Socialization in Public-Relations

Michal LibermanCommunication and PR MajorEastern Michigan University

Class of ‘19

Definitions

Review

Brief Review of the ArticleU.S. Public Relations Students’ Perceptions of PR▪ In an article about student’s perceptions of PR by McKinno and Fullerton

(2015), the public relations industry was found to have varied perceptions by U.S college and university students.

▪ Most of the students believe that their college degree has prepared them well in terms of experience and skills for a career in the PR industry; however, some were concerned about finding a job after graduation.

▪ “A third-person effect” was emphasized among PR students: many students believed that the negative portrayals of the PR industry had more effect on their peers than it did on them”. (McKinno & Fullerton, 2015)

▪ Another interesting finding pointed out a dissonance among students with their chosen profession.

▪ Lastly, the article has suggestions for PR education and optimal socialization in the PR work field.

Organizational Socialization ▪ In organizational communication, socialization is being approached as

adaptation processes that is being developed over time and experience, where individuals become a part of an organizational life, culture, and approach. (Madison, 2017)

▪ During socializations, individuals are becoming familiar with formal aspect; the roles of the organization and formal information that applies to the organization. In addition, the non-formal aspect of the process is being adapted by the individual; becoming familiar with colleges, learning the culture, gaining confident, feeling recognized with other people in the workplace, becoming involved in the practices, and engage in competency (Madison, 2017)

Research Findings(McKinno, Melton and Fullerton, 2015)

▪ The perception about the PR industry among college students were relatively negative, and a research showed that many people thought PR is dealing with advertisement, or lies. However, a research done by Gleeson (2013; from McKinno, Melton and Fullerton, 2015) PR students their perception of public relations positively changed after one semester of taking public relations courses.

▪ About 20% of the subjects response to ethical issues included transparency (2%), and lack of public trust (2%). Some said: “Balancing your personal values and ethics in relation to the company. I feel like I will face a decision between losing my job or lying about an incident. I think it would be best to work for a company whose values you align” (From McKinno, Melton and Fullerton, 2015)

▪ About 10% of the subjects were concern about finding a job at the PR industry after graduation. Some said they expect increasing in the difficulty of getting a job in the field. In addition, many students express their frustration for the demand of employers with experience.

Findings Continue▪ 9% of the subjects responses mentioned that the poor reputation of PR

as an industry have been a challenge for the profession. “People see it as very deceptive”.

▪ 53% of the subjects thought that the PR industry was ethical, but only 15% of the subjects believe that the rest of America thought the same.

▪ Students tended to think that the advertising profession was less ethical than their chosen profession, the PR. “The advertising industry will do whatever it takes to lure people in while the PR industry is looking out for the wellbeing of the people.“ (from McKinno, Melton and Fullerton, 2015)

▪ A majority of the subjects said that they chose PR as a profession because of its creative aspects. This finding approves the US News & World article that placed PR as the “top creative job” in the United States (“Best Jobs,” 2013)

“What do you see as the biggest challenges facing public relations in the next few years?”

39.88%

24.49%20.45%

20.04%

5.47%5.47% 6.48%

New Media / Technology Ethical Issues PR Profession Job ConcernCommunication areas External Enviroment Other

Socialization Phases in Public - Relations

Socialization Phases in PR1. Anticipatory Socialization: before entry to organization. Includes all the

basic and formal training that a PR major student will go through at an institution. Includes personal research that a student might do.

2. Encounter: the phase where the graduate will start making sense of his organization when first entering a job. The newcomer need to abend his old values in order to adapt to his new organization. In PR, that will be the phase where the graduate will work with his mentor and start his specific training when starting his new job.

3. Metamorphosis: socialization process completed. The PR graduate has adapted to his profession and become an expert in his field, he now can be used as a mentor to other fresh graduates.

▪ (Katherine, 2015)

Starting the Socialization ProcessEncounter Phase: Socialization in the PR industry after graduation:1. Getting involved with local PR's students for an empowering

experience2. Seek mentorship through the PRSA mentor match online. "Can give

you valuable guidance your first steps into the industry. In other words: necessary" (Deady, 2017)

3. PRSA training courses online. "These are essential skills and strategies that will prove themself handy in times of demand" (Deady, 2017)

4. Read bestsellers in the industry and watch webinars. This will demonstrate an inner-sight on how industry leaders think.

5. Earn a native social media platform certifications (through Facebook Blueprint, Twitter Flight School, Google Analytics, Google Adward)

Possible Socialization Approaches in PR

▪ Classical: Focuses on maximum effectiveness and efficiency with training.

