By: Lilian W.

Waithaka

A Problems of PR in developing countries

Communication - Communication difficult in developing countries because of lack of

western-style media, great distance between cities and remote rural communities,

illiteracy, numerous ethnic groups, languages and dialects, together with tribal and

religious taboos.

Marketing - There are two marketing dilemmas (a) half the population is likely to be

under 15years of age, and (b) many rural people may be subsistence farmers who sell

little of their produce. Therefore a large number of people will probably be outside the

cash economy i.e. they will have no buying power.

Publics - The lower class the middle class and the upper class, the educated and literate

who read newspapers and own a television set may be between 10 and 20 per cent of the

population.

Mass Communication - Only a very small percent are able to read newspapers. Either

they do not have money to buy or the newspapers do not reach their destinations A

survey done in Kenya shown that even those who ‘listen to newspapers’ indicating that a

literate member of the family or village community would read the newspaper to others.

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Advertising dilemmas - The standard of advertising in developing countries can be very

confusing. For example in Nairobi one wonders why the characters in the commercials

in Nairobi cinemas are all Europeans, then the audience is almost entirely African or

Indian. The problem is frequently that those who advertise even to the educated, literate,

well-to-do minority either have little knowledge of the product or have no understanding

of the audience. This kind of advertising be it misleading or misleading is bad PR for the

companies concerned.

Educating the market - Public Relations in the developing countries is different from PR

in the western countries. Education is a primary aspect of development. The PR task is

to educate the market with credibility. The urban population may be educated enough to

understand the product and be able to use it well but people with limited understanding

may be confused because of the many stall and open air markets in towns and villages.

Communication tasks

There are two principal communication tasks in developing countries.

1. In the public sector government departments, local authorities and official

agencies are responsible for informing the people about their programmes and policies.

The civil servants PR practitioner is likely to be more common and in greater demand

than the industrial and commercial PR practitioner. PR practitioners will also be found in

the armed forces, the police, health, education and other public services and he will also

be found in big parastatal organizations.

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2. In the private sector PR is of a mixed kind and may be initiated by expatriate and

multinational companies. Manufacturers, importers and suppliers have a task of

informing a growing market about new products and also telling people how to use these

products most beneficially. The hindrances are being ignorance, illiteracy, language

barriers and poverty.

Another problem is that consumers have little or no confidence in products produced in

their own country thereby considering imported ones as superior. A PR task here is to

instill pride in home production.

Media - There are unlikely to be mass media in the sense that most people read

newspapers and watch television, but radio is likely to be widespread. Two forms of radio

are popular in developing lands. The press reflects increasing literacy and prosperity

because purchase of a newspaper is a voluntary act.

Television is used but can only be used where there is electricity or those who could

afford to buy a battery. In some parts people gather in halls to watch programmes.

Cinemas i.e. the static and mobiles are also used. Documentary films are also used but

very expensive. Video is less expensive and is becoming popular. Exhibitions delights

the upper class people in the developing world. The condition of the roads is also a

glaring problem to PR

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B. Why a crisis management team is necessary in an organization.

Crisis Management Team

Prevention of crises should be a primary goal of every business. In the event of a crisis,

preparation is a requirement. Planning and practicing for one is essential.

The term "crisis" is often used because it can refer to various events that can disrupt

normal business activities. A simple definition of a crisis is any event that threatens

people, tangible assets, or intangible assets in any way that prevents or slows the normal

business processes. The primary goal of crisis management is to return to normal

business processes as soon as possible.

Defining a hostile situation is an individual task for each company. A crisis for one

company is not one for the next. And seeing the unexpected potential catastrophes is the

most difficult assessment.

Building a Crisis Team

The key to successful crisis management is selecting a team to handle crises as they

occur. The team should consist of a core group of decision makers trained in crisis

management and prepared to react to any situation. The members of this team must be

knowledgeable of the business, so they can first identify a hostile situation and then

decide what additional skills are needed to handle it successfully. The team must then

decide if a crisis really exists.

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Who should be on this team? For a small organisation, generally the management team

acts as the crisis team. However, in medium to large organizations the management team

continues to do just that, manage the business. In these scenarios, the team should consist

of representative decision makers from core disciplines that can work independently to

solve the event quickly and communicate progress effectively to the management team.

