Free AIOU Solved Assignment Code 968 Spring 2024

Free AIOU Solved Assignment Code 968 Spring 2024

Download Aiou solved assignment code 968 free autumn/spring 2024, aiou updates solved assignments. Get free AIOU All Level Assignment from aiousolvedassignment.

Title Name Development Support Communication (968)
University AIOU
Service Type Solved Assignment (Soft copy/PDF)
Course Msc
Language ENGLISH
Semester 2024-2024
Assignment Code 968/2020-2024
Product Assignment of MA 2024-2024 (AIOU)

Course: Development Support Communication (968)
Semester: Spring, 2024
ASSIGNMENT No. 1

Q.1   What is meant by Public relations? Explain basic concepts and tools of PR? What do you know about the duties of PRO?                        

“The art and social science of analysing trends, predicting their consequences, counselling organisational leaders and implementing planned programme of action which will serve both the organisation and the public interest.” -Public Association Relations

“A strategic management function that adds value to an organisation by helping it to manage its reputation.” -The Chartered Institute of Public Relations.

Public relations have now become an important marketing function. The total process of building goodwill towards a business enterprise and securing a bright public image of the company is called public relations. It creates a favourable atmosphere for conducting business.

According to Edward Barney, “Public relations are the attempt by information, persuasion, adjustment, to engineer public support for an activity, a cause, movement or an institution.”

Thus, in this sense, Public Relations are a mode of getting public support for an activity or a movement.

Mr. John E. Marston has developed Public Relations as a management function. According to him, “Public Relations are the management function which evaluates public attitudes, identifies the policies and procedures of an organisation with the public interest and executes a programme of action and communication to earn public understanding and acceptance.”

Thus, Public Relations is a form of communication. Public Relations, as with advertising is carried on with target groups.Engel, Warshaw and Kinnear who are marketing communication experts have identified five significant targets for Public Relations efforts- 1. Customers 2. Employees 3. Suppliers 4. Stock Holders 5. Community.

Now Public Relations has developed as a profession in India and has contributed a lot for the development of industrial and social relations. Public Relations techniques are being used to solve various corporate problems.

The main responsibility of public relations is to communicate the policies, practices, problems and performances to the public and to feedback public opinions, and suggestions to the top management so that a mutual understanding may be established between the organisation and its public, i.e. shareholders, dealers, customers, general public, government employees and the press.

Everything you need to know about public relations. Public relation is an important element in the promotion mix.

In the era of globalization, the most of the multinational companies make concrete efforts to manage and maintain its relationships with its customers.

Most of the multinational companies have its public relation department that makes all effort to monitor the attitude and perceptions of customers.

Public relations (PR) refer to the variety of activities conducted by a company to promote and protect the image of the company, its products and policies in the eyes of the public.

Thus it aims to manage public opinion of the organization. Public relations encompasses a broad range of activities. The major areas are discussed below, with particular attention given to those used most frequently in brand communication campaigns.

Public relations consists number of programme to protect company’s image and its particular product image.

Public relation is an important element in the promotion mix. In the era of globalization, the most of the multinational companies make concrete efforts to manage and maintain its relationships with its customers. Most of the multinational companies have its public relation department that makes all effort to monitor the attitude and perceptions of customers.

It is used to distribute and communicate all the necessary information to build up good reputation in the mind of the public. An efficient and good public relation department use to adopt positive programs for this purpose and always emphasize to eliminate negative publicity arises due to questionable practices.

It is used to perform following functions:

(1) Press relations – To put information about organization in a very positive way.

(2) Publicity of Product – It can be done by publicising the events to make publicity of Products.

(3) Effective Communication – It is necessary to create and promote understanding of the organisation. It can be obtained through internal and external communication.

(4) To Promote Lobbying – It necessary to deal with legislators or government as to encourage or discourage a particular legislation or regulation.

(5) Counseling – It is to advice the management about public issues, position of the company and image during the good and bad times.

