and hearing the feedback you have for me. 🙂 I know personally it’s been a bit of a struggle trying to comprehend everything in this course so far, so any feedback at all is exciting for me to see how I’ve been tracking!

Please find below Calibre Group’s last three annual reports, along with my company’s spreadsheet.

Calibre 2013 annual report

Calibre 2014 annual report

cgl-fin-rpt-2012_interactive

Company Spreadsheet 2015

I will post my draft work so far in my next post, to avoid it being an information overload! 🙂

Looking forward to hearing from you!! Kirsty

Concern for Calibre Group for FY2015?!

It’s so difficult to find anything other than business articles on the Calibre Group!

As most of us know, a lot of companies have been suffering over the last quarter in the mining industry. The link below from the Business News WA website ( http://www.businessnews.com.au/article/Calibre-Group-softens-earnings-outlook ) just seems to prove this! Breifly the article touches on how the earning outcomes for Calibre Group will be ‘gloomier than expected’ due partly to the decreasing iron ore and coal prices.

This doesn’t come to a complete surprise that there will be a decrease it profits, as the annual reports have shown the company slightly declining over the last three years. However this article is showing that it will be a lot more of a loss than expected. Something great about this link is that there is an interactive share price graph, that you can see how the shares have been going over the last 90 days. From this the stocks aren’t looking great. 😦

It’ll be interesting to see over the next financial year how Calibre is going to compare to expected losses!