Public relations in a Trinidad and Tobago, state company
Yesterday, a corporate communications officer told me about their experience in a Trinidad and Tobago, public sector company. She said:
“There, it’s a challenge to get ‘buy in’ into the role, function and need for PR. Although many organisations locally are engaging in developing a PR department, the field has a far way to go before this function is fully appreciated as integral to the growth and development of any type of organisation. Organisations are still to recognise that its identity and image in the eyes of its various publics can make or break the vitality of its successes. Especially for me working in a non-competitive environment but an international environment the critical importance is downplayed and the role is more reactive or primarily focused on the internal publics of the organisation.I firmly believe as practitioners we need to be multi-skilled, flexible, and knowledgeable about every facet of an organisation and have personal drive and determination to be successful in carrying forward the PR movement.”
The reality is that the experience of each practitioner may vary based on organisational culture, the market in which they operate, and what he/she as an individual is able to achieve. While for someone in the public sector, it may be more frustrating than say a colleague’s experience in a private, more forward-thinking company, one cannot assume that life in the private sector is always better. I’m sure there are private companies in which PR practitioners are frustrated, and public companies where PR practitioners are allowed to optimise their performance. Indeed, there are some PR departments in private sector, local and multinational companies, which have much work on their plates and have support from top management to fully maximise the public relations department’s contribution to organisational effectiveness. What this public sector, corporate communications officer highlighted was the ever-existing chasm between management, organisational culture and the ideology of the PR practitioner. The question now is, how do we alleviate this type of situation?
Tag: Public Relations
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