An ideal crisis management team requires representation from various groups such as:

Facility management; Legal department; Risk management; Information technology;

Human resources; Financial services; Real estate management; Corporate security; and

Public relations/ communications.

Each of these representatives requires action teams committed during a crisis to finding

resolution and working with the organisation management team to keep the company at

work. After selecting a crisis management team, selecting a leader is required. The leader

maintains the cohesiveness of the team. Successful leadership entails coordinating regular

meetings, training, and evaluating of the threats to the business operations. The leader

establishes basic principles of crisis management for the team. They include:

• Creating a written plan that can be implemented both vertically and horizontally

within operations of the organization;

• Defining the specific roles of each crisis management team member;

• Creating a communication plan that allows timely and accurate exchanges of

information;

• Establishing a training schedule for the crisis management team and the

respective action teams; and

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 • Creating a crisis culture that will thrive on cooperation.

Two of these principles are especially critical to successful crisis management. First, only

when the crisis management team members understand and are committed to the crisis

plan will they be effective in their tasks; and second, only when a crisis culture is

established within the entire organisation will the company be ready to respond

appropriately to a crisis.

The foundation of the crisis management cycle requires identifying the potential threats

to the organisation. This is accomplished by conducting a threat analysis and using a

threat matrix to plan for the highest potential alerts. The threat assessment allows the

crisis management team to analyze its environment, identify potential threats, assess the

effects of each threat, and determine the probability of each threat so priorities are placed

on planning.

A threat matrix allows the team to weigh the probability of a threat and the effect it will

have if it occurs. For example, a fire that destroys a building in a company's complex is

identified as a potential threat. That building hosts the company's customer service center.

In conducting the threat assessment, the crisis management team determines that the

probability that a fire would consume the entire building is low, but the potential impact

on the company of such an occurrence is quite high. Therefore, the crisis management

team would conclude the threat of a fire to the customer service call center should receive

a high priority even though the threat is low.

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Formulating crisis plans naturally follows the setting of priorities among possible crisis

threats. Crisis planning, therefore, is not distinct from business planning because the

former addresses the factors that might impede the accomplishment of the latter.

Using this philosophy in planning helps create the crisis culture within the company that

is key to successful crisis management. Winning management's approval is dependent on

the plan's ability to support the business objectives.

Crisis Management Training

Without regular exercises to test crisis management plans, these strategies become

dormant and ineffectual in the event of a real crisis. A false sense of security can exist in

the company simply because "we have a plan." The experience gained from training

establishes the company's reputation for being prepared and able to survive.

Several types of exercises are required for proper training. A three step approach is

common: 1. Notification and activation; 2. Tabletop; and 3. Simulation.

The notification and activation exercise tests the company's ability to receive information

about a potential crisis, assess its impact to determine the response needed, and activate

the crisis management and appropriate action teams. This exercise begins with a call to

the crisis response number and ends once the crisis management team assembles. This

exercise tests the team's call trees and should be substantiated periodically throughout the

year.

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Tabletop exercises are pre-scheduled gatherings. They are conducted as brainstorming

meetings. A realistic crisis scenario facilitates the discussion. These sessions start with the

crisis management team then flow to separate meetings of each representative's actions

teams. This allows the action teams to discuss the ramifications of the scenario to their

discipline within the business and discuss the actions they must accomplish during such a

crisis.

Once the action team meetings are accomplished, everyone can gather and conduct a full-

scale tabletop meeting. Integration of all the plans is discussed and leadership

communications, organizational structure, and roles and responsibilities are tested.

The objectives of a tabletop exercise are to:

• Develop an understanding of the crisis management team's role in managing a

crisis;

• Identify gaps and overlaps in responsibility; and

• Identify areas of weakness where additional resources are needed.

Simulation training is the final and most effective tool for crisis management training.

Extensive planning and organization are required in order to conduct this training.

Relevant scenarios should be developed and scripts written to simulate a real life crisis

properly. A team of "facilitators" is used. It produces the crisis, controls the exercise, and

evaluates the responses of the crisis management team. It is required that the "facilitators"

are role players who have a good understanding of the responses they can and should

give during the exercise.

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During a simulation training session, the crisis management team uses all the tools it

designated in its plans. The "war room" is the center of activity. At least one press

conference is simulated, and the communication plan-both internal and external-is

activated. The planned scenario requires more than one of the action teams to be

activated, and their participation is required. The crisis management team never attempts

to handle a crisis all by itself; neither is it to train without including all the needed

participants.