Public relations are a broad set of communication activities used to create and maintain favourable relations between the organisation and its publics. Customers, employees, stockholders, government are officials and society.

Public relations started as publicity, but today its scope has enlarged to an extent that it is being defined as “helping an organisation and its public adapt mutually to each other”. The focus in this management function is on mutual accommodation rather than a one sided imposition of a view point. Perhaps, it’s only because of this reason the scope of the PR has become so broad and wide. Further, the use of variety of terms as substitutes or euphemisms – such as corporate communication, corporate affairs, public affairs, has caused confusions about what PR is and what is not.

Conventionally, Public Relations department was considered to be a small appendage to a large corporation with four major functional areas; Finance, Operations, Marketing and Personnel or Human Resource Management. In such corporations, all such activity, as not specifically falling under the jurisdictions of any functional department was given to the PR department. However, today there is increasing realisation on “Relations”.

The PR department is in constant interaction with all other functional departments. For example, financial PR helps in resource mobilisation; labour relations for shop floor productivity; consumer relations for better understanding of customer needs; and employee relations for morale and team building. Not only this, today PR helps in strategy formulations and organisational policies as this is the department which work as the bridge between various publics of the organisations and the various functional departments.

Public relations (PR) refer to the variety of activities conducted by a company to promote and protect the image of the company, its products and policies in the eyes of the public. Thus it aims to manage public opinion of the organisation.

  1. Most organisations either have a separate department or hire services of professional agencies to manage public relations of the organisation.
  2. The public relation department manages PR to generate positive publicity and improve public image through news, speeches or messages from the top management, organises events like ‘Founder Day’, ‘Sports event’, ‘annual award programme’, charity functions etc. to.
  3. They also advise top management to adopt such norms which adds to public image of the organisation.
  4. The events held by PR department aims to strengthen relationships and build reputation amongst all stakeholders like customers, employees, shareholders, suppliers, investors etc.
  5. Public relations involves tactics like offering information to independent media sources and a mix of promoting specific products, services and events to promote the overall brand of an organisation.

The public relations department performs following functions: 

(i) Press relations – The public relations department works with the media to present true facts about the company to ensure that information about the company is presented in a positive manner.

(ii) Product publicity – The public relations department sponsors events and programmes to publicise new or existing products. For example, many companies adopt a park, a school, an orphanage or sponsor sports and cultural events likes seminars, exhibitions, news conferences etc.

(iii) Corporate communication – The company issues newsletters, annual reports, brochures, audio-visual materials to influence the public and the employees. For example, company’s top leaders may give a speech or message or give an interview to media.

(iv) Lobbying – The company has to maintain healthy relations with government officials, ministry in charge of corporate affairs, industry, finance association of commerce and industry etc. The company also has to take the opinion of shareholders while formulating industrial, taxation policies etc. to keep them satisfied.

(v) Counseling – The public relations department also advises the management on issues that affect the image of the company and guide them to involve in various social welfare activities to increase presence in the public domain and gain confidence of society at large.

What is Public Relations – Tools: News, Speech, Printed Materials, Special Events, Audio – Visual Materials, Public Services, Institution Identity and Website

In order to promote sales, many functions are performed by Public Relations Department. Different Public Relations tools are adopted as aids in this process.

These tools are:

  1. News:

News is the main tool of public relations. Public Relations Department spreads the news about the products of the company. Consumers are in a better position to form an opinion about the company with the help of the news they listen to or read in any publication.

  1. Speech:

Speech is also an important tool to propagate about the product and the company. The vital views concerning the company and its products being expressed by top authorities and the personnel of the company are published in important newspapers.

The copies of their speeches are distributed among people. All these steps are necessary to project a better image of the company.

  1. Printed Materials:

Printed materials also form important tools of public relations. Usually, all the eminent companies have their own newsletters, annual reports and regularly published magazines which are distributed on regular basis among the members of the public.

