Case Study

My partner and I chose the "Big Brother is Watching: Browsing on Company Time" case study, which represents the Employee Relations chapter of "Cases in Public Relations Management."

This case dealt with a newly founded company called ComXSoft, a computer products company. The company prides itself on a fun and relaxed environment. Nelson Perry, public relations director, works well with the marketing and human resource departments.

One day Perry's assistant,Larry Meyers, complains about Perry's new secretary. Meyers says, "She spends all her time on eBay." When the secretary was told about the concerns, she acts defensively, saying she is only on eBay during lunch hour and breaks. Afterward, Perry starts to take notice of the secretary's computer. He suspects she might spend more time on eBay than she admits to. Since Perry is fairly new to the job, he asks Paul Johnson, director of human resources, for advice.Perry "explains the situations about his secretary's possible abuse of office equipment for personal use." Johnson tells Perry to have a talk to his employees about the difference between work time and personal time.

Three months later, Johnson tells Perry that his employee's computers have been under surveillance with software technology that can record every Web site visited and data downloaded. Perry's computer was also watched. The research found Perry's secretary had been spending excessive amounts of time on eBay, but the secretary was not the only employee misusing company time. 20 employees were identified as excessive users.

Perry was in shock. Perry did not think this was legal, but according to the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 and the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 it is. Perry began to form a plan of action bases on this employee relations issue that he will present at a management meeting.

This case raised many questions about employee relations. Employee relations are at the core of any business. If your employees are not happy they will not go above and beyond what is asked. They will do the bare minimum, which does not result on a return on investment. I believe on occasion personal email at a workplace is acceptable. One can not work eight straight hours without a little relief. Also, a company should be clear on their view of personal computer use at the very beginning.

I will be the first to admit I am not the most environmental friendly person in the world. In my day to day life, I rarely think about my carbon footprint. I realize the importance of preserving our Earth. I do not litter yet I do not recycle. I think I am like many Americans who do not fully understand how my actions are directly affecting the environment. I have always wanted to change my ways and become environmentally responsible. I have wondered what I could be improving on. Thanks to this blog I realize simple changes can make a HUGE change.

Today I am going to start being more conscience of my decisions as it relates to the environment. Here is a list of I pledge myself to do:
1. Turn off my computer when I go to bed.
2. Recycle
3. Wash clothes with cold water
4. Buy local food (I have been wanting to go to the farmer's market!)
5. No longer preheat the oven (I had no idea)
6. Inform all my friends (something easy to do)

After reading the blog, I found I actually do more things to better the environment than I actually realize. For example, I always turn off the lights when I leave a room, I take short showers, I reuse wrapping paper, I always use a water bottle I refill, I only run the dishwasher when it is full and I turn the water off when I brush my teeth. I have a feeling people, like me, do not know they are already helping the environment. When people find out they are inadvertently helping out I think they will be more prone to step it up and consciously help out the environment.

Our world's climate issues can seem overwhelming. But if everyone helps out a little bit everyone will benefit in the long run. It is really just that simple!

"What's your Scandal?"

My group came up with a "What's your Scandal?" murder mystery party for the CW Campaign competition. This idea was based on the actual plot of "Melrose Place" because during the first episode, the landlord was murdered. We thought the murder mystery would be a great way for our guests to personally interact with the plot.

To publicize for the event, we sent out a press release to school and local media. An interactive facebook group was created with trivia questions and facts about "90210" and "Melrose Place." Invitations were handed out to the main characters of the plot before the event. Also, eye-catching flyers were made and posted around campus.

The day of the event a "What's your Scandal" tie-dye took place on campus. There were three colors which represented three scandals: red - murder, green - envy and purple - affair. The tie-dye worked really well in getting the event recognized.

The big event started at 6 p.m. When people arrived at the check-in table, they received a confidential packet, which included a notepad, pen, name tag, biography of the character they would be playing and menu card. Once everyone entered the room they transformed into their character. I was pleasantly surprised by how much people got into their roles. During the first fifteen minutes, the landlord was killed. During the event, three clues were given. Each clue contained three suspects, which everyone then interviewed. Also with every clue came a new course on the menu.

