Practical
ways PR professionals can use asymmetrical communication to solve organization
and public problems
Thanks to
the founding fathers of public relations, the role of PR professionals has
become very relevant in this modern society. Every organization needs a PR
person to manage their relations with the public. That is the way forward now,
you don’t wait till there is a problem before you invite a PR person to solve it
for you. This is why this role must be regarded as a managerial role in every
firm. In my previous article that I shared with you, I discussed about PR professionals can use symmetrical communication to help their organizations. I
gave practical examples to support my agreement.
.png "Practical ways PR professionals can use two-way asymmetrical communication to solve organization and public problems") |
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In the latter part of my
article, I stated that this is not the only way as there are other strategies
PR professionals can employ. Because symmetrical communication is about
listening to the people as well as serving as a mediator for your organization
and the people not leaving out your allegiance to the organization, I guess
people thought that is the ideal way forward but different situations and
different problems can dictate the right approach to use. In this article, I
will discuss with you in detail, how PR professionals can use asymmetrical
communication to solve organization-public problems.
Asymmetrical
communication is the direct opposite of symmetrical communication. Whereas
symmetrical communication makes use of two-way communication, asymmetrical
only makes use of one-way communication. I think this has been the norm for many
PR professionals until symmetrical communication came up. The normal PR
profession is just about being a mediator for your organization and the public
but with no intention of serving the public interest but rather the
organizational interest which is directly opposite to symmetrical communication.
Asymmetrical
communication is a strategic technique that PR professionals employ to persuade
the public without seeking their consent or directly seeking their feedback,
That is where a PR professional who just releases press statements comes into play. They only deliver communiques to the public but do not deliver any communiques to the organization from the public. If this was to be in government rule systems,
I would say it is the authoritarian style. But how does this help organizations
when PR professionals choose asymmetrical communication?
Let me use
a scenario to explain this for you to understand to the core. I stated earlier
that these communication techniques are applicable in different situations. So
assuming I work for an organization that is into microfinance. People save
there, people bank there, and use our services. Misfortunes are bound to happen
and then one day a theft issue happens and the news begins to roam among the public.
Imagine the people who have their savings in this microfinance, how would they
react?
Everybody in that situation at that time would think their money is gone
and the bank is responsible for paying it. Even with savings, there are agreements
that you can withdraw within a specific period but because of what has happened,
people would be demanding an instant payment. In fact, there would be a public
uproar. And then I am the PR person for this microfinance and in matters like
this, my services are highly needed to calm the public down. What would you do in
this situation? First of all, microfinance has not issued a statement that
it has closed down its services and that could even be a point for me the PR
person.
In this situation,
asymmetrical communication is advisable to be used. This is not the time you go
to listen to what the people are saying. There is already a public uproar, people
only want their money. What I would do first is to discuss with the management,
the way forward. Once I am fed with all the information I need, then the press
releases can follow, I have to make the people understand that we have not
closed down the company, we are still operating and we are working behind the
scenes to solve every problem. That statement goes out and at least the public
receives an update but when there is none, the chaos multiplies each and every
day.
So, in that
instance, I cannot go to listen to the public because I already know what they
want; their money. I only serve as a mediator for the organization and the
public but serving the organization at most. Public relations are about
reputation and so I or you must make sure the management put in measures to
solve whatever problem as you also try to calm the public down.
One thing
you must also know is that a lot of allegations would come against your
company at that moment, you must be focused on delivering updates to the people
and if in case some of your updates refute some of the allegations, that is
fine but the focus here is that, the people must know the state of the company
in solving the problem rather than bantering allegations. And this is achievable
with asymmetric communication and not symmetrical communication where you have
to go and listen to the people. The Public opinion in this case is in uproar,
you won’t get anything to help with your duties, and you only focus on calming them down rather than having two-way communication with them.
In all, I must
say both two-way symmetrical and two-way asymmetrical communication have their roles to play in
different situations. If you could revisit the article about symmetrical
communication, you will realize that the scenarios I gave are totally
different. And it all depends on you a PR person and a strategic communicator
to make the right choice in the appropriate situation. People normally tag asymmetrical communication as having no balance since only the organization benefits leaving out the public.
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