The Objectives Stage

Every public relations program should begin with an objective that it intends to achieve—that is, it should be managed by objectives. Sometimes, public relations practitioners set process objectives for their programs, objectives such as the distribution of five press releases, the holding of ten meetings with community leaders, or the staging of an event by a specified date. By themselves, process objectives have little value unless previous evaluation research has shown that these com­munication processes contribute to desired communication outcomes. Instead, you should specify outcome objectives for public relations pro­grams, objectives that specify the kind of effect a program should have.

Practitioners frequently assume blindly that their communication programs will change attitudes or behaviors. These objectives often take years to accomplish. Only simple behaviors generally can be changed in the short run. Since changes in attitude and behavior take so long to accomplish, they are not terribly useful objectives.

Instead, communication theory and research suggests that public relations practitioners should look for changes in the cognitions of public—in the way people think or in the ideas or beliefs they have— before looking for changes in attitudes and behaviors. Changes in people's ideas can be achieved shortly after a program or campaign has been completed. The "understanding" that results from cognitive change also contributes over the long run to "agreement" in attitudes and behaviors. Thus, you should choose from the following taxonomy of effects when you develop objectives for a public relations program, emphasizing the first behaviors in the short run and the later objectives in the long run.

Communication The organization and a public exchange messages. Stories are placed in the media and publics read them; publics read an advertisement, attend a special event, and read a brochure; manage­ment has a dialogue with leaders of an activist group and reads the re­sults of a public opinion poll.

Retention of the Message This objective also can be called accuracy of communication. The public or management retains or comprehends a message from the other. Each side can articulate the ideas of the other, even though it does not share the idea, evaluate it in the same way (atti­tude), or behave in the same way.

Acceptance of Cognitions The public or management shares the ideas or beliefs (cognitions) of the other about the nature of a problem or issue. They do not necessarily agree about what to do about the problem or even behave in the same way. Thus, this objective also can be called un­derstanding, which is different from the next objective of agreement.

Formation or Change of an Attitude (Agreement) The organization and public evaluate solutions to a problem in the same way—they share attitudes or intend to behave in the same way. One has persuaded the other or both have mutually persuaded each other—that is, they agree.

Complementary Behavior The organization, the public, or both change their behavior in a way that improves the relationship between them.