Question

Eskom is a power company conglomerate in the South Africa and operates several power plants throughout the region, a few of them nuclear power plants. Needless to say, the public is concerned with emissions in the air surrounding these plants. Examine what public opinion means and critically discuss the questions the public relations specialists at Eskom must understand about public opinion before deciding on an appropriate campaign.

Answer 1

Power plants and nuclear plants are established in an area that has some impact on the people living in society. Power plants are an important production unit that gives us the must need for the power to perform our day to day activities. But this facility should not come to a cost to a society where the damages are irreparable. Therefore, Public opinion is the term given after urbanization growth to the desire, feeling, the attitude of the people of the society to a specific issue or company or organization. Public opinion about Eskom makes the opinion of a large proportion of people who might be affected by the actions of the Eskom. This public opinion about the Eskom is the sum of all the concerns, attitudes, issues that people perceive due to Eskom, and the benefits against these issues coming from Eskom.

Public relations specialists at Eskom must understand the concern and attitude of the people and should be able to measure public opinion. He should ask questions like, what are the different concerns people have from Eskom operation? Are these concerns genuine? What is the attitude of people towards Eskom? what proportion of people has a negative attitude towards the Eskom? what approach the company had in the past for counteracting or changing the public opinion?

If the public relation officer at Eskom is able to get the answer of these questions, he will be in a better position to draft a campaign which will help in making a positive opinion of people about Eskom and Eskom will be able to establish a good relationship with the society representatives. This will help in future expansion plans as well as we know that in order to get the permit for the new production unit or expansion of the existing unit, public opinion plays a critical role.

A public relations officer must make an attempt to understand the nature of the relationship wich stakeholder society will appreciate and should be able to communicate the benefits coming from the company for the society. Tit is the duty of public relations officers to create a good image of the company in the mind of people. It is also important to have a public relations policy in place so that only authorized persons in the company talk to media or any other public interest group. The public relations officer should monitor the activities of other executives in public meetings or get together as well.

Campaign objectives should be designed only after a thorough understanding of the public opinion and the campaign must answer to the concerns or issues which the public might have. If the campaign in desigend after answering all the relevant question which are essential for understandign the public opinion, it will be successful and will achieve its desried objectives.