Public Relations Management

COM-620 (#3187)

Updated: Spring 2003

Thursdays, 6-8:40 p.m. Bulger Communication Center, N2C

Prerequisites:
Admission into the Public Relations Management track of the Multidisciplinary Studies master's program, as well as completion of COM-610

Text:
Public Relations Practices: Managerial Case Studies & Problems (6th Ed). A.H. Center & P. Jackson. 2003 Prentice-Hall.

Course Description:
This course will take a case study approach, focusing on the management of public relations in various specialized situations.

Course Objectives:
Upon completion, students will be able...
-To demonstrate a graduate-level understanding of various genres of public relations, including employee relations, community relations, consumer relations, media relations and crisis communications.
-To effectively discuss the public relations implications of organizational situations prevalent in the work place and discernible through the media.
-To apply the strategic planning process as the foundation for analyzing and discussing public relations cases.
-To draw upon cases to create planned responses to various public relations situations.

Semester Schedule

1. Jan 23 ... Introduction
Course Overview (MD)
Case Study Approach (RS)
Case: Bristol-Myers Squibb (MD)
Case 9.3: Exxon Valdez (RS) See Exxon Valdez Case Study

2. Jan 30 ... Classic Cases
Read Chapters 1 & 2
Case 6.3: Johnson & Johnson Tylenol Crisis
Case 9.1; read about Pepsi Syringe Hoax
Case 10.4; read about Newspaper coverage of Dow-Corning Breast Implants and When scientific controversies land in court

3. Feb 6 ... Community Relations
Read Chapter 4
Read: Critics: "Axis of Evil" Label Marred Relations Or try and internet search: Butler Library, Electronic Resources, Research Databases, Lexis-Nexis, [type in] "Axis of Evil" Speech, Search, Atlanta Constitution [or several other sources for this newspaper article]
Overview (MD)
Case 4.2 Hospital
Case 4.3 Nuclear Power
Case 4.4 Nuclear Waste
Case 4.6 "A Civil Action"
Due: Journal 1

4. Feb 13 ... Community Opposition
Read Chapter 8
Overview (RS)
Case 8.1 Environment
Case 8.2 Abortion
Case 8.3 Tobacco
Case 8.4 Gun Control
Project: Introduction
Due: Journal 2

5 Feb 20 ... Public Affairs
Read Chapter 10
Overview (MD)
Case 10.1 United Way
Case 10.2 Nestle
Case 10.3 Nike
Case 4.5 Historic Land
Project: Develop Questionnaire
Due: Journal 3

6. Feb 29 ... Media Relations
Read Chapter 7
Overview (RS)
Case 7.1 School Principals
Case 7.2 Alar Apples
Case 7.3 GM v/ NBC
Case 7.4 Chrysler
Due: Journal 4

7. Mar 6 ... Consumer Relations
Read Chapter 6
Overview (MD)
Case 6.1 Coors
Case 6.2 Oprah & Cattlemen
Case 6.5 Customer Satisfaction
Project: Return Completed Questionnaire
Due: Journal 5

8. Mar 13 ... Social Campaigns
Overview (RS)
Case 8.7 Drunk Driving
Due: Journal 6

Mar 17 Spring Break

9. Mar 27 ... Investor/Donor Relations
Read Chapter 5
Overview (MD)
Case 5.1 Wall Street
Case 5.2 Nader v/ GM
Case 5.6 Corporate Mergers
Due: Journal 7

10. Apr 3 ... Special Publics (Ethnic Populations)
Overview (RS)
Due: Journal 8

11. Apr 10 ... Employee Relations
Read Chapter 3
Overview (MD)
Case 3.1 Employees & Crisis
Case 3.2 SouthWest Airlines
Case 3.3 Motorola Quality
Case 3.4 Kodak
Due: Journal 9

12. Apr 17 ... Emergency/Crisis Public Relations
Read Chapter 9
Overview (RS)
Case 9.2 Union Carbide
Case 9.4 Hostage
Case 9.5 Dayton Hudson
Case 9.6 SwissAir
Project: Final Draft

13. Apr 24 ... Special Publics (Women & Seniors)
Overview (MD)

14. May 1 ... Client Report
Project: Final Campaign Proposal

Final Grade

The final grade for COM-620 will be calculated on the following weighting:
10% - Attendance & Participation
60% - Journal of Professional Observations
30% - Campaign Proposal

Journal of Professional Observations

This semester your journal entries will focus on actual public relations cases. Your journal entries should take a three-fold approach. 1) Identify a public relations problem or opportunity. 2) Locate and present the facts of a real case addressing such a problem or opportunity. 3) Discuss your personal observations related to this case. Each journal is expected to be 3-5 pages. Your writing will be evaluated on the following criteria:

30% - Facts of the Case

• Formative Research: Discussion of research, including key publics
• Strategy: Discussion of objectives & strategy, including public relations action/response and communication effectiveness
• Tactics: Discussion of communication tactics and implementation
• Evaluation: Discussion of program/campaign evaluation techniques

50% - Personal Observations: Discussion of the case's strengths and weaknesses; what you learned from this case; how what you learned might apply in other situations; in what other applications it might be useful; how it is related to other cases with which you are familiar

20% - Presentation: Logic; clarity; effective writing

Campaign Proposal

Students will be presented with a real-life public relations problems that will serve as the focus of a semester-long project ending in a written campaign proposal. Then write a proposal presenting your ideas and recommendations for resolving this problem, using the process described in class (see Nine Steps for Strategic Communication). Your proposal will be evaluated on the following criteria:
25% - Formative Research
25% - Strategy
25% - Tactics
10% - Evaluative Research
15% - Presentation: Logic; clarity; effective writing

Connect with Ron Smith's home page.

Contact Ron Smith at smithrd@buffalostate.edu.