PRL2002 Community Consultation and Development

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PRL2002Community Consultation and Development

• Lecture 7

Prepared by Alison Feldman Lecturer in Public
Relations
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Today

• We begin our in-depth examination of each phase
  of the consultation process
• Preliminary Research and Planning

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Remember the Process?
Preliminary research planning
Information dissemination awareness
Planning applying consultative methods
Information collation analysis
Evaluation
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Research

• Internal audit of public relations
  communication practices
• Evaluate the channels, messages, and
  communication climate of an organisation.

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• Determine how the company is, and wants to be,
  positioned in the community. Four basic
  questions (Burke 1999, p.48)
• Where are we now?
• Where do we want to be?
• What community attitudes can interfere with any
  of our value chain activities.
• How do we create commitment to carrying out the
  companys community relations planning goals?

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• Community Assessment - the organisation
  understanding its place in the community, and
  developing a strong sense of the different types
  of communities that are woven into the fabric of
  the organisations environment.

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• Each organisation has a number of smaller
  communities
• Each sub-community has its own characteristics,
  needs issues
• Each sub-community demands different resources
  from the organisation
• Each sub-community contributes to the
  organisation in different ways - and will have
  different levels of involvement
• Each sub-community has the capacity to influence
  the company in different ways and for different
  reasons.
• (Burke 1999, p.60)

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• Shadow Constituency Assessment
• Understanding power structures relationships in
  the community
• Identifying people groups who exert influence
  and/or leadership - supporting or opposing
  actions of organisations, and impacting on the
  wider decision-making of the community (including
  mayors, executive directors of organisations,
  heads of government departments, school
  principals, leaders of professional and community
  organisations.

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• N.B. Leadership in a community is not only tied
  to formal leadership roles.

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• External Assessment - the systematic, continuous
  collection of information
• Eg. Audience, media and trend analysis message
  testing issue monitoring (Newsom, Turk
  Kruckeberg 2000, pp.132-3)
• Eg. Environmental scanning, communication audits,
  social audits -
• observing trends and changes in public opinion
  and other areas of the environment to guide many
  phases of organizational planning, including
  public relations.(Baskin, Aronoff Lattimore
  1997, p.121)

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• Eg. Communitys demographic, social and political
  profile reputation of organisation in the
  community opportunities threats for the
  organisation in the community (Burke 1999)

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• Other Research
• Broader contextual issues - ethical frameworks,
  legislative frameworks requirements, legal
  liability.
• Wider social issues
• Research on cases of relevance where precedents
  regarding organisational actions in communities
  have emerged

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• This information assists in issue forecasting
  identifying how the organisation and its publics
  might react to a future event, trend or
  controversy.(Newsom, Turk Kruckeberg 2000,
  p.138), and how Community Consultation and
  Development projects build a stronger
  relationship between the organisation and its
  publics in times when such issues emerge.

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Planning

• Determining the level of consultation desired and
  the development of a consultation plan.

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Situation Analysis

• A review of the information relevant to the
  project
• Background history behind the major issues as
  currently understood
• Relevant case study, policy legislative
  materials (as determined in Peliminary Research)

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Aims and Objectives

• Management by Objectives approach
• Setting both long and short term objectives
  developing plans to accomplish them (Baskin,
  Aronoff Lattimore 1997, p.136)
• Good discipline for consultant - clearly
  articulating what will be achieved, demonstrating
  value of project to organisation, defining how
  goals will be measured.

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Budget Resources

• Complete assessment of what is required
• Detailed budget - financial investment needed
• Other commitments - eg. Personnel
• The organisation must be persuaded that the
  investment in the project will bring about
  benefits

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Project Timeframe

• Detailed project timetable
• All activity - pre, during Post
• Careful decisions about project timing need to
  consider
• Aims and objectives of project
• Organisations commitment in time resources -
  when would this be most appropriate
• Timing issues for communities to be consulted

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• Sarkissian Walsh (1998)
• How can we be assured that the pace of
  consultation will be appropriate for the various
  publics?
• Will people be given an opportunity to digest and
  reflect upon information and options before they
  are asked to evaluate them or give advice?
• Is the timing of the consultation process
  appropriate to local conditions, i.e., no major
  initiatives during school holidays?

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• Is adequate time allowed for feedback to the
  community/other groups and preparation of
  responses?
• Many participants are volunteers or members of
  organisations which meet at set times and need
  advance notice to be able to respond fully to
  requests for comment, feedback or information.

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• Is the timing of the consultation process likely
  to contribute to a building of trust among all
  concerned publics?
• Is there any risk that the proposed consultation
  program could look like a rush job, where the
  consultation is little more than tokenism
  because of timing?

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Degree Extent of Consultation

• Decisions need to be made regarding extensiveness
  and intensiveness
• Guided by project aims and objectives
• Resources available
• Timeframe
• Availability of participants

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Level of Citizen Participation

• Stage 6 Empowerment
• Stage 5 Collaboration
• Stage 4 Consultation
• Stage 3 Manipulation
• Stage 2 Placation
• Stage 1 Non-Participation

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Consultant Sourcing

• Whether (and to what degree) the consultation
  will be conducted in-house or contracted to
  external consultant.
• If contracted to external consultant - full brief
  will need to be developed.

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Reporting Procedures

• Effective reporting is linked to sustained
  organisational support for project
• Procedures for documenting and reporting required
• Systematic process - pre, during and post-project
• Requirements for full final report
• Reporting on evaluation
• Reporting expectations for outside consultants
  need to be made explicit

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Coordinating Processes

• How will the project be coordinated and managed
• Delegating and establishing roles
  responsibilities for the processes in the total
  project - eg.
• Management committees
• Coordinating committees
• Consultative and advisory committees
• Decisions are linked to
• extent of consultation required
• project aims objectives
• resource and time availability and constraints

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Consultation Design

• Four main elements to be considered
• Target publics
• Consultation methods
• Agenda for consultation
• Location for consultation