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EMAIL:gabrielmusyoka940@gmail.com
,Learning Unit 0
0.1 Introduction
Dear Student
Welcome to the module DPR3702:Public Relations in Industry. We hope you will find this
module both interesting and rewarding. We shall do our utmost to make your studies of
this module meaningful and engaging. You will be well on your way to success once you
start engaging with your study material early in the semester.
Since this is a fully online module, you need to access myUnisa at least two to three times
a week to study and complete all the learning activities that has been assigned in this
module. Access the module site for DPR3702 on myUnisa as often as you can. You will
find it at DPR3702-21-S1. Please ensure that you access the correct semester site (S1
denotes semester 1 and S2 semester 2).
Getting started...
Owing to the nature of this module, you can read about the module and find your study
material online. Go to https://my.unisa.ac.za and log in with your student number and
password. DPR3702-21-S1 will appear in the row of modules displayed in the orange
blocks at the top of the myUnisa webpage. Click on More if you cannot find the module
you require in the blocks displayed. Then click on the module you want to open.
PLEASE NOTE:
We wish you much success in your studies!
As indicated previously, in the introduction, pressure groups are activist groups whose
purpose is “to influence public policy, organisational action or social norms and values
(Tench & Yeomans, 2009:564). A classic example of a pressure group is Greenpeace
International whose activists were involved in acts of peaceful civil disobedience in the
Arctic Ocean against Shell and Gazprom who were intending to drill in the Arctic's melting
ice. Under the leadership of South African national, Kumi Naidoo, they occupied
Gazprom's Prirazlomnoye oil platform in the Pechora Sea for 15 hours. In another
, case, Earthlife Africa successfully approached the court to stop the South African
Government from going ahead with the nuclear deal programme
1.3 Building consensus
Organisations have to create and nourish relationships with campaigning organisations
and pressure groups. This means that they have to interact with these organisations to
find consensus that will lead to working relationships. Consensus-oriented public relations
is a public relations model where there is dialogue between the sender and receiver – in
other words, there must be dialogue between the organisation and campaigning
organisations and pressure groups. The term ”dialogue” means that such communication
must go in both directions. The communication process should be underpinned by the
principles of:
• Intelligibility – the message must be understandable
• Truth – the message must be factual
• Trustworthiness – the bearer of the message must be honest
• Rightness or legitimacy – the messages must be acceptable
Mutual understanding is reached when the sender and the receiver agree on the truth of
the statements or assertions (where truth is the objective dimension of reality), on their
truthfulness (where truthfulness is the subjective dimension of reality), and the “rightness”
of their expressed interests (Tench & Yeomans 2009: 570).
Consensus-building has become the hallmark of the South African story as evidenced by
the CODESA (negotiation) process that ended the apartheid system. Consistent with the
consensus-oriented public relations model, CODESA nurtured a dialogue between
warring parties which resulted in the “new” South Africa. During the dialogue process, the
opposing parties exchanged views and eventually reached a consensus (mutual
understanding) to end the apartheid system. Dialogue is also important for campaigning
organisations such as trades unions, especially during negotiations on the working
conditions. The power of dialogue or consensus building was witnessed again when
South African business, labour unions and government agreed on a national minimum
wage in 2017. Similarly, dialogue is central in ensuring that there are sound relations
between an organisation itself and campaigning organisations and pressure groups. For
example, Unisa has to use dialogue to create and nourish sound relations with trade
unions and student unions. In essence, consensus building should underpin Unisa's
efforts to create and nourish stakeholder relationships. What are the practical guidelines
for public relations campaigning? The following heading looks at this issue
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