COMMUNITY RELATIONS

What exactly does Community Relation mean?

A Community is a group of people who live in the same place, share the same government, and have a common cultural and historical heritage.

Business organizations are among the more important community institutions. Business serves the community by providing regular employment, reasonable wages, and financial benefits; by purchasing goods and services from local suppliers; by paying taxes to local government; by contributing to charities and cultural projects.

People on their part, supply skilled labor, management personnel, and investment capital; and consumes the goods and services which business produces.

Benefits of good Community Relations

There are various benefits of good community relations to both business organizations and people.

Business Organizations have found that recruiting of employees is facilitated if a company is known in its community as a “good company to work for”.

Employees and people prefer to work in a community where they can send their children to good schools; enjoy facilities for recreation; cultural attractions; and sports; live in attractive houses and have transportation facilities.

Hence, Good Community relations secure local identity for the plant or store of a national corporation and allay community mistrust of absentee ownership.

Program Objectives

The objectives of community relations programs are influenced by the size of the community and its needs, as well as the resources and public relations goals of companies sponsoring the programs. Some principal objectives are:

1. To inform the community about a company’s policies, operations and problems and to tell the story of what it makes, how many people it employees, the size of its payroll, what it pays in taxes and what it contribute to the social and economic life of the locality.

2. To inform the employees connected with the organizations about its operations and to stimulate them to pass this information along to their friends and neighbors in the community.

3. To establish a company as an important factor in community life through contributions to local institutions and participation in neighborhood affairs.

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4. To find out what the community is thinking and saying about the company and its policies and operations.

5. To promote the welfare of the community by advertising its attractions to tourists and its resources and industrial potential to attract new industry.

6. To cooperate with schools and colleges by providing educational materials and furnishing training facilities and equipment.

7. To provide cultural leadership by encouraging a greater appreciation of art, music, and drama.

What a community should know about its business neighbours?

The community is interested in the:

nature of a company’s business number of employeesaverage earningstotal payroll in the communitynumber of local stakeholderscooperate investment in local propertyproducts producedlocal expenditures for fuelcontribution to community welfareresearch and developmentfinancial status and growth potential

What a business should know about its community?

Before initiating a community –relations program, a company should know the attitudes of local citizens towards the company should know the attitudes of local citizens towards the company and equally important, the civic, social, political, and economic problems of the community. This information can be determined through opinion surveys. A periodical survey enables a company to determine specific likes and dislikes of the consumers and to determine how much the community knows about the company and its products. It is a common practice for large operations to make a survey before locating in community. The attitudes thus revealed will give purpose to a community –relations programs, suggesting areas of information which are lacking , misconceptions which require corrections.

Media of communication with a community

The principal media of community communications are Newspaper, radio, and television advertising.

Press , radio, and television publicity; company publications; open houses and plant tours, public speaking meeting with opinion leaders, visits to community institutions, motion pictures, exhibits and displays, annual reports and institutional literature.

Contributions to community welfare

>> Management recognizes an obligation to contribute to the welfare of the community not only by paying taxes but also by furnishing cultural leadership, educational assistance, aid to health agencies, aid to agriculture, and service to youth , community -promotion and community –improvement activities and social welfare work.

>> Sponsorship of cultural activities creates the goodwill among people in communities by making it possible for them to enjoy music, art, and drama.

>> Educational assistance is a feature of the community relations programs which has proved rewarding to many corporations.

>> Community heath is directly related to the welfare of employees and industrial production. Employees are encouraged to participate in community blood donor campaigns, chest X-ray drivers, and fund raising for handicapped children and medical research.

>> To encourage new industry, attract tourists and stimulate local trade, corporations sponsor and promote programs to develop the industrial, agricultural, and economic resources of the area served by them.

Organisations

▪ A community relations program in multi-plant corporations is the responsibility of local plant manager assisted by a plant community-relations manager.

▪ In small plants, community relations is the part time responsibility of the personnel staff.

▪ A basic community relation program is developed by the headquarters public relations in multi-plant organisations which plan and prepare releases and provide advice and assistance to local plant managers.

Employees’ Role

▪ As citizens of the community in which a company operates, employees are the best persons to speak for its policies; their words and actions have an important influence on corporate relations.

▪ Employee participation in civic affairs is an important index of the effectiveness of a community-relations programme. If employees participate in civic affairs and if they are informed about company’s policies, practices and contributions to the welfare of the community, the company has a strong foundation upon which to build its community-relations program.

THANK YOU!

Salmeit Kaur (2025)Sahil Sankhla (2046)