Companies make available all the vital information pertaining to the functioning of their business, their turnovers, profits and future plans of development. These publications are usually sent by post or couriered to clients.

  1. Special Events:

Public Relations Department makes publicity about the company. If anything relating to company transpires, the same is made public to consumers. For example, if a company is being awarded by the government for its best performance in the field of production or export-earnings, Public Relations Department takes special pains to publicise this event among people. Such information creates a better image of the company among people and its goodwill gets a big boost.

  1. Audio-Visual Materials:

Public relations work is also undertaken through the medium of audio-visual materials. Audio- video cassettes help in this connection. These cassettes are shown to public in cinema-houses or at public places where a larger audience is reached. No doubt, these audio-video cassettes have become an important tool of advertising in modern times.

  1. Public Services:

Companies resort to public welfare activities so as to have better public relations. These public welfare activities also boost the image of companies. Some of the examples of such activities are organizing health-camps, free coolie service for aged people, women passengers at railway stations, etc.

  1. Institution Identity:

Some companies get their “Logos” printed to have their clear “Identity” among the masses of the country. One immediately identifies a company after seeing “Logo” of the company. This is also an important tool of public relations.

AIOU Solved Assignment Code 968 Spring 2024

Q.2   Briefly explain the growth of Public Relations. What is meant by crisis? What are the uses of PR in crisis situation?                 

Public relation history in pakistan areas that are now constituting pakistan, pr was practiced in one form or another even thousands of years ago . Rulers of south asia made use of rocks and especially constructed monuments to highlight their achievements, used this as communication channel proofs are available in the form of decrees on the rocks the main purpose of these carvings on rocks/monuments was the desire of the ruler to keep a constant channel of communication, and thus g sustained understanding, with the public the words of wisdom and achievements of some rulers of the bygone days can be seen carved on some rocks near mansehra, gillgit and other areas in the northern pakistan even to day.

Muslim rulers of south asia sub- continent had appointed waqa-i- nawees (scribes) throughout india for keeping them informed about the opinions of the public and also about the general state of affairs in the country. Mughal the scribes worked directly under the ruler and also reported to. Him on the conduct and general, behavior of the provincial/regional governors/officials, including army commanders era

The colonial government decided to set-up an inter-services public relations directorate (ispr) for motivating the natives to join the armed forces and, for keeping up the esteem and morale of the indian soldiers in the british army. Later,- press information department and the department of advertising, films and publications were set-up at the center. During the world war ii, a gradual and systematic beginning of the official pr activities begins at central level the provincial public relations/information departments also performed protocol functions, administered the press laws and issued official advertisements earlier, the british government in india had established public relations offices at the provincial level to keep the public informed about the official policies, welfare schemes and development plans launched by the government, while at the same time keeping itself fully informed about the views and reactions of the public to various official policies/ measures the public relations activities, took roots in the beginning of the twentieth century when some british firms used pr techniques to build- up a good image of their organizations and to boost up the sales of their products

A brief account of the pr/publicity network that now exists in pakistan, along with its activities, is given under two separate headings vofficial pr (i) internal pr (ii) external pr vnon-official public relation

internal public relation directorate of research and reference press information department radio pakistan directorate of films and publications pakistan television corporation pakistan national centre

Effective department of the government v it projects the policies, plans and development efforts of the government v keeps a constant liaison with the newspapers/magazines and the working journalists v it is responsible for release of officialadvertisements, conducting of research, preparation of initial drafts for the speeches to be delivered by the head of the state (president) and the chief executive of the country (prime minister) v it prepares a daily press summary, containing important news reports and editorial comments/columns/articles/letters to the editors on matters of national significance, for circulation amongst the top -hierarchy of the country

Directorate of films and publications (dfp) it specializes in the preparation of documentaries, news documentaries, news reels and all sorts of documented material on issues of national significance dfp is not one of the main sources for printing and supplying information, including pictorial both within and outside country

Pakistan was converted into a corporation on 19th of december, 1972 this is one of the main pr/publicity organs of the state in a country where over 70 percent people are illiterate. It broadcasts news bulletins in national and regional language? And also programs aimed at creating a better awareness amongst people about various issues. Source of entertainment for a large majority of the people, particularly those living in the rural areas of pakistan.

