Public Relations Theory and Practice for Commonwealth Bank of Australia

Running head: PUBLIC RELATIONS THEORY AND PRACTICE
PUBLIC RELATIONS THEORY AND PRACTICE
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PUBLIC RELATIONS THEORY AND PRACTICE
Executive Summary
The aim of the report is to analyse the public relations prospects of the Commonwealth Bank
of Australia and to analyse the firm in the prospects of the public relations in the context of
the money laundering and the terrorism funding which is one of the major problems in the
sect. The report also suggest the analysis of the public relations prospect of the firm and the
ways in which the ethical conditions of the bank is to be maintained. The impact of the image
along with its role of public relations is to be analysed along with the concerned
recommendations and role of public relations manager.

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PUBLIC RELATIONS THEORY AND PRACTICE
Table of Contents
1. Introduction........................................................................................................................3
2. Analysis of the cause of repeated scandals through the lens of PR theories and practises 3
3. Stakeholder analysis...........................................................................................................4
4. Impact on image/branding..................................................................................................5
5. Analysis of existing barriers at Commonwealth Bank of Australia...................................6
6. Role of PR in managing these crisis..................................................................................7
7. Press release to the shareholders........................................................................................8
8. Recommendations to become ethical and increase the CSR of organization....................9
9. Conclusion........................................................................................................................10
10. Reference........................................................................................................................11

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PUBLIC RELATIONS THEORY AND PRACTICE
1. Introduction
Ethical issues and banks have a longstanding relation as it is very important for a bank
to maintain its ethical value and represent well in the society. The Commonwealth Bank of
Australia, also known as CBA is one of the major multinational banks of Australia that
provides a variety of financial and broking services to the people (Grunig 2013). Being the
largest Australian listed company, the bank is bounded by law and ethical considerations to
maintain its value and be the bank that everyone can trust. The maintenance of the ethical
issues will also positively affect the PR of the bank and maintain its balance in the stock
market. The following report analyses the repeated scandals of CBA in the PR theory and
practise with the stakeholder analysis. The following paragraphs highlight the stakeholder
analysis, impact on image and branding, existing barriers, role of PR and press release to the
shareholders. The recommendations are also being given at the end of the report.
2. Analysis of the cause of repeated scandals through the lens of PR theories and
practises
Public relations is defined as the strategic management of the various forms of
communication between the organizations and the general public which are mutually
beneficial in the cause as well as the maintaince of their image in the public. According to
Dozier, Grunig and Grunig (2013), the work of the public relation of any organization in the
bank is to make sure that the image of the organization is built, enhanced as well as protect
the reputation in the major span of time. The Commonwealth Bank of Australia has a number
of scandals related to money laundering and frauds within the governance of the bank which
can be analysed by using various PR theories and practises. The whole issue of scandals can
be analysed with the PR theories like the Systems Theory and the Situational Theory (Theaker
2017). The Systems theory is the public relation theory that is involved in the understanding
of the relationship between the organization as well as the public whereas the Situational