At the end of the night, everyone was asked to write down who they thought killed the landlord and why. The winner was given a $20 gift certificate to Blackbird. We also gave awards out to the best actor, best liar and the murder. Approximately 45 people attended our event. A survey was distributed afterward, and the results were amazing. Everyone had a great time and most of the participates now want to watch "90210" and "Melrose Place."

My team worked extremely well together. We all put in a 100%, and I think it paid off. Each team member brought a different skill to the table, which turned out to be the recipe for success. Now all we have left is the put together the campaign book!!

Ethics and PR

Everyone has some code of ethics they follow, whether they realize it or not. Personally, my ethics are usually defined around this question, "Would my parents be proud?" I know that is clique, but I truly feel this way. My family means the world to me, and I can not stand disappointing them. I rather someone be mad at me than be disappointed! When I decided to pursue Public Relations, my family was skeptical. They rather me be in the medical field or teaching because those are solid jobs. I told them to trust that I knew what I was doing. But the truth was I had no idea what I was doing! After being in the public relations concentration for two years, I realize picking mass communication as a major fit my personality perfectly.

I base my everyday morals on my family influences, which I also carry into my public relations life.

Honesty holds the top position on my personal code of ethics. In Public Relations, honesty to your coworkers or even your target audience is key. People have to trust in order to rely. If an employer ever asked to to lie, I do not think I could.I just to not have it in me.

I feel extremely strongly about anti-smoking. I could never promote tobacco companies. I have come to this position on smoking because both of my parents smoke, and I see what effects smoking has on a person and their family.

Another ethical stand I take is treat others the way you would want to be treated. I have learned this through my public relations classes. We have all been competitors, but in the end we treat each other with respect. I find it hard for myself to be mean, which is a good and bad thing. My position in my sorority is helping me learn how to stand up for myself.

When I enter the real world, I am not naive enough the think I am going to get my dream job right out of the gate. I know I am going to have to work my way up, which I am willing to do. I eventually want to have a job that holds my interest and challenges me, who doesn't? But I am willing to do the "dirty" work for the first few years in my career. If my job does not satisfy my emotional needs, then I can do those outside of the office. But in a dream world - I would want my job and happiness to coincide.

Advertising on Twitter - oh my!

Last Thursday Twitter founder Biz Stone divulged a new "tTrms of Service" for the fast growing mircoblogging site. I have to admit when I got an email from Biz Stone detailing the changes, I disregarded the email. Afterward, I thought about what "Terms of Service" actually meant. Now that the email had sparked my interest, I went back and read it.

The founders of Twitter decided to make changes to the "Terms of Service" because they now have a better understanding of how Twitter is used. The main aspects which were changed are ownership, advertising, APIs and SPAM. The two areas that caught my attention were ownership and advertising.

Twitter is allowed to "use, copy, reproduce, process, adapt, modify, publish, transmit, display and distribute" tweets. However, the tweets belong to the person who wrote them. This statement is pretty obvious. Twitter is social networking, and it is a forum to publicly say how you feel.

It states on Twitter's blog,"in the Terms, we leave the door open for advertising. We'd like to keep our options open as we've said before." This bothers me a little bit. I like Twitter better than Facebook because Twitter does not have annoying advertisements running on the side of the page. If Twitter were to have that same feature then you would not be able to see everyone's unique backgrounds. I love how Twitter has been able to stay untouched by ads. Although, I know Twitter will eventually use advertising. Advertising is a money maker. In the end, Twitter has to do what is best for their survival.

I highly doubt the addition of advertising on Twitter will hurt them Public Relations wise. People trust and love Twitter. The main characteristic that keeps tweeters coming back is the freedom to use Twitter for whatever platform they choose. The founders of Twitter know this and will "understand that it's not about the technology, it's about how we all use the service that matters most."

Check out Twitter's new "Terms of Service."
They want feedback so give it to them!!

What to improve?

I have never been good at picking out my strengths and weakness. Self evaluation just does not come easily to me. But as an up-and-coming public relations professional I need to know where I stand and what skills I need improvement on. After reading about 14 key attributes a public relations professional should posses on DaveFleet.com , I could see the skill sets I contain and those that I need to work on.