The corporation is entirely a government controlled/owned company. q over the years television in pakistan has emerged as the most powerful medium for bringing about the desired change in the attitudes of the people through its programs q the ptv enjoyed a monopoly till 1990.

Miscelleneous departments notable among such bodies arc wapda, ptdc, tdcp, pia, state bank, idbp, picic, adbp, cda, kda, pakistan railways, pakistan steel, state cement corporation, ogdc, sui northern, and southern company, seed supply corporation of pakistan, attock oil company, population planning, national savings directorate and national highway authority etc.

External pr/publicity • basic aim, is to project abroad a positive image of the country, its people and culture as well as to create an increased awareness about pakistan’s policy goals • though it is not the main objective, but efforts are also made for attracting foreign investments in pakistan, boost-up tourism and sale of pakistan products. • the e. P. Wing is responsible for removing mistrust and suspicions about pakistan by providing factual information in addition to counteracting negative propaganda • it also prepares a feedback on the general views of the people and foreign media on various issues of interest to pakistan

Non-officail pr • support of masses is required for any particular organization’s success • if the image is good people will like to deal with that organization • in order to built that confidence among people pr is an instrument to build the mutual understanding • good pr program is required to attract.

AIOU Solved Assignment 1 Code 968 Spring 2024

Q.3   What ae the main types of PR? Explain the concept of PR through corporate sponsorship.     

PR works by using multiple channels and techniques to help companies develop, maintain and enhance their relationships with their many publics, whomever they are. Without those relationships, no company can succeed. Poorly managed, those relationships can force a company out of business. When it’s done well, public relations is both invisible and the secret to some of the world’s most successful companies.

By definition, democratic governments should reflect public opinion and work best when the citizens are well-informed. Thus, public relations should have a natural and welcome role in U.S. government. And, for a number of years it did.

There were lots of examples of what we now call public relations undertaken by federal and local governments following the Civil War. Publicity, promotional, and informational campaigns were launched by various federal departments, as well as by cities and states. California, for instance, conducted extensive and expensive campaigns to attract new residents.

These government efforts paralleled what many businesses were doing at the time, and the government employees who performed these tasks had the same titles as their business counterparts. These titles included such terms as publicity agent, promoter, press agent, press secretary, and public relations specialist.

Government public relations had to change its name.

By 1913, several special interest groups and political activists were beginning to express public concerns about the appropriateness of government agencies being involved in public relations, and particularly their attempts to influence legislative decisions. So, they began lobbying Congress in an attempt to have strict limits placed on government spending for public relations.

Much of the impetus for this came from lumber-related big business interests that resented the public relations success of the U.S. Forest Service that had led to closing some federal land to logging activity. Additional pressure arose because of partisan political rivalries, and still more pressure came from political activists who promoted vague and general fears that a government public relations activity could could be perverted into a propaganda machine that would manipulate public opinion.

As a result, what’s now known as the Gillett Amendment was added to the statute that created the Interstate Commerce Commission. This modest-seeming amendment turned out to be one of those quirky but not uncommon acts of Congress that ultimately end up having much more power and influence than their language originally suggests.

Although it’s now often described as a ban on government public relations, that’s not what the Gillett Amendment started out to be. It didn’t prohibit government public relations; it simply said: “Appropriated funds may not be used to pay a publicity expert unless specifically appropriated for that purpose.

Then World War I came along, and with it came the extensive use of propaganda by all of the warring nations. Ironically, when the war was over and the success of those propaganda efforts led people like Edward Bernays and countless businesses to increase their public relations efforts, there was a huge backlash against government propaganda and a rising fear of government manipulation.