▪ Human Relations: Focuses on the employee satisfaction of the organization’s members.

▪ Human Resource: Focuses on the maximum contribution that the employee can provide to the organization

▪ Systems: Focuses on the transition of the outside (institutional training) to the inside (organizational training)

▪ Culture: Focuses on the process in which the newcomer understands the roles, norms, implicit and explicit norms.

How to Complete the Socialization Process in PR?

A Mentor as a Socialization ToolIt's almost impossible to build a solid career and advance in it without learning to apply business practices and recent technologies that would baffled the mind as recently as a couple of decades ago.In her article, Kauffman (2017) is explaining the importance and benefits of a mentor as an essential tool for socialization of fresh graduates in the PR industries.Mentors benefits from mentorship as well, by learning about the recent methods of training that have been proven to important only by observing the progress being made by his mentee. Later this mentor can pass his learning experience on to other mentors.

Mentors provide:1. Emotional and Psychological Support: during times o anxiety,

stress, frustration and doubt. Human's creativity is at its pick when the person is calm.

2. Faster Learning Process: Even though formal institutional training is important, mentors provide real-world experience. According to Kauffman (2017) those who have mentors are usually higher achievers, earn more promotions and see more frequent and higher salary increases than those who don't.

3. Job Socialization: Knowing the basic formal skill is not enough, in order to succeed in the new professional environment, the graduates needs to develop ways to adjust and fit to the organization in the implicit forms.

The Actual Means of Socialization in PRToday's PR experts emphasize that socialization is essential just as the basic formal degree. "Even if you have a progressive professor teaching integrated PR, there's still no way you can learn every single marketing skill in one semester, or even four years" (Vermillion, 2017). To keep up with the competition, one must learn constantly by subscribing to podcasts, reading blogs daily and even starting a blog for his own.To complete Metamorphosis phase: What do PR pros need?1. Understand and identify valuable data: tell evidence based stories

that can impact decisions in the business (Edelman in Vermillion, 2017)2. Learn Content Marketing: by doing content marketing for really

understand how to use it on the job "I researched and uncovered entirely new social and syndication tools to help my content get found which, in turn, is used to help my clients amplify their own content." (Dietric in Vermillion, 2017)

Continue…3. Master Public Speaking: PR people constantly practice Face-to-

Face communication in sharing ideas, presenting a Q2, or annual plans to clients, it's important to be able to eloquent (Miller in Vermillion, 2017)

4. Look for trends, not just hits: "look for trends hidden within clients' stories and industries" (Sahin in Vermillion, 2017)

5. Understand the media landscape: media relations is an integral tactic in the industry. A PR practitioner must read, watch and listen to news and use the knowledge in the job. (Mireles in Vermillion, 2017)

Personal Suggestions & Questions.

Personal Suggesti

ons

▪ Learning about the positive outcomes that been developed through mentorship relationship, I believe a mentor period of a few months should be a requirement for hiring.

▪ Recently, there has been a trend of many U.S. colleges and universities to combine both majors into one: advertising and public relations. The phenomenon often called “strategic communications.”

According to the research findings, PR practitioners want to distant themselves for unethical communication aspects, such as they believe advertisement is. This trend in education could result in a backlash and an addition form to the cognitive dissonance among students and educators. I stand with those who disapprove the trend of strategic communication.

Questions:

1. In their research, McKinno, Lori Melton and Jami A. Fullerton (2015) explained that the PR industry suffers from negative inaccurate reputation. How can we change that? And Where is it derive from?

2. One of the research subject said “The biggest challenges (in the PR industry) would be social media and gaining trust from the public”. And I agree. However, social media is the most common way to spread and promote ideas, what other tool should be used for this purpose? Isn’t using social media despite its low reliability enhancing the problem?

3. Seems like the research subjects were concern about the ethic value in the profession, how can PR agency's enhance ethics as a primary goal?

Reference

▪ McKinno, Lori Melton and Jami A. Fullerton. "U.S. Public Relations Students’ Perceptions Of PR: What College Students Think About PR Education And The PR Profession". PRSSA journal 9 (2015): n. pag. Web.

▪ O’Neal Megan, Kauffman Erika, Vermillion Stephanie, Perez Christine, Deady Anne. "From Post-Grad To Professional: How To Jump Into The PR World In 2017". Prnewpros.prsa.org. N.p., 2017. Web. 19 Feb. 2017.

▪ Miller, Katherine. Organizational Communication. 7th ed. Stamford: Cengage Learning, 2015. Print.