My finest selling points are:

1) Work Ethic - When I am assigned something, I start working on it that day. I cannot rest until I know everything is perfect. Even if the perfection takes long hours to accomplish. I am a worker bee!

2) Communication Skills - As a freshman in college, I thought communication skills would be my downfall, but I have quickly learned communication is one of my strong suits. I am great at delegating, but I also never leave myself out of the mix. When I believe in a project I am presenting or a plan I am implementing, communication (vocal or written) becomes second nature.

3) Proactiveness - I listed proactiveness as one of my strengths because when I do not know something I always ask. I never let something pass me by because I do not feel like asking or looking it up. I do not take deadlines lightly. I live on time lines, even day to day! I have to know what to do next. I am not one to sit around and wait to be told what to do!

Now that I have gone through my strengths as an up-and-coming public relations professional according to the list provided by DaveFleet.com, it is now time to talk about my areas of improvement! Dun-Dun-Dunn

1) Writing - Since writing is at the core of public relations, I feel there is always need for improvement. My vocabulary is probably the weakest part of my writing. The thesaurus has been my best friend!

2) Media Relations - Even though I have my fair share of experience with media relations, contacting the media still scares me. I have always felt uncomfortable talking on the phone ( I won't even make my own doctor appointments). I have slowly gotten better with media relations. I am thankfully for the experience I have had now in college or else I would be at square one when I enter the workforce. At least im making progress!

3) Coding - I have taken two computer courses at GCSU. Both have helped me understand coding, but I feel I am still in the dark. Coding does not make sense to me. I have a lot of room for improvement in the skill of coding!

Now that I have picked out my strengths and weakness, I can spend the rest of my college career fine tuning my public relations skills. Come May 2010 WATCH OUT world of public relations!

Now and Then

When I was a freshman at GCSU, I knew right away what I wanted my major to be: Mass Communication. Most freshman do not have that luxury, but I knew I belonged in Public Relations. I thought I knew what public relations entailed - event planning. However, after getting into the program I quickly found out public relations encompasses a whole lot more than meets the eye. I have also learned a lot about how the Mass Communication department at GCSU works.

1. Get the word procrastination out of your vocabulary!!
Public relations revolves around deadlines. Deadlines are to be taken seriously and approached weeks in advance. I have been apart of three events as a public relations student, and each is structured through an efficient timeline. Start work on a project right away so you will not be struggling towards the end to produce a below par result.

2. Know how to write a press release!!
Before entering the world of public relations learning how to write a press release is imperative. Here is the recipe for a great press release - catching and informative lead, perfect AP style, proper way to quote someone, organizing paragraphs in order of importance and correct format of the press release.

3. Learn how to take constructive criticism!!
I am an extremely sensitive person. I used to not take criticism well, but I now I understand the importance of constructive criticism. Professors are not picking on you while they point out your mistakes, they are trying to make you understand how to make it perfect the next time. I have only recently taken this rule to heart, but once you appreciate the criticism it makes your work that much better. After all, criticism is not personal - remember that.

4. Get to know your adviser and classmates!!
Your adviser is your mentor. They are the expert helping you along your journey in the world of Mass Communications. My public relations class has a strong bond. I never knew that would happen. We work so close together we are practically family. Our teacher (adviser) is a huge part of this family. I believe that if our class was not as close as we are then we would not produce such great events like we have in the past. In the public relations concentration, your classmates are your coworkers, and your teacher is your boss.

5. Search in advance for an internship!!
I was naive when I starting undergoing my internship search. I thought applying to eight would be far more than enough. Let me just say I was extremely wrong. I got denied from 7 of them. The one I got ended up being too far of a commute. Luckily, at the last minute I found an internship. This process was too stressful. Make sure your search in depth for internships and apply to as many as you can. On another internship note, once you have your internship learn from it. Even if this internship was not the one you wanted. An experience in the mass communications world is invaluable.

This list is just a small insight into what I know now that I wished I knew then. Honestly, everyone is going to have different experiences in the Mass Communication department. Enjoy every minute because college will FLY by in a blink of an eye. Take it from me - a senior who cannot believe this is my last year!