  • Public relations was seen as a great and growing activity when practiced by businesses and was also considered acceptable for non-profit organizations.
  • But, any public relations activity by government became immediately suspect.

As a result, the federal government which had already taken its first step with the passage of the Gillett Amendment, began backing even further away from public relations.

More accurately, the federal government backed away from the term “public relations.” It didn’t necessarily stop practicing public relations; it simply gave these activities new and less-offensive and more public-spirited labels. The most often-used and wide-spread euphemism for public relations was “public information.”

Within a matter of a few years, and even moreso today, a search of the job titles used in almost every federal government agency will reveal absolutely no public relations positions but multitudes of

public information officers,
public information specialists,
public affairs managers,
public affairs officers,
publication specialists,
communication specialists,
community facilitators,
community relations coordinators,
constituent liaisons,
client relations managers,
and dozens of other types of communication specialists.

A now decades-old study by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget found over 5,000 federal employees officially designated as “information specialists” and estimated that the total number of federal employees doing work that would be considered public relations in the private sector would be at least five to seven times that number.

And, as is true of so many other aspects of government in the United States, the public relations patterns set by the federal government were interpreted as virtual mandates by state and local governments.

  • A variety of state and local laws and regulations were enacted to limit or prohibit public relations efforts by government, and many of them are “strictly enforced” today.
  • There are very few people or agencies at any level of government who have the words “public relations” in their titles or their job responsibilities, but there are thousands of public information officers and public information specialists throughout state and local governments.

Government communicators link government and the people.

It may sound overly dramatic, but government communicators can and do make life or death differences in people’s lives. Consider, for instance,

  • needy people who learn they’re eligible for free food or medical care by reading government produced and distributed brochures for Food Stamps, the Women, Infants and Children (WIC) Supplementary Food Program, the Surplus Commodity Distribution Program, Medicare, or Medicaid;
  • victims saved from further abuse, or even death, because television public service announcements about child abuse, spouse abuse, and elder abuse publicized toll-free hotlines and encouraged people to use them for reporting abuse;
  • people saved from using defective products — whether a bean bag inadvertently filled with toxic beans or a car whose fuel line is likely to rupture and start an engine fire — because of news releases or press conferences by the Consumer Product Safety Commission, the National Transportation Safety Board, or their counterparts at the state or local levels.

Not all government communication is so meaningful or so dramatic. There’s lots of dull, boring, and routine communication too. The explanation of how to fill out new tax forms, the announcements about new hours at the drivers’ license bureau, this year’s hunting seasons, or the new fees for obtaining birth certificates, and the publicity about the appointment of new members to various commissions and boards are just a few examples.

Whether it’s dull and boring or dramatically life-changing, the information, issues, and policies that government communicators deal with do directly and often significantly affect the everyday lives of their publics.

Working in government is different than working in business.

Regardless of a government employees’ duties — whether they involve communication, accounting, or janitorial services — and regardless of the level or agency of government for which they work, there are four characteristics that make working for government very different than working for a profit-motivated business or even a private, non-profit organization. These differences affect government communicators at least as much as, if not more than, they affect other government employees.

The unique characteristics of government employment which are more fully discussed on another linked page include:

  • the direct and powerful impact the work has on large numbers of people,
  • the diverse and multiple levels of accountability that extend all the way to the general public and often involve a civil service commission or similar agency,
  • the fish bowl environment in which government employees work, and
  • the fiscal constraints placed on government spending.

Considering a job or a career in government communication?

At the entry level, and at least part way into middle-level communication management positions, government salaries are at least comparable to those in the private sector, and benefits such as health care and retirement programs are often much better than the private sector’s. An entry-level public information officer going to work for most state agencies or mid-sized to large cities in 2009 should expect to earn a starting salary somewhere in the $30,000 to $35,000 range.

There are also predictable and reliable salary increases defined by the civil service or merit employment system. A public information specialist who simply does his or her job and avoids unsatisfactory ratings during annual reviews is essentially guaranteed a set raise every year.

