Knowing the audience of your organisation is very important as it helps to define the company's strategy. For PR practitioners it is essential to define the company's stakeholders in order to convey the right message.
There is different terminology used in PR books to name those who can affect or be affected by the activity and actions of a business. Different terms are used audience (which seems to have fallen into misuse), stakeholders and publics.
One of the most important theorists in Public Relations, Grunig, defines a stakeholder as someone who has an interest in an organisation. In his opinion publics have a stronger interest in the organisation and are more active than stakeholders. In his situational theory he differenciates between different types of publics. The non-publics are those groups that are not very affected by the company. The latent public is someone who might have an interest in the organisation; then there is the aware public who, appart from having some interest in the company, also know the company. And finally, the active public are those people who can affect the company. Grunig describes the different types of publics in his situational theory, which in contrast with other theories is not static and claims that relationships can change.
Another important stakeholder theory is the power-interest matrix. It does not define stakeholders; they must be defined by the organisation and, because relationships between a company and its stakeholders can also change, they have to be monitored continously. This theory divides groups by power and interest rates and explains how the company should deal with them depending on their power and interest.
There are many theories on stakeholders such as Bernstein's Wheel and Esman's linkages theory. However, Grunig's situational theory and the power-interest matrix theory are the ones that most fit with the current PR practice.
One of the most important theorists in Public Relations, Grunig, defines a stakeholder as someone who has an interest in an organisation. In his opinion publics have a stronger interest in the organisation and are more active than stakeholders. In his situational theory he differenciates between different types of publics. The non-publics are those groups that are not very affected by the company. The latent public is someone who might have an interest in the organisation; then there is the aware public who, appart from having some interest in the company, also know the company. And finally, the active public are those people who can affect the company. Grunig describes the different types of publics in his situational theory, which in contrast with other theories is not static and claims that relationships can change.
 |
| Power-interest matrix |
Another important stakeholder theory is the power-interest matrix. It does not define stakeholders; they must be defined by the organisation and, because relationships between a company and its stakeholders can also change, they have to be monitored continously. This theory divides groups by power and interest rates and explains how the company should deal with them depending on their power and interest.
There are many theories on stakeholders such as Bernstein's Wheel and Esman's linkages theory. However, Grunig's situational theory and the power-interest matrix theory are the ones that most fit with the current PR practice.
No comments:
Post a Comment