The Planning Action to Bring Water to the Town Population

Introduction The discipline of Public relations deals with establishing a good relationship between an organization with the public and other stakeholders in the firm through trend analysis and provision of the necessary advice to relevant authorities. A public relations section in organizations is responsible for establishing good beneficial relationships between the firm and other external stakeholders of the company.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on The Planning Action to Bring Water to the Town Population specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More By establishing a fast hand relationship, the reputation of the firm could improve while affecting the performance of the organization positively (Cutlip and Center, 2009). This paper, therefore, attempts to apply the eight steps of public relations planning in familiarizing the public about the importance of water. The paper analyses the planning action by going through a cas e study for the program intended to bring water to the town population. Case Study: Water for the People, Town Council Defining the problem Water is essential for life in many ways, human beings need water as well as animals. The best thing to do first is to collect information to establish the exact problem facing the people. The problem afflicting society is natural meaning it is external to them. Poor governance brings about the problem since there are no people in the town council willing to assist the people to get water. It is usually the responsibility of the government as the custodian of the public good to ensure through the council that basic needs such as water are provided to people. The public should access water without any difficulty if possible free of charge. It is through research that we come to know people have been living without easy access to water for quite some time. The problem is not with the people but the government agency responsible for supplying water . The kind of public relations challenges to be addressed are internal to the organization. The public officials need to be sensitized to take responsibility and provide water services to the public. The audience for this case is the internal public implying that it is the organizational employees being communicated to by the public relations office (Bradstreet, 2007). The kind of research to be conducted is qualitative because it is cheap and convenient. The public officers in charge of water distribution in the town are asked in focused groups what might have caused them not to avail water to the public. While they answer the questions, the public relations officer records the findings; the obtained data is later analyzed keenly to identify the underlying issues that result in lack of water distribution in the town. The SWOT analysis explains the financial capability of an organization. It is applied in this case to scrutinize the financial position of the organization. The town c ouncil is known to be having enough resources from tax collection as well as committed employees. The only weakness is the bureaucratic nature of the organization, which delays decision-making. Another weakness is the lack of enough technology in the council; it relies on the central government to provide qualified personnel to manage technical projects.Advertising Looking for essay on communications media? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More The council has an opportunity of enjoying a monopoly of the market (Clean Ocean Foundation, 2011). Another opportunity is that the council will be raising taxes from the project, although it already has enough taxes. The specific problems identified include the following: That the officers feel they cannot implement the policy because there are insufficient funds. That they cannot introduce the program because there are other suppliers offering water at cheap prices That the council cannot supply water because it does not have the equipment and qualified personnel, those available are not water experts. Objectives The major target of this public relations plan is to identify problems facing the campaign aimed at availing water to the urban population. The plan goes ahead to outline procedures that should be undertaken to make the campaign successful. It aims at changing people’s attitudes and perceptions from negative to positive. People change their perceptions from hostile to having an interest in the organization, from ignorant to being knowledgeable. The following are some of the identified objectives. To make the public accept that the problem exists and that it can be solved only if all stakeholders develop interest. To create awareness to the public that water is an essential commodity and lacking it brings about complications including health problems. To make the internal publics accept that they have a responsibility of ensuring that basic needs su ch as water should be availed to people. To sensitize the external publics to know that it is there right to be provided with water at low costs if not free. To forge a working unity between the citizens and the council in solving societal problems in the future. The objectives are set within a specified period, all the stakeholders are informed in time to make them prepare in advance. Audiences, Publics, and Stakeholders The public relations plan has to consider two types of audiences; the first is the internal public that involves the officials supposed to implement the policies meant for water delivery. Another set of audience is the external public, which is now the beneficiaries of the plan. The specific group in the internal public is the management; the plan should target the managers who make policies at the senior-most level. When they are convinced well then the plan about having water in the town will succeed. After familiarizing the top management with the program, it i s also important that the junior staff be informed about it because they are the real implementers of the program. As per the external public, everyone in the community should be targeted. Water problems are prevalent mostly in slum areas; they should be the first target. The plan also needs the support of the well to do in the society hence the plan should target to inform them as well. Tactics and Themes The public relations office in the council develops a central agenda of the plan and communicates to both internal and external public. The themes developed aim at putting together actions with the exact period and budget. The public relation officers, therefore, choose tactics, which are tools and methods to apply in carrying out the exercise. The water program is to contain a catchy and memorable theme that attracts the attention of the majority. The slogans to use contain no more than five words such as ‘water is here’. The officers strategize to come up with long- term policies that will end up sustaining the program. They can incorporate some community organizations to make the program stronger.