INTERVIEW

Public Relations Interview



Public Relations Interview

Introduction

In order to understand the concept of public relations, we must know the concept of public and relations. In the case of health care industry, the term public refers to all staff members, patients and their relatives, and the governing board; however, the broad public will embrace all such groups as in the case of government and social organizations (McGregor 1999). It must be noted that a community can also be a part of the public.

Public relations are the management function that evaluates the attitudes of people, identification of attitudes, and methods of a person and organization with interest in public. It also includes the execution of programs to understand public and their acceptance. In other words, public relations are the determination of what are the likes and dislikes of public. Also, it is about understanding and letting understand (Goyal 2006). It is considered to be an art and science. It can be said an art because it includes conceive and usage of creative ideas for understanding people interest. Science in the sense that it includes the designing of technologies that help people to continue understands each other.

1. Profile of the Interviewee

For the purpose of understanding the difference between marketing and public relations, a Public Relations Personnel was interviewed. Her job title is Director of Public Relations in Kettering Health Network, Dayton, Ohio. She has done MA in Public Relations, and she has been working at Kettering Health Network for more than one year. The interview was conducted on 11th March, 2011.

The reason that I selected the individual from the Kettering Health Network is the success of this hospital in all other Kettering Hospital in terms of Public Relations. It has also won several awards for servicing the community and its members. Also, it has achieved highest scores in all rankings. The chart presented below also shows that the hospital is doing a tremendous job in terms of servicing community and its members. It is providing its services in charity care, Medicaid shortfall, and improvement in community services, education, subsidized health services, contributions, and Medicare shortfall.

Figure 1: Benefits Provided To the Community by Kettering Health Network In 2009

2. Interview Questions

The following questions were asked by the Interviewer:

What types of products and services do your facility provide to the public?

What is your role as public relations professional?

What does your job entail? Do you address issues and problems or promote the facility? Does your role involve issue or disaster management?

What individuals and organizations, do you interact with externally and internally as part of your role?

Does your organization has a formal public relations plan? If so, what does it entail? If not, do you feel you need a public relations plan? What is your process for promoting the organization if they do not have a formal PR plan?

What challenges do you face as public relations professional?

Our study has concluded the following answers to the above mentioned questions, as discussed with ...