Principles and Practice of Public Relations Report: UMUC

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of the principles and practices of Public Relations, focusing on the University of Maryland University College (UMUC) as a case study. It begins with an executive summary outlining the core concepts of PR and its significance in building trust and confidenc...Read More

Running head: PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF PUBLIC RELATIONS
PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF PUBLIC RELATIONS
Name of student
Name of the university
Author Note

1PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF PUBLIC RELATIONS
Executive summary
Effective communication is one of the primary factors that encourages and influences better
business. Public relation is a non-paid and credible form of communication that is performed to
install confidence and trust between an organization and its publics (Grunig, 2013).
This report highlights the key features of Public relation and the methodology that is utilizes to
meet its purpose. To help understand the fundaments and the practice of Public Relations, an
organization has been cited. University of Maryland University College (UMUC) has been cited
to help understand the fundamentals of Public Relation with rational justification. The theories of
Public Relations and the theories that are not going to be effective for the cited organization has
been discussed. The report further deals with the Legal and Ethical factors that the PR
practitioner might face and the recommendations have been provide with relevance.
The purpose of this report, is to understand the key features and elements of Public relation that
has been explained with reference to the public relation and the communication practices of
UMUC.

2PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF PUBLIC RELATIONS
Table of content
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Analysis of the Public Relation Policies of UMUC........................................................................3
Interrelation of Systems theory with Publics Relations...................................................................4
The guiding theories for the practice of Public Relations...............................................................5
Ethical issues that the PR staffs can encounter................................................................................5
Recommendations............................................................................................................................6
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................6
References........................................................................................................................................8

3PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF PUBLIC RELATIONS
Introduction
Effective communication is one of the primary factors that encourages and influences
better business. Public relation is a non-paid and credible form of communication that is
performed to install confidence and trust between an organization and its publics (Grunig, 2013).
This report highlights the key features of Public relation and the methodology that is
utilizes to meet its purpose. To help understand the fundaments and the practice of Public
Relations, an organization has been cited. University of Maryland University College (UMUC)
has been cited to help understand the fundamentals of Public Relation with rational justification.
The purpose of this report, is to understand the key features and elements of Public
relation that has been explained with reference to the public relation and the communication
practices of UMUC.
Analysis of the Public Relation Policies of UMUC
As per the assignment, the public relation activities and the policies of UMUC has been
studies and analyzed. The policies that has been formulated under the university and is
completely rational in the sense that the public relations not only deals with the organization and
its subjects, primarily the students but it also concerns with the organization’s staffs and
employees (Cutlip, 2013). The articles from policy number 500.10 (General- University
Relations, Development, Alumni Relation) until Policy number 570.10(Public Relations),
completely concerns and deals with the activities within the organization and it correlates with
the principles of Public Relations.

4PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF PUBLIC RELATIONS
The formulations of the policies are completely sensible in its terms and a few additional
changes can be adjoined to strengthen the principles. Public relation not just means the
maintaining of a better relationship of the organization with the publics but it an indirect and
credible form of advertising and marketing (Dozier, Grunig & Grunig, 2013). PR activities are to
not only maintain and regulate the reputation of the organization but the purpose of PR is to
attract others towards the organization by consolidating the prestige and establishing a brand
name of the organization (Smith, 2013).
The current PR practices and the policies involves the ethical and rational activities that
can keep the reputation of the organization as well as strict monitoring of the activities to prevent
the occurrences of unethical activities that can land a blow on the organization’s reputation.
Several activities like leakage of important information and data related to the organization can
pose a threat to the operations of the organization that has been checked under the enlisted policy
of General- University Relations, Development, Alumni Relations (500.10). Activities like fund
raising and grants made to the university or its publics has been enlisted under the policy number
535.00 (Gifts made to UMUC) to check the unethical usage of monetary grants made to and
through the organization.
Interrelation of Systems theory with Publics Relations
The systems theory helps provide a framework by the help of which an organization and
its relationship with its publics are viewed. The systems theory is consolidated as one of the
guiding principles practicing Public Relations in an organization. This theory is instrumental in
understanding and managing the relationships between the organization and its publics, that in
turn makes up the environment. The concept of Public relations defined the system as a set of

5PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF PUBLIC RELATIONS
interrelated and interacting units that endures within time in a limited boundary by responding
and adapting to the pressure from the environment to maintain its objectives. As per the theory
the inputs come in form of resources such as materials, capital and workforce. These inputs are
gradually transferred through organizational activities like production, meeting and promotions
that ultimately turn into the outputs like the product, services, and job cuts. In this manner, with
the help of the systems theory, the public relation can be justified as fit to be in an organization.
The guiding theories for the practice of Public Relations
The theories that are instrumental in the practice of public relations in an organization are
Systems theory, Situational Theory, Social Exchange Theory, Diffusion theory, Social Learning
Theory, Framing Theory, Gratification Theory and Agenda Setting Theory (Coombs, 2012).
These theories are the prime guidelines, depending on which the strategies of Public Relations
practice are formulated (Denhardt & Catlaw, 2014).
The theories that might not probably work with the cited organization are Diffusion and
Social Exchange theory (Cook et al., 2013). The reason for such being both the theories are
completely dependent on the social cognition and the perception of the individuals. There is a
condition of probability since the influence and the perceptions of individuals are completely
diverse and different from each other. So perhaps these theories on the PR practice of this
organization might not be as effective as the other theories.
Ethical issues that the PR staffs can encounter
The most important crisis that the PR practitioner might face is related to the fact that
most people believe that PR activities use a great deal of dishonesty in relation to the

6PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF PUBLIC RELATIONS
consolidation of the reputation of the organization, which are considerably unethical (Parsons,
2016). The legal issues can be supposedly the leakage of confidential data and information by the
organization’s core staffs regarding the organizational dynamics and demographics that could
benefit other institutions. This leakage of passing of information is not only unethical but can
probe legal interventions. Ethical and legal concerns might include the acceptance of bribes and
uninformed gifts by breaching the institutional protocols. Cases of physical abuse and
harassment at work can also lend a blow to the organizational reputation concluding about the
unsafe work environment in the institution.
Recommendations
The effective remedies to monitor and check the ethical and legal issues is to keep
updated information regarding the activities of the institution’s staffs and the publics to keep a
check on the rising ethical and legal concerns related to the institution. Strengthening the
organizational policies and parameters are the only process to mitigate the unethical practices
and the activities within the institutional premises consolidating a better name and reputation.
Conclusion
With the help of this report, it can be concluded that public relations the most important
strategic tools to help and institution to manage and consolidate its reputation. It is the effective
way of establishing a good interpersonal relationship between the organization and its publics.
With reference to the different theories of Public Relations the Delusional and Social Exchange
Theory is not going to work for the institution due to the individual purpose of the theory. The

7PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF PUBLIC RELATIONS
effective ways to mitigate the legal and the ethical issue is to implement stronger strategies and
policies to combat defamation of the institution.

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References
Cook, K. S., Cheshire, C., Rice, E. R., & Nakagawa, S. (2013). Social exchange theory.
In Handbook of social psychology (pp. 61-88). Springer Netherlands.
Coombs, W. T. (2012). Situational theory of crisis: Situational crisis communication theory and
corporate reputation. The handbook of communication and corporate reputation, 262-
278.
Cutlip, S. M. (2013). The unseen power: Public relations: A history. Routledge.
Denhardt, R. B., & Catlaw, T. J. (2014). Theories of public organization. Cengage learning.
Dozier, D. M., Grunig, L. A., & Grunig, J. E. (2013). Manager's guide to excellence in public
relations and communication management. Routledge.
Grunig, J. E. (Ed.). (2013). Excellence in public relations and communication management.
Routledge.
Parsons, P. J. (2016). Ethics in public relations: A guide to best practice. Kogan Page Publishers.
Smith, R. D. (2013). Strategic planning for public relations. Routledge.