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on The Planning Action to Bring Water to the Town Population specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The planners again need to define the ways in which they will use to conduct the program. They need to ask themselves whether they will use magazines to reach the public or other available tactics. The best one for the water program is broadcast media. Most of the targeted external public has easy access to radios and televisions it would be unwise to use the internet since few people check internet advertising (Friends of the Earth Australia, 2007). Strategies The public relations officers figure out in advance on the best ways possible that would ensure the success of the program. They need to come up with alternative plans called plan B. Strategies provide general guidelines and themes for the overall effort. The officers need to be aware of upheavals that might face the program; it means that strategies should be diversified. The competitors might attempt to block the campaign using all the means and for that case, the planners need to be ready to tackle the challenges head-on. Strategies are long-term plans that oversee the success of the program (Bass Coast Shire Council, 2011). Time The calendar helps in organizing and planning the things that should be undertaken. The concerned offices or individuals should arrange in time the chronology of events before, during and after planning of the program. Timing is an important aspect given the bureaucratic nature of public offices. Programs take time to be approved. Keeping in touch with time enables planners to fix things appropriately. The external public needs to be informed on time when the campaign will be starting for them to prepare well. The organizers of a water program are sup posed to use the Gantt chart which shows the activities to be completed on the vertical axis and total time allotted to each task on the horizontal axis. Activities are given priority beginning from the top to the bottom because the policy of first things first applies in public relation planning. The most urgent programs are addressed as fast as possible to avoid last-minute rush. A clear timetable should be drawn to avoid confusion and time wastage (Department of Sustainability and Environment, 2011). Figure 1. Gantt chart showing Utilization of time in water program Advertising Looking for essay on communications media? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Evaluation Evaluation is the assessment of the on-going program. The officials from the council should cross-examine the program to determine whether it is in the right direction or not. Assessment is done at the middle of the program, end or can be done as the program is still running. It should be a continuous program so that it can be determined whether changes should be introduced or even whether the program should be held for some time. Without evaluation, funds can be wasted without achieving organizational goals and objectives. The public relations officers use research to check whether the program is running according to the set objectives. The kind of research to conduct is quantitative, with help of standardized data collection tool called questionnaire. Questions are asked to both internal and external publics whether the campaign had any impact as far as their perceptions are concerned. Their response is very critical because it determines whether the project will be ta ken to another level or not. The organization cannot go ahead to implement a project that faces hostility from the public because it would not succeed and the same time it will be a waste of time and resources (Department of Planning and Community Development, 2010). Conclusion At every level of planning public relations action, the practitioner must take time to analyze each level. The level should be treated independently for proper analysis because a slip in one level can lead to a slip in the whole program. Public relations depend on the timing of events; information is not given out to the public at time. The officials should scrutinize the existing socio-political events. The people might be having political issues with the program; it is not advisable to release contrary information to the wishes of the people. Some other times, the organization might be campaigning for an agenda that is not urgent and pressing (Hannan and Wallace, 2007). People are interested in things that affect them in their society. For the case of water, people are more concerned and therefore it is possible for the organization to succeed in accomplishing its mission. References Bass Coast Shire Council, (2011) Victorian Desalination Project, Bass Coast Shire Council, Available at:  https://www.basscoast.vic.gov.au/ Clean Ocean Foundation, (2011) Desalination verses recycling, Clean Ocean Foundation. Web. Cutlip, S.M., Center, A.H. Broom, G. (2006) Effective public relations, 9 Ed. Pearson Prentice Hall, New Jersey. Department of Planning and Community Development, (2010) Victorian Desalination Project, Victorian Government. Web. Department of Sustainability and Environment, (2011) Government Programs, Desalination Project, Victorian Government. Web. Hannan, E. Wallace, R. (2007) Desalination plant caught in middle, The Australian Online Newspaper, Available at: McAloon, C. (2008. Locals having their say on water future – ABC Gippsland Vic – Australian Broadca sting Corporation. [online] Abc.net.au. Available at: http://www.abc.net.au/local/stories/2008/02/11/2159851.htm . Bradstreet, K. (2007).  Concern grows over Wonthaggi desal plant. [online] Green Left Weekly. Available at: https://www.greenleft.org.au/content/concern-grows-over-wonthaggi-desal-plant . This essay on The Planning Action to Bring Water to the Town Population was written and submitted by user Tessa Mercer to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.