The goals of simulation training are to:

• Validate the crisis management team's plan under simulated, real time conditions;

• Identify strengths and weaknesses in the plan and the team members under

stressful conditions;

• Allow the team members to experience the emotions and stress of a real crisis;

and

• improve the team's ability to handle a real business related crisis.

Training is the final step in developing a quality crisis management program. It is also the

most important step. Many companies overlook training because of their false sense of

security based on having a written plan and the expense of employee time for training.

Crisis management, like any business process, must be evaluated completely to be

effective.

In almost every instance of successful response to a crisis, management activities consist

of sound operational procedures. Well planned and practiced operations save lives,

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property, and other assets. More importantly, the company's reputation of sound business

practices and survival during critical periods is dependent on these procedures during a

crisis.

Perception is reality. Both internally and externally, the ability of the crisis management

team to show leadership during a crucial time is essential. Trust and confidence in the

team's abilities must be established and then proven. Not being ready for a crisis when it

actually happens is a foreboding thought. How well a company responds is dependent

upon its preparation, and a crisis management team can go a long way in preparing a

company to do battle in a hostile situation.

3. Likely PR objectives for an organization

Much of PR is about effecting change not just creating favourable images. How

something can be improved by making it better. PR is often a problem-solving business.

For example how can we achieve better understanding of different things. The existence

of negative attitudes, their nature, or the reason for their existence may not be suspected

within an organization.

PR is either tangible or intangible, this is to say whether the PR results are measurable or

not. When PR is intangible then it is unplanned and purposeless. When PR is tangible

then we say it is cost-effective PR.

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The number of objectives of a PR are very many and it depends on the size and resources

of the PR department or consultancy fee which represent time. Objectives are selected

purposefully. One way of defining objectives is by research, where problems have been

identified and they are found to require PR solutions. The other way of defining

objectives is through consultations with department heads to discover communication

needs.

The following are some PR objectives

(a) To change the image because the company has adopted fresh activities. For

example, a company which was selling motor vehicle spare parts is now involved

in hardware goods.

(b) To improve the caliber of job applicants.

(c) To talk about the company and gain credit for achievement.

(d) To make the company known and understood in new export markets.

(e) To prepare the stock market for new share issue or because a private company is

going public.

The list is endless since different organizations have their own objectives. It is up to the

particular organization to choose its objectives and to prioritize them. Some of the

objectives may be of short-term duration and others long-term. In the case of a hotel

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which has been in operation but was closed down, the work of the PR would be mainly to

make customers aware of the changes and what kind of changes.

Relationship between objectives and time

Because of time constraints it has be to be very clear how much time is available to do

the work. A normal working day in Kenya starts at 8.00 a.m. and ends at 5.00 p.m. with a

one hour lunch break i.e. 1.00 to 2.00 p.m. excluding Sundays, Saturdays and Public

Holidays. A person can work over-time, which is paid differently from normal working

days.

During the normal working hours, a person can do one job at a time and can be in one

place at a time. Therefore we can say that there is physical limit of labour hours. The

difference can come in when we consider whether the person is better trained, is qualified

to the job he/she is employed to do or is having good experience. Then we can say he

/she can work more quickly and more efficiently than his/her inferior. A PR consultant

could also benefit from the above because his fee represents time and expertise.

Relationship between objectives and funds

The finances of the organization will determine the number of employees and the type of

employees. It will also represent the consultant’s fee. Finances will again determine

other resources such as equipment for conducting PR eg. Word processor, personal

computers, cameras, vehicles, etc.

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Limitations of time, money and resources should mean that if a management by

objectives approach is taken seriously, then the number and kind of objectives need to be

tailored to the realities of physical feasibility. Every detail has to be included into any

proposal when it is presented to the management for approval and it has to be related to

the proposed budget. If the budget is cut some objectives may be left out and if

management wants to take on more objectives the budget must be increased.

Effects of achieving objectives

When an employer or client is shown the success of a PR program then that employer or

client will have confidence in PR and be willing to continue and even expand use of it.

PR is regarded as a necessity not a luxury. The cost of PR is small compared to

advertising and sales promotion.

References

Glen Trest, C.H. Guernsey – Internet

Frank Jefkin (5th Ed. 1998): Public Relations.

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