Public Relations and Image Building: A Case Study of the Lagos State Waste Management Agency
Chapter One
OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY
The objectives of the study are;
- To determine whether Lagos state waste management agency utilizes public relations in building a sustainable corporate image.
- To ascertain how Lagos state waste management agency management is carrying out public relations activities that will enhance and sustain its image
- To determine the factors which encourage or hinder the practice of public relations in Lagos state waste management agency.
- To find out the extent the usage of public relations activities has contributed to the positive image of Lagos state waste management agency
CHAPTER TWO
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
INTRODUCTION
There is a disagreement among historians on when PR was first practiced, who practiced it first, and where it was practiced originally. Traditionally, Americans have claimed that they invented PR; but Chinese scholars have pointed out that Chinese rulers practiced something resembling contemporary PR more than 5,000 years ago. Even though the first rudimentary practice of PR may have begun thousands of years ago, it has been an occupation only for about 100 years. It is only recently, however, that PR has developed from an occupation into a profession in many countries. That is, PR has been something that people did to earn a salary; but it has not been a discipline for which they studied to prepare for the work. There was no formal education in PR (The International Public Relations Association, 2003). PR is an occupation that has been defined more by its techniques than by its theory. According to Reddi; 2009, most PR practitioners have been the masters of a number of techniques. They have known how to secure media coverage, prepare press releases, write speeches, write and design brochures, produce video news releases, lobby representatives in Congress, stage a special event, or prepare an annual report. In addition to being an occupation defined by techniques, PR practitioners have also devoted most of their efforts to communicating through the mass media. Most have believed that they could affect large numbers of people through publicity alone. Institutions that employ PR staff also believe that they could get many people behave in ways the organizations want through creating a ‘good image’ in the media. Today, however, the most sophisticated practitioners have begun to understand that people exercise control over how they use the media to a much greater extent than the media control the behavior of people who use the media, (Reddi 2009). At the same time, neither PR practitioners nor the media create the powerful impressions that usually are called images. Images are nothing more than what people think, and most people think for themselves (Reddi, 2009). They construct their own thoughts — their own images about organizations. PR practitioners are most likely to help members of publics construct positive images about the organization when they counsel the organization to behave in ways that people outside the organization want. In other words, sophisticated PR practitioners now understand that they must serve the interests of people affected by organizations if they also are to serve the interests of the organizations that employ them (Grunig, 2001). According to Grunig, 2001 discovered that many organizations do not manage communication programs strategically and that these programs do not make their organizations more effective. How must PR be practiced and the communication function organized for it to contribute the most to organizational effectiveness? ‘ Grunig (2001) developed a theory of the value of PR. We also believed that Public Relations should have value to the larger society as well as to specific organization. To determine this value, we looked at theories of business, social responsibility, ethics, and conflict resolution to identify the value of public relations to society as well as to organizations We learned from organizational theory that an organization is effective if it achieves the goals it sets for itself. Organizational theorists also have pointed out that organizations, like people, do not exist alone in the world. Organizations exist in an environment, and that environment consists of many groups many strategic publics. If people had no relationships with family, neighbors, friends, enemies, or co-workers, they would have no need to take anyone but they into account and they must coordinate their behavior with people who affect them and are affected by them. Organizations also have relationships within their family of employees and with communities, governments, consumers, investors, and the media. Organizational theorists call these groups’ strategic constituencies. PR theorists call them stakeholders or publics. Strategic constituencies or publics make up the environment of an organization. These publics can support or oppose the goals of an organization. They also want organizations to pursue goals that are important to them, but not necessarily to the organization such as jobs for workers, safe products, less pollution, and a safe community. Publics have a stake in organizations, and they attempt to influence the missions and goals of these organizations. Organizations are effective, therefore, when they choose and achieve goals that are important to their self-interest as well as to the interests of strategic publics in the environment. Public Relations departments help organizations become more effective by building relationships with publics that affect the organizations or are affected by the organization’s activities (Grunig, 2001).
CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Research design
The researcher used descriptive research survey design in building up this project work the choice of this research design was considered appropriate because of its advantages of identifying attributes of a large population from a group of individuals. The design was suitable for the study as the study sought to public relationship and image making
Sources of data collection
Data were collected from two main sources namely:
(i)Primary source and
(ii)Secondary source
Primary source:
These are materials of statistical investigation which were collected by the research for a particular purpose. They can be obtained through a survey, observation questionnaire or as experiment; the researcher has adopted the questionnaire method for this study.
Secondary source:
These are data from textbook Journal handset etc. they arise as byproducts of the same other purposes. Example administration, various other unpublished works and write ups were also used.
Population of the study
Population of a study is a group of persons or aggregate items, things the researcher is interested in getting information on public relationship and image making. 200 staff of Lagos state waste management agency state selected randomly by the researcher as the population of the study.
CHAPTER FOUR
PRESENTATION ANALYSIS INTERPRETATION OF DATA
Introduction
Efforts will be made at this stage to present, analyze and interpret the data collected during the field survey. This presentation will be based on the responses from the completed questionnaires. The result of this exercise will be summarized in tabular forms for easy references and analysis. It will also show answers to questions relating to the research questions for this research study. The researcher employed simple percentage in the analysis.
CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
Introduction
It is important to ascertain that the objective of this study was on the public relation and image making. In the preceding chapter, the relevant data collected for this study were presented, critically analyzed and appropriate interpretation given. In this chapter, certain recommendations made which in the opinion of the researcher will be of benefits in addressing the challenges of public relation and image making
Summary
This study was on public relation and image making. Four objectives were raised which included: To determine whether Lagos state waste management agency utilizes public relations in building a sustainable corporate image, to ascertain how Lagos state waste management agency management is carrying out public relations activities that will enhance and sustain its image, to determine the factors which encourage or hinder the practice of public relations in Lagos state waste management agency, to find out the extent the usage of public relations activities has contributed to the positive image of Lagos state waste management agency. In line with these objectives, two research hypotheses were formulated and two null hypotheses were posited. The total population for the study is 200 staff of Lagos state waste management agency. The researcher used questionnaires as the instrument for the data collection. Descriptive Survey research design was adopted for this study. A total of 133 respondents made managers, supervisors, senior staffs and junior staffs were used for the study. The data collected were presented in tables and analyzed using simple percentages and frequencies
Conclusion
The need for good public relations has been identified in each organization for learning of the ideas of quick interaction without borders, but due to respect of cultural differences which serves as a tool for attaining bigger success, dependable and finally for bigger profit. Genuinely public relations incorporate dialog- you ought to hear others, to understand things through their point of view. The reason is helpful for each organization to attain to a positive image to be seen as the best furthermore keep up its reputation
Recommendation
Lagos state waste management agency also ought to use the right communication channels to reach as many people as possible and this is where the mass media comes in. They should also open a communications office operating under the division of Public Relations
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