The role of pr in an organisation is very crucial.

Account for the various public relations activities paying particular attention to the prospective audience. According to the South African Institute of Public Relations (PRISA), public relations is the deliberate, planned and sustained effort to establish and maintain mutual understanding between on organization and its publics. Public Relations is a field that deals with developing and maintaining a public image for entities such as Individuals such as entertainers, politicians and other high profile people, organisations, and governments both local and national. It is a two-way communication platform that provides an entity with the chance to communicate with its audiences by disseminating information that allows the public an opportunity to respond. It is, according to YWCAs Handbook of Public Relations, a planned and sustained effort that evaluates an entitys publics perception in order to allow the organization to implement policies, measures and courses-of-action that will enable them to achieve their aims and goals. An organization has a committed image and typically this image is dependent on the degree of the support received by the organizational missions, goals, and strategies. Therefore, the role of the public relations serves as a communicator between organizations and its internal and external publics. Public relations also provide the message and informs the publics about events which the organization requests to present. The function of public relations can be categorized as organizational and societal in nature. Public Relations plays various roles in an organization that are aimed at help the organization change, develop and readjust its image in its publics view and perception. Public relations activities assist the public in helping them to understand the organizations and the products they have to offer (McNamara, C. 2007).The bulk of public relations activities are aimed at an organisations target audience or publics and consist of concerted programmes, usually on a more or less elaborate scale, employing coordinated publicity through a variety of media, aimed, at a number of targets, but focused on specific objectives. Public relations objectives may be the election of a candidate, the promotion of political cause or issue, the reaching of a sales goal, or the raising of a quota of funds. One of the roles of public relations in an organization, according to A. Theaker in The Public Relations Handbook (2004), is corporate communication which encompass the total communication needs of a company. Corporate communication can be divided into 3 categories. These, according to A. Davis (2007),are management communication, primarily by all managers in an organization both internally and externally. Also marketing communication, which are all the activities that come under promotion and lastly organization communication, which describes all other forms of communication other than

marketing. This includes the non-marketing elements of public relations and internal communication both between employees and the audiences. Media Relations are part of the organisational role of public relations and it encompasses overseeing all communications with the public through the media and with the media. Dealing with the media is an important function especially concerning the legitimate entities. To most individuals, the term public relations constitutes relationships with the press and obtaining publicity. This is done through establishing and maintaining relations with members of the media, creating publicity for the organization by sending out press releases, and holding press events for journalists and contributors from various outlets such as newspapers, magazines and television. Community relations and corporate social responsibility come under the domain of public relations. Community relations is essential to engage the immediate community who form part of the target audience and corporate social responsibility programmes are strategically aimed at creating a positive perception of the organization in the audiences minds. In some cases, especially in businesses where the workforce comes from the immediate surrounding area, (in which itself is a specialized community); the organization will have to focus heavily on Community Relations. More importantly than simply being seen as holding events and activities for the workers, these programmes will boost the workforces moral, understanding and willingness to help build the organization as opposed to simply working for it. The Public Relations department will be able to communicate with the community to work hand-in-hand to make the workplace an extension of the households and social setting. This can be done through presentations, Exhibitions, sponsorship porgrammes, sport activities, meetings, and other activities. According to A. Davis (2007), public information is crucial in an organization where the communication requires communication with opinion formers such as politicians and lobby groups. The Public Relations department will disseminate the information and monitor the political environment on behalf of the organization. This is possible and done through presentations, private meetings and public speeches. Larger organizations or organizations usually publish some form of publications both printed and online such as newsletters or magazines on behalf of the organization which communicates the policies, aims, objectives and activities of the organization to the internal and external audiences. With constant development in new technologies, as observed by F. Jefkins, (1998) this entails that public relations practitioners team would have to stay on top of new trending platforms and select which ones are applicable for their particular audiences.

A proactive element, Issues Management involves the Public Relations department studying economic, social, political and technological environment, monitoring and analyzing trends and new developments and determining how this will affect the organization. This forecasting role enables public relations practitioners to counsel organizational leaders on the actions the organization should take. It is critical for the organization to have a Crisis Management protocol in place upon its conception. Risk is an inevitable part of business and public relations activities, so being thoroughly prepared in case a problem does occur is paramount The Public Relations department will set out a Course-of-Action that the organization can implement when a crisis arises, what is commonly known as a crisis communication plan and advise management on the consequences and effects their actions have on the image and identity of the organization. (Seital, F. 2004). Having the protocol in place before a crisis arises ensures that all communication is precise, concise and clear enough to address various and specific situations. Organizations have numerous and various events in during the year and event management is a public relations function. The Public Relations department needs to organizes, manages and implements all events in order to ensure that all messages, medium used and contexts of the information relayed at these events is in line with the Public Relations Policy and in the direction the organization wants to go. More importantly, in line with the role of Public Relations, the events will have to promote mutual understanding of the topics at hand between the organization and its publics. For example participation of an organization at exhibitions and trade fair, and the hosting of company special events such as shareholder meetings. Business by nature is between an organizations and its publics, and therefore has a public perception. This public perception raises the need for public relations. Regardless of what the advertising and marketing departments of an organization will try and sell to the public, the perception the public holds on the organizations can override any efforts.(Jefkins, F .1998) Public Relations therefore plays a integral role in an organization by anticipating, diagnosing and then providing solutions to problems and issues.

REFERENCES 1. Davis, A. 2007, Public Relations, 2nd Edition, Palgrave, London 2. Jefkins F, 1998, Public Relations, 5th Edition, Pitman Publishing, London 3. Theaker A, 2004, Public Relations Handbook, 2 nd Edition, Routledge, London