This kind of security and automatic salary increases is very attractive to some people, but the idea of a set raise can be a disincentive to others. While the raise is essentially guaranteed, it’s also rigidly limited. No matter how hard you work and how much you excel, your raise will be no more than co-workers who do only the minimum necessary to avoid an unsatisfactory rating.

At higher levels, as you move away from being a public relations technician — e.g., a writer, editor, special events coordinator, video producer, etc. — and become more of a public relations and communication manager, government salaries quickly fall behind those in the private sector.

  • A public information bureau chief’s salary, for instance, tops out dramatically below a director of public relations for a mid-size or larger corporation.
  • Although a state agency director of communication with 15 years of managerial experience who supervises 6-8 information specialists, editors and graphic designers could earn $75,000 to $85,000 per year, the head of a corporate public relations department with comparable experience and with similar responsibilities and employees could earn more than $200,000 per year.

AIOU Solved Assignment 2 Code 968 Spring 2024

Q.4   Sometime PR programs don’t give desired results, explain in your own words. What are your suggestions for effective PR programs?                            

Some scholars claim that public relations is a new science which took shape as a distinct discipline at the beginning of the twentieth century. Though their contention is partly true, evidence suggests that even as early as 5000 BC, in ancient civilizations like Iraq, there existed people who carried out some functions that today form an essential component of the overall job of a public relations officer (PRO).

During the pre-Christ period, the ancient Egyptians knew the advantages of spreading information through advertising. The rightful Caliphs of Islam also made use of persuasive communication techniques and they had set up a dedicated cadre of PROs. In support, one may cite the fourth Caliph of Islam, Hazrat Ali’s epistle to the governor of Egypt, Malik Ashtar.

In his letter, Hazrat Ali advised the governor to manage State affairs, including appointments to official positions keeping in view the requirements, basic qualities and traits of persons for each and every position. A remarkable document on the techniques of statecraft and management, it forms an interesting reading. While describing the types of state minions, Hazrat Ali writes: “We have the army formed of the soldiers of God. We have our civil officers and their establishments, our judiciary, our revenue collectors and public relations officers.”

Hazrat Umar, the second rightful Caliph of Islam, had appointed correspondents who sent him detailed reports regularly on each and every department and walk of life. Through this system of feedback, the Caliph remained abreast of every happening throughout the Muslim world.

While in the past, PR programmes largely involved inter-personal communication, the choices available to the PR practitioners of today are immense and these are increasing every day due to innovations in the communication technology, invention of satellite, PCs and social media.

The Holy Quran is a complete code of life: It guides the human-beings and teaches them what is good and what is bad for them, what is permissible and what is forbidden for them, what gives meaning to their earthly existence and what reduces it to an exercise in absurdity. The Holy Prophet of Islam (PBUH), like his predecessors, served as a medium for divine communication to the mankind and the Quranic communication is positive communication. It lays down definite prescriptions and prohibitions for mankind for leading a meaningful and purposeful life.

AIOU Solved Assignment Code 968 Autumn 2024

The message and communication of the Holy Quran has an appeal not only to the reason and understanding but to the whole nature of man by which he is enabled to know and appreciate the truth and to be in spiritual accord with the planning will of God. The Quran is also the most effective form of communication because it leaves no scope for doubt and skepticism. Naturally, the Holy Quran served the Muslim as the best guide for preparing messages for persuasive communication with the people, following some of the techniques that Allah, The Almighty, has revealed to the faithful.

The communication techniques used in the Holy Quran are vast and varied: “We have explained (things) in various (ways) in this Quran.” – 17.41. These appear to be in keeping with the psyche, knowledge, background and experience of the people referred to in the Ayahs. Knowledge of the Quran has helped the faithful in developing the technique of audience analysis and tailoring communication messages for each and every target group keeping in view their knowledge and background. This instruction is very important for those who are engaged in the propagation of information.

 

 

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